Coldplay, what to expect?

[shuttlep]

i swore blind I wasn't going to go. I had seen them in 05 and then in 11 I think it was and really enjoyed it but the new stuff wasn't hitting me hard.

 

everyone in our group was a bit tired and didn't knwo what to do . so we all just said lets go XColplay we will know songs and it will be a good sing song.

 

but what an amazing show they put on. the glowing things , the balls, the flares . great spectacle. we all loved it. best set of the weekend for me. Not the best set Ever The doves in John Peel in 2013 or 14  I forget which was the last time they played strill outshines everything

[djdavejohnson]

I'm interested to know what people's thoughts are on the Sunday night being one of the best ever in terms of great performances from main stage headliners? Are they any other nights from previous years that stand out?

[danbailey80]

It was incredible and I'm not a massive fan. One of the best sets I have seen. I can't help but think if it was on the Saturday it really would go down as a classic. 

[Quark]

15 minutes ago, djdavejohnson said:

I'm interested to know what people's thoughts are on the Sunday night being one of the best ever in terms of great performances from main stage headliners? Are they any other nights from previous years that stand out?

As a Sunday night closer on the Pyramid, Blur in '09 takes some beating.  Coldplay, I think, put on more of a 'show' (and I absolutely loved it btw), but the feeling in the crowd for Blur was something else.  Track down the video for Tender if you've not seen it or weren't there, one of their lower-profile singles but the crowd absolutely took over control of the proceedings from Mr Albarn.

Edited July 20, 2016 by Quark

[djdavejohnson]

23 minutes ago, Quark said:

As a Sunday night closer on the Pyramid, Blur in '09 takes some beating.  Coldplay, I think, put on more of a 'show' (and I absolutely loved it btw), but the feeling in the crowd for Blur was something else.  Track down the video for Tender if you've not seen it or weren't there, one of their lower-profile singles but the crowd absolutely took over control of the proceedings from Mr Albarn.

Just found a video - wow that looked fantastic! Blur are one of my all time favourites so gutted to have missed them. Hopefully they'll pop up again some day!

Do you know if the other main stage headliners that night delivered, in the same way LCD and EW&F did this year? Was '09 up there in that regard?

[FuzzyDunlop]

58 minutes ago, djdavejohnson said:

I'm interested to know what people's thoughts are on the Sunday night being one of the best ever in terms of great performances from main stage headliners? Are they any other nights from previous years that stand out?

My fav Sunday night headliners in order that I have seen:

Stevie Wonder 2010

QOTSA 2011

Cyndi Lauper 2016

The Prodigy 2009

Chems 2015

Kasabian 2014

Edited July 20, 2016 by FuzzyDunlop

[Quark]

34 minutes ago, djdavejohnson said:

Just found a video - wow that looked fantastic! Blur are one of my all time favourites so gutted to have missed them. Hopefully they'll pop up again some day!

Do you know if the other main stage headliners that night delivered, in the same way LCD and EW&F did this year? Was '09 up there in that regard?

09 had Neil Young (missed for Bloc Party but those who saw him reckon he was cracking; Bloc Party were pretty good), Bruce Springsteen (opinions vary but I thought he was epic) and Blur.

It was a good year for my first visit!

[CaledonianGonzo]

No evidence of a sales bounce for Coldplay, perhaps indicating a lack of wider resonance to the performance

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/28/adele-albums-top-charts-glastonbury-headline-performance

[djdavejohnson]

21 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

No evidence of a sales bounce for Coldplay, perhaps indicating a lack of wider resonance to the performance

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/28/adele-albums-top-charts-glastonbury-headline-performance

Although that article doesn't comment specifically on Coldplay's post-Glasto sales, I wouldn't be so sure to jump to that conclusion. Leading up to the festival 'A Head Full of Dreams' was at number 5, before jumping up to number 2 post-Glasto. 'Ghost Stories' also jumped from number 92 to number 55, with 'Mylo Xyloto', 'X&Y' and 'A Rush of Blood to the Head' also re-entering the chart.

It's true that Adele's '25' saw a bigger jump up the chart following her (may I add, bloody fantastic) headline slot, but the article does state that the fact that her album became stream-able during the same period likely contributed to those figures. In addition, from what I've read, Adele's new album appears to have been better received than Coldplay's offering, therefore I would have expected a bigger jump for Adele. She also started lower down in the pre-Glasto chart.

