Doing Something Nice For Someone More Stressed Than Me: A Heartwarming Non-Music Related Blog Post

I wish I could say that I did nice things for people more stressed than I without being assigned by my Technical Communication teacher, but more often than not I cannot say that. Let me give some background on this story. My younger sister recently became engaged. She's getting married in only a few weeks. She's also hoping to pass all her classes so she can graduate this semester. In addition to all that, she works at a shoe store and has an internship at a fitness center half an hour away. Needless to say, she is more stressed than I. Oh, I forgot, she also just wrecked the crud out of my dad's beloved car and has no car of her own to drive. And I should mention that her fiance goes to school in another state. 

So, I took it upon myself to help her out a little. She was in need of transportation from school to work. So, in the spirit of the holiday season, I took some time out of my busy schedule to pick her up from the mall and take her to her class. 

I felt good about giving her a ride, but in my heart I knew I could do more. She needed something sugary and fattening to comfort her in her troubled times. So, later on that night, I hopped in my classic 1987 Mazda RX-7 and drove to the Mecca of sugary fat cravers, Krispy Kreme. I purchased one dozen assorted doughnuts including some delightful pumpkin spice cake doughnuts and a couple festively frosted ones. After paying my eight bucks or so, I hopped back in my classic 1987 Mazda RX-7 and headed to my sister's apartment. Now, I can't say that my intentions in giving the doughnuts were entirely altruistic as I was also hoping to score some points with my sister's roommates. After all, I didn't expect my sister to eat all twelve. 

So, I knocked at the door and set the doughnuts aside on a nearby bench. When my sister answered, I gave her a brotherly hug and then grabbed the doughnuts. She asked, "Brother, why did you bring me doughnuts?" in a puzzled yet pleased sort of way. Now, she happens to be in the same Technical Communication class as me and I saw the wheels turning in her head. The jig was up. She caught me being nice to fill the assignment. But she and her roommates were appreciative anyway. Mission accomplished. 

Viva La Vida Tour at Energy Solutions Arena

I had a perfectly worded review of the Coldplay concert that I had almost finished writing a couple weeks ago. I left it on my desktop and it was lost forever when my computer's battery died. So, this one's not gonna be as good. Well... I'll try to recreate it the best I can. 

Great rock concerts are like Christmas morning to me. Each song played is like a beautifully wrapped gift that's been sitting under the tree with your name on it. The thrill of finding out what's inside and then playing with your new toy for a little while only builds as you unwrap each consecutive gift. Such was the Coldplay concert on Nov. 22nd in Salt Lake City. 

Before I get to Coldplay's setlist, let me say a couple things about the opening acts. First to take the stage was Sleepercar, an "alt-country" group from Texas. I was out buying an awesome shirt during their first couple of songs, but when I got back to my seat I really liked what I heard. Definitely more alt than country. I think I'll add them to my Pandora. 

We were lucky at this show to get two opening acts. The second was Jon Hopkins, co-producer (or something) of Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. He was an electronica guy who got some sweet sounds and beats out of a nice lookin' synth. I thought it was really cool how he added on layer after layer of sound to each song, but I don't think it really made for a good live performance. I'll probably add him to my Pandora as well because I like that kind of stuff. 

After watching the tech dudes set up for Coldplay for what seemed like forever, the lights went down and we heard the beginning of Life in Technicolor. Oh what a glorious feeling. Rather than give you the song by song reaction, which would take too long, I'll just give you the setlist and then mention a few things that I found to be especially noteworthy. 

 Life in Technicolor

 Violet Hill

 Clocks

 In My Place 

 Speed Of Sound

 Cemeteries of London 

 42

 Fix You

 Strawberry Swing 

 God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (techno version)

 Talk (also techno)

 The Hardest Part (Chris Martin solo)

 Postcards From Far Away (Piano solo)

 Viva La Vida

 Lost!

 The Scientist (acoustic from platform in the crowd)

 Death Will Never Conquer (same place with Will singing)

First Encore:

 Politik

 Lovers In Japan

 Death And All His Friends

Second Encore:

 Yellow

Hearing a song live, even if you just listened to the album version on the way to the show, brings back all sorts of memories associated with that song. When they played Violet Hill, it took me back to a hotel room in West Virginia where I downloaded the song from the internet and first listened to it. I put the song on my iPod and probably listened to it once every hour for the rest of my road trip to DC to work for the summer. 

When I heard Speed of Sound, I remembered a similar experience. A friend and I were on a road trip to California for the Coachella Music and Art Festival, where we'd hear songs from X&Y right before the album was released. The only new song we'd heard was Speed of Sound because we were able to download it from the internet. Good times. 

I knew In My Place was a great live song, but I was surprised by 42. There had to be at least a full minute of instrumental rocking out. I loved it. Right after 42 they played Fix You. I thought if the all the equipment exploded and the show had to end there, I would still be happy. But the equipment didn't explode and the show went on. 

On the X&Y tour it was a big thing to have all of the members of the band singing together on Fix You. This time they all sang on a lot of the songs and it sounded awesome. I was surprised that they played all of the songs from the Viva La Vida album except one (Yes). A bold move for a band with so many "hits" in their repertoire. But, they are Coldplay. 

Adjectives fail me in describing the first encore. Chris Martin played a short solo piano piece after Politik, millions of paper butterflies fell from the ceiling during Lovers in Japan, and there was plenty of rocking out during Death and All His Friends. I couldn't have asked for more. 

But there was more. They came back out and busted right into Yellow. And then I went home happy. Well worth the exorbitant amount I paid for not-that-great seats.