Coldplay: Live 2003

Riding high on the phenomenal success of A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay is in peak form on Coldplay Live 2003. This CD/DVD two-pack was filmed (on Super-16mm film) and recorded in Sydney's Horden Pavilion on July 21 and 22, 2003, during an exhaustive year-long world tour, and the medium-sized arena provides a fitting stage for the London-based rock quartet, not so grand as to overwhelm the music, but large enough to indicate their large and loyal following, which includes enthusiastic fans of either gender. Especially when played in DTS 5.1 surround, this 90-minute concert is richer, thicker, and (of course) louder than Coldplay's studio recordings, lending a wall-of-sound expansiveness to the band's signature sound, which draws from such diverse influences as Genesis, Pink Floyd, The Verve, U2, and their own unique sonic landscape. "Politik" gets the gig off to a rousing start, and other impressive highlights include "Daylight," "Yellow," the as-yet-unreleased new song "Moses," and the popular hits "In My Place," "Clocks," and "The Scientist." And while the concert visuals are slick and professional (perhaps placing a bit too much emphasis on singer/frontman Chris Martin), this DVD and CD--the latter containing a truncated 70-minute version of the same performance--are best appreciated for their pristine audio quality. Culled from 400 hours of home video, the 40-minute "concert diary" represents a wasted opportunity, enjoyable for hardcore fans but offering no insight into the band or its individual members. Much better, then, to play the concert at healthy high volume, and appreciate Coldplay in the prime of their young career. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Review: The best concert I never went to!!
I got the Coldplay 2003 DVD as a birthday present in '04. Coldplay's my favorite band, so you can imagine my excitement. Back in the days, I never thought I could ever be in a real concert of the band, I lived too far away from any place they toured. Almost four years later, I still think the DVD was the best concert in my life. That is, taking into consideration that I went to see them, against all odds, in NYC in 2006. It's not that the concert was bad, it was one of the best days in my life. It's that to me, the DVD is so good that I can't get enough of it. The band plays perfectly, the connection with the crowd is real, the choice of songs is fantastic, the sound is epic, the transitions that go along with songs, including colors, angles and views of the crowd and the band are nothing but exciting and bright. If there's any DVD I would ever recommend, it's this one. It's the closest you'll come to live the Coldplay experience if you haven't got the chance to live it already.
Customer Review: Wow. That's all I have to say.
Not only is the music CD great, but the DVD packs quite the punch. The only tiny thing that bugged me was how the CD didn't have every song off of the DVD, but I guess that's what makes the DVD that much better. If you like Coldplay, but this DVD, you will not regret it. Best $20 musical purchase I've made in a long time.

Here today, gone tomorrow, bars have a reputation for short-term success. But a few have the ability to ride the times and keep on top of the game.

Ten years ago, I was sitting in The Groucho Club one late summers evening discussing with a now well known haute couture designer, the new wave of drinking culture that was enveloping the capital, arguing that London really had never been so exciting. Up until that point, drinks were very much a secondary element of the overall experience wine was simply white or red, beer came only in a pint glass and vodka was whatever paint-stripper the barman chose to pour. But in the nineties, we were on the cusp of a cocktail movement. New-world wines were making the Chardonnay and Shiraz as commonplace as the Bordeaux, while new conceptual drinks like Red Bull were seriously shaking up the market, broadening peoples drinking landscape and challenging us to think about drinking as more of a lifestyle. Slowly, what was behind the bar appeared to be taking over the focus of the night. People were whispering rumours of late night bars that were open into the wee hours, where glamourous glitterati rubbed hips with the international jet-set over Manhattans and Martinis. They, along with The Groucho, were the places everyone wanted to be seen and their popularity seemed untouchable to all but the most cynical.

Of course, everything has a lifespan, we cynically agreed: fashion is dead in a season, and a fashionable bar well you wouldnt want to bet the house on it would you? We both concluded that fashions simply cant last and those bars, which today were the subject of snaking queues, would quickly turn to yesterdays news as would the drinks that were being quaffed within. Of course, in most cases we werent far wrong. Mondo, Saint, Titanic, Riki Tik... all have fallen by the wayside having once been celebrity favourites of their day. Many others have turned from exclusive A-list excellence to godawful tourist tat. The Gin Sling became the Sea Breeze became the Bramble became the Vanilla Mojito

But its not all doom and gloom. Today, another ten years hence, I am back in the same leather couch of the same Groucho, and ordering from the menu a Red Bull, a drink whose ability to transcend fads and trends seems to symbolise the aspirations of nightlife culture. It has history and heritage and has attained almost timeless appeal. Fashionable works for a while, but every owner, manager and promoter hopes and strives for one thing ultimately and that is to be the next classic. Because the classics, while small in number, exist on a plain far superior to fashion. Dotted amongst the sprawling community of one-off wonders that populate the bar world, a few classics really have stood the test of time, riding the cyclical waves to achieve immortal credibility. The Groucho is one of those timeless classics. Through the years it has always been at the top of its game, its members list comprising the same names that populate the pages of the celebrity press together with the successful and powerful in the world of media.

