Dear lovely Coldplayers,
My story of seeing Coldplay in Gothenburg and the Elephant man: is he the new Zoro??!
The Gothenburg trip was getting into shape just after my failed plans to see Coldplay live in Milan. Milan seemed very difficult regarding getting the tickets to see Coldplay: people were selling the Standing tickets at least 3 times the price. I decided to change my plans and went for Sweden option – and it was one of the best decisions of the year. Getting the tickets to the concert was so much easier: I got a standing ticket for the 26th June show from ticketmaster.se and the 25th June show I purchased from a fan who couldn’t anymore attend the concert. She was very sweet and offered the ticket for the same price she bought the ticket – I felt that is the only way how to buy tickets to a concert from somebody else: making business out of concerts are for rookies who have no moral respect for music. ‘Make business from corporations – not music fans’: maybe that’s my new poster for the future
The flights were very easy to organize: 10 euros one way, 10 euros to come back – thank you wizzair. However, due to the Elephant costume I had to purchase the luggage option which added around 35 euros each trip (I think). But in general, it was a very cheap journey and getting the tickets to the concert wasn’t too difficult. One thing I struggled to do is getting a cheaper accommodation – the hostels were fully booked due to midsummer celebration and of course Coldplay. Coldplaaaayyyy…..!!!!
So I decided to register on couchsurfing.com website and it ended as a brilliant experience. I learned that even though somebody might accept your request to stay on couchsurfing, the plans might change for them so you should always have a plan B (in this case another host who has also accepted your request to stay).
I arrived in Gothenburg on Wednesday evening and met my 1st host. He is a Swedish guy who worked for a construction company – a very nice person who let me stay at his place for 2 nights. I spent my Thursday walking around the streets of Gothenburg, went also to HAGA area – having my cinnamon roll with a coffee and just wondering around the beautiful streets of Gothenburg downtown. Later on, me and my host watched u-20 football game on TV. It was a game between Sweden vs Slovakia. Next day we went to celebrate the midsummer festival and it was a fairly new experience for me: people wearing Bouquet of flowers on their heads (looked very pretty) and danced around the pole of flowers. It might sound a bit silly but it looked very pretty: everyone was happy, joyful and that’s what we need these days. We ended up going to my host’s place to have some lunch with his friends and had some strawberries with cream (absolutely lovely!!).
I said goodbye to my 1st host and went to meet my 2nd host. He was from France and he knew how to speak in 4 languages. My 1st guess was that he was the best womanizer of Gothenburg – French who knew how to speak in many ways. But a very nice guy though! I stayed at his place for 1 night and it was a really nice experience. His room had very little space but he still offered a place to stay: It just showed the beautiful human side that sometimes you don’t need a lot: just be humble, nice person and in many cases it’s more than enough. He invited me to the Midsummer party which I felt was very nice of him.
Next day (Saturday) I went to meet my 3rd host who let me stay at his place for 4 nights – what a Legend! He was from Mexico and came to Gothenburg to study PhD. He invited me to join him for a barbecue which was really amazing. I met his friends and we just chilled in the park eating some nice food and getting to know more about each other. Also, they were slightly surprised in a nice way when I told them that I will be wearing an elephant costume during Coldplay concerts – not every day this might happen I guess. They warned me about the rain in Gothenburg though I didn’t take the advice very seriously: we elephants can survive through that!
Sunday the 25th – I woke up at 9:30 and started arranging my stuff for the concert: the elephant costume, poster, phone, battery pack, face paint, concert ticket. I was aware that bigger size backpacks were not allowed in the stadium so I planned of taking only the most important things. I didn’t take any money nor my bank card so that I would feel safer if anything happens: (like Chris inviting the Elephant man on the stage?) After having a coffee I started going towards the stadium: using public transport is so much fun wearing a costume! Kids smile at you, others try not to laugh but you can see from their eyes that it’s not easy for them.
