Coldplay sets Nice on fire

“Coldplay at Charles Ehrmann Stadium, Tuesday May 22nd” was the long-awaited event. And it’s by setting the (fireworks) ablaze on the Nice music scene that the band takes to the stage. First seconds of the show, we’re already blown away, the caliber of the show is announced!

Chris Martin and his band had planned to start their concert at 10pm, making room for two opening acts and a transition screen that encouraged us to put on our bracelets (distributed at the entrance), but… why on earth?

Each of the approximately 50,000 people present that Tuesday had a colored bracelet on their arm that lit up at the band’s discretion, even blinking to the rhythm of certain songs. The park transforms into a giant tavern of fireflies sprayed with confetti and admiring of the light beams projected into the sky.

What resources! A real machine.

But not only that. Because beyond this extraordinary staging, Coldplay is above all a group of damn good musicians, passionate and committed when they share their live compositions. Pop-rockers who seem healthy and athletic. Definite musicality, super well-timed songs… The concert is both very fresh, with the acidic notes we know well from them, and also assuredly rock on certain tracks letting the drummer loose on enchanting dark rhythmics. A beautiful melodic mix that gets you pumped up, all in images since even from the back of the stadium, thanks to giant round screens, you can see the musicians’ hands on their instruments, their concentrated faces and Chris’s movements towards the crowd.

Their greatest hits are all there, from “In My Place” to “Paradise” via “Viva la Vida” and “Clocks,” you’ll hear in the crowd “that’s my favorite one!!!” Beautiful discoveries also on tracks from the new album, “Mylo Xyloto,” and especially vocal flights by Martin who has no problem whatsoever moving from one octave to another.

Time passes too quickly and as the end of the show approaches, we find ourselves cordoned off by red and white banners, held by security personnel who carve a path through this human mass that came to applaud the band. But for whom? For what? Surely it’s not Gwyneth who’s going to arrive here to join her dear and beloved on stage? Or maybe singer Rihanna? The latter having appeared a few songs earlier, for a virtual duet, on the stage screens.

Well no, the path was set up in a few minutes to welcome the band itself, who will perform their encore away from the main stage, for the great pleasure of the “south entrance/standing lawn” who pull out cameras, iphones, androids & co. to immortalize this moment.

When you ask the crowd for a verdict, the words that come up most often are: “magical,” “mythical,” “enormous,” “great.” In short, nothing very unpleasant 😉

Coldplay, a band you’re happy to listen to in the car or at home, but also and undoubtedly a band to discover on stage, like all the greats of this world.

At 11:30pm, end of the show, sorry that it’s already over.

“Lights go out and we can’t be saved…”