Insane. Absolutely insane. Every aspect from my day-long attempt to (cheaply) win tickets on the UK version of e-bay, to my epic journey to meet with the (extremely handsome) man who sold me the tickets, to the show itself and the unbelievable (and risky!) journey home afterwards was absolutely INSANE.
Now, just for the sake of shouting out to my friends back home whom I miss dearly - considering that Julie & I had tickets to a show where 70,000 PEOPLE were also in attendance, our seats were obviously no match to the free front row tickets that Katie scored us back in Camden in May (being at last night's show reminded me of how amazing that night was!). And, I know they both would've LOVED last night's show as well (and I miss them DEARLY).
That being said, I HAVE to at least use my blog as an outlet since no one ACTUALLY wants to hear me rave on and on about how much I loved last night's show. So feel free to just skip this entry if that's the case.. just don't ever tell me you did ;)
To kick off - how I got the tickets. Being that I spent the greater portion of my 4-day weekend sick and more or less stuck in bed - and thanks to quite a few people back home pointing out to me that they were seeing U2 this weekend (and that I was NOT) - I decided to spend my day stalking people on ebay. I set a mental limit of what I refused to pay for the tickets (especially considering that shipping would be difficult since the concert was less than 2 days away, AND, if that's not enough a threat, there's currently a postal strike going on and mail processing is often delayed)... I FINALLY learned the art of snaking people in the bidding process and won two (SEATED!) tickets on the top deck.
Then, after being the diligent Coldplay fan that I am, I made sure I paid everything IMMEDIATELY so my British hero who awarded me the tickets could pop those suckers in the mail ASAP. Much to my dismay, who other than BANK OF AMERICA failed me and for absolutely NO REASON at all, they left my payment as "pending" not just for the remainder of the day I purchased them, but for over 36 hours. I had called PayPal twice and Bank of America THREE TIMES. My personal plug here would have to be for PayPal because after they heard how upset I was, they verified (on their own) with bank of america that I had in fact had sufficient funds.. and then they emailed "JK2423498234" or whatever his name was and informed him that my money was on its way and they "urged him to deliver the items as soon as possible."
Then, John & I (yes, I've decided we're on first-name basis now after I called him FOUR TIMES) finally agreed to meet - Thank the Lord he lived just outside London and worked conveniently on a tube stop on the Picadilly Line. Not three hours before the doors opened to the concert did I FINALLY retrieve the tickets. ALLELUIA. No thanks to Bank of America, as usual.
Finally at Wembley..
For starters, we intentionally skipped the two openers - Girls Aloud and White Lies. No offense to anyone who may be fans of those groups, but I youtubed them beforehand and really had no urge to see them. Plus I was still running a mild fever and my epic journey to get the tickets had completely burnt out whatever slim percentage of energy I mustered through my sickness during the day.
Then, Jay-Z came on! I had completely forgotten how many of his songs were actually HIS and not someone else's. Considering Jay-Z was not only opening for quite possibly the whitest band in the history of rock music, but he also did so for quite possibly the whitest audience - he was awesome! And, after the British polished off their beer pints, people started dancing (some way more than others).
Then, Julie and I left to get beers (since it's the first concert where I could go myself to buy an overpriced lousy tap beer!) and after I slammed my elbow into a railing (thus SPILLING my beer all over the man who had sold me the tickets as well as a disgruntled rich lady who wore white to the concert), we sat down.. it started POURING on everyone who was at the center of the dome (mainly just general admission people) and when the speakers played the traditional classical song that always signifies that Coldplay's about to come on, the crowd went nuts.
While I'd have to obviously admit that I'd pick front row at Camden over "different time zone" seats (as Chris Martin called them) at Wembley, I'd also have to admit that I probably had just as much fun last night as I had back in May. There's something insane about catching a band (as big as Coldplay) in their hometown - not to mention the VERY last night of their epic tour. And, aside from Chris Marting forgetting the words to "The Hardest Part" (he literally stopped in the middle of the song, swore, and said "I'm sorry, I really can't remember the words"), I really thought they played better last night, knowing that they were home and in front of 70,000 fans.
Plus, they did "Lost" with Jay-Z, which was SO AWESOME.
The journey from the concert was just about as insane as the concert itself. Massive crowds all tried to catch the last tube of the night (why they can't run the subway system just a LITTLE past midnight on weekends, I don't know and it's really annoying, too). I literally got trampled on and someone pushed me so hard against the doors to the tube that my own elbow stabbed me right in the chest. It was so nuts, but what made it even crazier was NO ONE got angry and everyone laughed it off. And, to top it off, the drunker members of the crowd kept the "Oh-OH-oh-ohhh's" from Viva La Vida going - even so far as Gloucester Road.
SO AWESOME.
I realized last night that because I was out so late at the concert, I more or less am missing my last opportunity to catch the Changing of the guards at Buckingham today (they aren't doing it past October), but it was completely worth it. I get that London has so much history, so many castles and palaces and historical buildings.. but really, I think if you sit yourself in a 70,000-person Coldplay concert at Wembley Stadium, you get a pretty good sense of British culture...
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