Review: Coldplay/Fiona Apple

Thursday night was the second Coldplay concert I've seen on its current tour, and while I missed opening act Black Mountain in Cincinnati in August, I made sure to arrive on time for Fiona Apple in Louisville Thursday night.

Glad I did, though I missed "Get Him Back," the top single on her new-ish CD that's been getting some turns on public radio.

Anyway, in case you were wondering what condition I was in shortly after my arrival to Freedom Hall last night, this might give you a little insight.

(Seated for about 15 minutes, three songs in)

Me: "Oh, has she been there in the middle of the stage this whole time?"
Jennifer: "I think so."
Tom: "What?"
Margie: "Who?"

And ya know how many of Fiona Apple's songs have a booming, at-times dark piano sequence? I can't remember which song it was, but I recall thinking to myself how much I enjoyed the piano portion underneath her lyrics, but here's how the thought came out into words to Jennifer:

Me: "Don't you like the piona in this song?"

That's not a typo. I pronounced it that way.

So now that you're aware of my state of mind at about 8ish last night, you might be interested to know that I did in fact run into two co-workers at the concert. Ouch.

On to Coldplay, which again rocked, but my group afterward couldn't determine if the August show (outdoors at Riverbend) was better than last night's concert (indoors at Freedom Hall). Who cares? Both occasions were splendid, and Thursday we had pretty hot seats.

The band's first real popular song, "Yellow," once again produced a dozen or so big yellow balloon-balls that bounced around above thousands of Freedom Hall fingertips. Two popped right in our section, spilling confetti into the drink of a gal right in front of us.

"Fix You" got a nice ovation as Chris Martin's heart-rendering encore said goodnight to thousands of adoring fans. Coldplay's 90-minute set followed nearly an hour of Fiona, and altogether, the music never once disappointed.

Oh, and at some point, look for a post that I'll call The Friendship Dollar. Actually, look for it as a scene in a movie sometime soon.