Save for the mega multi story car park next door, the Sydney Ent. Cent.’s roof is the largest in the whole of the City of Sydney. Capacity here is double that of Brisbane; 15,000 punters a night and right in the heart of it, just on the edge of Chinatown. Our stadium rock destiny grows grander.The massive scale has it’s down-sides though. The room is cavernous and echoey and emptier at 8:15pm than in Brisbane; I suppose there are more distractions outside on Market Street than can be found in the mangroves near the Brisbane Ent Cent. It took me until the third show, the Wednesday night, to find my feet. Sadly, all of our friends were there (as the Kinks once sang) on Monday and Tuesday. Along with The Rolling Stone magazine. But let’s face it, my subjective experience of standing stage left, plonking away on the bass, is far less interesting than Youth Group’s collective experience of being the support band on a leg of Coldplay Twisted Logic Tour. So let’s hear about that…
Our presence is deemed “an opportunity”. We’re lucky. It’s the chance of a lifetime. Apocryphally there is a law that stipulates some Australian content at such events. One priority of our band is to be unobtrusive backstage. We are gruffly warned this time and again by our vastly experienced tour manager Kate Stewart. Turn up on time. Don’t take guests to catering. See that the guest list is finished an hour before doors. Don’t fuck around! It’s not like we’re in the way but a slip and you soon could be regarded as such. This is stadium rock!
Backstage at every show the rooms are designated by travelling laminated A4 signs; “Coldplay Dressing Room”, “Catering”, “Youth Group Dressing Room”, “Coldplay Family Room” etc. One of the first things friends think to ask us is whether we’ve seen Gwyneth or Apple or Moses, perhaps in the Coldplay Family Room. As far as I know the room was always empty. But Chris Martin’s brother and father were on tour. My Mum and Dad met Chris Martin’s Dad and he escorted them back-stage with his AAA pass in Sydney, remarking “I know what it’s like to be a parent”.
After watching five Coldplay shows you start to recognise the choreographical skeleton to their show. This regimentation and their uniform black clothes with odd pockets make them resemble the crew of some fantastic well-drilled space-station with a vague militaristic theme. That and the martial discipline. Chris Martin’s body looks like that of a yoga-enhanced sensei. But bass-player Guy doesn’t fit this at all. He looks like someone smudged him out somewhere along the fifty or so years of touring he’s done.
As I said, we’ve become friends with Vicki, their long-time PA, she feeds us little bits of gossip from the band. They (Coldplay) were disconcerted by people sitting down throughout first Brisbane show. I assure Vicky that it’s always like this at the two arena shows I’ve seen (REM and Split Enz), it must be an Australian trait. Apparently it doesn’t happen anywhere else, even in lard-ass America.
