The anticipation had been building for days, my sister and mom had told me they had a surprise in store for me and i tried not to get to excited seeing as it probably wasn’t something to get my hopes up for, but as always i did. Sitting in class i began to wonder about what it could possibly be? A new laptop? A Phone?, but why was my sister so excited? Thats when i realized it, my sister and i had been obsessed with Coldplay since their latest album came out, not that we weren’t devoted fans before, but now even more so. I quickly took a friends phone, since I had broken mine, and checked the concert dates. There it was, Coldplay live May 4, 2012, i figured i’d guessed pretty well.

Venue:

               The Hollywood Bowl is the largest outdoor amphitheater in the United States.  It was made in the early 1900’s and the first play performed there was Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in 1916. Since then the hollywood bowl has become a sort of landmark in LA, that symbolizes al the great artists who had come to play there in the past. Hundreds of orchestras and people have performed their. Orchestras like the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and The Los Angeles Philharmonic and people like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Madonna and ABBA. Playing genres ranging from Classical, Jazz, World Music and musical theater to Rock ‘n’ roll and Pop.

Background:

                Coldplay is a British rock band formed in 1996 at the University College of England by the lead singer, Chris Martin, and lead guitarist, Johnny Buckland. Over time there other members, bassist, Guy Berryman, and Drummer, Will Champion, also joined the band. They became famous after releasing their breakthrough single “Yellow” After several more albums like ” A Rush Of Blood to the Head”, “X & Y” and “Viva la Vida or Death and all his Friends”, eight Brit Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, four Billboard awards and seven Grammys, here we are with their latest album, Mylo Xyloto. The Mylo Xyloto Tour was named the fourth-highest-grossing tour worldwide of 2012 with more than $171.3 million earned in ticket sales.

Traffic/Parking:

               No matter where you’re coming from and what concert you’re going to the traffic to get into the Hollywood Bowl is absolutely horrible. It seems like hours and hours of bumper to bumper traffic, you can hear the honks of angry LA citizens just trying to pass through. The Parking is no better than the traffic. If you’re parking in the Hollywood Bowl lot than the price is $5 a person, if you’re parking at an offsite lot than it can range anywhere from 15 to 50 dollars and the prices change often. Despite the hassle with driving, its still worth it to go, and you can always take buses.

Atmosphere:

                As the opening act began to end, the sun began to go down, and the seats in the arena seemed to be about full, you could begin to feel the excited energy of anxious fans who’ve been waiting for hours, days,  even months to see them play live, drifting the the air. As the Back To The Future theme song came on, the band stepped on stage  and  began their first song of the night, ” Hurts Like Heaven”, you could here the roar of thousands of fans screaming and shouting for them.The night continued to be upbeat and energetic, the bracelets we received began to glow when certain songs came on and the arena looked like thousands of stars waving in the air. The frantic looking lights on stage and the continuous circulation of giant bouncy balls through the crowd kept the mood excited and happy, but it quickly turned somber when they started to play slower songs leading up to a tribute to the Beastie Boys, whose member, Adam Yauch died that day. In honor of him they did a slower, more melancholy rendition of the Beastie Boys song “( You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)”

They continued the melancholy theme with “A Hopeful Transmission” and ” Dont Let it Break your Heart” , they not only played songs from their new album but old ones too, like “Violet Hill” and “Viva La Vida”. They eventually got back into the cheerful atmosphere with songs like “Paradise” and walked off stage. I was confused, the crowd was confused, could this be it? I expected more… when all of a sudden i heard a deafening roar come from the audience in the middle of the crowd. And we saw them, standing on a miniature stage in the middle of the crowd, where they started to play acoustic versions of their music that were barely discernible over the thunderous sounds of the audience. They ended the night with an upbeat song to change the mood of the crowd, now back on the main stage, they finished with ” Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” Leaving the crowd feeling energetic and happy.

Yes or No?

The amazing music and the overall experience  was one hundred percent worth the trouble of driving there and the cost of the tickets. It was very interactive with the audience and fun to participate in. If theres a concert nearby go! I would go again and if you don’t listen to their music you should start.