Hopped down to Vegas to see Coldplay last night. A great show and worth the trip.
First of all, even with all the talk of a recession, I certainly didn't see any slowdown in Vegas. There may be some good deals to get in hotel rates these days, but don't expect it to be slow.
The whole town was hopping this weekend, starting with the oversold flights. Once we got there, I was staying at the Monte Carlo where they had no open rooms till 3pm. No space at the pool area, I ended up having lunch in the brew pub. The food was good as usual. Tables were all packed, with $10 minimums for those that wanted to gamble.
For Dinner, we ate over at the Chinese Wok at the MGM Grand. At 6pm, there was a 45 minute wait for a table. We had time, so we had a drink at the bar and watched a little UFC before eating. The Sushi and chinese were both good. Not at the top of my favorites, but certainly not bad either.
Then it was off to the concert. They had two opening acts. The first was a keyboardist who played as a one man band. He had a video show running, but given that we were to the side of the stage, not directly in front of it, we couldn't see it.
Next up was Shearwater, who reminded me of an early U2. Clearly of irish descent, there was a celtic rock sound to their music. Sounded good enough that I will probably need to check it out on Itunes.
Coldplay was excellent. It was the first time I had seen them and they didn't dissapoint. The opened with the initial songs on their new album the instrumental then to their new hit. From there, they played 'Clocks' and then the hit parade started. They ended the show with Yellow,
followed by a couple of lesser known encores.
Coldplay reminds me of the music I grew up on in the 80's. Complex rythmns, pleasing melodic tones based upon some simple chord structures. Words are secondary to the sound. Based upon what I have heard and seen of their first three albums, I am looking forward to number four when they get back to recording again.
Flight home was hellish. When its so hot in both Vegas and Denver, coupled with Monsoonal winds, the weather can make the trip pretty rough, and today it was. I couldn't wait to get home.
It was a good weekend. Looking forward to the next one!
