Cold Apples in Dallas

Coldplay’s Twisted Logic Tour with Fiona Apple hit the American Airlines Center in Dallas February 27th 2006. The tour which kicked off several weeks ago started off like a well oiled machine right at the stroke of eight with Fiona taking the stage to an arena about one third of capacity, although the show itself was sold out.

Fiona’s voice was strong as she played her grand piano in a full length turquoise colored dress. She worked through several of her new tracks from Extraordinary Machine including a song I was looking forward to hearing, “A Better Version of Me”. She didn’t disappoint the masses by bringing back her breakthrough hit, “Criminal” and “Shadow Boxer” from her first album Tidal, as well as a small sampling from When the Pawn Drops….

One of the most difficult parts of the show was simply watching Fiona try to perform when she wasn’t sitting behind the piano. She has very little stage presence, almost going into Morrison’esque shouts during the songs she performs. She would do little more than stomp her foot or wave her hand which wasn’t holding on to the mic stand.

Though the stage presence wasn’t as strong as other performers the crowd which bothered to watch her showered her with applause and random shouts of “Fiona”, which rang through the crowd. She even giggled saying she needed to get back to that angry place so she could perform her songs. After about forty-five minutes she exited the stage to make way for Coldplay…

Their cue to hit the stage was The Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows” from the Revolver album, and once they hit the stage the crowd erupted to “Square One” from Coldplay’s latest effort, X&Y. They looked like a band who had been on the road for a while; rough around the edges if you will appearance wise.

Chris Martin did a great job of working the crowd, playing piano, guitar, and leading sing-a-longs. The stage setup was simple, nothing extravagant or anything which blew up during the show. A simple video screen behind the band displayed images, members of the band as they played, and a count-down clock which was synched up with moments in the song “Square One”.

One of the more noteworthy props was the giant glitter filled yellow balloons which were playfully batted around by the audience members until they reached the stage again, or popped. The band covered most of the X&Y album, and received one of their loudest applause when they did their tribute song to Johnny Cash, “Til Kingdom Come”, followed by a cover of “Ring of Fire”.

Chris Martin also made a brief appearance in the back of the arena, where he briefly finished up a song and then sprinted back to the main stage to wrap up the show. Coldplay has that rare combination of rock & and pop to draw in a more diverse crowd. The band has been together performed long enough together to put on an entertaining show which will be enjoyed by event he most casual Coldplay fans.

Coldplay Setlist ~ no particular order

• Square One


• Politik


• Yellow


• What If


• White Shadows


• Fix You


• Talk


• X&Y


• Speed of Sound


• Swallowed in the Sea


• Kingdom Come


• A Message


• Trouble


• Don't Panic


• Clocks


• The Scientist


• Got Put a Smile on Your Face


• Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash)