{"id":952,"date":"2017-01-27T20:38:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T20:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=952"},"modified":"2026-06-27T20:40:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T20:40:36","slug":"coldplay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=952","title":{"rendered":"Coldplay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

January 2003, University of Miami <\/strong>Convocation Center, <\/strong>Coral Gables, Fla.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like to say that Gwyneth Paltrow destroyed Coldplay because, well, she did. Before she came along and stole away Chris Martin\u2019s awkwardness and pain, the band played exciting songs that bordered between woeful and exuberant. I\u2019m not against people finding happiness, but we do suffer for our art, and Martin wasn\u2019t suffering much anymore<\/p>\n

People joke about liking Coldplay, but after Parachutes<\/em> and A Rush of Blood to the Head<\/em>, what was there not to like about the band? What Parachutes<\/em> started Rush<\/em> completed, and I daresay it\u2019s one of the better sophomore albums made in the past 20 years (we all know The Bends<\/em> was the best). From the explosive \u201cPolitik\u201d to the quiet \u201cAmsterdam,\u201d it contains the band\u2019s best-known song (\u201cClocks\u201d) and its best song (\u201cThe Scientist\u201d). Chris Martin never writes \u201cThe Scientist\u201d if he met Paltrow before it was written.<\/p>\n

Rush<\/em> was a huge album and took the band on a tour around the world and back, and if ever was a time to see this band, this was it. The Convocation Center was recently completed, and this was one of the first shows at the center. It was a decent-sized arena and had a packed crowd for a band that would soon be playing Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n

A piano sat in the middle of the stage, an instrument as important to Coldplay as any other. Much like Radiohead did in previous years, Coldplay knew when to use the piano as a way to give songs a different character. \u201cClocks\u201d revolves around a simple repetition which might sound fine on guitar but has a certain resonance on piano.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitik\u201d is the same way, the song the band opened up with to rousing success. There\u2019s something about pounding the keys of a piano I find enthralling during a show. The band moved to \u201cShiver\u201d and \u201cSpies,\u201d two quieter songs from Parachutes<\/em> before \u201cDaylight\u201d and \u201cWarning Sign\u201d got things going a bit more.<\/p>\n

The crowd was odd, half-sitting, half-standing, making for awkward instances in the stands. I was standing, like I do for most concerts, because for me live music is an interaction (unlike a movie), and I want to move. It\u2019s not like that for every live music event \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t do it for the symphony (though that might make it a bit more fun). But this was not the symphony.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t Panic,\u201d \u201cYellow\u201d and \u201cThe Scientist\u201d (which ended the first set) were great live \u2014 \u201cDon\u2019t Panic\u201d one of the band\u2019s best songs. Martin moved easily around the stage, engaging with the crowd, while the rest of the band confidently did their thing. This was a band that was finding its way and knew there was a bright future ahead.<\/p>\n

The encore led off with \u201cClocks,\u201d much to the delight of the crowd, and followed with the excellent \u201cIn My Place,\u201d the first hit off of Rush of Blood to the Head<\/em>. \u201cTrouble\u201d was the final song of the night, though I saw later the band had planned a second encore but didn\u2019t because the crowd was pretty much done for the night (which happens with audiences in South Florida).<\/p>\n

Coldplay would go on the much bigger success with X&Y<\/em> and Viva la Vida or Death<\/em> and All His Friends<\/em>, but I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve ever been as good as they were just after the first two albums.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January 2003, University of Miami Convocation Center, Coral Gables, Fla. I like to say that Gwyneth Paltrow destroyed Coldplay because, well, she did. Before she came along and stole away Chris Martin\u2019s awkwardness and pain, the band played exciting songs that bordered between woeful and exuberant. I\u2019m not against people finding happiness, but we do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[163],"class_list":["post-952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concerts","tag-coldplay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":954,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952\/revisions\/954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}