Chicago Review: Coldplay at the United Center (1st Night)

Coldplay swings for the balconies, and even plays in them

On its 2006 tour, Coldplay figured out how to supersize its shows. Once a fluff-up-the-pillow band of balladeers, built on Chris Martin’s falsetto voice and upright piano, the British quartet muscled up and swung for the rafters, in keeping with its status as a multimillion-selling franchise capable of filling sports arenas around the globe.

With its fourth and latest album, the cumbersomely titled “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends,” Coldplay tackles big subjects (death, the afterlife) with an equally big sound, brimming with nuances sculpted by producer Brian Eno.

It’s the type of album designed to fill stadiums, and Coldplay swept into the United Center on Tuesday for the first of two concerts with a certain been-there, done-that confidence, if not swagger. “Swagger” and “Coldplay” are words that rarely belong in the same sentence, because Martin and his bandmates have always carried themselves with a scruffy, almost sheepish charm. Yet with “In My Place,” Martin was winding up his left arm and thrusting it skyward like he was throwing uppercuts at the heavens each time the chorus kicked in. With the lights up and the whole house singing along, it was the kind of crowd-pleasing gesture that Martin now delights in.

Read the full review here [thanks mimixxx]