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Coldplay Setlist
Tour Dates
08/19/2017 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans
08/21/2017 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre 08/22/2017 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre 08/25/2017 Houston, TX NRG Stadium 08/28/2017 Miami Gardens, FL Hard Rock Stadium 09/22/2017 Las Vegas, NV T-Mobile Arena 09/23/2017 Seattle, WA CenturyLink Field 09/26/2017 Edmonton, AB Rogers Place 09/27/2017 Edmonton, AB Rogers Place 09/29/2017 Vancouver, BC BC Place 10/02/2017 Portland, OR Moda Center 10/04/2017 Santa Clara, CA Levi's Stadium 10/06/2017 Pasadena, CA Rose Bowl 10/08/2017 San Diego, CA Qualcomm Stadium Read More
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In these ever- contentious times, the chance to have a couple hours of escapist joy has become more important, and this one literally gave us all both love and light –
UK quartet Coldplay brought the ninety-fifth show of its Head Full of Dreams Tour to a sold-out US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, its first stadium show in the area and filled their set with a visual spectrum of lights and effects that made it the musical version of The Color Run.
Those that arrived early enough and managed their way through the stadium’s security lines, were rewarded with a couple of opening sets, including the beginning one from buzzing London singer-songwriter Izzy Bizu, in support of her debut full-length, A Moment of Madness (Epic Records).
“Such an honor to be in this stadium, it’s gorgeous!” she beamed, happy to see the people that had made it in were all at least giving her a chance, probably having not heard of her previous. Songs like ‘Lost Paradise’, ‘What Makes You Happy’, and ‘Someone That Loves You’ (a collaboration with HONNE) were all as cool as the other side of the pillow, Bizu’s smooth vocals starting the night like a chill evening breeze to set the stage for the rest of the show.
Next up was another London-based act, the duo known as Alunageorge (singer-songwriter Aluna Francis and producer George Reid) in support of last fall’s I Remember (Island Records) and who have released a handful of non-album singles this year, along with having guested on a recent single from Avicii. Like Bizu, Francis seemed completely comfortable on the massive stage, moving left to right in a memorable candy cane red and whited striped outfit.
“Turning up on a stage like this is unbelievable!” Francis said, her voice echoing throughout, noting all the acts have gotten to know each and are supporting of one another, then going into the catchy ‘Best Be Believing’. ‘Mean What I Mean’ was a song about making consent sexy, ‘Heartbreak Horizon’ turned things up in a Beyonce way, and Francis skipped down the runway with a red balloon for ‘Turn Up the Love’.
After break, the lights again dimmed to crowd cheers.. . and the sound of opera?! A Maria Callas song gave way to an extended soundbite from the classic film, The Great Dictator, and taped fan intros introducing Coldplay for their two-hour headlining set. The stage was filled with colorful flowers and accoutrements, a center runway, huge screens on right and left, as well as a center screen.
In addition to their seventh full-length A Head Full of Dreams (Parlaphone/Atlantic Records) the band has released a companion EP, Kaleidoscope and opened with the album’s title track before giving way to their 2000 breakthrough ‘Yellow’, with the complicated stage lights all turning that color.
The quartet has remained the same four (Guy Berryman; Jonny Buckland; Will Champion; Chris Martin) since we first saw them in the area, at First Avenue in 2002; and most impressively, it was just the four on stage and not another dozen side players, like so many stadium-size acts employ. Martin remains the humblest of first-tier performers, sincerely grateful saying early, “This is the ninety-fifth show of our tour. As far as we’re concerned, that’s ninety-four rehearsals for Minnesota”.
Prince was given due respect early in the set also, as Martin segued into a verse of ‘Raspberry Beret’ as the outro of a touching ‘The Scientist’ and ad-libbed “I wanna play in the place where Prince was born” as well as a nod to the Vikings in ‘God Put a Smile Upon Your Face’.
The Color Run is a charity 5k run where runners are showered with bright colored powder at several stations and the show at times, felt like a musical equivalent of this, filled with confetti, color burst cannons, a balloon drop, pyro, and even indoor fireworks. Additionally, each person entering was given a “Love” metal pin and “Light”-a Xyloband to wear- an RFID activated light up bracelet, that made everyone a willing participant simply by holding their hand in the air as they flickered in synchronicity- something they’ve used since 2012, but still impressive to watch 45,000 colored lights in sync with the music.
Not only was there a smaller B-Stage at the end of the long stage runway, but also an even smaller C-stage at the far end of the arena, making the experience more intimate than the spanning building might first suggest. In terms of sound, from the lower level, the mix was (surprisingly) clean and clear, minimizing most of the over-boominess present in any stadium.
Before piano soloing on ‘Everglow’(which would end with a Muhammad Ali soundbite), Martin thanked the crowd for going through “all the shenanigans” to be there, calling out each section of the arena to say formally say hello, as well as touched on recent events and urged the audience to send their love out, to those that need it most.
‘Clocks’ brought out their impressive laser lights and ‘Charlie Brown’ was stopped just as it began, in order for Martin to get the crowd to ask the crowd to put away their phones and to cheer louder, before re-starting the song. ‘Vida la Vida’ remains an impressive anthem, marked by drummer Champion ringing the bell with fervor, and ‘Adventure of a Lifetime’ had Martin walking like a monkey (a la the video) while Buckland’s underrated guitar work carried the song.
Another acoustic mini-set found the band on the smaller C-stage late in the set, which included an impressive ‘Don’t Panic’ with drummer Champion providing the vocals instead of Martin, and the band taking a video request to play ‘Us Against the World’ ,before the show culminated back on the main stage. ‘Something Just Like This’, the band’s biggest hit this decade, and ‘A Sky Full of Stars’ were crowd sing-a-longs before the band closed with ‘Up&Up’ and its hopeful lyric to leave us with, “I know we're gonna get it, get it together somehow”.
With light bands still blinking and love buttons adorning their collars, the crowd filtered out orderly, happy to have seen Coldplay in concert, taking the love and light with them out into the night, with yes, a head full of dreams.
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Coldplay Poster |
Izzy Bizu |
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Alunageorge |
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Coldplay Setlist |
Coldplay Love and Xylo Light band |
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Coldplay (Jonny Buckland) |
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Coldplay (Chris Martin) |
Coldplay (Will Champion) |
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Coldplay at US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis (12 Aug 2017) |
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