While Coldplay have been around for quite some time (1998!) I only found out about them back in 2005 when a friend of mine told me she wanted to go see them live (it was their Twisted Logic tour, celebrating the album release). I still remember the first song she played me, sitting in her computer room at the top of the stairs. It was ‘Trouble‘.

I’ve had that exact poster for years, right opposite my bed 🙂

I can’t really say I immediately fell in love, but I liked it enough to say I’d go to the concert in November. And I guess that’s when it really started. Because the Coldplay magic doesn’t just happen in the recording studio, where they are superb of course, no, where it really happens is on stage. These guys have a way to draw you in that’s out of this world. They’re just as good, if not better on stage than they sound on CD.

I’ve been to see them thrice and even though the price of concert tickets keep increasing, next time they’re around, I’m going again. And I’ll buy more merchandise. Yes, yes, I do in fact own two Coldplay T-shirts and one hoodie. Hey, you gotta support them any way you can. That involves a lot more than just buying the albums I tell ya! 😛

A Coldplay concert is an amazing thing for me. I’ve seen a lot of people (the Rolling Stones, Nickelback, Beyoncé, P!NK, Paul McCartney to name but a few) and they’re all amazing and you sing along and clap and stomp and whatnot. But Coldplay… They make my heart stop, and my stomach flutter. Sharing songs like ‘Fix You‘, ‘Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall‘ or ‘Yellow‘ with hundreds of people is just… AWESOME.

And the second time I saw them, in December 2008, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends had just been released a few months earlier, and critics were all over the album (just like they’d been all over X&Y) saying that it was terribly bad and disappointing compared to their debut. But hearing ‘Viva La Vida‘ live, and singing along to it not only during the show, but afterwards on the way to the Tube, that was magical (it was at the O2 Arena, so people might know that you’re essentially herded into the tube station. I do hope the band heard us sing for the entire time it took us to get in. And even on the Tube.)

Flashing bracelets we got at the concert. I kept mine and it started flashing again the day ‘Charlie Brown’ came out. Mystery…

So many people have told me that liking Coldplay is like liking the suicide hotline. That their music is soooo depressing. That all their songs sound the same, and that they just keep getting worse. Even journalists pointed out that Coldplay was playing on the whole self-pity thing to sell more songs. Well, bite me. Coldplay music is beautiful, it makes you happy, it makes you sad. Some of their lyrics are really freaky and you wonder what they’re on about, others are just so insightful you’ll wonder what on Earth happened in the writer’s life.

I can’t remember exactly when it started (actually I think I do, but somehow my memory doesn’t match release dates etc., so I’m wondering wtf happened), but for years now I’ve been listening to Coldplay when I travel (the more albums they make the better, you can spend an entire day just listening to their music). When I used to get motion sickness on the coach, train or ferry, listening to them calmed me down. Even now, though I don’t get ill much anymore, I still listen to them out of reflex. It just puts me in the right mood to travel. I listen to it when I need cheering up, when I want to get ready for a party or on my way to work.

Being a singer myself, I even covered a little Coldplay in my time. There’s a video, but the sound isn’t great. Nor the slide show. Have a look here anyway. Speaking of covers, there’s a million out there, and it’s been in movies and on Glee and whatnot, but one of the best is this instrumental/African version of ‘Paradise‘ by The Piano Guys.

P.S. In case you were wondering, I have been listening to Coldplay the entire time I’ve written this article. *hums*

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Pictures from: google.com and me!