Ignite Your Bones

Six or seven years ago I remember driving around Worcester with my Little Sister. I would play the radio as we went from her house to whatever destination I had picked out for our Saturday. One of the songs I remember us agreeing to was Clocks. We both loved the piano and the rhythm of the song. Later, I remember staring at the CD in the music store contemplating whether or not I wanted to buy it. For some reason I decided that one song wasn’t worth the whole CD.

A couple years later I was using my sister’s computer while I was too poor to buy a replacement for my broken hard drive. She had a number of Coldplay songs loaded onto her Media Player. I found myself listening to the songs as I skulked in front of the computer and slowly but surely found myself falling in love with the music I flippantly cast aside only a few years before.

Last year quite a few of their songs latched themselves into my emotional memory. I remember very distinctly driving to work the morning before my London trip. It was right after a snowstorm and the world was painted white. Fix You came onto the radio and connected with the moment I found myself relishing. Then later that year, I was contemplating a direction of Romeo & Juliet when I found Politik to be particularly appropriate to the theme and emotion I wanted to interpret. At the same time they released Viva La Vida – the title song of which I worked into the play as well.

I spent a LOT of time listening to Coldplay last summer. I went to see them live for the first time ever. The energy of Chris Martin was intoxicating. To see that man dance and bounce around that stage was astonishing. It gave a whole new vitality to their lyrics and to the music. So much I didn’t waste a moment before seizing an opportunity to go see them again in November.

Coldplay was a soundtrack to my summer of 2008. It was not a good summer. That concert was probably the happiest moment and what saved me from turning sour against the band I love so much. Their music is an association with a project and broken friendships that devastated me… but became something I listened to when I found a new project to sew my heart back together.

So, last night was opportunity number three to go see them live. I think the spastic energy was a little tried. It was still there. But the freshness was gone. A year and a half into the tour and I’m sure they are ready to go home. It was still awesome. It made me smile without even thinking. I danced and shouted out the lyrics I knew. Then when the butterfly confetti blasted over us during Lovers in Japan, I felt like a kid beneath the first snowfall in winter. Such uninhibited, spontaneous joy.

I know they are uber popular. That such popularity can be a turnoff. I know their concerts aren’t the cheapest way to spend my disposable income for the third time. But there is something really amazing about the good vibes that reverberate with their music. The unabashed joy their music sends over thousands and thousands of people. So that when it takes two hours to get out of the parking lot at the Comcast Center people are gathering in chorus to sing the refrain of Viva La Vida.

That’s why I still like them. Sure there were some things about the Garden show that were a lot better. There are a few things about that show I also try to forget. But last night was so much fun. The weather was perfect. The waxing moon glowed with a little orange in the humidity. The crowd was huge… but happy infused with Chris Martin’s attitude.

If at all possible, I say go see them. Even if you are only half a fan. It isn’t just about the music. It’s about a band that has a good heart, directing that heart to their art, and sharing that art with the multitudes. That inspires me. It inspires me not just to go out and dance to their music. But to dance through life and share the joy so that other people feel it, too. Because… really, it only gets better when other people smile too. And isn’t that what it’s all about?