I arrived at the stadium around 11.30am and from the start the weather was fairly “Different” from what people could have expected – rainy, windy, sometimes sun but again following with rain. Didn’t really matter too much – Elephants love water! The queuing system made by Coldplay fans from Sweden seemed very logical: they took your name and wrote a number on your hand which indicated how far or how early you were comparing to others. I was 214th which wasn’t a very optimistic number knowing that there were also early access people somewhere around the stadium. I was told that the 1st fans arrived to the stadium at 6pm on Saturday – Wow! At 12 and at 2pm in the afternoon the organizers of the queuing system checked again through all the numbers making sure everyone was around. After that we all started waiting, sitting in the line just like at Wembley stadium back a year ago. A young gentleman approached me who seemed as a photographer and asked me where I was from and why I was wearing the costume. He also mentioned for me to be on Johnny’s side as he was taking pictures from there. He seemed as a very nice gentleman. Unfortunately, during the concert I stood on the other side and didn’t see him anymore.
At 4.30 pm the walking started towards the stadium – in the beginning it all seemed ok. And at 5pm when the gates opened and we had to scan the tickets all the organized work stopped. Everyone rushed like expected – the Elephant was rushing also. Though every 5 meters there were security asking you to stop but not many fans listened. Myself I was only shouting ‘sorry sorry sorry sorry’ to the security and I ran as quickly as possible. We Elephants are fairly big size animals, it’s not easy to compete regarding the speed with the Homo sapiens. I first got into the 2nd row at the end of the catwalk just by the B stage. I then started talking to the Swedish girls who invited me to join them. It was great!!! So I was in the 1st row by the catwalk and was ready to rock hard with Coldplay! Then suddenly the cameraman saw me and said Hi and we started chatting. I felt very happy that somebody from the Coldplay crew remembered me after so many concerts. He told me that we will have to do it again - Go even crazier during the Paradise song – couldn’t say no. What a nice guy, his name is Mike. He also offered to hide my Elephant head from the rain but I had to say no: it just belongs to the elephant. But it was a very nice gesture. After speaking to my standing neighbors who were absolutely amazing people and love Coldplay like crazy, a gentleman with a glasses approached me and we started chatting. I told him about my poster and he smiled. Then he asked me if he could take a picture of me. It ended on Coldplay’s Instagram! Can this get even better?
I found out about the picture being on the Coldplay’s Instagram just minutes after meeting the photographer (is he the legendary Superman R42?). He is so quick! A huge thanks for my new Coldplay friends from Sweden who told me about the picture being there. They’re very nice, happy, polite and very kind people! They are Johan, Matilda and one other beautiful young lady who I forgot her name. TAK TAK! You’re amazing!
The 1st support act Lyves managed to perform all of the songs – I enjoyed it though not too many people listened to the support acts in general. The weather was just bad so people who had the seated tickets were hiding by the entrances to the seats. 2nd support act Mew managed to perform only a few songs and had to cancel – the weather made their performance a hell. Well, not to the Elephant!
Suddenly, minutes before Coldplay performance the rain stopped. Someone from above must have decided to give these waiting fans a break – the kings of stadium music were about to enter the stage.
And then it started: nobody cared about how wet they were, nobody cared if the person in front of you was taller than you, nobody cared about the problems in the world. Go crazy, Enjoy the music, Sing whenever you can! Like in every Coldplay performance, this show in Gothenburg was very special: the energy, all the clapping hands and those 66,000 screaming crazies! Although I don’t know Swedish language but Chris’s efforts to say something in Swedish sounded amazing and people were super happy for the efforts. It was remarkable that the setlist got changed comparing to the Wembley concert. Even though it was only a few songs but ‘Violet Hill’, ‘God put a smile upon your face’ sounded super great! All the clapping hands and Chris trying to maneuver the crowd into 2 different sounding groups was an amazing idea and it worked perfectly! The Paradise song went great – I got very hot by dancing in the costume but I still had so much fun! I could see some Coldplay crew members smiling all the time. Yes – the Elephant was experiencing Paradise folks!
Then the band performed less tempo songs on the B stage which felt very nice. Knowing that we will have to jump around again like crazy in a few minutes ‘Always in My head’, ‘Magic’ and ‘Everglow’ sounded very relaxing. Good job! Then came ‘Clocks’ – could never say no to the song. Just a great sensation which will stay forever as a must song for the band’s performances. No rain yet – we’re still all good Coldplay! Well, does it really matter? Cause ‘Charlie Brown’ is next – everyone is jumping, if you try to film something you know for the fact that it won’t go well and people who had seated tickets were all standing and going crazy. Sometimes the term crazy is used far too many times but that’s how it goes with Coldplay concerts. Chris praises the Swedish audience every few songs and nobody wants to stop. Then ‘Hymn for the weekend’, ‘Fix you’, ‘Viva la Vida’ and ‘Adventure of a lifetime’ takes place which are the usual amazing pieces of Coldplay concert. The colorful balloons make the atmosphere eve more adventurous even though all of them end up on one side of the stadium due to the wind. We don’t care about the weather people! Fans want more sensational music!
