Coldplay Concert

Because of an illness, the planned Coldplay concert from last September was pushed back to March of this year. In order to arrive in time, I had to leave Bike Week a bit early as I knew it was something that I didn't want to miss. When I left, I used the Orient Road entrance (near the Hard Rock Casino) since I had been there for a previous concert. When pulling near the gate, we saw several cars turning around. As we pulled up, we noticed several signs indicating that this was a VIP entrance. Undaunted, I wait my turn to enter. as the security guard approached he asked for our tickets. I handed him the general seating tickets and that didn't seem to be too persuasive. He seemed d to just about ask us to turn around when he quickly scanned his flashlight across my dashboard and stepped back, apologizing for not having seen the security pass. He apologized for the mistake and motioned for the other guard to allow us passage through the gate. With a nearly befuddled look on my face I indicated that everything was fine and thanked him for the help. Once out of range we were trying to figure out what just happened when I realized that other cars traveling alongside had green hangtags on the rearview mirror. I looked on the dashboard and noticed the yellow parking pass that we got from the hotel when we parked for Bike Week. Apparently in the dark that looked just like the VIP passes used by the venue. We were able to park about 30 meters from the entrance whereas the general parking was probably 200 meters away from the general entrance on the opposite side of the venue. This made things a lot easier when the concert was complete since we didn't have any traffic trying to get out of the area at the end. Sometimes things do work out, even if accidentally.

Fiona Apple was the opening act and was quite enjoyable. Though it was not very easy to see anything from our lawn seats, the sound was still clear. Thankfully the Ford Amphitheater allows people to bring in blankets, a bottle of water, low profile chair, and even a bad of picnic food if they wish. Though there seemed to be some early technical difficulties, Coldplay did make the stage and went through their forte of hits. I was really hoping that they would do a rendition of The Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony' as they did at the Live 8 concert, but I figured it was a long shot. They did, however, play a short cover of a well known Johnny Cash tune in his memory along Michael Stipe of R.E.M; so that was a pleasant surprise. I think all the well know tunes were covered with quite a few stirring moments as the music danced through the evening. I am very glad that I was able to make the event and really enjoyed the company of several friends that came from out-of-town to enjoy the show. Unfortunately since a couple of them were teachers and the FCAT (Florida student aptitude test) started Monday morning, they were not able to stay and hang out for a bit. I was pretty exhausted from the traveling over the past week, so I pretty much crashed within fifteen minutes of their leaving. I think that was a great week to end a pretty darn exciting vacation. This year is turning out so well.