Playing in the Cold

Well, as expected, Coldplay was great. I have to admit I had no doubt this would be the case though. After all, they are Coldplay.
I left my house as quickly as I could after work and it was positively DUMPING outside. Right after I pulled out of my garage and decided to check the mail, I realized this was a mistake. I was drenched instantly and stepped in a small river in the process of reaching the mailbox. So much for looking cute for the concert. On the way to Monique's, I had trouble even SEEING the road and couldn't tell if I was driving into a small river or on pavement. At one point, while pulling out of my neighborhood, I realized I was almost driving on grass because you literally could not see the road. And it didn't get better. Part way to Monique's house it began hailing and the puddles got deeper and deeper. It got to the point where you'd look over in the ditch next to the road...and the water was the same level as the road. It's amazing my little car didn't just float away. I finally arrived at Monique's and we struggled our way (or more my car struggled its little way) out of the area and onto Highway 70. The rain quickly died down and suddenly it was a sunny day again. Go figure. There is a point on the way to Raleigh where my GPS starts getting confused and insists we are driving through a gray "unknown" area of the world that it does not recognize. In reality, we are driving on a huge highway that's been around long enough for our GPS to know about. But somehow it doesn't. Having driven to Raleigh a few times, I'm used to this. What I'm not used to however is the GPS saying "Recalculating, recalculating, recalculating, recalculating, recalculating..." over and over and over without stopping to take a breath. Usually one 'Recalculating' suffices and then she proceeds to tell me how stupid I am and offers an alternate route. However, this time she made it very clear that she was SERIOUSLY not kidding about recalculating. I think the gray area makes it nervous. Poor thing. Monique and I found it rather hilarious. Thankfully it finally gave up and let us enjoy our drive through the misty "unknown."
After our long drive to Raleigh and lots of laughs, we had dinner at Applebee's (is that supposed to be two words or one word? It looks weird either way...) and set off for the venue. I started getting nervous because it literally looked like we were out in the boonies and we were supposedly only a few miles away from the place. I envisioned us being in the complete opposite area of where we should be and my retarded GPS (I should give her slack...she's been through a lot...) cheerfully announcing we had arrived at some random person's house on a residential street. My fears were supported by the fact that there was NO traffic....like you'd usually encounter at a concert. But finally we turned a corner and hit the traffic and shortly found the place. We learned a few lessons yesterday from our Coldplay experience. This is the first one: Lesson 1: Pay attention to where you park...no matter HOW excited you are. I will elaborate later. After blindly parking and skipping off to find the main gate (and passing a lady with legs harrier than a wild yak), we got inside, bought a bottle of water that we were not allowed to have the cap for and found our seats. The venue was open air with a covering over the higher paying seats and a large lawn section. We sat on the far left side of the far right side. Think about it hard enough and it'll make sense. I've had so little sleep that it sounds extremely funny. We arrived RIGHT as the first band was beginning to play. And in my previous blog, I think I called them Kitty, Daisy and Elliot. But it's actually Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. DUH Rachel. They were SUPER cute and extremely old school. I was sad because my point and shoot camera doesn't take movement shots as well as John's so most of my pictures didn't turn out. But I still had a great time. The only downside to Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis was their 5 minute harmonica solo. Sure. It was impressive. But...repetitive noises and large crowds don't usually go well together and I could tell a lot of people (myself included) were getting annoyed. But other than that, they were great. The next band, Elbow, was awesome. I really enjoyed them a lot and want to get their CD. I'm glad I familiarized myself with both bands before the show because that made it a lot more enjoyable. Both are British. Elbow's song 'Grounds for Divorce' has been in my head all evening and morning. Watch their video below. This is a live version. They didn't have the orchestra but it was amazing either way. I have to say it is cool with the orchestra though.
