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Coldplay closed out the North American leg of its tour with an exclamation point last night.   Befitting their status as radio kings, thanks to the success of their fourth album "Viva La Vida," the quartet gave a big performance on a big stage with a big audience singing along to the big choruses. (Speed-dial friends U2 would've beamed with older brotherly pride).   Whether it was the presence of front man Chris Martin's famous wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and mother-in-law, Blythe Danner, with specia

Coldplay stopped at the Verizon Center for the "Viva La Vida" tour   WASHINGTON – For music fans concerned about who will continue the arena rock tradition once the veterans have walked away from the stage for good, now would be a good time to turn your attention to Coldplay.   Is their music and cultural impact as timeless as The Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen? No. At least not yet. And can Chris Martin command a stage with the bravado and swagger of Bono or Jon Bon Jovi? Not quite. What C

Whenever I have a conversation with someone about this strange job I do, the question always comes up: "How do you keep an open mind?"   It actually gets easier with time. I've been at this music-critic thing for 10 years and if going to shows every other night has taught me anything, it's that I should allow myself to be surprised. Sometimes you know what awaits. I'll be attending my seventh Backstreet Boys show next week, for instance and I can say right now that I will loathe every minute of

Two years and 5 months after Coldplay last rolled into Toronto, I once again found myself back in the rigidly designed bucket-seats of the Air Canada Centre for their second of a two night stop along the Viva La Vida Tour. One of the great things about a Coldplay concert is the people. We all know on one level or another that Coldplay fans love good music. It was with little shock that the fan seated next to me was into such sonically pleasing artists as Radiohead, Sigur Ros and U2. It was funny

Normally close-cropped Chris Martin was showing off a fuller head of hair than usual this week. The Coldplay frontman had allowed his 'do to grow into a funky afro-inspired style to play a sell-out gig in Toronto.   The musician, who's on the North American leg of his tour with bandmates Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion, debuted the look as he thrilled fans with songs off new album Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends. The electrifying set was also interspersed with renditions

Chris Martin isn’t coy about it. He freely admits Coldplay gathers its strength from Radiohead the way Superman draws his powers from our yellow sun.   Recently asked how much he paid to download Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want release “In Rainbows,” Martin explained he dropped 10 British pounds three separate times trying to get the album onto his hard drive. Finally, he gave up and bought the vinyl.   “But I don’t mind,” he said. “I owe Radiohead a bit more than 30 pounds. Let’s face it. We owe

Long live the kings. And you too, Coldplay. The world's biggest band hit Toronto's Air Canada Centre for the first of two sold-out concerts on Wednesday, leaving the impression that while its members are a nice young foursome of Englishmen capable of writing gorgeous anthems and performing them wonderfully, they just aren't the conquering types.   Appearing as if they hadn't cleaned the dust from Sunday's Pemberton Festival in B.C. off their raggedy military garb, the CD-selling giants starting

To take a phrase from Coldplay's latest album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, they didn't get to heaven but they made it close last night at Toronto's Air Canada Centre.   The British quartet, perhaps the heirs to U2's "greatest rock band in the world" moniker, wowed the sold-out crowd during the first of a two-night stand at the venue as part of their current North American tour.   Whether it was the giant balls suspended from above that showed up-close images of the group, confett

Coldplay is interested in universals, not small statements.   The U.K. chart-toppers take a beating in some quarters for desperately wanting to be all things to all folks, but in a way, they are: they're almost impossible to dislike when placed in front of you, no matter how cool you think you are.   Personality helps, of course. At the Air Canada Centre last night for the first of two sold-out Toronto shows, pathologically energetic frontman Chris Martin and his rather more heads-down bandmate

Drummer says ACC shows tonight and tomorrow feature intimate atmosphere, 'fantastic' supporting act   Leading up to their two Toronto dates at the Air Canada Centre, tonight and tomorrow, Coldplay fans should be delighted to know the band is gaining momentum on its current tour, at least according to Will Champion, the band's drummer. The man should know. He's probably got the best seat in the house and has watched the show come together over the first few weeks of the latest world tour.   "It

Enjoy a Toronto show preview, courtesy of martiniboys.com:   This is a begrudging FYI. While I'll conceal my own personal feelings towards the band (I think you can guess), I have to grit my teeth and admit that Coldplay are still one of the biggest bands in the world right now.   Enough so, that when they come to town, it's always newsworthy. So I couldn't in good conscience ignore it. For those who don't know, Coldplay play a non-offensive brand of arena-ready (good for the Air Canada Centre c

Love-ins of this magnitude don't happen often. British rock band Coldplay held court last night, bringing its soaring, anthemic pop to an enraptured crowd of 19,000 fans at the Bell Centre.   It's no secret that Coldplay wants to be the new U2. A lack of musical heft aside, the group appears to be well on its way. The standing ovation started the moment the lights dropped, and didn't let up until the end of the encore. Cheers were deafening and singalongs were omnipresent.   Leaning heavily on m

Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland says Eno's presence definitely had a hand in the band's latest Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.   "He kind of had an influence on the psychology of it if that makes any sense, of how to create an album," Buckland says prior to a Philadelphia show last Friday. "It's not like he sits there and makes you get the right drum sound. He's much more interested in the broader strokes of production. It's not that he doesn't have ideas about drums sounds, but he'

