In Continuum.

First and foremost, I apologize for the severe lack of updates on this blog. It isn't because of the lack of events happening in my life, but rather the overwhelming assignments that have been clogging up my system. That has been the case for everybody at school, facing eminent deadlines and hills of papers to turn in. Assignments, projects, speeches, presentations, these are just some of the things that are piling into my veins on a daily basis, which is why the daily activity of blogging was forced to play second fiddle in view of these events. Still, it's just great that I have finally found time to do a bit of updating on this glorious looking Saturday, to tell you about the greatest concert that I've ever been to - the Coldplay Viva la Vida Tour in Singapore. Of course, this is going to be the first of many more updates to come, so to speak, and I apologize once again for the lack of updates. I'm just glad that my tagboard has yet to be flooded with robots trying to advertise for a bigger penis or stuff like that, at least that was the case for my older blog, which is completely dysfunctional right now. I will take this rare opportunity to blog before I dive straight back to work all over again. What can we do about it anyway, the semester is drawing to a close, that's how it is. 

Anyway, 23rd of March 2009 will be remembered by a lot of people out there - or at least ten thousand people who were there at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. This is the third time that Coldplay is coming to Singapore, and I'm just glad to have gotten tickets for it way ahead of everybody else. Of course, the drama that happened on the day that the tickets went on sale was one thing, I'm just glad to be going at all, seeing how so many people missed the opportunity because of whatever reasons. Anyway, so the bunch of us from school gathered after our last classes and decided to make our way down to Indoor Stadium together. At five in the evening, the traffic was already picking up in its weight, and it was Justin, Kevin and I in the cab trying to get the concert venue as early as possible. I know how it was like the last time I went there, and that was just an hour before the show started. People swarmed into the concert venue in droves, and you really don't want to be caught in a crowd full of crazy Coldplay fans - or any bands, for that matter. So, we decided to go there three hours before the time the band was slated to start playing, and also because we wanted to grab some merchandizes. 

There were already trickles of people at the box office as well as the merchandize booth outside of the East Entrance, and it kinda sucked that the best t-shirt they had was only available in female cutting - what's up with that? So I bought myself a tour book of sorts inside, the same book I bought the last time I went to their concert. There was still a bit of time before the concert started, and the lot of us wanted to have dinner - and meet Kayla, thought Kevin was a little reluctant to do so. We made our way to the Leisure Park, which has change dramatically since the last time I visited that place may I add, and I met up with Neptina and her parents. Oh, and her close family friends who were going along to the concert with us as well. We had dinner at a random food court, and the crowd around us began to build up. We knew what they were there for, because you could tell by the kind of people in the crowd. More than half of them were probably going to the concert like us, because you just don't make your way down to Leisure Park for a simple dinner - you just don't. So, eight o'clock drew near and I urged the family to get moving as they rambled on about Chinese horoscopes and superstitions. The skies were already growing darker by the time we reached the East Entrance, and we got inside the stadium after the routine bag check. Our seats were pretty easy to spot, since it was the first row, and that was when the drama started even before the concert did. 

So, here's the thing. We bought the most expensive tickets in the house, and the first row of that column at that. There was supposed to be another section of seats for us, but it was being kept up and pushed underneath the column where we were standing on. So, row 1 and 2 of that column were gone, leaving row 3 now being the row 1 of that column, if you are following. Having bought the tickets for the first row on the day itself, we made our way to the empty third row and sat down - until the people who were supposed to be on the third row came along. Apparently, the system on Sistic screwed up, and they sold two extra rows which weren't even available at the venue itself. That caused quite a bit of disagreements, and voices were raised as the crowd continued to pile in. Ushers were being alerted of the problem, and everybody started yelling at the ushers. There was this woman with two of her Caucasian friends, shouting something about how she bought premium tickets, and she'd not be expecting anything less of a premium experience - true, I wasn't going to take that either. The ushers' solution? Refund us the tickets and then put us all the way at the top of the audience - NO FUCKING WAY. We stayed put, and so did the row three people, and people started to climb over railings and stuff like that. There was also a fist fight that broke out towards the front of the stadium, and everything was pretty damn chaotic. 

