No matter who may be the top selling act this year, alternative rock band Coldplay puts on the best show. On Sunday, Nov. 16. the band played at a sold-out Ford Stadium in Oklahoma City. Tonight they play in Dallas at the American Airlines Center.
Coldplay’s concert bombards the senses with visual effects, incredible music and even massive amounts of confetti that pour from the ceiling. More importantly, the band is entertaining, especially when front man Chris Martin uses his humility for comedic purposes.
“Thanks for being here,” Martin said after the first few songs. “We’re a band called Coldplay. And I have to say that, as a band, we’re thoroughly impressed for a Sunday night in Oklahoma,”
The tour revolves around the group’s album, “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends,” released this past summer. The concert opened with the mostly instrumental “Life in Technicolor,” a song perfectly suited for opening a show because it begins in a mellow state but finishes with energy. The group immediately launched into the first single from “Viva la Vida,” “Violet Hill.” The crowd sang along as Martin threw himself around the stage with abandon and gusto.
Martin’s energy carried the show through a laser accompanied “Clocks” and “In My Place,” two of Coldplay’s best known songs. When the group played “Fix You,” arguably Coldplay’s most emotional ballad, you could see the cell phones lighting up around the arena as fans recorded the song or called loved ones so they could listen in.
The best part of the concert was when the group engaged with the audience and joined them in the crowd. Coldplay gathered on a smaller stage among the floor seats to play a club version of, “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face” and “Talk.” Then, Martin was left alone to play “The Hardest Part,” but not before telling the funniest anecdote of the evening.
“This next song [“The Hardest Part”] isn’t the best Coldplay song, but it isn’t the worst,” Martin quipped. “The worst one is unrecorded. It’s a song we wrote when we first got together and we were very young. It’s about body odor and how important it is to wear deodorant. I guess that’s what was important to us when we were young. Anyway, that’s the worst Coldplay song.”
The band moved even further into the crowd when they performed an acoustic set of “The Scientist” and “Death Will Never Conquer” from a small stage set up in an upper rear section. Martin made the crowd laugh again as he told the audience members sitting towards the front that this was their chance to “take a break, go get a hamburger, or maybe do some homework.”
As the group moved back to the stage, they performed material from “Viva la Vida,” including “Strawberry Swing” (another song for lovers) and one of the album’s title tracks, “Viva la Vida.” With these songs, the crowd grew even more raucous, dancing and singing along with an energy to match Martin’s.
Coldplay played the show perfectly, rarely missing a beat and laughing about it when they did. Their tour design made use of projections in the group’s album art and several large glowing balls hung around the arena that would light up and swirl projected images.
The night concluded with “Lovers in Japan,” which is an ideal “concert” song and was made more so by the tons of aforementioned confetti that tumbled from the top of the arena.
The group made an exit after performing “Death and All His Friends,” a perfect concluding song, but came back to perform an encore of “Yellow,” the group’s first big hit. The arena was bathed in yellow light as the crowd sang along and applauded Coldplay’s ambitious show.
The show was electric and as emotionally charged as a concert can get. If you’re attending tonight’s concert in Dallas, you won’t be disappointed. Coldplay’s concerts are much like their music: alternately intimate and gargantuan in a mix that somehow works perfectly.