The band starts walking towards the C stage and I put my poster up with ‘Manchester & London – We stand together. Peace and Love from Lithuania. But where the hell is it?’ Chris sees the poster and laughs. What a great reaction! I put some work into it and the reaction payed off by miles. Crazy happy and the Swedish people were so happy too! I can feel that karma is on my side today, wayyyy….!!!! The view from the catwalk towards the C stage is fairly blurry as it is quite far from our position but it was nice to hear ‘In my Place’ and ‘Don’t Panic’ songs – these songs never get old and Will’s voice sounded just great. He’s such a talented man even though so many eyes are always on Chris. Well done Will! For the last song on the C stage Chris decides to improvise and it goes surprisingly amazingly well! What a creativity! He sings how amazing Swedish people are, how Gothenburg is nice and all warm phrases just lifted the stadium even higher.
The band comes back to the main stage and performs ‘Something just like this’ which sounded super phenomenal! As it is already dark, the fireworks and Chris’s signature move as he would shoot from a bow with all the confetti taking place looked electric. I’m guessing that this song was put instead of the ‘Amazing Day’ and both songs are very beautiful – different but very beautiful. And then ‘Sky full of Stars’ take place…
Chris suddenly looks at the security and pinpoints to me to come up. This is it. Now or never! Live or Die! Make pancakes or chocolate cake! (Not very well composed but I hope you got the meaning). Comparing to London, this worked so well and smoothly: London security approached me but didn’t do anything, Security in Gothenburg approached me and gave me a hand to climb through the barrier. A huge thanks to the Gothenburg security and Coldplay crew for being professional and logical. When I arrived to the B stage steps, Chris pinpointed not to climb up yet. I then checked with the band’s security and he told me that he’s not too sure what’s going to happen – Chris has his idea how this has to go. So a little waiting starts. Mike the legendary camera dude was ready in full motion to film everything from there. I could see his smile, the band’s crew in full professional happiness as well as the audience support. I felt the support from all the angles. I knew that this has to happen, I only needed that 1 chance.
And then I see Chris coming from the A stage to perform last chorus of the song. It was easy to realize that this is the moment to be on the stage as Chris started inviting me. This is it folks, I put my elephant mask and try to run up the stairs. First thought in my head was not to fall over and then I see Chris. The rush of blood to the head and the adrenaline takes over and I just start dancing whatever I could come up with. We Elephants are not very good with our feet but we like improvise. You can call it smooth, I call it the Elephant’s way. I couldn’t see too much with head moving all around and I try not to make a very sudden hand movement so not to hit Chris – I really saw a little from the mask.
I am so happy and I hear Chris’s voice with screaming fans around me. Then suddenly Chris take off my Elephant head and I see the lights, Chris, the fans with their xylobands and I am so amused! So Happy! I feel the Nirvana of the positivity and try to show my emotions by dancing in a circle like silly. With the last words of the song I try to join in. Chris welcomes me, finishes the song and gives a hug and says thank you. I thank him back. I couldn’t have asked for more. It took only a minute but wow! The security shows me to take my elephant head and to come back. I do that and try to wave to all the nice Swedish people.
And then everyone wants to high five you, everyone is smiling – I feel that I did something more than I could ever deserve. The band’s security (a very nice, very professional gentleman) informs me that he can’t let me come back through the front so I have to get back through the audience but he would help me. In the beginning I thought that this will be a mission but as it turned out it was very easy. Everyone was super kind, polite, smiling and let me come back to my catwalk position. I could see the beautiful Swedish eyes – so happy, so emotionally attached to the band and so grateful. Thank you all!
The concert finishes with ‘Up & Up’ and the amazing fireworks. I try to film the last song and ask my beautiful Swedish neighbor to hand over my camera. I almost forgot to say that my concert neighbors were so kind to keep my belongings safe, charge my phone and keep things under control. That’s how Sweden works – always well and always with the intelligent and beautiful mind. TAK TAK Sweden!
