2008 Woodie Awards
Coldplay brings life to Sprint Center
Jesus Butler
Issue date: 11/17/08 Section: Culture
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The globe-trotting, British soft-rock group took the stage a little after 9 p.m., following two opening acts - a country-tinged alt-rock group from Texas, and a DJ who laid down beats in sync with an acid-trip-esque cartoon video.
Fans rose from their seats and cheered as the first chords of "Life in Technicolor," the opening track on the band's most recent release, "Viva la Vida," began to echo through the arena. Chris Martin and company took the stage to fill in the song's synth orchestration with their own instrumentation - Martin doing acoustic guitar duties as well as vocals, Johnny Buckland on lead guitar, Guy Berryman on bass and Will Champion banging the drums.
After getting the new album's first single "Violet Hill" out of the way, they launched into a performance of "Clocks," as a stunning laser light show dazzled the audience. Then came the big surprise: only a few songs into the set, Coldplay performed the new song "Glass of Water" from their upcoming EP "Prospekt's March" (due for release Nov. 25 in the States).
"That's the first time in America for that one," Martin said, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers and applause.
The band continued to impress, as they moved on to the hit single "Speed of Sound," which they played in the dark, as huge, multi-colored glowing globes descended from the ceiling. When they finally paused to say hello to the audience, Martin explained he had "heard you have to play six songs in Kansas before stopping to say hi," making the age-old mistake of not realizing which side of the state line his band was on.
Rather than booing, as Missourians are want to do when artists make such a flub, the audience chose to overlook his oversight and cheered him on all the same.
As the evening progressed, the four-piece squeezed onto a small floor-lit platform to play an electro-beat influenced medley of "God Put a Smile on Your Face" and "Talk." This moment, as well as a trip to another small stage in the back of the arena for some folk-infused versions of "The Scientist" and "Death Will Never Conquer" (complete with steel guitar, mandolin and harmonica), highlighted the band's ability to make even the Sprint Center seem like an intimate venue.
Martin's gentle character and British charm showed through in his banter. At one point he singled out a seven-year-old in the audience to thank him for coming to the show. "Wow, seven years old and coming to a Coldplay concert!" he said. "I wasn't going to Coldplay concerts when I was seven. I predict big things for you."
Martin also likes to check in on the audience regularly, asking, "You okay out there?" throughout the night. There's no cocky, rock-star ego from these guys.
After playing a fine selection of songs from their catalog (including their biggest hit to date, "Viva la Vida," and their latest singles "Lost!" and "Lovers in Japan"), the boys pulled out Viva's final track, "Death and All His Friends," and made a trite effort to pretend that was the end of the set.
After only a few moments, however, they retook the stage and banged out their breakthrough hit, "Yellow," much to the crowd's delight, as the stage lights bathed the audience in the song's namesake color. It was a triumphant ending to a performance that managed to be both grand and intimate at the same time.
jbutler@unews.com
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