That also led to me not being able to enjoy the opening act, Mercury Rev. For the most part, I was trying to adjust my camera to the right settings. For some reason, the camera refused to take good decent quality pictures of the band, and I gave up after more than fifty test shots on that junk of a camera. So much for it being a high end camera, I guess. At the same time, I had to fend off fans crawling up from the back of the column, trying to get a closer view of the band. The girls (Neptina and Krystle) were at the restroom, and I had to defend three seats all by myself. This fat Caucasian man climbed over the back seats and onto mine, and I had to tell him to move away because that seat was mine and my friends. He crawled over the front railing and jumped off to the floor seats and disappeared - very smart. Anyway, the opening act was actually pretty good, and I would have enjoyed it more if not for the seating issues and my camera giving me the attitude. Krystle's father was right though, because once the concert started, nobody gave a damn about seating arrangements. He was proven right when the orchestra music ended and the lights went off. The crowd screamed at the top of their voices, and the sea of fans went wild - and so it began. 

Four sparklers appeared on stage and behind a giant veil, twisting and turning in the air and then falling into their rightful place on stage. The sound of Life in Technicolor rang through the halls, and the crowd went crazy - I mean it, the crowd went crazy. The drums came up, followed by the bass and the guitars, and we could only see shadows of the band as they played their instruments at the beginning. As soon as the song finished though, the giant veil was unhooked and it fell to the front of the stage as the first word of Violet Hill was sang. "It was a cold and dark December..." I personally love Violet Hill despite what others might say, and I head banged to the bit in the song with just the blaring drums and the guitar, and I screamed at the top of my voice when Chris Martin went "If you love me, won't you let me know?" Already, the concert seemed a whole lot better than the last concert when they came over. The visuals were amazing, with the album cover proudly displayed behind the band, projectors projecting the images of the band onto screens around the indoor stadium, and not to mention the lasers in the next song just seemed a whole lot better than when I remembered it. 

Clocks, oh Clocks - we all love Clocks. Just like the last time, the crowd went crazy when the familiar piano riffs came up, and that energy carried on to In My Place when the entire stadium joined in the chorus of the song, when we all punched our fists into the air and went "YEAH!" Yeah, it was pretty high by this point of the night. And, for the next song, you can say anything you want about having yellow balloons. They've done it before in their last tour, but you don't have to fix something that isn't broken. The giant yellow balls worked in the last tour during Yellow, and it certainly worked again this time. Once again, the giant yellow balls fell and the crowd started pushing and balls around from one part of the stadium to another. Chris tried to do that balloon piercing thing again this time and managed to burst it with his guitar. Chris Martin seemed a lot more enthusiastic and cheerful this time around in Singapore, though that is not to say he wasn't back in the Twisted Logic World Tour. He just felt a lot more enthusiastic, or excited to be playing for us -  a plus. Glass of Water wasn't a song that a lot of people knew, but I head banged my way through that song anyway. It was a good song, and probably one of the better written songs in the Coldplay discography. Anyway, Cemeteries of London was injected with new life in a live concert situation. I'm usually lukewarm when it comes to that song on the album. But man, did they change my perspectives that night when it happened. 

Oh, when the first chord of Fix You came along, I swear I already had tears in my eyes. If any of you has Justin or Kevin's Facebook account, head over there to check out the video of Kevin losing his mind during this song. I was there as well, it's just that I wasn't caught on tape for the most part. You don't know the feeling until you feel it for yourself. The kind of feeling you get when when all the bones in your body are vibrating, not because of the music, but because of the whole stadium of people singing the same words as yourself. The feeling really lifts you up, and no other moments in the concert could match up to that of Fix You, when the second chorus faded away into the rousing guitar and the drums, when the lights shot out from the stage and drowned the audience and turned us into a sea of blue. Afterwards, the band gathered on the left extension stage and played God Put A Smile Upon Your Face and Talk in a stripped down and remixed version. It wasn't exactly my favorite renditions of the songs, but I thought it was pretty cool anyway. I liked the twist they gave to the songs, but I'm always the kind of guy who prefers the real thing - I'm old school like that. 

