Toronto review 6: Coldplay entertains 44,000 ecstatic fans

On a particularly humid evening, Coldplay touched down at the Rogers Centre for an energetic, uplifting and momentarily off kilter set. Working off of their vast catalogue of current and past hits, the British four-piece launched into "Life In Technicolour," the lead instrumental off of their latest offering Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, writes Exclaim.

After a strong rendition of "Violet Hill," lead singer Chris Martin took a moment to stare out into the sea of writhing bodies and ask, "Everybody all right?" which sent the sell-out crowd into hysterics. The band kept the energy in the building pumping with one of their first hits, "Yellow," during which an explosion of yellow balloons was released above the floor, and then with a stirring "Fix You."

The momentum that the band had been building came to screeching halt temporarily when the took to a mini-stage amongst the floor seats and made the head-scratching decision to play a techno/dance version of "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" from their sophomore disc A Rush of Blood to the Head. Thankfully, the mistake was quickly forgotten, when Martin turned up his cheeky charm and used a little self-depreciating humour to win back the audience.

After finishing their set with "Lost," the group exited the stage to a deafening chorus of screams. After a few tense moments, Martin and the boys came out for the first of three mini-encores, where they hammered out a fairly funky acoustic version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," as well as "Politik" and their most popular tearjerker "The Scientist," which had some young ladies literally crying.

With drummer Will Champion also celebrating his birthday and a stadium full of fans singing him "Happy Birthday," the night seemed pretty much like a massive house party where everything was just right.

Source: Exclaim.ca

More pictures of Coldplay at Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON (30th July 2009):