ColdplayThis is music for the masses. It's utterly baffling – as you get your armband that will “light up during the show” strapped on – to realise that, while there's a remarkable band lying under the layers of production, Coldplay are throwing everything at the wall to impress you, your Mum, your aunty and even your pre-pubescent cousin.
But first, there's Aussies The Temper Trap. The outfit is an incredibly competent support act for a show of this calibre and Dougie and the boys do all they can to wrap the behemoth audience around their little finger. It works too – tracks like Fader, Trembling Hands and Love Lost all have the soaring, by-the-books hooks to get the crowd on their feet early. However, as predictable as it is to say, Sweet Disposition is still an utterly incredible tune, saved for last and head and shoulders above the others.
As the instrumental theme to Back To The Future booms out of the PA, “Please put on your armbands” flashes across the ginormous screens and a couple of pre-emptive fireworks are let off. With that the four lads from Coldplay hit the stage like excited kids and drop straight into Hurts Like Heaven, very effective with the visuals, fireworks and the now-flashing armbands creating an utter spectacle as a sea of reds, greens, blues and whites flashes before us. It's a celebration from the get-go and the arena is transformed into a playground. The stunning In My Place is the first of a scattering of “classics” that includes Yellow and God Put A Smile Upon Your Face amongst some newer goldies like Viva La Vida and Violet Hill and, of course, endless atrocities from latest record Mylo Xyloto. It's all very remarkable visually but you can't help but wonder if it would better without all these distractions – Chris Martin is entirely remarkable, the consummate frontman with boundless energy and charm oozing from his pores, but as he plays the heartfelt The Scientist and there are noisy kids with bouncy balls at the back of the stadium, it tends to remove the tenderness.
Still, this is the best show ever known to mankind to some and they shouldn't be shunned for thinking that. Even the hardest Brisbane cynics would be hard pressed holding back a grin as Martin sings My Happiness and remarks “Miss you Powderfinger”. Even Rihanna makes an appearance on the big screen for Princess Of China, and a b-stage set up at the back of the stadium sees an acoustic set including Us Against The World and Speed Of Sound, but it's the grand finale of Clocks and the enormously epic Fix You that sends the 50,000 strong audience away smiling. But then we have to hand back our armbands.
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