I’ve rewritten the intro to the post twice, sparing you all the history of missing the last few Coldplay shows and why we finally wanted to see them in Miami. You’re welcome.
A few thoughts about the show:
Coldplay is a seasoned group with a robust AV experience and good audio production. They’re a headlining act for sure. No surprise there. Light-up wristbands handed out to all the fans connect with the ligting system and provide interesting illumination throughout the show. The effect was amplified by the stadium’s white walls and roof which provided more colorful goodness.
Traffic managmenet into Hard Rock Stadium (fka Joe Robbie, Pro Player, Dolphin, Sun Life, Landshark and maybe a few others) for this event was abysmal. Signs on the turnpike routed us way out of our way and the actual turns into the stadium were not well marked. Blew about an hour on that project and got in a pretty bad mood as a result.
Accoustics in the upper bowl are horrendous. I suspect it’s to do with the large covering added on last year – its underside looks hard/glossy and this likely wreaks havoc on the sound up there. The lower edge of the upper bowl seems find and anything lower level I’ve been told is fine.
The upper bowl gets very little breeze and as such it is quite warm. We saw a night show and while Florida isn’t cool in August, it felt hotter than it was just standing outside. I’ve heard this complaint from others and I imagine it’s also to do with the new roof.
People (not just young people) love to record live shows. At any given time there were probably a couple hundred mobile phone screens in view. I saw more than on FaceTime/Hangout session, too. Had the show not been such a visual spectacle, this would have been awfully distracting. Multiple poeple in our area had mobile phones connected to external batteries, just filming everything. Definitely not my idea of how to enjoy a live show. During one song, the band paused and asked us - for just this one song - to put down the phones and enjoy the experience. I’d say 90% did so, with several still in view filming - one even live-vlogging on periscope or FB. I guess this is the world we’ve created.
In conclusion - I’d see Coldplay again but never upstairs at Hard Rock. That place is for Football games.