2005 ACL Fest Home > Reports from the ACL Festival > Archives > 2005 > September > 25 > Entry
Coldplay makes it all worthwhile
Despite the three days of heat, and despite the settling fog of headache-inducing dust (I suspect we’ll be bleeding dirt for weeks), a majority of festers still dragged themselves to Coldplay’s flashy event-ending set. Of course, being the final hour-and-a-half-long act gave Chris Martin’s quartet the right to be as theatrical as Cher and as self-righteous as U2’s Bono. The big-screen camera shots and negative-exposure effects didn’t help their music, but it sure didn’t hurt the experience.
“Politik,” “Yellow” and “The Scientist” were more than just crowd pleasers — their inspired singer, Martin, immersed himself in each song with a passion matching what his studio albums have captured. With the subtle addition of guitarist Jon Buckland and quaking bassist Guy Berryman, the songs adopted Coldplay’s most anthemlike sound yet.
Perhaps they were trying to prove themselves as ACL’s last act. Intimidated by an earlier headliner, the Arcade Fire, Martin gracefully admitted that bands like Fire, “should make you try all the more hard.” Another inspiration was Johnny Cash, to whom they paid homage with an English-accented “Ring of Fire.” (Does this mean that Trent Reznor is going to start to cover Coldplay?)
After encore songs “Clocks” and “Fix You,” the show came to an end. The soft piano melody on “Clocks” was as hauntingly loud as ever, and “Fix You” vibrated with an acoustic flutter. Gritty figures sifted out of the concert grounds with one thought in mind: If this kind of show keeps up, Martin’s crew could easily leave Dave Matthews and his cronies in the dust.
Comments
By JAS
September 26, 2005 08:39 AM | Link to this
Dust is right. I left because of the dust. I really, really wanted to see Coldplay, but my respiratory system said, “no.” It’s terrible that quite a few people who paid good money for tickets had to leave because of the dust. Don’t misunderstand; I’m not blaming anybody. Who knew? I packed rain gear.
JAS
By eliza t
September 26, 2005 03:47 PM | Link to this
god i wanted to go so bad you people are only hurting me more
By Kirk Jordan
September 26, 2005 04:19 PM | Link to this
Dave Matthews? That’s a joke, right?
By odam
September 26, 2005 05:54 PM | Link to this
Coldplay is the 21st century Bread. That’s not meant as a compliment.
By SILVIA
September 26, 2005 10:22 PM | Link to this
COLDPLAY’S SET WAS AMAZING. I WAS BEYOND BLOWN AWAY AND CAN HONESTLY SAY I WOULD HAVE PAID THE MONEY FOR THE 3 DAY PASS JUST TO SEE THEM PERFORM. I WOULD SEE THEM AGAIN IN A HEART BEAT. BEST SHOW IVE EVER SEEN!!
By dusthurts
September 26, 2005 10:59 PM | Link to this
Are there any doctors reading this? My friends and I want to know what effects the dust can have on us, what we can do to prevent infection. I know five people who woke up in the middle of the night sweating including myself. How long will this coughing, sneezing, and pain in my chest last? It sounded like a freaking nursing home in the crowd last night. P.S. Coldplay was good once the dust blew away.
By annie choi
September 27, 2005 12:50 AM | Link to this
yes, the dust was unbearable but Coldplay was well worth the wait. Chris Martin was awesome and he was great about understanding what the fans went through to see his show.
By Rachel R.
September 27, 2005 01:25 AM | Link to this
Coldplay is an awesome band, as is Dave Matthews Band. Anyone with a real appreciation for music can respect a band that has toured for 15 years straight. Don’t Hate!!
By Dana
September 27, 2005 01:55 AM | Link to this
Jeff, I really don’t share your sentiment about Chris Martin being as theatrical as Cher and as self-righteous as Bono, nor do I appreciate your word choice [intimidate]. What I heard was inspiration! Chris was moved and inspired by the Arcade Fires’ performance and he wasn’t afraid to talk about it! I really enjoyed Chris Martin’s ease on stage, his gift for engaging the crowd, and of course his musical genius. Why the comaprison to Dave Matthews? Dave is Dave and Coldplay is Coldplay, both are phenominal!
