Coldplay at Arnhem, 7 July 2005

Arnhem, 7 July 2005



This was the first time I (finally) watched a big live concert in
Holland. Going to the place itself already quite exciting because of
the crowd. This time Coldplay played the Gelredome in Arnhem. It's
nice to see the whole big stadium being set up for their performance.
The concert was sold-out, with approximately 30000 audiences.

I sat in the side tribune, about half of the football field length to
the stage. Well, it's quite far actually :).

The opening act was Richard Ashcroft from The Verve. He sang and
played guitar accompanied with a keyboard player. I only know his
Bittersweet Symphony, so nothing special about it.

And at 9 pm, finally the stage being darkened, and they rocked! The
opening song was Square One from their new album X&Y. This is very
good song as an opening, very energetic and loud!
Lucky for me, they put the widescreen so I still could watch in detail
how Jonny and Guy ran their fingers on the guitar and bass.

Finish the first song, and after a small 'goede avond' by Chris and
the dedication of the concert for the bombing tragedy in London, the
second song was Politik. Great! I remember Chris played with the
words, such as:

give me england, give me dutch..
give me the best crowd in the universe..

Then they just went on and on with full energy and perfection in their music.
There was a different setting when they set up the small half-circle
in the front of the stage. Will left his drumset and played the
keyboard. Chris joked that it was the chance for Will to get some
girls attention :). Guy played the acoustic guitar, and they performed
Till Kingdom Come (the hidden track from X&Y) and Don't Panic (without
drums).

Then they back to the main stage (Will on drums again), and played
their best song ever..Clocks!
As usual they ended this song with synchronized speedy piano, guitar,
bass, and drums. Amazing!!!!
After playing Talk, they pretended to end the show, but of course we
didn't move a bit. Then they backed with encores of \Swallowed in the
Sea, In My Place, and they closed the show with Fix You.
It's nice to hear Chris closing the show by playing words again in Fix You:

and now it's time for us to go
now it's time to end the show
you're the best crowd in the universe...

It's somewhat true about the crowd. We kept clapping, shouting, sing
along. Even the audience could follow the new tracks quite easily.

Overall, the concert was brilliant. Chris was amazing with his piano,
Will and Guy were very solid in the beat and rhythm. Well, most of the
songs are quite standard and similar with the studio version. I found
that Speed of Sound was too standard, and not really a good song to be
performed live.
The sounds quality was good. Some echoes because of the stadium wall,
but it's minor as long as they play loud! The lighting was great..and
we had firework :).

Excellent job, guys!!

Complete performed track list:
Square One
Politik
Yellow
God put a smile upon my face
Speed of sound
Low
Warning Sign
Everything´s not lost
White shadows
The Scientist
Till Kingdom come
Don´t Panic
Clocks
Talk
----
Swallowed in the sea
In My Place
Fix You

Pink Floyd at Live8

Hyde Park, London, 2 July 2005

Hari ini adalah hari spesial di dunia musik karena Bob Geldof 'mengulangi' sukses Live Aid 20 tahun yang lalu dengan Live8 yang serentak dipentaskan di kota-kota besar di penjuru dunia (di antaranya London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo, Philadelphia). Konser di London (Hyde Park) disiarkan live oleh BBC (untuk Eropa barat) dan beberapa stasiun tv lain di seluruh dunia. Konser di London ini adalah yang paling meriah, dengan sekumpulan artis terkenal terlibat di dalamnya. Sebutlah nama U2, Coldplay, Dido, Madonna, Robbie Williams, The Who, Mariah Carey, Elton John, Sting, Paul McCartney. Dan tentunya salah satu pelopor progressive rock..Pink Floyd!

Konser Live8 ini adalah konser reuni PF dengan formasi paling sukses mereka, David Gilmour, Rick Wright, Roger Waters, dan Nick Mason. Penampilan PF dibuka dengan kalem dan suasana panggung yang agak remang2..dengan Breathe. Kelihatan bahwa mereka sudah mulai tua, tapi tetap mantap. Vokal David Gilmour masih powerful dan Roger Waters masih tetap ekspresif dengan basnya.

Setelah Breathe, Roger hanya teriak "Thank you" dan lalu terdengar...cring...cekrek...cring..cekrek...Money!!! Di lagu ini terasa bahwa Breathe jadi semacam pemanasan untuk mereka. Money yang energik dan speedy menunjukkan kepiawaian sesungguhnya dari PF. Dari solo gitar David Gilmour yang khas menyengat, dan gebukan Nick Mason yang mantap, bisa dinikmati kembali setelah sekian tahun lamanya.Sepanjang 2 lagu pertama ini latar belakang panggung dibuat seirama dengan tema DSOTM, dengan gambar plat berlogo DSOTM yang berputar dan lampu-lampu dengan warna pelangi.

Seusai Money, Roger sempat ngomong agak panjang tentang Syd Barret. Dan sambil menenteng gitar akustik, mulai intro akustik terkenal PF...Wish You Were Here. David Gilmour masih lincah dengan solo2 akustiknya di lagu ini, ditimpali juga dengan menyanyikan nada gitarnya.

Lagu penutup sesi PF adalah Comfortably Numb, dengan kombinasi vokal antara Roger Waters dan David Gilmour, dibantu juga dengan 1 backing vocal cewek. Pada lagu ini latar belakang panggung menjadi tembok putih (cover album The Wall) dengan tulisan merah darah 'Make Poverty History', sesuai slogan Live8.

Udah..setelah itu Live8 ditutup oleh Sir Paul McCartney. Puas sekali rasanya bisa melihat PF live dengan formasi lengkap. Mudah2an ini bisa menjadi awal proses reuni mereka. Seperti salah satu poster yang dibawa pentonton:Pink Floyd reunites in Hyde Park, the pigs have flown!