Finally, after two hours of decent warm-up band and a nightmare of audiovisual LSD, the lights went out and you could hear in the background (over the din of the crowd) the opening sound of Life in Technicolor, the first track on the Viva la Vida album. It’s instrumental, but very distinct and up-beat. You can’t help but feel good listening to it. The forms of band members could be seen in the darkness as they took the stage, all while the album cover began to appear on the screen behind the entire stage (Probably about 60 feet tall). When the pre-recorded background track hit the part where the guitars, drum, and accent vocals take their cues, the lights came up on each in turn and the concert started. They rolled from that track into Violet Hill and the rest of the album. I don’t remember the entire order they went in, as they skipped around a lot. They also played some stuff from past albums (God put a smile on your face, The Scientist, Clocks (very cool light show for that one), Politik, Fix You, and Yellow as an encore). It was absolutely amazing, every minute of it. Even in spite of the (wie sagt mann…) highly inappropriate behavior that was rampant in the seats next to ours. Some of the highlights: the lighting was amazing, hands down, including lasers, good use of smoke, precision instruments, and well cued hits with the music and lights in sync. Chris Martin is an excellent performer and entertainer. Although he probably didn’t do anything different that night than anywhere else, it felt like he was coming up with stuff on the spot (improving Violet Hill at the end, “If you’re from Utah won’t you let me know!” and giving away harmonicas in the crowd to some of the kids). Strawberry Swing had a really great light show as well. The coolest part of it all was Lovers in Japan. Taking cues from their music video for that track, they had millions (not an exaggeration) of paper butterflies that blew out of the top of the stadium and rained down on everything during the chorus. The last batch was fluorescent and they switched on blacklights to make it that much neater (Check out the pictures at planetbrent-photos.juicydevelopment.com for the details).

The photos describe the details of the concert very well. Ultimately, it was absolutely fantastic. We left the concert in short order, didn’t have trouble with traffic, drove home safely, and I think the entire experience was unforgettable for everyone. It was a blast.

Wow. It’s been an incredible week. I remember going to bed on Sunday with this warm happiness all throughout me because I knew it was going to be a fantastic week. I’m really glad I clung to that all throughout the week, because it turned out to be one of the rougher weeks I’ve had to go through. Homework and testing wasn’t any more than usual (in fact it was almost less), I did well in class, didn’t miss the bus, ate well, and took naps regularly. But by tuesday I felt as though I had “been run over by a bear driving a semi” and seriously felt like vomiting, I was so tired (okay, not entirely, but I’ve felt sick all week). Much to my chagrin, I had obligations on every front to meet, including church, social, academic, and business. Deadlines, activities, service, and everything in between. Even on the days when I would just collapse from exhaustion as I went down for the night, I remembered how great I felt about this week and I knew that this was definitively an absolutely fantastic week. Making my way through thursday and into friday, I was able to get my Talk Radio obligations put together. I love leading projects, can I say that? Mapping out all the components, the details, and then fielding off assignments to team members with full confidence in individual and collective excellence is a truly wonderful thing. So is getting an 87% on a curved chemistry test with the average fallling at about 69% and the curve being an average curve, not a “scaled-from-the-top” curve. This means I *might* pull off more than 100% on this test.

So, Saturday rolled in. Nate and I were terrible in getting up on time (9:00) and, after making waffles and bacon for my home teachers, we got ready and headed off for the temple at about 1:20 or so. It was a wonderful experience (again), I learned more, and at precisely 3:30 PM we left the temple on our way home.

The beauty in all this is that I had a plan for my day to go precisely like this in advance and it thrilled me that this time table was being met with such precision. At home, I got dressed and ready for one of the best saturday nights of this year (right up there with Prom and other brilliant experiences). It was interesting, as I had seen this day coming for so long and thought about little details in simple bursts for so many months that it all came together in an instance. It felt a lot like marching band, where you took 8 months worth of training, preparation, and perfection, strained out all the best bits, and used that as your performance instead of working through it again. I knew precisely where I needed to be, when I needed to get there, and what I would be doing when I got there every step of the way. In order, I dressed, took care of my personal grooming, printed off the directions, activated my debit card that arrived, texted Christie a few times to make sure we were still on time.

We left at 4:30 PM, popped in Prospekt’s March (straight from the Japan release), and hit the freeway. After exactly two times through Prospekt’s March (54 minutes and 46 seconds to be precise) we arrived at the Mandarin in Bountiful. The Mandarin is one of the best chinese restaurants in the country, and they’re not afraid to brag. Everywhere are plaques, newspaper clippings, and awards announcing their superiority in oriental cuisine. It’s affordable too. We walked in, put our name on the list (”Anderson, party of 3″) and took a seat in the “waiting cave” (as dubbed by Christie and Mikayla), a room just off to the side of the front desk. Not 30 seconds later, we heard from our bus boy “Anderson, party of 3″ and we were off into the heart of the restaurant, a comfortable table for 3. A few minutes later, Scott, our waiter, arrived. I am convinced that either in a past profession or a past life he was a high pressure salesman. Within a matter of 10 seconds he had the three of us convinced we needed to get the salmon spring rolls. They were good, however we all mutually thought they tasted like gourmet fish-sticks wrapped in fried wontons. The sauce was good too.

So from here, we ordered walnut shrimp, tropical thai chicken, beef chow mein, and brown rice. The food was delicious, and the experience fantastic. At exactly 6:35 (5 minutes behind schedule) we were stuffed, packed, and back on the road, this time headed for the Little America’s underground parking and a trax ride. I messed up getting to the Little America, passing it on accident and having to double back, but we made it there alright. I had accounted for a 15 minute buffer in my plans, which was perfect since we missed our train and waited 10 minutes, bringing us right on schedule. A quick trax ride and we arrived at the Stadium. In our seats, and ready to go.

I’m exhausted. I’ll fill in the rest of the details tomorrow. In the mean time, check out my Coldplay album for photo documentation and a sneak peak at the rest of the adventures of Lizzie, Gordo, and Miranda.

(PS – If you’re not in on the whole “Lizzie Gordo Miranda” thing, here’s the summary: Lizzie McGuire was a TV show a few years ago with Lizzie (Christie), Miranda (Mikayla), and Gordo (Brent). We each fit these in part because of personality traits but mostly because of hair color (Lizzie is blonde and Miranda is a brunette) and because I’m the boy that hangs out with those two)