It was a great show. The tempo was great - plenty of speed ups and slow downs, a lot of entertaining banter (a lot of self-depricating humor), and a good crowd.
The set was simple and so was the lighting. There were a few lasers and yes, big balls that were very well used (as seen in that video above).
It was very heavy with Viva (all but Cemeteries of London, I think) and the new stuff sounded great. Lost was the highlight of the new stuff for me. The only song I could have done without was Chinese Sleep Chant which seemed forced to me and didn't play well live. It did lead into a dark version of God Put a Smile upon your Face, which was nice.
We were lucky to have the electric version of Yellow, which I hadn't heard since I first saw them years ago (the last couple of times was the acoustic version). Politik was another added bonus with fantastic lighting.
Unlike the LA show, the piano was out for Chris (they used some pre-recorded tracks in LA). He's quirky enough with the piano and I see him being a disaster without it. He's definitely going to fall off the cat-walk before this tour is over. The show is about 90 minutes long and smackette is convinced that Chris is not capable of staying focused any longer than that. He did completely goof up two outros of new songs when it was just him, so I think she's on to something.
The little letters next to some songs on the setlist are alternate stages, but I won't ruin any surprises for you. We were thoroughly entertained by both alternate stages.
After a little Bill O'Reilly clip, I was hoping we'd get a clip of
Fix You as used in the OC (shout out to Fico, where are you man?), but no. Alas, don't think for a second that it's disappearance stopped me and smackette from acting it out in our seats.
They did a great job in the Arena, which good for them but bad for the fan - there's no going back now. We'd definitely see them in a big venue again.