Nowadays, octogenarian founder members sit comfortably alongside young achievers and its long-term future would appear to be set in stone. Embassy is another long-time winner or more to the point, its ever-present Rock n Roll proprietor, Mark Fuller, who ran the original Embassy twenty years ago with equal success. This most recent incarnation of one of Londons most famous clubs, now with a fine dining restaurant that counts among the capitals very best, and glitzy nightclub in the basement, is a rare constant in the oscillating world of the fashionable. Another face that has always been associated with bar and club supremacy is Jake Panayiotou who ran original celebrity hot-spot, Browns for a decade before moving on in its hay-day. His last few years at the helm of the Wellington Club in Knightsbridge have seen the age-old members club climb to yet new heights. But its not only members clubs that can battle through the ages unscathed. Music-led venues such as Medicine Bar in Islington, Bar Rumba, The Cross, Bar Vinyl and The End have all proved their mettle, while the likes of Hanover Grand, The Gardening Club and Iceni have collapsed into the annuls of hip history.

So, what is it that sets the one-hit-wonders apart from the immortals? What makes a classic? Three characteristics seem to pump through the veins of all the long-term winners.

Quality, choice and adaptability, says Cas, The Grouchos pre-eminent bar manager, as he deftly shakes up cocktails from behind the bar. You have to offer a quality experience in the drinks, the music, the food and the people. You must give customers what they want and you have to adapt to the times. Subtly underlining the point, my Red Bull silently arrives at the table on its own tray, dressed with a single, perfectly folded napkin.

Can staying power really be so simple to achieve? With twenty years of success behind The Groucho, the club is quite an authority on the subject, but it was Darwin who concluded that the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting to their environment. Sounds pretty familiar to me and, lets face it, you cant argue with Darwin.

HERE TO STAY

Our selection of bars that we think will still be doing it in ten years time

MAYFAIR: Embassy

An all-round club for the all-round socialite, Embassy offers food on a par with Michelin starred restaurants, drinks that are as good as any great cocktail bar, a basement club and a guestlist that could double as a whos who of London.

COVENT GARDEN: The End & AKA

One of the capitals most respected dance music venues, with Mr C behind its success. Music is always ahead of its time and drinks are a world away from most dance music venues.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE: Wellington Club

With over 100 years of history, The Wellington has been reborn as an exclusive hangout for the citys hippest. Lounge bar and club rolled into one and popular with the paps and the press alike.

WEST: Woodys

On the banks of Londons longest canal, Woodys has become accepted as the members bar for the music industry. Three floors of food drink and dance with a collection of the best music and cocktail mixologists in the country.

ISLINGTON: Medicine Bar

It was the bar that put Islington on the credible map. One of the original DJ bars that has been made a home to the clubbing community of the 1990s.

CAMDEN: Bar Vinyl

Reputedly the first DJ bar in London, Bar Vinyl combines a record shop with the only bar in Camden really worth its salt. The bar is minuscule, but the offering is enormous and the future is vast.

SHOREDITCH: Home

One of the originators of the Shoreditch movement, Home made its mark before all of the others and continues to hold its own. It has moved from a scraggly basement bar to a slick, but funky cocktail bar and restaurant and continues to define the times.

SOHO: The Groucho

A favourite media hangout, The Groucho is like a party in your own front room with the kind of people that anybody would eat their own right arm to have turn up at their party. Now with a more modern bar on the first floor to complement the leather and wood ground floor classic, it is a members bar that suits all and bound to see in another twenty year term.

HOXTON: Zigfrid

A newcomer to the Hoxton set, Zigfrid is most likely to be here in ten years. Brainchild of leading bar designer, Paul Daly, it appeals to the more creative Hoxtonians and since the district is a hotbed of creativity, its proving pretty popular.

FITZROVIA: Social

A collaboration between bar gurus The Breakfast Group and music gurus, Heavenly Social, this backstreet concrete bunker of a bar offers some of the best DJ-led and live music about. Now with sister venues in Islington and Nottingham, Social is destined for a big future.

Jeremy Mascarenhas has been editorial director of the seminal London Bar Guide magazine http://www.londonbarguide.com for 10 years. He is also global editor of The World Bar Guide, an online guide to the best bars in the world http://www.worldbarguide.com, publisher of The Big Directory (a bar industry bible) and a freelance drinks marketing consultant. He has worked with most of the leading drinks groups including Red Bull, Mot Hennessy, Diageo, Brown Foreman, Budweiser, Asahi, Tiger Beer and Grand Marnier. Through his publishing company Scene It, as well as the London Bar Guide, he has published guides to Sherry, UK nightlife, cocktails, Japanese restaurants, the much lauded London Restaurant Guide and much more besides.

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