By Mute
September 27, 2005 03:01 AM | Link to this
Comparing Coldplay’s show to Dave Matthews’ was a horrible thing to do. The fact that you couldn’t think of a better band than DMB makes me a tad sad. Good article otherwise I guess.
By cmc
September 27, 2005 03:46 AM | Link to this
The two encore songs were “In My Place” and “Fix You”, NOT “Clocks” and “Fix You”.
By Lawn Chairs Bite
September 27, 2005 09:27 AM | Link to this
Clocks wasn’t one of the encore songs. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.
By jay
September 27, 2005 04:17 PM | Link to this
Well, coming 70 miles to see Wilco and Coldplay, my friend and I were dissapointed at the dust. A suggestion, water trucks the night before to lay down water so it’s not so dusty the next day. And, put the closing stage on a stage that’s not in a downhill part of the field. But other than that, Wilco was cool. But we had to leave due to the dust. Maybe next time.
By Scoop Jackson
September 27, 2005 05:24 PM | Link to this
Coldplay was corny. The video show was stolen from Radiohead’s 2004 Coachella performance. Martin’s odd commentary about how after seeing Arcade Fire they all decided to quit and he was going to be a model. Boring. But, I’ll be sure to look them up when I am going through a midlife crisis.
By Susan T
September 28, 2005 12:20 AM | Link to this
I’m glad that the masses were happy with Coldplay, but they’re a second-rate band, at best, and will soon flash in their pan. The comment that they are today’s version of Bread was really an insult to Bread, but a tasty note, nonetheless.
The true stars of the festival were Jet, without any NEW real competition that I saw, though I saw plenty of good bands. Nobody else EXCEEDED the passion of their album (that’s the POINT of live shows, not to simply match the studio version) as did those boys, who are like latter-day rockin’ Beatles or first-few-albums Stones, with some hints of all the classics from Traffic to Television to the Who thrown in, but remarkably made modern and all their own. And performed con mucho gusto, the way it should be.
Whiny falsetto-boy music comes and goes, but rock-and-roll is here to stay, so Jet, Bloc Party, Robert Randolph, Drive-By Truckers, Steve Earl, Widespread Panic, Black Keys and Nic Armstrong deserve the credit for truly providing the spirit of ACL ‘05 for me. (I didn’t get to see Dave Alvin, so cannot comment.) Buddy Guy of course is in a master class all his own and shall not be lowered to comparison with the student body.
But really the only embarassment that I saw was Roky Erikson, as much as it pains to say it; in a forum like ACL Fest, garage music that just about everyone with a Telecaster could do about as well just didn’t cut it.
Actually, I guess ennui can be embarassing, so include Oasis and Lyle Lovett in the above assessment, because they were just boring, as was Coldplay, so I’d suggest the organizers try to get just one bangup band like REM, then spend the rest on smaller, more up-and-coming acts in the future, when they move it to mid-October and make water free.
By Susan T
September 28, 2005 12:24 AM | Link to this
Believe it or not, according to News8 Austin, they did water down the field nightly.
I agree that they should close at the Cingular stage; I think they don’t because people can hear AND see bits of that stage as they wait in line or get their bikes, etc., so having the closer at the far end discourages people from leaving early and forces us to walk past the vendors one last time….
Good suggestion; I hope that they listen to it. Thanks.
By vicente
September 28, 2005 05:13 AM | Link to this
I agree with Susan T. Coldplay is as lame as it gets. Why dont we all just sit down and cry for two hours at home instead. Horrible choice for a festival closer. There needs to be more blues, rock, and punk none of this fake and depressing music. What do they call it Emo? Comparing them to DMB is like comparing Rice’s football program to Southern Cal’s program. They might become the next U2 but who likes U2 anyways.