The Amazing Coldplay concert finishes and then all the conversations and photo taking takes place. To tell the truth, I didn’t think I performed well on the stage as it was all just improvisation. Maybe something extra was needed. But I got shut by Swedish fans saying that it looked amazing. After watching the video many times, I laugh and smile a lot. It was so much fun guys!
I say goodbye to the band’s crew and the all the my new met friends. I try to head back to my host. It wasn’t easy – people want to have a photo, my elephant feet are soaked (but we like water, it is ok) and the tram system had issues. I get back to my host’s apartment at around 1am and tell him the story. My new friend from Mexico can’t believe it and he then watches the video. That big smile from South America can’t beat anything! The tiredness starts kicking in as I didn’t eat anything since the whole (had a coffee in the morning). Next day, next adventure!
26th March (Monday) – I try to head to the stadium even earlier than the day before. I really wanted to be in a better position than the catwalk just by the B stage. I again have my coffee in the morning made by the amazing host from Mexico and head towards the stadium. Already waiting for the tram I get people reactions about previous night show – people seem to notice me but I feel that I need to be focused: elephants need to strive for greatness one more time. I arrive to the stadium at 10am and my position is 147th – an improvement but yet quite far away.
A huge difference was the weather – it was sunny all day and the fact that people could enjoy the weather was something great. I was very happy for the people who attended previous night show and could feel the positivity from the Mother Nature next day. I want to mention that the security by the stadium were indeed very nice people: always could have a laugh with them, a nice conversation and arranged for people to have a good time. A perfect example for the rest of the world how the security needs to handle things professionally. A big TAK TAK to them.
At around 3 pm in the afternoon a gentleman approached me to ask if I could speak to his boss on a phone. It was a gentleman from Gothenburg post newspaper and wanted for me to take an interview. I politely accepted. The questions were based on my yesterday’s stage performance, my elephant costume and my amazing looks (forget about that, he didn’t ask me that). Then a gentleman took a few photos and the interview ended up on next day’s Gothenburg News website. Another step of becoming the Brad Pit of Sweden!
During the queueing in the line I met so many great people – I really don’t want to forget those amazing Swedish smiles and the conversations we’ve had. While waiting a few very nice young ladies offered me some fruit to get some energy. I will never forget that. And I think one of the girl’s names was Linea.
At 4.30pm the slow movement started and the adrenalin was rising: I wanted to be as close to the stage as possible and I wanted for the elephant to feel the Paradise too. At 5pm the gates opened and people started scanning through the tickets. The gentleman who tried to scan my ticket had some problems with the machine and I asked his colleague for help. It’s a bad feeling when you know that people are passing you by in seconds and you can’t do much just wait until the scanning progress develops. And then I got through – wasted maybe 25 seconds but still ran like the fastest elephant on the planet. The security couldn’t do too much: just imagine a person being hit by a running elephant? No chance! I reached the catwalk starting just by the main stage. Success! Even better than yesterday!
Lyves and Mew support acts appeared as planned and luckily this time none of them need to cancel due to the weather. I was more interested in Mew band as they weren’t lucky the previous day. And they sounded really good. Who was better for me? Maybe Mew but big thumbs up for both acts.
I met some Coldplay crew members again and of course the legendary Mike. He asked me if I was coming to anymore of the shows and unfortunately my answer was negative. But still, I was ready to rock. Even with an empty stomach! The Last show! The last Paradise! The last smiles!
Swedish fans started again to welcome the band with the synchronized clapping and the Mexican wave. It looked amazing and I tried to video this. I felt it was just a great experience to wait for a band in bad weather and the opposite as well – you can compare and appreciate the situations and more importantly the people who have to go through all of the conditions. And my recommendations to a music fan: if you really like your musician and been waiting for years, months to see them live please don’t look to the weather as a factor to stop you! At the end of a day, there will be somebody who will not care about this and will be happier than you. I believe that the determination is one way to show your love to the musician by you going through all of the challenges: weather, hotels, flights, tall person standing in front of you, bad tooth or a very handsome elephant.
