Grinds My Gears - Coldplay

First, let me start off by saying I like Coldplay. I'll admit that. I have several of their albums and enjoy many of their songs. Sure the lyrics sometimes aren't the deepest, as Dunsing put it, but the music is still good.

With that said, I know several people who went to the Coldplay concert last night here in Chicago (Mo & Dunsing, JB & Dana). I would have liked to go but this is definitely a band you bring a date to. You don't show up to a Coldplay concert with 4 dudes. Not cool.

I'm awaiting reviews of the concert from my friends tonight. As I love music and am not that busy at work today (typical Friday), I used the internet to look for the setlist and other people's reviews. I could not find the Chicago show but found other shows from the current tour.

Now here's what grinds my gears. I looked at the setlist and reviews for the show before Chicago. Good setlist. Great reviews. All seems good. Then I check out the previous show. Setlist looks similar. Wait, no the setlist is the same. Maybe the website is f'ed up. I proceed to check several more shows and realize the same thing - every setlist for every show is exactly the same. Wtf? Who are they Britney Spears?

Every review I read is great, except for the people who attended multiple shows. They have the same reaction. What's the point of touring if you're not going to change the songs? How do you intend to keep the "great live band" label if you have no surprises? Just do one show, put it on a cd, and sell it if this is your approach.

I would have been pissed if I went to the show and had seen a setlist beforehand and figured out halfway through that I knew every song coming up. Part of the fun of live shows is not knowing what's coming next, a sporadic change in a song, or playing cover songs.

I still intend to see Coldplay live someday as they really are supposed to put on a good show. But let's just keep it at one.