Coldplay and Rilo Kiley at Madison Square Garden

The sold out Coldplay and Rilo Kiley concert at MSG was fantastic. The music group Rilo Kiley was the opening act, and they featured several songs from their "More Adventurous" album. The band featured keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, and sometimes the trumpet. The lead vocals sounded clear and, overall, the playing was quite polished. They gave a solid performance and played for about an hour. See their website at: www.rilokiley.com

For the main event, the band Coldplay took the stage to a packed audience. The band members are: Chris Martin (lead vocals), Jon Buckland (lead guitar), Will Champion (drums), and Guy Berryman (bass player). The stage setup was piano at center stage, guitar to the left, bass to the right, and drums in the center towards the back of the stage. The sound system was more than adequate for the venue with the speakers suspended from the ceiling and a large screen monitor (roughly the width of the stage) for viewing the band members enlarged and other images. For the spotlights, three guys climbed ladders to the ceiling, and they maneuvered them around the band members. Now, on to the music.

A fitting beginning to the concert was their first track from their latest album X&Y called "Square One." The song that starts, "You're in control is there anywhere you want to go?" The entire Garden was on their feet and, for most of the songs, quite a few people were singing along. As a lot of you Coldplayers know, these guys can really play well live. Regarding sound quality, Chris Martin's vocals were clear and discernable. Also, the band's bass, guitar, and drums came through without any unwanted distortion or feedback. They were great. They then played: "Politik", "Yellow" (Large yellow balloons were released into the audience.), "God Put A Smile Upon My Face" (Martin plays acoustic.), "Speed of Sound", "Low" (Martin plays electric guitar. Many in the audience flash their cameras when the words on the stage monitor say to.), "Rush of Blood to the Head" (Martin is back on acoustic guitar.), "Everything's Not Lost" (An ode to autumn approaching in NY with Martin at the keys.), "White Shadows" (Martin dances around the stage and hits the high notes quite well.), "Scientist" (This is one of their hits, and it features Jon Buckland on acoustic and electric guitars.)

Then, the entire band goes to the front of the stage to play several songs with Will Champion playing the keys (instead of the drums), Berryman on acoustic, Buckland on electric guitar, and Martin on acoustic. For this portion of the concert, they played: "Til Kingdom Come" (Dedicated to Johnny Cash), Johnny Cash's song "Ring of Fire" (Berryman played some sparkling harmonica.), and "Green Eyes."

The band then reverts back to their prior setup with Champion back on the drums, and he sure knows how to hit the skins. They continued with "Clocks," which featured a powerful, rockin' bass by Guy Berryman, and then "Talk."

Now, for the encore, they played "Swallowed in the Sea" with Martin doing a marvelous job at the keys. Then, they performed "In My Place" and, finally, "Fix You"—perhaps their most popular track from their latest album X&Y. While performing "Fix You", Martin spun a lantern around that was hanging from the ceiling. The crowd sang along, and it was an excellent way to cap off the concert with another one of their hits. We cheered when the band took their bows, and we all went home at least two percent better than when we arrived at MSG.

Here is a link to Coldplay's website: www.coldplay.com

Coldplay is also involved with the following website: www.maketradefair.com