Pictures: Chris Martin plays Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC (15th October 2009)

Chris Martin played without the rest of Coldplay last night at the Keep A Child Alive's 6th Annual Black Ball at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The event was hosted by hosted by Alicia Keys and Padma Lakshmi. Sporting a new haircut, white shirt with tie and waistcoat... and Adidas trainers, Chris played Clocks, Viva La Vida and If I Aint Got You (with Alicia Keys).

There is lots more discussion on this low-key Chris Martin performance (not even the official site announced it) including fan reviews, photos and some videos at the Coldplay forum here onwards [thanks SueDeNimes, Mimixxx & Marsu]

Remember how I said I wasn't going to make it yesterday. I ended up going there with my sister after we saw "A Steady Rain" (BTW, Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman are very nice & hot in real life). We got to Hammerstein Ballroom around 10pm. We waited and waited and waited until 1am, it was friggin cold outside. No luck seeing Chris, we saw a lot of other celebrities though. Terence Howard gave us weird looks, he's a good looking man but no we were not there for him. At about 12am, music started playing. Alicia Keys played her song "No One," I think Chris joined her for the last "oh oh oh" chorus...

Then played one other song we couldn't make out. Then "Clocks" start playing, I am not sure if I heard a backing band just piped in backing music. It was nice to hear anything after waiting for so long, I did a little happy dance. Chris sounded good and didn't hear any big differences with the song other than Chris saying something at the end. We assume he was saying something about "saving the children." I think Chris maybe played "Trouble" but couldn't hear for sure. Then VLV came on. And for everyone wondering, Alicia Keys and backing instrumentals filled in for Will. She did a admirable job but she's no Will. And that was pretty much all the live music we heard for the night. For such a fancy pants party, some of the people were dressed so poorly. The person that top the worst dress for me was some lady wearing a neon pink spandex body suit and a dress made of chain or something that clink and clanked when she walked by. We could have snuck in if we got a off the rack evening dress from Macy's or H&M and put on some makeup.

The crowd was a mix of PR people, Europeans, beautiful people, and ridiculously rich people. We were waiting by the front door which happens to be the smoking area so no one really cared that we were standing there. There was only me, my sister, and a German tourist waiting to see David Bowie at the door. Though none of us achieved our objectives, it was still an interesting night to witness. We saw so many celebrities, though I wasn't overly excited about any of them: Al Roker, Terrence Howard, Geoffrey Wright, Padma Lakshimi, Robin Thicke & his wife, Paula Patton, Adrian Greiner, Samuel L Jackson, Rachel Hunter, Stephen Dorff, Gayle King, Richard Branson, and some others. A funny moment was when two Irish guys came up to us and asked if we wanted their autographs, they said they were in that Irish movie "The Wind that Breaks the Barley." They could've been, no idea. A lot of douchey looking people too, the people that usually go to the Meatpacking District. I would say a decent amount of people left before Alicia Keys started her set, though it seemed like the party was running long since it had started around 8pm. It stinks a little we didn't see Chris, I guess he and some of the other big stars left from the back. I would have loved to see him all dressed up. [thanks halokiti]

The evening also included a live auction with some amazing items. Terrence Howard kicked off the auction by engaging in a (playful) bidding war with Queen Latifah for a 7-night stay at the Caves in Negril, Jamaica. Valued at $9,150, he won it at $20,000. Also up for bid was a 7-night stay at Sir Richard Branson’s home on the British Virgin Island including two first class tickets, a team of 60 staff, business facilities, fully equipped gymnasium and all meals and drinks. Valued at $27,000, the Branson auction raised $440,000! Chris Martin won the bid at $200,000 for the Yamaha Grand Piano used by Alicia Key’s during her “As I Am” tour in 2008 and recently at her 2009 MTV Video Music Award Performance with Jay-Z. The night came to a close with Alicia Keys and Chris Martin’s performance, which got the crowd on its feet with “Viva La Vida.” [via http://faraitoday.com]

New pictures of Chris Martin at the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City (15th October 2009):