Coldplay Concert - Shoreline Amphitheater

On Monday, I went to see Coldplay for the first time in concert. My son Danny has been a fan for a while, and we surprised him by purchasing tickets for the show earlier this year and not telling him until a few weeks ago. Since his brother Robbie is away at camp this week, it was a great opportunity for a little outing with just Carrie, Danny and me.

Since we never know how traffic is going to be heading into the Silicon Valley, we left a little early and planned to grab some dinner on the way to Shoreline Amphitheater. We looked for a little place to stop close by, and when the mexican joint Carrie found on her iPhone wasn't deemed "worthy" I headed us over the La Costena, my all-time favorite burrito joint. We introduced Danny to this hole-in-the-wall treasure and headed over to the parking lot with our food/treasure in tow. The night was made already as I enjoyed my pollo borracho burrito in the car before heading into the show!

After getting through the security at the gate, Danny picked out a Coldplay t-shirt and poster to commemorate the day. While walking to our seats, we found the Sony PS3 booth with a SingStar competition. Danny waited his turn and eventually worked his way through a song - think it was Fix You, but I'm not sure. Fun to watch, even though he didn't take home a prize.

Even with the karaoke sidebar, we got to our seats before the designated 7 pm start time so we had time to kill. And when the time did arrive, we ended up wading through 2 warm-up acts before Coldplay hit the stage at 9 pm. The acts were good, but not Danny's cup-of-tea, so he had a difficult time wading through them both before the big boys hit the stage.

Coldplay started at nearly 9 sharp, and they put on a great show. For nearly two-hours we all stood, cheered and had a rowdy time with a packed house singing along to every song. The stage production was fantastic, with the now-requisite big screens, laser show, creative props, and downright stellar musical execution.

The band worked it's way through most of Viva la Vida, and a number of other older pieces that mixed in well. Twice during the show the band worked it's way to makeshift mini-stages amongst the fans. The first was stage-left in the reserved section (I think it was 201) and the second was stage right up on the lawn. It really brought the crowd into the show, and provided me with different vantage points for my videos. During their mini-set on the lawn, the did a fun rendition of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean that was very well received.

For two hours we rocked on with the band and we were rewarded, along with everone else in attendance, with free copies of the concert CD Left Right Left Right Left. Danny's comment on the way out (and in the car, and at home afterwards...) summed up the night pretty well - "that was the best concert EVER!" And while it wasn't the best concert I've ever seen, it certainly ranks right up there.

Video: I took along my little FLIP MinoHD to see how well it would do at capturing concert footage. The results are actually pretty good. Two of the best are included below and the rest are available on our YouTube site. Enjoy.

Cheers! - Jason

From Coldplay Puppets on tour