Taking all that into account I don't think sales are necessarily, or on their own at least, a great indicator for how well received Coldplay's performance was, although it would be interesting to find out what the actual figures were for both artists' albums.

Edited July 20, 2016 by djdavejohnson

[Spindles]

Beat me to it there djdave, was going to link to this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36686616

 

[djdavejohnson]

45 minutes ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

My fav Sunday night headliners in order that I have seen:

Stevie Wonder 2010

QOTSA 2011

Cyndi Lauper 2016

The Prodigy 2009

Chems 2015

Kasabian 2014

When those are put together like that, that's a fantastic list!

 

27 minutes ago, Quark said:

09 had Neil Young (missed for Bloc Party but those who saw him reckon he was cracking; Bloc Party were pretty good), Bruce Springsteen (opinions vary but I thought he was epic) and Blur.

It was a good year for my first visit!

Definitely not a bad first year at all!

[Quark]

50 minutes ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

My fav Sunday night headliners in order that I have seen:

Stevie Wonder 2010

QOTSA 2011

Cyndi Lauper 2016

The Prodigy 2009

Chems 2015

Kasabian 2014

Ooh I like that list.  Not had as many but

Levellers 2010 (I may have mentioned them once or twice before...)

Blur 2009

Coldplay 2016

Chems 2015

Mumford  2013

Feels like I've put Coldplay too far down but Blur just just just edge it for me.

[Quark]

2 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

In a place where Neil Young was regaling us with a banging 20 minute version of down by the river, a crunchingly loud Hey Hey My My and an amazing cover of a day in the life, people were seriously watching Bloc Party on their intimacy tour? 

Each to their own. 

I'm pleading first night of first Glastonbury ignorance.  Was supposed to meet up with friends at Other Stage, and rather than give it up as a lost cause I hung around to try and meet them rather than go and watch NY on my own.

Believe me Scruff, with that one and then missing Pet Shop Boys for Muse the following year, I've learned my lessons the hard way.

[TiZuff]

who cares about sales! the best night of live music ive seen this year along with arcade fire and radiohead. Never thought i would be saying that at the start of the year but they brought an incredible amount of fun and energy to the final night of a grueling week!

Still get a bit emotional watching bits back. 

Edited July 20, 2016 by TiZuff

[Spindles]

2 minutes ago, TiZuff said:

Still get a bit emotional watching bits back. 

I stuck it on this Sunday as a bit of background noise while I did some housework, halfway through and I was on my arse on the sofa with a cheesy grin getting nothing done with a spliff and a bottle of brothers.  

I'm not the biggest fan of their later material, but somehow when they play it live I really enjoy the songs regardless.  I've often compared them to the colour beige or that dust that builds up on the grille at the back of the fridge, but that's the 3rd time I've seen them at Glastonbury and the 3rd time it's been the best gig of the weekend for me.  Chris Martin is an entertaining frontman, who regularly cocks up, admits his weaknesses and just gets on and does the job he's best at regardless.  I loved the little comment about how their version of heroes has been received, or him chuckling "that was so wrong" when he hit a couple of bum notes, made it a bit more human than your usual "watch me press play on my laptop" performance that seems to be on the rise among festival headliners these days. 

[Ohinever]

Blur '09 was fantastic wasn't it? I only went as my missus is a big fan, and we were down to the right of the sound stage. Big group of late teens/early twenties lads around us and I remember at the time thinking how the press could have it so wrong about young 'uns, when these guys were basically lovely to share a gig with.

Barnstorming performance from Blur, emotional and uplifting.

 

"Oh my baby, oh my baby.....".

 

I became a fan right there.

 

 

[Quark]

2 minutes ago, mooro said:

"Oh my baby, oh my baby.....".

 

I became a fan right there.

 

 

The singalong during the song was amazing.  But the fact that the whole crowd was still singing it after the set had finished and everyone was walking off into the night was just incredible.

[Spindles]

1 minute ago, mooro said:

Big group of late teens/early twenties lads around us and I remember at the time thinking how the press could have it so wrong about young 'uns, when these guys were basically lovely to share a gig with.

