The Best Rock Band in the World

I interrupt my self-imposed blog celibacy to report on our trip this weekend to see Coldplay, a special treat to celebrate my husband's birthday (a Big 0 landmark one.) I chose a nice hotel which turned out to be an excellent choice, since they acknowledged the specialness of the occasion with complimentary champagne. Nice.

For those who don't know, we live on a farm some distance from any of the big cities. Sydney is slightly closer and when we head to the city that's where we usually head. This time the Melbourne concert dates suited better and we discovered that the drive is easy and hassle-free due to a (relatively) new freeway. At least it would have been hassle-free if not for a road closure and detour 3 blocks from our hotel. Three short blocks too, I kid you not! We'd just finished congratulating each other on not getting lost, on making such good time. I was dreaming of the champagne bar as a nice relaxing precursor to the concert. Ha. What I hadn't counted on was arriving in Melbourne as the crowd was exiting the Saturday afternoon football. Those last 3 blocks took almost an hour and soaked up all my champagne bar time.

Moving right along to the concert...

Coldplay is THE best rock band in the world, I won't even debate that with you. Their set on Saturday night included most of their biggest and most recognizable songs. Yellow was accompanied by the release of huge yellow balloons filled with confetti. Oh, and we had GREAT seats, which I have to mention because of the hassle in getting them. Well worth it.

Chris Martin owned the stage with his energetic and charismatic presence. He's like the energiser bunny unleashed--a long-limbed, enormously flexible bunny at that. He'd be a whiz at yoga. When he wasn't bounding around and contorting himself into impossible angles, he was hunched over the keyboards or tearing through the crowd to the top of the stadium.

I could go on...and on and on, but like holiday photos I think concert stories fall into the you-had-to-be-there basket. I *was* there and I'm sooooo glad I was. There's nothing quite like the rush of a live show or the whoomp-whoomp-whoomp of amplified bass thumping through your blood. Makes a tired old soul feel young and alive and energized...which is exactly what I needed, with only 3 weeks until I leave for Atlanta and a stack THIS high of work to do beforehand.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear about your favourite bands and/or live show experiences and/or what you've done lately that's excited or energized you. Anyone done anything/seen anything/read anything really fun lately?