Around 9.15 pm Coldplay appears on a stage and the party of positivity starts again. The setlist looks the same as the previous days but it doesn’t change a thing to go crazy! The atmosphere is super exciting like always and Chris’s movement seems that he hasn’t lost any energy from yesterday’s show. WOW!
Paradise song and I’m dancing like an ultimate Elephant. In general, I am not a very good dancer in life but a great looking elephant with spontaneous hand movements just does the trick. I wish I could see videos of people filming me. This would make me laugh. After Paradise Tiesto Remix finishes I take my mask off just to get some air – everyone is in a great mood and Coldplay crew look happy too.
When band starts walking towards the B stage to perform ‘Always in my head’, ‘Magic’ and ’Everglow’ Chris sees me and throws me the Guitar pick. Though it lands to somebody else Chris puts a thumbs up and a huge smile. I felt that this few seconds moment was more precious than getting the pick. Super happy to have experienced it.
Majority of the concert I try to leave my elephant head on a side of me so that people behind me could see more of a concert. It does take a lot of space you know – we elephants are fairly big animals. But when the ‘Adventure of a lifetime’ started I put my elephant head again and danced like always. Yaaay! ‘Now I feel my heart beating I feel my heart underneath my skin And I feel my heart beating Oh, you make me feel Like I'm alive again… La la la la la la la la la laa la…..’
The amazing thing happened during C stage performance: After ‘In my Place’, ‘Don’t Panic’ songs Chris decided to perform a Swedish song. The author of the song is Sweden’s famous musician Mr. Hakan Hellstrom. And an amazing fact is that he has the record for attendance at Ullevi stadium at his concert – more than 70,000 people. Before the song Chris apologized if he was going to pronounce the words in Swedish wrong. The crowd went crazy and it just showed how amazing Coldplay is be learning something in different language so quickly. So Beautiful!
After this the band performed their last 3 songs and during the beginning of ‘Sky full of stars’ Chris looked from the A stage at me. Chris’s look made me laugh. Then I just tried to use my last energy to sing the last song ‘Up & Up’ as loud as I can. Huge fireworks and stadium going bananas – Thank you Gothenburg!
The concert finished and the security were asking for people to leave very quickly. My amazing Mexican host attended the concert as well and I could see a huge smile in his face. Wow! And he loves music - listens to Radiohead a lot. I asked him how the concert was for him and he said that it was the best concert he has ever been to. I was so happy for him. Well, you came the land of great music and Elephants my friend.
Travelling back to my host’s place was a challenge again. People were asking for photos but knowing that I’m not alone today and my Mexican friend is waiting I tried to be quicker. Huge thumbs up for my Mexican friend for not only letting me stay at his place for 4 nights but also having patience for taking photos with Coldplay fans. His name is Ivan – a truly great person and for all the single ladies he is a very handsome man too. His phone number is +46123456789. A Latin American boy you know! (Please don’t use the number)
Next day I travelled to the beautiful islands off the coast of Gothenburg and spent a whole day there. When I found a café at one of the islands to have some lunch a few ladies approached me and started speaking about Coldplay concert in Gothenburg. They told me that they recognized me from the Sunday concert. This made me smile. A famous man now? Not really! But a very handsome elephant.
During my flight back home on Wednesday I met Coldplay fans who travelled all the way from Latvia to see the band live. 5 girls organizing the trip together – super awesome. It was great to have a conversation with them and I could see how much they cared and loved Coldplay. It just showed how people from all over the world love this band and feel a part of it. Words can’t express how amazing it is.
My ‘A head full of dreams’ tour finished. I would like to thank all the people who I met during this journey, especially my couchsurfing hosts. The moment being on stage with Chris was something that I will never forget. The moments when I saw those beautiful Swedish smile are always in my head. The support from the stadium security and the Coldplay’s crew was supper great.
Thank you Gothenburg! Thank you Sweden! Thank you Coldplay! Thank you Coldplayers
P.s. People ask me if I was the elephant on stage in Milan. Unfortunately it wasn’t me. I am sorry. But the Elephant in Milan looked great – he danced so well. Well done to the guy.
I won’t be able to see any more of the shows during this tour.
I get messages about where I bought my elephant costume – I bought it on amazon
It seems that the elephant trend towards future coldplay concerts might start – the 25th June 2017 was the beginning of something special. It brings a huge smile.
Thank you All - have a great summer and an amazing finish to the rest of the tour!