Coldplay – VB, VA – 5/20/09

Seeing an international band in my hometown of Virginia Beach is a rare experience. It makes you feel noticed and appreciated, even when opening act Pete Yorn yells out “Thank you West Virginia!”

Now I am not the biggest Coldplay fan in the world. In fact, I might even have referred to them once or twice as a “the U2 rip-off known as “Coldgay”. But my wife is a big fan and I am a good husband. AND most importantly, the tickets were only $10. (Seriously)

So my skepticism was in full effect as we made our way through the packed lawn. It was a fairly obvious crowd consisting of many, many young white people. All wide-eyed and grinning for AN EVENING IN THE PARK, WITH COLDPLAY. The amphitheater erupted in high-pitched jubilation as the quartet took the stage. They opened with a familiar sounding tune right as I snuck my third mini-bottle of Jack into a coke. Unimpressed, I nodded my head as the others screamed in pure ecstasy.

It wasn’t until the third of fourth song in, when I finally decided to give these guys a shot. The breakdown halfway thru the song “42″ was a turning point in a night otherwise headed for crude drunkenness and British jokes. That song singlehandedly captured my interest and was the crack in my rigid shell of cynicism. So when they followed it with my secret favorite Coldplay song “Fix You’, I was hooked. Truth be told, if you don’t like that song live, you’re an asshole. No matter how indie/emo/lo-fi/anti/too-cool-for-school you think you are. It’s a definite winner for anyone interested in A) rock,  B) roll or C) all of the above.

What followed was an energetic and colorful mixture of acoustic ballads, piano solos and entertaining live rock. What else can you ask for? So while I’m still too proud to agree with the 40 year old loner hanging out in the parking lot who shouted, “That was f@#*ing awesome!” I will say this, it was MUCH better than I expected. You won’t catch me rocking out to a Coldplay album in traffic anytime soon but I definitely recommend catching them on this summer’s tour.

Especially if you can do so for 10 bucks!