Recurring theme at Glastonbury for me this.  I'd rather be by a group of happy bouncing enthusiastic young uns than some group who sit in chairs talking and looking at their phones for half the gig, then leap up for the one song they know, dance like your dad for 5 minutes before packing up and leaving.

Just now, Quark said:

The singalong during the song was amazing.  But the fact that the whole crowd was still singing it after the set had finished and everyone was walking off into the night was just incredible.

I was at the Prodigy that night (no regrets) and you could hear the singing all over the site, sounded fantastic.  I watched the gig back on iplayer and whatever magic was in that crowd I couldn't fathom from the broadcast performance myself.  A poll on this forum a couple of years back judged it the best Glastonbury headline set ever, so clearly it was something incredibly special for those who attended.

[maelzoid]

Coldplay were indeed fantastic. As a casual fan I knew I'd be in for some good lasers and confetti cannons, but was quite overwhelmed  by how good it was.  Given that it was quite an emotional weekend, they played a perfect set. The vibe in the crowd was great too.  Add to that the Viola Beach tribute and the #RightBazza cameo, and you've got a career best performance from them - I think that is the reason they'll not be back in a hurry, for fear of it being an anti-climax.

I felt sorry for Bono, though. Coldplay are now exactly the band U2 want to be - their spirit of community and optimism + the fact they play their new record and people like it.

[Spindles]

3 minutes ago, maelzoid said:

I felt sorry for Bono, though. Coldplay are now exactly the band U2 want to be - their spirit of community and optimism + the fact they play their new record and people like it.

Not enough upvotes in a day.

 

[Quark]

4 minutes ago, maelzoid said:

Coldplay were indeed fantastic. As a casual fan I knew I'd be in for some good lasers and confetti cannons, but was quite overwhelmed  by how good it was.  Given that it was quite an emotional weekend, they played a perfect set. The vibe in the crowd was great too.  Add to that the Viola Beach tribute and the #RightBazza cameo, and you've got a career best performance from them

Pretty much where I came from.  Knew roughly what to expect in terms of a show, but they absolutely nailed it.

 

11 minutes ago, Spindles said:

I watched the gig back on iplayer and whatever magic was in that crowd I couldn't fathom from the broadcast performance myself.  A poll on this forum a couple of years back judged it the best Glastonbury headline set ever, so clearly it was something incredibly special for those who attended.

I have absolutely no idea what it was, but it's certainly the only main stage headliner where I've experienced that complete involvement from the crowd in 5 visits.  Problem was that I then expected all Sunday night closers to be like that!

[Spindles]

4 minutes ago, Quark said:

Problem was that I then expected all Sunday night closers to be like that!

My first Glastonbury headliner was R.E.M, straight off the back of Gomez doing the sunset slot on Other.  Set myself up for failure after that.  It was a fair while til the festival delivered as magical a night as that for me and I'm glad to say that the frequency of such nights is definitely increasing.

[djdavejohnson]

4 minutes ago, Spindles said:

My first Glastonbury headliner was R.E.M, straight off the back of Gomez doing the sunset slot on Other.  Set myself up for failure after that.  It was a fair while til the festival delivered as magical a night as that for me and I'm glad to say that the frequency of such nights is definitely increasing.

First headliner I saw was Chic, followed by The Rolling Stones. That's gotta be up there, right?!

Ahem, I did watch Mumford & Sons on Sunday though. I didn't actually find it that bad - certainly I wouldn't go as far as some reviews on here that I've read! Having said that I think it was more to do with the group I was with / final headliner of the weekend / first Glastonbury combination more than anything else. And it didn't touch the previous two nights.

[Spindles]

Not a bad start at all   '13 was a really special year for me, the last time I got the whole family together, the weather was great, Friday night was spectacular, The stones exceeded all expectations, the weather was fantastic and I got to meet ME and gush like a slightly drunk fanboy (which I was).  I'm pretty sure it was the festival that coined the term "vintage year"

[djdavejohnson]

27 minutes ago, Spindles said:

Not a bad start at all   '13 was a really special year for me, the last time I got the whole family together, the weather was great, Friday night was spectacular, The stones exceeded all expectations, the weather was fantastic and I got to meet ME and gush like a slightly drunk fanboy (which I was).  I'm pretty sure it was the festival that coined the term "vintage year"

Ah that sounds just perfect