As I have mentioned before, Chopper 4 is periodically used by the TODAY Show for their Toyota Summer Concert Series. Back on May 19, I was surprised by the size of the crowd the band The New Kids On The Block drew. When I heard that Coldplay was going to perform, I knew we’d be flying overhead on Friday.
Naturally, I expected a really large crowd, but I did not expect it to be as gigantic as it turned out. For eight years now I have worked with the TODAY Show and I do not remember a crowd as big as Friday’s. Trust me, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Ricky Martin all drew enormous crowds. I feel safe in saying the crowd for Coldplay was the biggest to date.
We arrived overhead around 7:20 a.m. and the crowd not only filled The Plaza, it reached back to the front doors of 30 Rock, where the Rockefeller Christmas Tree normally stands. The crowd even filled the South side of West 48th Street and people spilled around the corners of West 48th and West 49th Streets at Rockefeller Plaza. I am sure if most of those people could see anything. But regardless of where they were standing, they got one hell of a show!
Normally the musical part of the concert begins around 8:40 a.m. Coldplay started right at 8:30 a.m. and played right up to the local newsbreak. Then, they played an encore at the top of the 9:00 a.m. show, which I’ve only seen happen two or three times over the years. Nobody left early and the band gave it their all for their fans.
If you watched, you saw the sweat coming off of Chris Martin. He worked the crowd, even heading to the West 48th Street side of The Plaza to connect with the people in the back of the crowd. Considering they played at Madison Square Garden several nights earlier in the week and were heading to Philly Sunday, I really impressed by Coldplay as people giving back in some way to their fans, not just as musicians.
I know TODAY has many talented people scheduled for the rest of the summer. However, it is going to be hard to impress me the way Coldplay did on Friday morning.
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