The tour was meant to introduce their most recent X&Y album. But as they have been touring for over a year, Singapore being one of their final destinations, the album was already familiar to the enthusiastic audience.

Our seats in the North wing was rather far off from the stage, but at least we got an unobstructed view of the band.

The indoor stadium was packed to full house capacity. This just shows how hot coldplay is! It took a long time to get everyone into the stadium and I was getting more impatient and restless by the minute. It was killing me! I couldn’t wait to see and hear Coldplay in person!

At 8:45pm the lights finally dimmed. The crowd erupted into cheers as handphone glows sprinkled across the stadium. The familiar voice of chris martin singing “square one” was heard. Then we saw the silhouette of the quartet juxtaposed against the white glowing panoramic screen with numbers counting down to zero. Coldplay was finally here!

The song Yellow really got the audience onto their feet. The band gave an upbeat performance that literally coloured the stadium yellow, from the glowing strobe lights to the giant yellow balls thrown into the audience (those balls remind me of the ones frequently thrown into the crowd during NDP). The crowd went crazy!

It was impossible to get a near-decent shot of the band onstage. Here’s a crappy photo.

Chris Martin is one awesome performer. From listening to Coldplay’s albums alone I had expected a slightly toned down performance of melancholic rock that they are known for. But chris martin really let fly his eccentric dance moves along with his earnest singing. You can see his energy and spirit. It’s obvious that the man truly loves and enjoys his own music.

Besides tracks from the X&Y album, crowd favourites such as The Scientist, Clocks, Politik and God Put a Smile upon Your Face were played. In My Place was no doubt my favourite performance of the night. Yeah… How long must you pay for him… Yeah… How long must you wait for him…” Argh! I love Coldplay!

Other than Chris’ flawless singing, I was wowed by the elaborate stage effects used throughout. It was one spectacular combination of strobe lights, laser beams and constantly changing panoramic video in the background. At one point, red laser beams shot out in all directions from the stage. Other effects include colour-inverted real-time footage of the band playing onstage, a little bear wandering about aimlessly, stars moving towards you in the universe, coloured blocks reminiscent of the X&Y album cover, etc. The most memorable stage effect for me was the handwritten list of songs projected onto the stage and the audience. Everything was just so well put together!

As the concert drew to an end, I got worried that my most favourite song would not be played. That’s none other than Fix You. My fears were unfounded of course. That was also the favourite song of many people in the crowd, and coldplay saved the best for the last.

And then it was over. As people streamed out of the stadium, enthused exclamations of “that was the best concert I have ever attended!” could be heard in the crowd. And it really was!

I simply can’t get enough of Coldplay. Right away after the concert we adjoined to the Cozy Bay Bar where I cycled through all the photos I took on the digital camera. I was dismayed to find that there wasn’t a single clear shot! Argh! Even as I fell asleep last night, Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head album was playing on the ipod. And so was it as I came to work this morning. I call this the “post-concert syndrome” that I similarly suffered from after the Kenny G concert earlier this year. At that time I was listening to all his albums day in and day out for weeks!

Right now I have half the mind to fly over to Bangkok next month to catch keane’s one-night concert on August 9. Somebody stop me!

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