When Coldplay originally set their North American tour dates earlier this year, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton were definitely in the loop.   Unfortunately production delays meant the group reshuffling the touring itinerary and those three Canadian cities were sadly left out in the cold. But fans of the band in those cities can rest assured they will be back sometime in 2009.   "I think we'll definitely be replacing those in the New Year," Buckland says. "I'm not sure exactly when to be honest,

An interesting article (and a rare Coldplay caracature) written by the New Yorker:   In a 2005 piece in the Times, Jon Pareles called the British rock group Coldplay “the most insufferable band of the decade,” and he placed the blame on the band’s front man and singer, Chris Martin, whom he called a “passive-aggressive blowhard.”   Earlier this year, in a study sponsored by the hotel chain Travelodge of the bedtime habits of 2,248 people in the U.K., Coldplay topped a poll of music choices that

PHILADELPHIA -- Bill O'Reilly's ears must have been burning Friday night.   After an evening of super-sized anthems and even bigger sing-a-longs, Coldplay left the stage and completed their main set in the back of Wachovia Center Friday night, surrounded by a sold out crowd of 20,000 fans as they performed a pair of acoustic songs in section 105.   After finishing an acoustic, guitar-based "The Scientist," singer Chris Martin received celebratory fist bumps from fans. "There are terrorist fist j

The world’s most palatable rock and roll band came to the sold-out Wachovia Center in South Philadelphia on Friday, working hard to please.   An hour and half spent with Coldplay is like enjoying a light summer meal, spread out on the lawn on a humidity-free late July evening. Chris Martin and his bandmates make for mildly engaging company, and even when they aim lasers to the rafters, the bombast goes down easy. Airy melodies carry the day, and it never threatens to develop into a hot and stic

Coldplay's second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, was nearing completion when an excited Chris Martin arrived at the studio late one night. At the keyboard, he played the tune running through his head. Lead guitarist Jonny Buckland was impressed. "He picked up his guitar [a sure sign that he likes a song] and played these brilliant chords," Martin recalls. "It was like a chemical reaction process."   The pulsing, cyclical riff – inspired, according to Martin, by the band Muse – was edgy, he

How a village in B.C. came to host one of the summer's hottest music festivals   VANCOUVER -- When a band as big as Coldplay decides it wants to produce and headline a European-style music festival in North America, you find a place to put it. The person charged with that responsibility, on a tight, one-year deadline, was Shane Bourbonnais, president of touring and business development for concert promoter Live Nation Canada.   Bourbonnais chose Pemberton, B.C.   Pemberton, for those who haven

When: Wednesday, July 23 Where: The United Center, Chicago   As a concert-minded songwriter, one of Chris Martin’s best moves was to name his biggest hits after colors — or colours, as he might say.   Just ask the 11,000 strong at last night’s Coldplay show, who over the course of the night heard hits of a vivid trajectory: the early highlight was “Violet Hill,” sans the thirty seconds of white noise that precedes it on new disc Viva La Vida; the ultimate peak was a singalong version of “Yellow,

Every year, Drexel students repeatedly excel in academia-related competitions around the world, but this summer, one music industry junior has rocked-literally. Singer/songwriter Jonah Delso won a contest to open for the popular British group Coldplay July 25 at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center.   Delso submitted a video for his song "Elevator" through 93.3 WMMR's "Open for Coldplay" contest. Through an online voting process, Delso's music video was chosen as one of the top three contenders in the

With their fourth studio album firmly entrenched on the charts, Coldplay easily filled the United Center with fans for their two-night concert stand this week, a far cry from their last relatively intimate appearance at The Metro.   The enthusiasm we saw from the Chicago stop on their worldwide Viva la Vida tour is arguably a testament to Coldplay’s longevity: ponder all you want about the quality of the music, but a whole lot of people still like the band. The 90-minute set mainly drew music fr

Brits try hard to stay up close and personal with their fans   Even after several million albums sold, British art-rockers Coldplay are still conflicted about their status as an arena act, and that's one of their most endearing traits. On the one hand, front man Chris Martin and his bandmates do everything they can to maximize the big rock spectacle, the grand theatrical gesture and the musical bombast.   On Tuesday, the first night of a two-night stand at the United Center, the musicians came o

As part of a tour to promote their newest album, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida concert Friday night the HP Pavilion did exactly what it was supposed to do. The band performed all but one of the songs from the new album, along with several gems from previous albums.   Frontman Chris Martin is a consummate performer who knows just how to walk the line between modesty and self-assuredness. He had the audience in the palms of his hands all night. Looking at times like the scarecrow from the “Wizard of Oz”

Group skilled at making big rooms feel small   He looked like a muscle spasm incarnate, a drunken ballerina, twitching, trembling, leaping, lunging, posing and pinwheeling about the stage, as if his flesh were a prison he was trying to escape from.   Through it all, he smiled like the cat who not only ate the canary, but devoured most of its kin as well. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin is not prone to small gestures -- he's the kind of guy who favors bear hugs over handshakes, wet kisses over dry