So two weeks ago, I went to watch Coldplay live in concert for their AHFOD Tour 2016- 2017 in Asia!
We caught the one in Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
I camped for hours a few months ago attempting to get the Singapore ones but failed due to poor organizing and kiasu scalpers, but all's well ends well because I managed to get the Bangkok ones rather easily.
Now, I am very sure Coldplay needs no introduction. They've been around for more than a decade and have more chart-topping hits than I do fingers. I am not the only one who can subconsciously sing along to "Yellow" or "The Scientist" or "Fix You" whenever, wherever it is playing. I was also pretty into their latest record, A Head Full of Dreams, but when I heard that they were going to play some of those loved chart-topping hits, I made up my mind that we absolutely HAD to go to this. So 3 tickets I got, and off my cousin, my boyfriend and I to Bangkok for OUR Adventure of a Lifetime!
The concert was on 7th April 2017, and my BF and I went to the venue around noon to collect the tickets (my cousin was feeling ill and stayed at the apartment). We had a lousy experience because our stupid Grab driver dropped us really far away from the Stadium and we had to walk a lot under the heat getting lost in circles before I eventually asked a Westerner how to get there (none of the Thais could speak English) and find out that the entire time, we were just going around inside the University next to the Stadium -_-
We finally got there after almost an hour, which was messed up because the stadium was literally just there but there were tall fences around it so it became unreachable -_-
I rated the Grab driver "really bad" because he was so shit.
We were relieved that the ticket collection was relatively easy and quick, must be due to everyone already having picked theirs up at other venues before the concert day.
We then saw the merchandise queue and joined right in, where we queued for about two hours. It was really, really hot and the concert was attended by a LOT of Indonesians who flew in to catch the concert!
They had T shirts with 6 different designs, hoodies, tote bags, key chains, programme booklets and caps.
I remember wondering to myself who in the world would get the programme booklet but my cousin got it later that night before the concert hahaha
Out t shirts were around B$55 each.
It was fairly well-organized with 20 counters. When its your turn, they will announce the free counter and you just go there and tell them what you want, based on the numbering of the merchandise on the banners.
Yay!
After that, we made one of the decisions of our life which we would forever look back on and shake our heads to, we took a Grab back to the apartment all the way back in the city. Actually, it is not as far as it sounds, but if you imagine tens of thousands of people all trying to get to one location, you can imagine the shit that is called a jam. We took around 2 hours to go back to the apartment, took a quick shower, picked up my cousin and went BACK to the Stadium, which took another 2-3 hours. The jam was so horrid that we just told the driver to drop us and we would walk the remaining journey.
I walked so much that day my Melissas gave up on me and punished me by cutting my skin open at the sides and the back of my poor feet.
When we got to the venue, we went to the third floor to our seats but were told to go back down to the ground floor. Apparently, the organizers oversold the seats, aka one seat was sold to more than one person. -_- We are quite submissive Asians so we just chose any seat in the ground floor. I was quite alright with it because it was technically an upgrade (tickets were more expensive for ground floor) and we ended up being quite near the stage (we were right behind the most pits) although we had quite limited view due to some tent set-ups. But, #submissiveAsians.
Before the crowd started piling up.. There was a 60,000 crowd that night, and my cellular reception from AIS just died. Also, you can see the 50 shades of tanner I got from the day of walking and getting lost (plus the day before's trip to Ayutthaya which I will blog about some other time).
Also, it started to drizzle a little bit so we had our trusty rain coats out but thankfully the drizzle stopped, and we were able to enjoy the concert without getting wet. It was really stuffy in that rain coat..
Mega love to these weirdoes!
We were all given wristbands that lit up in ~synchronization~ which was super cool, and this was how it looked like when the stadium was full! The wristbands would light up in difficult colors and in different beats depending on certain parts of some songs
I've a lot of videos compared to photos! At one point Chris Martin told us to put our phones down for a minute LOL
The concert started at 8PM with the opening act, an Australian singer/rapper called Jess Kent, and Coldplay killed it at 9PM with "A Head Full of Dreams" in what I can only describe as an explosion of vibrancy to my eyes and to my ears!!
The concert was amazing!! They covered so many of the best songs not only by them, but songs that were ever entrusted upon us normal human beings!! I absolutely enjoyed myself and it was definitely one the best moments of my life... And I am not being dramatic. The crowd was energetic, the songs were pure bliss, the talent was raw and it just combined to the most bombastic experience, that I am really having difficulty trying to convey the awesomeness into words for you (but I think I did fairly well?).
If you are curious, here is the set list for Bangkok's AHFOD concert, instead it wasn't listed but they sang "Speed of Sound" which is probably right up THERE for the list of my favorite Coldplay songs.I also loved how Chris Martin did a shout out for the late KKing Bhumibol Adulyadej through the beautiful melody, Everglow, as well as some other legendary artists who have recently left us in the likes of David Bowie, Mohammad Ali and Prince.
Chris Martin was like a fireball, covering all corners of the stage, and when he would run out to the end of the stage through the mosh pit, it would allow us to see him the most clearly. The group's performance was just a burst of energy and fun, and even Will and Johnny performed as lead vocals for Don't Panic (the requested song, ironically by a Chinese from mainland China/ It was showed on-screen and when Chris said he hopes to one day play in China, the crowd booed. Haha oh Chris, you have much to learn!!).
The concert ended pretty early by 11PM and as expected, the journey going back to the apartment was in the simplest word: difficult. No Grab or Uber cars and taxis would accept your requests because they would rather stop by the street and charge you double. We decided to walk to the nearest railway station, which was an hour's walk away. This too, would end up as a terrible decision because when we eventually got there, not only were we tired (and in pain) and it was late, the railway station was already closed by midnight. We were lucky enough to eventually have a Grab car pick us up and eventually got back to the apartment and in bed by 2 AM.
It was tedious, yes to get there and back but it was worth it because, hell- Coldplay.
The concert was just so amazing, and I would do it all over again (with better decisions lol). Thank you Coldplay for the amazing experience, it really really did make my head full of dreams come true!
Xx
The concert ended pretty early by 11PM and as expected, the journey going back to the apartment was in the simplest word: difficult. No Grab or Uber cars and taxis would accept your requests because they would rather stop by the street and charge you double. We decided to walk to the nearest railway station, which was an hour's walk away. This too, would end up as a terrible decision because when we eventually got there, not only were we tired (and in pain) and it was late, the railway station was already closed by midnight. We were lucky enough to eventually have a Grab car pick us up and eventually got back to the apartment and in bed by 2 AM.
It was tedious, yes to get there and back but it was worth it because, hell- Coldplay.
The concert was just so amazing, and I would do it all over again (with better decisions lol). Thank you Coldplay for the amazing experience, it really really did make my head full of dreams come true!
Xx
