So my school's debate team abruptly bowed out of the competition after an intense debate with SSI. Shite, but that doesn't matter a single thing at all, I'm here to talk about my unforgettable experience during 23 March 2009.......
"The show's TOO GOOD...TOO GOOD!! FANTASTIC! MIND BLASTING!!" were the words I said after I attended the Coldplay concert. Yes people, I attended *THE* COLDPLAY concert that was held in Singapore. One of you people might be having Green Eyes right now, hahaha....
So, even though we actually got the tickets but the journey to the Singapore Indoor Stadium was quite a fairytale journey I would say, I could make a movie out of this....
Okay, it first began when my brother Marvin and I alongside his friends Leroy, Brian, Nigel, and Vinesh met at Orchard Road. Then, we took a bus to the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Even though we were three hours early, but what the heck, just like they say, "The early bird catches the worm".
While waiting for the official merchandise to go on sale, Leroy was charming the ticket seller in order to get some free posters. I wondered why was he using his charisma just to get a poster but it might be something else......
As we bought the expensive merchandise, we were given the most tempting offer.......A ticket upgrade...meaning that we can change our original seatings to the moshpit seatings...which also means that our seatings are THE CLOSEST TO THE STAGE.....
Everyone was like "Oh shit! That's the nearest we can get to Chris Martin and the band!!!" The total amount of tickets were $251 but there's just one thing....WE ARE SHORT OF MONEY!!!!
Truthfully, we regretted buying the merchandise since it cost 10% of our money. We were dying to get those seatings. It was like a penalty-shootout in a Champions League final...Besides that, we needed all the tickets we bought in order to get an upgrade. Because of that, we were anxiously waiting for Joel and his friend to come.
We tried many ways to get those tickets. We tried converting Ringgit to Singapore dollar, we tried asking money from our Indonesian friends, and Leroy even tried to take money out of the ATM machine but all plans failed....
But the tables are turned when a woman which Leroy mistakenly called 'Auntie', who was standing at the back queue the entire time saw how desperate we are and was willing to help us. When we successfully got the upgrade the tickets to better seats, we were jumping in joy as we took a picture with our 'saviour'....
Here is the best part...Before she left, she told how nice we are and intended to write about this in her blog. When she gave her name card and said "I'm a reporter,", we were shouting "Oh my God!!"
Wondered why? her name card shows that she's a reporter for guess what? BLOOMBERG!!! Yes people, a Bloomberg reporter she is. To know more about our saviour, check her reports under her name, Claire Leow....EPIC.....
Minutes before we entered the stadium, we were standing right in front of the Premier Entrance! I really sympathise the other people watching concert who had to enter those stupid entrances which are a floor up.....
As we entered the stadium, we got our seats and enjoyed a glimpse of the stage. Then, two or three seats next to us was some familiar-looking guy in a red shirt and glasses...it was former Singapore Idol contestant Joakim Gomez......Seriously....
Most of you might not remember him but most girls do. Really...to make the girls back at JB jealous, Joel called his female friends and put Joakim on the phone, causing them to squeal like they just saw a cockroach on the floor. Truthfully, Joakim was just a normal guy, we had a normal conversation about how we got here, telling Joakim that there's Channel 5 in Singapore (Which he doesn't seem to realise) and joking around with the word lepak( which he knew)......Then, we took a picture with him...
Finally, the concert began with the opening act, Mercury Rev. Even though we don't know their songs but we came out with a rocking performance.........
Suddenly, the lights went out and the Viva La Vida album cover appeared, applause and screaming followed. Out of nowhere, Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland and Will Champion appeared swinging fireworks and started the show with the instrumental Life in Technicolor....
After that, the band began playing Violet Hill and Chris Martin was joking around by dragging the outro of the songs.
Then, they went on to play classics like Clocks, In My Place, and of course, Yellow.....
Like I said, EPIC.....
Then, they surprisingly played the Prospekt's March track Glass of Water. After that,they played Cemetries of London, 42, and the stadium anthem Fix You......
Minutes later, the band belted out songs such as one of my favourites, Strawberry Swing. Later after that, they went to the right side of the stage platform and performed the techno mix of God Put A Smile Upon Yor Face, Talk and a piano-only version of The Hardest Part.
As Chris Martin was playing Postcards From Far Away, he rushed to the stage as Viva La Vida began playing. Then, he went to my side of the platform and ended up lying down on the stage as everyone in the stadium was chanting "WOO-OOAAAHH!!" over and over again...until he did a backroll and started singing Lost!.....
Then, they went up straight up to the upper row of the stage and they performed The Monkees' I'm a Believer, Speed of Sound and Will Champion's track Death Will Never Conquer.....
This is the part where the concert got more epic....
Chris Martin instructed all of us to whip out our cellphones to do the 'Mexican Cellphone Wave' as they went back to the stage to perform Politik. Then, Lovers In Japan was played and thousands of butterfly confetti fell from the top. I managed to get a bag of confetti (HaHa!) as a souvenir. Then, they went on to play Death and All of His Friends and left the stage.
As we shouted "Encore! Encore! Encore! Encore!", Chris came back with his coloured jackets ( the one that they wore during the Grammys) and wowed us with The Scientist and ended the show with Life in Technicolor ii.....
As I got out, I almost lost my voice after singing ( or SCREAMING) all of the songs. Yes, ALL OF THE SONGS...
I took a bus back to JB and slept with aching legs. After that night, "Now my feet won't touch the ground".....
Cheers,
-Tim-
