Coldplay convert in the OC

During "Yellow" hundreds of huge yellow orbs began bouncing over us. Light, fluffy glowing orbs all over the audience.

Yes. I did mean to use that word, "Convert."

Prior to last night I'd been a fan of the band, just not a super freak for Coldplay.

But, that was prior to about 9:05 pm last night. Because, I am now.

Mind you, I'd been very excited to learn we had tickets for an A-list event like this. But, I have to admit, I really had no idea what I was in for going to a Coldplay concert.




The Coldplay concert last Sunday was massive in the true meaning of the word. It was multi-sensory experience, and larger than life and an event that clearly a great deal of thought and planning and expense had gone into.

I should have known things would be massive given just the size of the tickets. This event was so huge even the tickets were airplane-ticket sized.

The visual effects were extraordinary. These glowing orbs were always moving and changing colors and patterns. Loved it.

Amadou & Mariam is a West African group opening for Coldplay and they so rocked the place. Their music was infectious and had us up and dancing in our seats well before sundown or before Coldplay's limos even arrived in Irvine. I would have been happy to hear them again -- I loved Talking Heads and it's clear to hear the influence of West African music has had on their music. Great stuff. Also, they had these two gorgeous women dancers who were, maybe, two of the best dancers I've ever seen. Serious dancing going on w/ the Amidou girls...Hot, hot, hot.

Amadou & Mariam

The seats were filling up. The sky was still light.

Pete and I invented a game called "spot the cougar couples." There seemed to have been a sale on young men at South Coast Plaza this weekend. Either that, or the moms in the OC are way cool. And, I think we know what's really going on, here.

Okay, back to Coldplay.

The evening was perfect. The air not too hot, not too cool. As the light faded from the sky things just got better and better.

Coldplay was spectacular. It got me on every level: Audibly, visually, spiritually -- you just had to move the entire night. We had amazing seats, but never sat once. We were up moving, dancing, watching and trying to soak up very morsel of the evening. Didn't want to miss one thing. I was carried away on a magic carpet of music and thought and looking at things in ways I hadn't expected to -- I adored it all.

Hard to pick a favorite moment from the lovely, flow of music and light and sound, but "Haiku" in particular, about blew my mind. I loved the entire production of that number. It was heavenly.





It started out with a back drop of clips from black and white movies running fast speed into a montage of interesting clips that increased speed and more and more included footage of some 1950's videos of cherry blossoms blooming and some history of haikus, I think, and then, without warning suddenly the once open, starry night sky was suddenly flooded and raining down tiny paper butterflies all over the audience.

Just like a snow storm fluttering down around our heads. At first the butterfly snow was in primary colors. Thousands of fragile paper butterflies everywhere. Everywhere. Like snow. I put my hand out, palm up and just opened my hand and a tiny blue butterfly softly landed in it. Then I put out my other hand and a little red paper butterfly landed in that one, too. As if someone had deliberately, gently placed them there. I was astonished.



Then, I peered up again into the night sky I saw, yet one more cloud of more paper butterflies falling like snow, again, and these were even more vibrant - these were fluttering down in neon colors. And after that there were more explosions of butterflies falling from the stars twinkling and shimmery rainbow colored butterflies. Tiny explosions of color softly falling around us. It was extraordinary. I felt like I was a child of two, again. My eyes welled up with emotion at the sheer beauty and epic scope of it all. I was overwhelmed by what Martin and Coldplay were giving back to us all of us. Call it corny, but it was very moving. With any other performer this kind of deliberate "giving back to the audience" would have seemed completely contrived or empty...But, not with them. We all felt the love and joy and it was pure and childlike and profound and, frankly, a whole lot of fun.

They were determined to connect with all of us, not just us fools in the pricey, front section, but way, way back. So, several songs were done surprisingly once from the middle of the second section and then even, way, way, way up high in the nosebleed section.

Coldplay was bending backwards to connect with everyone there that night and not have that predictable fourth wall up that most big rock groups have. It was a socialist performance, I guess. Good seats for everyone.

Here's my husband's Coldplay concert review for The Orange County Register, and also proof of how we burb-shleppers managed to find ourselves at such an A list concert as this: Peter Larsen's review




More memorable moments from Louise on the Left...

During "Fix You" the camera panned back into the audience and I noticed one black and white face seemed very familiar singing along with the lead singer: It was Paltrow. The look of love on her face was evident and moving and adorable, I have to admit.

At one point, Coldplay broke into an accoustic version of "Billy Jean." Which was unexpected and moving and carried not a hint of gratuitous explanation about why it was necessary. It was a graceful nod to Jackson's legacy.




The entire night took my breath away -- I'm still gobsmacked by it all.

Anyhow, here' are some photos of us from Sunday.

geeks and, now, life-long Coldplay fans