What did you do Friday night? Rico Rodriguez, oh he just hung out with Coldplay.

Rodriguez, you might remember, is the Fresno-bred drummer of Bay Area band Picture Atlantic. Rodriguez and his band won an opening spot for Friday night's Coldplay concert at HP Pavilion in San Jose.

We talked to Rodriguez as he was getting ready for the big show and now we're getting his post-Coldplay thoughts -- backstage encounters, an almost-exploding heart and everything else.

So what was it like?
It was amazing! Everyone treated us really well, including Coldplay. Performing in front of all those people was a dream come true. I can't wait to do it again.

How did the crowd react to you guys?
We received really great feedback from the audience after every song there was a roar of applause -- one I have dreamed of hearing. When I was walking around the stadium people kept stopping me to tell me how stoked they were about our performance. I even signed some autographs and took some pictures. That was a lot of fun to me.

How was the backstage stuff? Did you get to meet Coldplay? Did you get a dressing room? A bowl of only green M&Ms?
We did get a dressing room and we also got to talk to Coldplay a bit. Their bass player Guy Berryman actually came into our dressing room and hung out with us for about half an hour. For our bass player that was a dream come true, Guy Berryman is his hero. We didn't get a bowl of green M&M's but they did feed us some tasty Shepherd's Pie. Backstage it felt like we were in England. Everyone had an accent.

When you guys introduced your band, did a "Fresno" reference get dropped in there?
Unfortunately, no. It's a complicated thing to explain where we are from because I'm from Fresno, Ryan's from Redwood City, Aarons from Oakland, Patrick's from Santa Cruz, Nick's from Santa Clara and Brian's from Sunnyvale. Pretty soon most of us will be living in the San Jose area, plus the venue was in San Jose so when we walked out we just said, "We're Picture Atlantic from San Jose!". The crowd loved that and it was easier just to say it that way.

Did you stick around and watch Coldplay?
You bet! It was one of the most incredible and inspiring shows I've ever seen. We got to watch their sound check as well. They were running through some songs and the stadium was empty except for us Picture Atlantic guys. That was a great experience for us.

Was there anything that really surprised you about the "rock star" experience?
I'm not a fan of the label "rock star" but I know what you mean. We truly were treated like rock stars. I was surprised by how much fun it was. I knew that I was going to have a good time, but we were just so well taken care of and catered to that it ended up being even better then I had imagined. I think we should just play with them all the time.

What do you think the band learned from this experience?
Playing in front of all those people on that huge stage was very comfortable for us. I thought that it was going to be scary, but I seem to learn the same lesson over and over. I was made for this. I was made to play music.

Is there a moment that you know you'll remember 20 years from now?
Everything about last night was amazing and I will remember it always, but I will never forget the feeling in my chest when we were waiting on that ramp to walk on stage. My heart felt like it was going to explode. Then we walked on stage and the crowd roared. It was a beautiful moment for me. Hearing my snare and bass drum echo through the stadium was something that I'd dreamed of for years.