A slight drizzle fell as we lugged Carina’s camera gear through the collared hordes, half popped, half not. I felt like a secret agent in my polo shirt, infiltrating the power sect of striped shirts, all with the misfortune of needing to use the one ATM in the Verizon Wireless Arena. After obtaining tickets and cementing photographic and review privileges, Carina was led into the rabid mass of Coldplay fans, risking life and limb for a few photos (ok it probably wasn’t that risky). Meanwhile, I embarked on my beer endeavor, narrowly making it to my seat in time for the opener with brew in hand.

Opening for Coldplay was Richard Ashcroft, who you might know from the Verve, authors of (among other things) Bittersweet Symphony. He put it best as he wailed “It ain’t eaaaaaassssssssyyyyyyy being an opening band.” Despite tickets being 50-80 bucks (!), more than half the crowd didn’t bother to show for the opener, a shame to be sure. Rather than just give in, Ashcroft put in a fierce set of his solo material, impressing anyone with a good ear to lend. I especially enjoyed “New York”, a mix of psychedelia and fine brit-rock. All in all, it was very British and surprisingly happy, as Ashcroft seemed especially psyched to be playing music and living the family life. His Mayfield/Black Music tribute “Music is Power” provided a nice throwback vibe as well. After taking some potshots at his US competitor James Blunt and discussing some high-level music themes that musical scholars would appreciate, it was, sadly, time for the end of the set. As he exulted in his own composure of “Bittersweet Symphony” by asking the crowd “Do you know what it’s like to write a fuckin’ classic?” He delivered with a stirring rendition of the touchstone Verve song. After seeing his set, I’d recommend buying his album if you’re at all into brit rock or just plain guitar rock.

Intermission time, and we all got bored waiting for the stands to fill up to pumping mash-ups (don’t ask, I didn’t get it either). Lights go down, screams go up, and it’s Coldplay time. Now, just so everyone’s clear, I’m not a huge Coldplay fan, and I wasn’t expecting anything too amazing. Thankfully, I’m an idiot.

Running onstage in black outfits and white shoes, Coldplay took the stage with surprising vigor, immediately launching into “Square One” while a giant clock counted down and up in the background (yes I was confused). They were a lot louder and active than I expected, with them being ‘wuss-rock’ and all. Chris Martin ran around like a kid on speed, as they blew through “Square One” and “Politik.” It was nice to see another white-as-hell guy dancing like an idiot in public and running around, as normally I’m the only one. As they launched into “Yellow” and screams drowned out the anything resembling hearing, gigantic yellow balloons fell from the ceiling, filled with confetti, causing an impromptu balloon fight between Chris and the audience. This ended with Chris body slamming the last balloon until it popped, which proved highly entertaining, as it takes a lot of scrawny white guy body slams to pop a balloon. Running through their other hits, half of which I didn’t know but rocked out to anyway, a stirring rendition of “The Scientist” played, a favorite of the defyUnlearn staff. I was astounded as they kept the energy level up the entire show. Screw running, rocking out is the new exercise fad.

One thing that also stayed up, unfortunately, was the muddy sound that permeated both Ashcroft’s and Coldplay’s sets. Something was up, which was too bad, but apparently Coldplay didn’t even have time to sound check, as they flew in from a Canadian awards show a few hours prior. Anyhow, back to the show.

Continuing with the “play fun songs” theme, Coldplay stormed through a few more songs, Chris Martin often fascinated by random objects or himself on the big screen behind them. The guy probably needs some Ritalin, as I think you can distract him with any shiny object. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as shiny objects are truly fantastic. Exiting stage left after “Talk” to the screams of thousands while my ears wailed the hearing-loss song, they were soon to return. At some point he ran through the crowd to sing part of a song from near the soundboard, but I can’t say exactly when, as I’m way late in writing this review. The screams got even louder as the crew returned to stage, following up their storming set with the more restrained “In my place”, which had a flingable light for Chris to play with, and “Fix you”, which everyone but me knew the words to.

Overall, Coldplay is a great show if you aren’t ashamed to say you enjoy them (I’m looking at you hipsters), though not quite worth the $80 admission, as the show was only 1.5 to 1.75 hours long. They rock a LOT harder than you would think, and they’re actually happy to be playing music for a living, so it makes for a vibrant show. Till next time, I’m Casey and I approve this-oooohhh shiny object.