May 26 & 27th

Ahhh Coldplay…

Just a few more Barcelona random sights, observations and anecdotes.

There were a lot of young white people with dread locks that were impressive and because Cherie’s son Parker is in the dread lock process, I took notice and began documenting it with photos. Kind of like the giants in Croatia.

One afternoon B had to get some work done, so I went out on my own shopping and saw my exact color, year and model of my MG.  The woman had parked in a pedestrian zone and was getting in trouble by the police, so I didn’t stop and ask about it. The guy near the trunk was with her too, but he was just playing it cool and not getting involved. We found out later that police don’t like to ticket a woman alone or a group of women, but if a man is with her, they will get a ticket.

This was the art hanging on the wall in our hotel room.  I looked at it everyday and everyday I thought “what the he$& is that?” guesses anyone?On Friday, we were trying to find some souvenirs for the kids in their shopping area and we saw this crowd around a hotel.  We wanted to go into the store that was partially in the lobby of the hotel, so we asked a security guard if we could go in and he escorted us in.  As soon as we got in, I could see Chris Martin’s son Moses playing in the lobby with who I assumed was his bodyguard.  Then I watched the guitarist Jonny and the drummer Will walk out and the security guards separated the crowd as they got into a chauffeured car.  That was kind of fun. I never did lay eyes on Chris, we had to leave and make it to a dinner reservation before we left for the concert.  I don’t know how fans figure out where these bands stay in order to wait around outside for them.  But as I’ve said before, I am just a super fan, not a crazy stalker fan.

This tour is the polar opposite of their last one.  It is a huge stadium show, complete with fireworks, sixty thousand people, clever camera views and wristbands that light up the whole stadium with different colors at strategic times in the songs and played music as you left the arena. It was a ton of fun, but I much prefer the more acoustic intimate small venue. I was so glad that I opted to buy tickets for the second night because it was SO much better.  Chris seemed like he didn’t have his usual energy or enthusiasm and he mostly spoke memorized Spanish at the first concert.  I read the next day that his divorce was final on that day.  Friday night we made it to the opening acts, his kids were there, he dedicated a Chuck Berry song to them and he didn’t hardly speak Spanish, they sang 3 extra songs, B caught me one of the giant balloons and we let the air out and brought it home and we had much better seats.  It was the perfect ending to a fantastic getaway for us.

The first opening act was Alessia Cara, who is I guess very popular with teenagers – Ari was very jealousThe second opening act was Lianne La Havas and she was supremely talented half Jamaican/ half Greek Londoner.  Look her up.  

And then I got randomly strip searched in a private room next to our gate along with about 30 other people before our flight home, we had grumpy flight attendants and almost missed our connection waiting two hours in line at customs in Atlanta.