Small bands rent a small indoor venue to make their residence. Not Coldplay. Not one of the biggest rock bands on Earth right now. They rent a stadium during a week to make 4 shows with a few friends: around 55k per day. A show XXL we’ll remember for a while!
This tour is different from all the tours we’ve seen before. Not only from Coldplay but from all the bands. In 2017, they announced they won’t tour again before they find a way to make less pollution. After a few years of work, recording a new album and wait the pandemic to be gone, they are back with a new tour and many promises. First of all, which could be a bad news for many fans: there are way less cities on the schedule than usual. But with many shows in all the cities: 3 in Frankfurt, 4 in Berlin, 4 in Paris, 6 in London, 2 in Glasgow and so 4 in Brussels too. The only exception is Poland with 1 show. Nothing in Netherlands, in Spain, in Italy, in Switzerland, in West-Germany, etc. Less road, less pollution. Second important point: use as more recyclable items as possible. From the cups to drinks to the bracelets, including the confettis or parts of the stage. Third point: use as much green electricity as possible. This is why they install a special floor where every movements from the audience generate electricity they can maintain in batteries for the next shows (bicycles were also available in the back of the stadium to generate electricity). Last point: the many messages about different topics they work with NGO’s like reforestation, help to education and equality in the world, etc. You can find all the informations on the website from the band.
Due to same traffic and long queues at the entrance, we arrived for the last song of London Grammar so difficult to say a few words about them, except the public looks on fire. We stopped to count all the “hola” we got during 30 minutes awaiting Coldplay.
From the very first song until the last one, the show was really a Show. So many confettis, lights effects, pyros and so on. But the best thing was the connected bracelet everybody got in the audience: this bracelet gave us the feeling to be even more connected than usual. Have 55k people in a stadium singing along is one of the best thing we can experience (same in a small venue btw), there’s such a powerful and intense communion. But this bracelet gave us even more the feeling to make one. That’s what happened tonight: 55.000 + 4 = 1.
Paradise, The Scientist, Viva La Vida, Yellow, Clocks, Hymn For The Weekend, Sparks, A Sky Full Of Stars… the 4 Britishs all their biggest hits. Including also in the set-list a few new songs like My Universe, Higher Power or Byutiful as ending song. About 25 songs played during 2 hours on 3 different stages. Almost perfect. Almost. Because a few things were a bit frustrating. Firstly, the sound during the 2 first songs wasn’t really good. Which is quite surprising as it was their 3rd show in the stadium. Luckely, it got improved during the night. It wasn’t perfect but it’s never the case in a stadium. Especially in the cold Stade Roi Baudouin. Secondly, even if it’s more an issue of the promoter (Live Nation) than the band itself, there were a few organization issues. Why close the toilets from the stadium and install a few (not a lot) toilets outside? Why use this stupid system of cashless where you have to buy a card to buy drinks? Make it a simple cashless: we pay by classic bank cards. That’s it. Thirdly, the way to play a few songs. Especially Something Just Like This where they danced with a “Daft Punk” helmet, with pre-records vocals of Chris). At last, a few “bad” choices in the setlist. We got the same feeling with Rammstein a few days before: we understand the fact bands want to end the show with a new song and not an old one. But end the show with Buytiful… after Fix You… come on. Only a few songs have the level to be played after such a huge song. Ed Sheeran tried the same a few weeks ago in the same stadium. That’s not a small detail because the last song is always one of the biggest memories of a show and here, we’ll remember that the last song was not the climax of this beautiful evening. Even if it was still an amazing show.
Set-list: Higher Power, Adventure Of A Lifetime, Paradise, Charlie Brown, The Scientist, Viva La Vida, Hymn For the Weekend, Let Somebody Go, Politik, In My Place; Yellow, Sunrise, Human Heart, People of The Pride, Clocks, Infinity Sign, Something Just Like This, Midnight, My Universe, A Sky Full Of Stars, Sparks, Humankind, Fix You, Biutyful.
During the show, Chris Martins said us we’ll all together – the band and the fans – make the best show ever to remember this night forever. What was the best show of 2022? Coldplay in Brussels. What were you doing on 8 August 2022 if your kids ask you in 10 years? Coldplay in Brussels. They did everything possible to make sure that’s your answer. And for sure, we’ll remember this one for a very long time!