Poppy Bilderbeck
A woman has spoken out after being thrown out of a Coldplay concert while dancing to the song played at her mother-in-law's funeral.
If you hadn't heard of Coldplay - i.e. you've been living on a different planet for the last few decades - you may have initially interpreted Andrea Nelson's dancing to her mother-in-law's funeral song in a very different - and potentially darker - way. Nope? Only me?
But, Don't Panic, because Coldplay songs tug at the heart strings and mostly bring out emotions of nostalgia, love but also heartbreak.
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Alas, while paying tribute to her late mother-in-law by rising to her feet for a good, old dance, Andrea was interrupted by security and escorted from the Etihad stadium with over half of the concert still to go.
The song which caused Andrea to rise swiftly to her feet was 'Yellow' from Coldplay's 2000 album Parachute - the ninth song to be played at the concert on Saturday (3 June).
With lyrics like: "Look at the stars/ Look how they shine for you" and "Your skin, oh yeah, your skin and bones/ Turn into something beautiful/ And you know, you know I love you so" it's the perfect tear-jerking song to emotionally belt to - and while you may not have thought about it before it also actually makes the perfect funeral song.
Andrea's sing-and-dance-along was 'rudely' cut short by Etihad staff members, who - despite her explaining she was dancing in remembrance of her mother-in-law - sent for more staff, a total of 10 members of security allegedly arriving to escort her from the premises.
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Andrea explained security made a beeline for her as soon as she 'stood up to dance'.
"So were other people, [but] because we were near the steps, security were next to us," she added.
The issue? "They say I might fall over the barrier," Andrea explained.
Despite telling them it was her mother-in-law's funeral song, and pointing out she's 'five foot' so the barrier 'basically came up to [her] chest' Andrea says she was still told she needed to leave.
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The concert-goer - who paid £150 for her ticket - reflected: "I didn’t realise the seats were restricted. If I had, we shouldn’t have been paying full price for them.
"I would not have paid that fee if I’d known you couldn’t stand up. Who goes to a concert where you can’t stand up?"
Andrea claims 'nothing was said' to the other people who 'were stood up on [her] row' because 'they were much more difficult to get to'.
The Coldplay fan - who attended the concert with her husband - called staff's handling of the situation 'atrocious,' alleging staff made her feel like a 'criminal' and threatened to 'remove [her] by force' if she didn't comply with their instructions to leave.
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Andrea resolved: "It’s probably my own fault, but at the end of the day, I just wanted to stand up at a concert. Should they be selling tickets at full price when the seats have restrictions? No, they shouldn’t.
"They could [have been] a lot more sensitive. This meant a lot to me and my family. I was devastated. We’d paid a lot of money to come to this concert. It may never happen again in my lifetime. It was supposed to be a memorable concert for us, and this ruined it."
LADbible has contacted the show's promoters SJM for comment.