Coldplay pulls out big guns in Phoenix concert

Coldplay have made no secret that they hope to eventually become as huge as Ireland’s U2, and Thursday’s concert by the former at Cricket Pavilion in Phoenix had the feel of a “big event.”

Coldplay has graduated from the Dodge Theatre (the last venue the quartet played in Phoenix), and its high-dollar video presentation and lighting array put it into a new league.

Taking the stage in dramatic fashion on a sweaty Valley night, with its members silhouetted again a huge LED clock counting down to liftoff, pianist-singer Chris Martin & Co. took immediate control of the huge crowd (18,000-plus) with a flawless take on “Square One,” the opening track on the band’s latest album, “X&Y.”

“You’re in control, is there anywhere you wanna go?” Martin sang to the audience, which responded with a roar that translated to, “Down the hit-filled road that has turned this group into multimillionaires.”

Martin, now a father after his marriage to actress Gwyneth Paltrow, quickly made it clear that he’s got U2’s Bono is his sights. But the Coldplay front man has a way to go before he catches the world’s most magnetic rock singer.

Martin has become much more animated onstage, often leaving the security of the upright piano that he’s banged on since the band debuted with 2000’s “Parachutes” album.

Grabbing the microphone, he danced across the stage, reaching for the sky and making other dramatic hand gestures. Martin has learned a trick or two from Bono and Jagger in the art of playing larger venues. Overpowering strobe lights and mirror-image videos of the band combined to provide sensory overload for the audience as Coldplay moved into “Politik,” from 2002’s masterful “A Rush of Blood to the Head” album.

The sight of Martin leaning over his keyboard, rocking on his stool and singing with closed eyes has become one of the more endearing in rock. He may be a huge star now, but he remains dedicated to the music that got his band where it is.

Backed by power chords from guitarist Jon Buckland on the band’s early breakthrough hit, “Yellow,” Martin demonstrated that he’s still focused on material he’s played 1,000 times. Playing electric guitar, the black-clad singer’s delivery of the well-trodden song’s lyrics was dead-on.

Only the dropping of confetti-filled yellow balloons at song’s end seemed overly calculated.
Coldplay deftly moved through the first half of its 110-minute set, pulling out lasers and “Star Wars”–like space imagery for this year’s “Speed of Sound” and adding aggression to the guitar work in 2002’s “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face.”

Martin threw in some self-effacing humor when he introduced “Everything’s Not Lost” by claiming that a survey in a woman’s magazine revealed that “Coldplay is best viewed from far away,” adding that “some of us are a bit fat, some of us are a bit ugly.”

Gazing toward the throng behind the reserved seating, Martin said, “So if you bought yourself a lawn ticket and sat far away from us … everything is not lost.”

As the concert progressed, it became evident that Martin was being a trooper in spite of apparently having a cold or else being run down from this major North American tour.
His voice started to sound a bit ragged at the end of “Everything’s Not Lost,” but the adoring crowd was happy to pitch in on the chorus when requested.

Martins vocals were flat in places on the mega-hit “Clocks,” and he skipped some high notes on “Talk,” which closed the band’s initial set, which was followed by a three-song encore.
Coldplay tipped its hand regarding U2 envy a little too strongly on three songs – “Low,” “White Shadows” and “Talk,” all from “X&Y.” The driving bass of Guy Berryman and Buckland’s soaring guitar mirrored Coldplay’s Irish predecessor too close for comfort on those tracks.
Coldplay revealed another of its idols during a short acoustic set, when the band played “Till Kingdom Come,” the hidden track on “X&Y” that Martin said was written in tribute to the late country-music icon Johnny Cash.

That led into a version of Cash’s “Ring of Fire” that was well-intentioned but quite proper. Nonetheless, the desert-dwelling crowd shouted its approval.

All in all, Coldplay’s live show remains energetic and enjoyable.

But the band needs another album or two and a few more world tours under its belt before Bono and U2 have to look over their shoulder.

Source: http://www.azcentral.com