Too late for Coldplay to fret about curfew
Coldplay didn’t let the 10 p.m. curfew at Levi’s Stadium thwart its taste for a big spectacle on Wednesday, Oct. 4. Not only did the British rock band let its set sail nearly an hour past the Santa Clara City Council’s weeknight deadline for the venue, but it punctuated the evening with fireworks and pyrotechnics.
The infraction is sure to spark another debate between the city of Santa Clara and the San Francisco 49ers, who manage the facility, around the feasibility of weeknight concerts at Levi’s, which is in a residential neighborhood.
Taking the stage just before 9 p.m., the band led by Chris Martin made no mention of the time limit during its set and simply worked its way through a hit-packed, emotional performance highlighted by tributes to victims of the Las Vegas music festival massacre on Sunday, Oct. 1, and Tom Petty, who died Monday, Oct. 2.
After opening the night with a suite of some of its most popular songs — “A Head Full of
Dreams,” “Yellow” and “The Scientist” — Coldplay moved to a secondary stage in the middle of the field, where it previously headlined the Super Bowl 50 halftime show alongside Beyoncé and Bruno Mars, to perform a contemplative mini-set.
“This song, if you want to send love anywhere in the world, this is the time to do it,” Martin said, introducing “Everglow.” He suggested Puerto Rico, Las Vegas, Mexico, Houston, Tanzania and the White House as places as in need of “some good California lovin’.”
The quartet — Martin, bassist Guy Berryman, guitarist Jonny Buckland and drummer Will Champion — also honored Petty by noting his legacy and briefly working the chorus of his 1989 solo hit “Free Fallin’ ” into the outro of “In My Place.”
Later, the frontman pulled a fan onstage to back him on keyboards for “Fly On,” a rarity from 2014, in honor of those affected in Las Vegas.
The tragic shooting in Las Vegas weighed heavily not only on the band but also on those in the crowd of 50,000.
“I was a little apprehensive” about attending the concert, said Michelle Simoni, 31, of Mountain View. “But you know what? You live once. Live life to the fullest.”
Linda Frisk, 20, who was visiting from Sweden, said, “It’s kind of unreal.” But she wasn’t letting Sunday’s carnage affect her plans: Frisk was headed to Las Vegas the next day and had attended Imagine Dragons’ concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View on Tuesday, Oct. 3, with 17,000 others, where that group’s lead singer, Dan Reynolds, had paused to say that the band’s hearts were both full and heavy when thinking about the victims in their hometown of Las Vegas.
Imagine Dragons broke curfew, too — 11 p.m. for Shoreline shows — but by only 10 minutes.
Last month, British pop phenom Ed Sheeran dropped Levi’s Stadium from his 2018 tour over the 10 p.m. curfew, 49ers President Al Guido told The Chronicle’s Matier & Ross. The one-night concert originally planned for August could have brought in upward of $500,000 to the city, Councilwoman Patricia Mahan said.
“We are concerned that concerts may not come to Levi’s Stadium again unless the music ban is resolved in a way that works for everyone,” Guido reiterated Wednesday night. “We have already lost one event and will continue to lose more, costing thousands of local jobs.”
The City Council had previously voted 4-3 to turn down Coldplay’s request for a one-hour curfew extension.
Weeknight concerts at Levi’s Stadium have become a major point of contention with Santa Clara. Two acts at Levi’s — Beyoncé and U2 — broke the 10 p.m. curfew even after the city denied them extensions, opting to pay the $1,000 fine. As of Thursday morning, it was unclear if Coldplay would be held to the same standard and subject to a fine, since public safety officials advised Guido that “abruptly ending a concert could create a public safety emergency.”
Levi’s is the only major outdoor stadium in California bound by a 10 p.m. weeknight curfew, the Niners say.