After Elbow, we sat tight for Coldplay. At one point, we thought we might be able to move down closer to the aisle to get a better view but at the last minute our neighbors arrived...who just so happened to be professional wolf whistlers (i.e. DEAFENING during the concert). But it didn't matter. Coldplay came on and we forgot everything else. They began with a song that I don't know from their new album and shortly after began playing one of my favorites, "Yellow." During the song, the lighting was entirely yellow and they had huge yellow balloon ball things that the audience bounced around like a giant beach ball throwing contest. We never got to hit it but almost. Part way through the concert, I noticed some guys testing some mics and guitars at a tiny stage right in front of us and sure enough...a few minutes later Coldplay made their way up there. It was so cool to see them up close and personal. They returned to the main stage and later on made their way to another small stage near the back. It was right in front of the lawn seating. While the guitarist tuned his guitar, Chris Martin made up a song about him tuning his guitar and the lawn seated audience. After a few songs, they began playing something very familiar...but not by Coldplay. I recognized it right away as "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. And they did an awesome interpretation of the song with the help of the eager voices of the audience. After they returned to the main stage once more, we learned Lesson 2: No matter how nice you are to people, there's always someone who's going eot be a complete twit. Monique stood on her chair for half a second to take a picture. The girl behind her began tugging on her jeans (what are we, three?) and demanded that she get down. Monique explained she was just taking a quick picture but the girl told her it was time to get down. Now I'm sorry but...it's not like she was standing on the chair for the ENTIRE song or the ENTIRE concert for that matter (*cough* girl in row M ahead of us *cough*). Last time I checked, this was supposedly a "free" country. Does that mean I can get physical? Sigh...
There's so much to capture and see and remember at a concert. It's impossible to retell or recollect it all...and even if you could, it would be rather dull unless you had actually experienced it. But my favorite highlights would be: The song "Yellow." The cool whirling projector globes they had on stage. Chris Martin's facial expressions while singing. The middle aged ladies dancing in front of us. Giant clouds of paper butterflies. The giant VIVA Coldplay Balloon. And a free CD while exiting the concert.
During two songs, machines projected mounds of colored paper butterflies into the air. As they fell and descended onto the crowd, they really did look real. Monique was able to capture a handful and we saved them. At what seemed like the end of the concert, we waited to see if they would come back out for one more song. Of course they did and actually played two songs. But not before announcing that they were giving out a free CD to everyone leaving the concert. I loved that and think every concert should end that way. The very last song of the night was "The Scientist," another true love of mine. And that was that. As we were herded like cattle to the small opening that sufficed as the exit, we learned Lesson 3 that I've known for some time: Americans bitch about everything. And I don't normally swear but in this situation that is the ONLY term that is sufficient for this context. Even if you just went to an incredible concert and an awesome band gave you an unexpected FREE (can I repeat that? Ok. FREE.) CD...they will still find something to complain about. The most common whine I heard was about crowds (which I found hilarious since...Americans DO NOT know what a real crowd is...maybe New Yorkers, but the rest of the country? No. Go to Asia. Report to me once you have returned. Until then...HUSH.)...but they varied from crowds to the opening bands to the possible contents of the free CD. On our way out, I was reminded of our 1st lesson of the night: Remember where you park, no matter how excited you are. As it turned out, we had no idea where I parked. But thankfully the parking area wasn't as big as it could have been and shortly we found my little rollerskate car, happily waiting for us. Or so we thought happily. I realized yet again on our "drive" out that North Carolina and traffic control do not mesh in any shape or form (I came across this revelation on the 4th of July too). After sitting in my car waiting to LEAVE for over an hour if not longer, we finally inched our way out into the street and headed home. As for my car not being happy, my dash lights magically died and refused to illuminate the entire ride but thankfully I had the GPS to depend on for my driving speed. Tricky little car.
I haven't driven at 3am in a very long time, if ever. And it's not the best experience. Especially when all the radio stations suck and the only one that comes in clearly plays the same song over and over...("Tonight's gunna be a good, good night!" Die.) We finally settled on a station and were graced with a rap song that utterly blew. I won't say who it is (for fear of being sued) but...basically the beat was severely off, the rapping was worse and the words basically said...they wanted money, clothes and cars because that was what equalled success...riiiiiggghhhht. At a gas stop, we got ourselves a snack (and caffeine) and continued our drive. Pretty far into the trip, I thought about it and announced to Monique that I had officially been awake 25 hours. She paused and thought for a second and then asked, "You never went to sleep??" Things of this nature in the wee hours of the morning when you're extremely tired become more humorous than they were ever intended to be (if at all) and I found myself in a fit of laughter that threatened our very lives (not literally). I was too tired to try to think through what I had TRIED to say and say it correctly. Oh well. It was funny.
After what seemed like an endless drive (I swear the GPS estimated time of arrival was INCREASING), I dropped Monique off at her house and headed home. A herd of deer practically scared me to death crossing the road right before my turn but thankfully I was going slowly. It was pretty amazing actually. There were about five of them. I got to bed around 3:30 after a quick bath and a quick delirious letter to John. Still going nightly. Despite the lack of sleep (and having to work the next morning) and bad traffic leaving...and temporarily losing my car...and lack of dash lights...I had an awesome time and would go again. Coldplay, you're great.