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4 December 2001 - New York, USA (Irving Plaza)
COLDPLAY / JJ72

IRVING PLAZA

4 December 2001

Irving Plaza is an intimate venue that holds approximately 700 people general admission style and that is definitely how many people were there both nights to see Coldplay.  Coldplay played to a sold out crowd. The theme of both nights was AIDS Awareness with both bands wearing red attire to signify this.  Also, 25 cents from each ticket sold go to an AIDS fund.

The doors opened at 8:00 pm and the crowd was already chaotic and ready for a great night.  At 9:00 pm JJ72 took the stage.  This band was truly impressive and got the crowd even more pumped up for the main act.  They are a trio from Dublin, Ireland - Mark Greaney (guitar & vocals), Hilary Woods (bass), and Fergal Matthews (drums).  

Their music consist of a hard rock feel with the constant use of electric guitar and feedback techniques incorporated into each song.  Not only were they able to pull off heavy hard rock songs but also they were equally good at soft ballads on the acoustic guitar. On their last song the lead singer destroyed his electric guitar and gave pieces of it to the audience. This band I feel has every potential of becoming a real success.

At approximately 10:23pm the lights dimmed of a blueish purple haze and eerie music filled the room. This atmosphere went on for about 30 seconds and then Coldplay entered the stage. The intense crowd filled the room with screams and cheers.  Chris Martin was dressed from head to toe in red and each band member wore red shirts.  Shiver was the first song played and the band was on fire.

Chris Martin had the most energy I have ever seen him have.

He was drenched with sweat the first minute into the song proving his intensity and energy during the song.  With the constant hopping and shuffling of the feet Chris executed the song with more and more vibrance and pure joy to be surrounded by fans that love them.

The whole place sang along to almost every song (except for the new songs for the upcoming record). This is (from what I remember and in no particular order) the setlist:

SHIVER
MURDER
SPIES
TROUBLE
GOD PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE
WE NEVER CHANGE
EVERYTHING'S NOT LOST
YELLOW
PARACHUTES
HEY GOOD LOOKIN'
LOST HIGHWAY
IN MY PLACE

DON'T PANIC
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD
ENCORE 1
SEE YOU SOON
PARACHUTES


I will give a summary of some highlights during certain songs.

EVERYTHING'S NOT LOST - Chris Martin insists that the audience sing along to this song. At the end of the song, as the lyrics go:
singing out ah ah ah yeah
ah ah yeah
ah ah yeah
and everything's not lost
so come on yeah
ah ah yeah
come on yeah
and everything's not lost

Chris Martin stands up from the keyboard and tries to take the microphone off the stand with little success so he decides to just rip the stand acrossthe stage He points the microphone toward the crowd in order for the them to sing along.

 HEY GOOD LOOKIN- This song was done in a way that showed off Chris Martin's pure talent.  He unplugged his electric/acoustic guitar and used no microphone to amplify his voice. He jumped up on a platform on the left corner of the stage and told the crowd to please be quite so they could hear the song considering it was totally unplugged.  This was amazing because it was done flawlessly.  

DON'T PANIC - Before this song began Chris Martin talked to the audience and acknowledge someone in the front wearing a bandana. He proceeded to say that the mate in the front row had to take the bandana off because he looked like Justin Timberlake.  After that comment he dedicated Don't Panic to N'Sync.

TROUBLE - At the beginning of this song Chris plays the first two notes and the crowd goes crazy. He says it is the best feeling that they can come over to America and play two notes to a song and everyone knows it.  Also during this song Chris's stool leg falls off the platform where he is playing keyboard. The roadie quickly comes over and holds it level for him for the rest of the song.  Thinking that Chris would be upset about this - instead after he was done with the song he kissed the roadie on the head thanking him for holding up his stool.

YELLOW - Chris says the real dedicated fans would know this song.  Also the lighting for this song is all in yellow.

PARACHUTES - Very unexpected that this song was played.  Chris lowered the microphone really low and sat on the stage with his acoustic guitar.  He changed the words to reflect about Irving Plaza.  

????? 2nd encore - This encore was totally unexpected because the venue started to put the lights on making it look like the show was over but then all of a sudden Chris came back out and did one more song on the keyboard.  It was like the band never wanted to leave.  


Christi Shingara