absolutum dominium

diana and i got to gm place around 7.40pm, 20 min before the scheduled time printed on both our tickets. there had been a little confusion regarding bus routes and such, but we managed to get in on time. we had a little bit of confusion over our seats as well, but it all worked out in the end. we had a bird's eye view just above to the left of the stage, and for mid-range tickets, i had to say this was a fucking good deal.

we sat through half of the guest act who was fiona apple (she was pretty good. her voice and singing style reminded me a bit of joss stone, alanis morisette, as well as tori amos); walking around the outside for the other half. gm place is huge. if the indoor stadium can fit 10, 000, i say tt gm place has a capacity of 20, 000 and upwards. in fact, it looked as if there WERE 20, 000 people here tonight. they were playing 2 nights in vancouver, but tickets had more or less sold out. and according to other people, tickets HAD long sold out in venues like toronto and brisbane, melbourne and sydney (and no, they're not coming to singapore for this tour).

so the fact tt diana and i had tickets, let alone good seats, was just a blessing.

after fiona apple and her band had left, we watched as the stage crew removed tt band's set and readied the stage for coldplay. we were discussing where chris martin's piano would be. there was a little piano in the centre of the stage, but we expected a grand piano.

at 9.40pm, the lights went out. everyone started screaming in anticipation in the dark.

silence.

and then the first strains of the electric guitar could be heard, as the introduction to "talk"" came on.

all 4 members of coldplay burst out from the back of the stage into the flashing lights and HUGE fanfare. the crowd went ballistic as chris martin launched into his rendition of the song. he stood for a while in the back of the stage, frozen in an arch in front of the giant screen where giant coloured images of himself and the band were being flashed, while the rest of the members took their positions behind the drums and with their guitars respectively.

"talk", like most other coldplay songs, is a mellow song. or a relatively mellow song, but even then they succeeded at infusing it with some kind of otherworldly energy tt just pulled the whole crowd in. although a lot of tt was due to the fact tt chris martin was just prancing all over the stage. he'd start in the back, dance his way to the far left to tease the audience on the left, run to the front and slide to his knees and bend ALL the way back as he drew out the last lines of the refrains, hop around in circles on one leg, dance up to his guitarist...

and we all lapped it in. i was screaming like a maniac from the moment i saw him standing at the back of the stage. his voice is PHENOMENAL. he sounds exactly like he does in all his songs, just BETTER. rawer. more real. more soulful.

i wanted to cry.

it was insane how emotional someone's voice could make me. i'd never really heard "talk" before tonight, but it's been catapulted to being one of my fave songs as of now.

and after talk, he went straight into "politik", my fave song from 'a rush of blood to the head', pounding on his piano keys like a man completely lost in the song and the music, oblivious to everyone else in the world around him, completely feeling the song. when you watch coldplay perform, you understand why they sell out all over the world.

the emotion, the raw honest emotion. and it's not just the band itself tt encapsulates tt in their songs; the audience become an extension of band and song, just enthralled in this strange magic wielded by an amazing band, and one man with an amazing voice and an amazing stage presence.

they then launched into "Yellow"... "for you i'd bleed myself dry". and everyone just sang along. we were on our feet just singing along to the music. giant yellow balloons dropped from the sky and Martin and his drummer burst 2 of them with their guitar and drumsticks respectively, and golden confetti sprayed all over the stage. we all loved it.

Martin also talked quite a bit to the audience; asked if everyone was ok. said tt it was a long time since he last came to Vancouver... did we still remember him? and he said tt he wrote a song for us entitled "God Made Canadians His Favourite Race". this was of course a lead up to the song "God Put A Smile on Your Face", but it was so nicely done tt everyone just started singing along with him even when he was still singing about Canadians.

he also apologised for the barricades tt were installed for his safety tt separated him from the audience. he said tt now tt Coldplay was a "big cheesy soft rock group", measures like tt had to be taken. fortunately, the audience was not missing much. just sweat, sweat and more sweat. which is TRUE, considering how much Martin prances around.

coldplay also did Speed of Sound, and Don't Panic (omg omg omg omg omg!!!). and then they changed their formation, and sang Till Kingdom Come in an acoustic folksy style, followed by a similarly acoustic non-piano version of Trouble (the Coldplay song tt used to make me cry, just on listening to it alone), and then they paid tribute to the late great Johnny Cash (one of my dad's idols) by singing Ring Of Fire, country-western style!

they then sang The Scientist (beautifully), Green Eyes, Square One, Swallowed In The Sea, One I Love... and I think a couple other songs tt I just can't recall right now. all I know is tt we were just completely under Chris Martin's spell. if he were to be the Pied Piper, we would be his rats, and he could have just commanded us to run into the sea and we would do tt. he was SO good.

he ended with Clocks. we loved Clocks. how can we not?

and then when Coldplay walked off the stage, everyone just stood up. and we just kept clapping and screaming and clapping and screaming. my voice is gone coz of tt now.

5 min later, they came back for their encore of 3 songs. i can't remember the first... i think it was another song off X&Y. but the second song was In My Place, and during tt song Martin leapt off the stage and ran through the audience all the way from one end of the stadium to the other end, where he then leapt on top of a banister in front of a group of people and serenaded them, much to the chargin of the scrambling security personnel. you could see the crowd following him and he balanced atop the banister and just sang. tt looked dangerous, but there was no doubt tt everyone would catch him before he ever hit the floor if he fell.

and the last song.

Fix You.

"When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse"

enthralled.

"And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?"

i never really felt all tt much for this song before... but when Martin intoned the lyrics i could feel tears literally stinging my eyes.

everyone was singing along.

"Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you"

everyone.

you could see it, hear it, feel it.

lighters, handphones in the air. swaying. hands in the air. us leaning precariously forward, trying to get closer... closer...

the climax... and the fading of the song to the end.

"And I will try to fix you."

the perfect end to the perfect concert.

coldplay is possibly the best concert i've ever attended, even though all the others were really good too.

this marks the one and only time i will say something tt i will never ever say for anyone else again: "i want to have chris martin's babies". :)