Coldplay-o-rama

As most of you are aware, I defied the odds and finally made it to a Coldplay concert!  Although I expected to have something terrible happen to me, I decided to not think about it and just enjoy the moment.  [Because the surest way to definitely HAVE something terrible happen to you is to think about it.]

 

Coldplay was playing at the Jobing.com arena in Glendale, Arizona (just west of Phoenix) and right next to where last year's Superbowl was played and the Cardinals still play.  It was about 20 minutes or so from my work.  People really live out this way?  It's not just a stop on the way to Los Angeles?

 

I got to the "arena" early and stopped at the Saddleranch Chop House right outside the doors.  There were a whole bunch of restaurants/bars around the arena area.  Pretty smart thing to do so that people can eat or drink before going to a show/game.  The Phoenix Coyotes ice hockey team plays at that arena too and I'm going to need to come back to see one of those games (because I LOVE ice hockey!).  The Saddleranch is just like the one on Sunset Blvd (across from the Argyle) and they had a mechanical bull and everything.  I sat at the bar and started talking with this fellow who told me that he lived nearby and that this place was his "hangout."  I felt in the country-mood so I had a few Bud Lights.  (Bud Light was advertised a lot at the Tucson rodeo so I figure its a cowboy drink.  Also Jack Daniels.)  I had a nice conversation with the guy who told me that he inspects a particular part on airplanes.  I gathered that he looks at them and then x-rays them for cracks.  I asked him whether he fixed them and he said "No, that's some other guy's job."  That's ALL you do?  He told me that it was the same thing he did in the Air Force.  My job didn't sound so boring after all.  Also, talk about compartmentalizing!  Imagine a battlefield operation with only this guy...."yep, that fuel thingy is broken"...."can you fix it?"...."nope...not trained in that area."  In the Army we'd just pull out the old duct tape and say a few prayers.  Air Force...bah.  My new friend had no idea who Coldplay was and asked whether they were similar to AC/DC.  Yes...EXACTLY the same.....  (I mean, what do you say to that other than just try to amuse yourself?)

 

After my beers, I went to the concert venue and was bombarded with a bunch of "free things" from various advertisers.  For example, AT&T was giving away these glow-in-the-dark necklace things that looked like they were made for raves.  What did someone say to AT&T to convince them to spend money on this crap?  I didn't see anyone wearing one either and, days later, when I took mine out to check it out, it didn't work.  As lame as this is, I always buy a concert t-shirt and stood in a massive crowd waiting to get my Coldplay t-shirt.  The tradition continues!!!  Fortunately there was a guy selling drinks to the crowd so it wasn't an altogether unpleasant experience.  Except, of course, when someone flipped their hair on my shoulder.  Then I had to get a little unpleasant but it didn't last too long.  If I ever list pet-peeves, that's definitely one of them.

 

Some band of very young looking fellows who kept telling us that they were from El Paso, TX played 3 too many songs.  (By that I mean that one song was just about right.)  I have no idea what the band's name was but they seemed to be very proud of that El Paso thing.  Then this DJ-type guy spun some discs while a very bizarre yellow-submarine-inspired cartoon played.  Weird.  Then, finally at 9:15 pm, Coldplay came on and blew us all away!  They sounded great and Chris Martin was jumping/dancing all over the stage and sweating like a pig.  It was cool.  3/4 of the way through the show, the band ran off the stage and ran through the crowd to a spot on the other end of the arena and played an almost acoustic version of "The Scientist."  Loved it!  They got back on stage and these little paper butterflies came down on all of us while they played.  They played every famous song and pretty much all of their latest album.  It was great and Chris Martin was very charming.  Their one encore was "Yellow" -- which I consider one of their best songs.  Fabulous!  Anyway, I made it through the concert without injury.  There was a young fellow sitting next to me who told me that he came alone because none of his friends like Coldplay.  I told him that he should try a Radiohead concert if he liked Coldplay.  He told me that he likes the older musicians too and asked me whether I've seen Dylan.  I looked at him wondering how old he thought I was but I just said "no."  How did Coldplay and Radiohead turn into Dylan?  He agreed that the concert was "off the hook"  [Holla!] and he told me that Bloc Party was coming to Tempe in December.  That's more like it my young friend!  [I decided to let him live.]

 

I drove home late and got home at about 2 am.  I decided that I wasn't getting up in 4 hours to go running over hay bales but set my alarm just in case I somehow felt like it.  When my alarm went off it was raining so I figured that God agreed that I shouldn't do that silly run.  Snooze. 

Comments

[Todd]

Radiohead = Coldplay. Please. You might as well say that AC/DC = Coldplay. Oh wait...