Long before he took to selling it on the TV, John Lydon used to take delight in smearing butter on his face to aid the growth of any emerging spots. On the first night of Coldplay’s British tour, Chris Martin had skincare issues of a different nature. Sitting at an upright piano while his band took a breather, the singer bemoaned the luck that brought “a spot the size of the Isle of Wight” in time for their grand homecoming.
Veterans of the punk wars – indeed, anyone who feels that pop music has long since lost its edge – would no doubt have invested significance in Martin’s facial cleansing crisis. But if you saw the way events unfolded at Sheffield, you wouldn’t need to be told that the truth is more complicated.
In spite of, or perhaps because of, its containing their most adventurous music to date, the group’s fourth album – Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends – has yielded a rapturous response from American audiences.
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