The rest of the band goes to take a break for the next part of the concert as Chris Martin takes the center stage and did a solo piano set. I admit that I was never a fan of the song The Hardest Part, and partially because of the strange music video. However, nobody ever let me listen to the solo piano version that Chris did that night - just absolutely brilliant from the beginning to the end. They say that you can measure the greatness of a song by the silence that it entails. The silence after the last note of that song was just breath-taking, the way the whole stadium just kinda stood there in silence for a while. Chris went straight into Postcards from Far Away from there, a medley of sorts I suppose, another piano instrumental piece. Without any hesitation in between that song and the next though, the lights came out abruptly and the mood completely changed. The band exploded back onto the stage with Viva la Vida, the lights and the sounds! The booming of the drums, the tolling of the bell! The entire stadium went into a frenzy all over again, as the whole crowd rose into a crescendo. They sang together to the songs, punched their fists into the air, cameras flashed and Chris Martin collapsed onto the ground and asked for the crowd to keep going after he was done - brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. 

With a venue as big as the Indoor Stadium, you shouldn't expect a lot of close encounters for the most part. Yet, I thought it was really cool that the band took some time off and played a mini-set amidst the audience. Yes, Coldplay got off the stage and got to the back of the stadium to play an acoustic set in the middle of the fans. Chris probably took another route there, but the rest of the band came within inches of me, and I got to touch all of them at that point in time - awesome! Armed with a toy piano and guitars, the band covered songs by Neil Diamond and an acoustic version Speed of Sound. Will Champion also contributed vocals to a beautiful song called Death Will Never Conquer - he has quite voice, I must say. The end of the acoustic set was marked by the "Cold Wave", or the Mexican Wave done with cellphones. Everybody took out their cellphones and started making light waves from one side of the stadium to another, round and round and round while a remixed version of Viva la Vida played in the background. The band went to the backstage to change while that happened, and they were back in no time. 

Politik marked the beginning of this first encore, with the blaring drums hammered down mercilessly during the chorus, I had a hard time keeping my balance after all the head banging. The screen behind the band lighted up once again with images from Japan, sakura trees and Japanese children. Lovers in Japan was up next, and a storm of paper butterflies rained down from above with every chorus. It was beautiful, and the lot of us started to grab paper butterflies from the air, and I managed to bring a whole bunch of them home in my pocket, including the balloons and the paper confetti that came along with it. Death and All His Friends came up next, and I imagined Kevin going crazy all over again, because that is his favorite Coldplay song. I love how the song slowly builds up towards the end, and the melodies swelled to the highest point before plunging back down to serenity. That marked the end of the first encore, and the crowded wanted more. However, instead of going "We want more!" or "Encore!" like a normal concert would, the crowd just started singing Viva la Vida all over again on their own accord, and then they started stamping on the grounds. That, was the single coolest moment of the concert ever. Then, a streak of light came down from above, focusing on Chris Martin as he appeared alone as he walked towards the piano. 

I knew, from the first chord, that what he was going to play. I can't believe I actually forgot about that song altogether, but I'm glad the band didn't. Neptina and I screamed when the song was recognized by her - The Scientist. Everybody sang to that song, word after word, and it was just a beautiful sight to behold. Then Chris Martin was joined by the band, and the lights went down all over again, save for four lamps on stage left turned on. The music of Life in Technicolor came up again, and the band took the stage with their instruments. This time, the lyrics of the song was added, and the band ended off the whole concert with an outro of The Escapist played over the speakers. By the end of it all, I was too tired and exhausted to comment on the concert, it was just too freakin' awesome. I'm sorry Broken Social Scene, I thought no concert would top you guys anytime soon, but apparently it did. Coldplay, the best concert that I have ever been to in my life. Just completely, utterly, thoroughly, life changing. Besides, I managed to steal a towel that Chris Martin used, what's cooler than that? 

Click on the links below to watch concert footage!

(I've only included recordings of decent lengths)

6. Glass Of Water

10. Strawberry Swing

15. Viva la Vida 

26. The Escapist (Outro)