Finally, a GOOD Alpine Valley experience

Saturday night I saw Coldplay at Alpine Valley. Last time I was there, the evening was a bitter, bitter comedy of errors. Gina and I were hoping to fare better this time. We left around 3:45, aiming to get a decent parking spot in the Giant Field of NeverGettingOut and meander inside around gate-opening time.

I can't say I was super excited going into this show. I was already a bit prejudiced against Alpine Valley (see above) and I'm none too fond of the most recent Coldplay album. But I'd scored 2 pit tickets (rather lackadaisically, to tell you the truth), so Gina and I decided we were up for it. We waited in a long line for our turn to filter through the gates, and then spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out where the hell the pit wristbands were being distributed. We finally got them, managed not to tumble headlong down the steep hill, and got some very nice second row spots a little left of center stage.

Rilo Kiley opened the show, and I'm sorry to say I didn't enjoy them much. I liked the album I heard in Paul's car (which was the sum total of my Rilo Kiley experience before Saturday) but frankly they bored me live. I'm sure it didn't help that the sound was extremely muddy up front for the opening band, and a lot of people were talking. Jenny Lewis was wearing some nice checkered canvas shoes, though.

After the thrill of watching some venue lighting folks ascend the scary rope ladders to the top of the pavillion, Coldplay took the stage. Immediately, I was reminded of the key factor I'd forgotten in the two years since I saw Coldplay live: Chris Martin is a joy to watch onstage. He's like a big overgrown kid who's incredibly excited about everything. (A big, overgrown, flexible kid.) And his bandmates are quite adorable too. I don't mean that in a "hot" way (though Guy Berryman fits the bill) but much more innocently. Shy grins and goofy interactions all around.

They played about five songs from A Rush of Blood to the Head, and a couple of songs from Parachutes (there were balloons and confetti during "Yellow" ... and they were all yellow), and a lot of songs from X&Y. I liked most of them better live than I did on the album (and really, if people can't say that about many of your songs, you should stop touring) although I admit to tapping my feet and checking my watch through one or two. But Chris was engaging no matter what. He took the cell phone of the girl in front of us and sang into it for awhile during one of my less preferred songs, which was great because it totally distracted me from not liking it.

My favorite part of the show was when a sort of poor man's B-stage was set up directly at the front, with a keyboard for Will the drummer. An acoustic mini-set followed, beginning with the only song I legitimately really like on X&Y - "Til Kingdom Come". Apparently it was written for Johnny Cash, though he never got to sing it. Then they launched into "Ring of Fire," making Coldplay the fourth band I've now seen cover that song live.

When the show was over, we slowly hiked our way back out of the valley, found our parking lot and my car with little trouble, sucked down some water, lamented our lack of dinner, and then sat back and chilled for about AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES before any car around us even started moving toward the exit. Mmmm. Still, it was a good night.