London Review 3: Coldplay Cap Great Year With Sing-a-long

I guess if you've played every mega-bowl on the planet, the O2 arena must feel a bit pokey.

Maybe that's why Coldplay treated their concert last Tuesday at the old Millennium Dome like a Christmas knees-up down the pub (with 20,000 mates, that is). And even though Chris Martin can get right up some people's noses, you can forgive them a bit of fun at the end of yet another bumper year. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends set a new record for the most downloaded album ever; picked up a clutch of Grammy nominations; and, recently, a copyright infringement (you know you're doing well when the lawsuits start flying your way).

Busy boys, then, and they certainly seemed in a hurry for the show's first hour. "Clocks", "Speed of Life", "In My Place", among other hits, simply sped by. As for "Yellow", the band's breakthrough hit, even they recognised that this needed some novelty value eight years after it first had us weeping into our Chardonnay – giant coloured space hoppers were released into the arena, they floated beguilingly above only to explode, spilling luminous confetti everywhere.

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