Sacramento review: Tight performance endears Coldplay to Sleep Train audience

It's hard to pinpoint Chris Martin's most endearing moment Tuesday night at Sleep Train Amphitheater in Wheatland. But his miming of a swim stroke to illustrate a line ("tides that I tried to swim against ... ") from the band's anthemic hit "Clocks" ranked right up there, writes The Sacramento Bee.

Though Martin easily could put on airs -- he's British, married to Gwyneth Paltrow and leads a mega-selling pop band -- the Coldplay front man instead took pains to acknowledge and ingratiate himself to Sacramento-area fans.

He repeatedly thanked the audience of 12,000 or so at the 18,000-capacity amphitheater for showing up on a Tuesday evening -- one that moved from sweltering to merely uncomfortable as the sun descended on the mostly shadeless rural venue. (The breeze finally kicked in about 10:45 p.m., just in time for the encore.)

Martin defied the very un-British weather by roaming the stage clad in a dark, military-style jacket. He skipped and jumped even during the slower songs (or rather, slower halves of songs, since there's a crescendo around nearly every corner with Coldplay) as the band drew from all its albums but especially from 2008's "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends".

In response, a well-scrubbed but sweaty crowd sang along to all the "Vida" songs, not just the ones that have been on the radio. This made sense, since "Vida," which has gone seven times platinum worldwide, was released more than a year ago, allowing listeners plenty of time to learn the lyrics.

Coldplay has been on tour with "Vida" nearly as long. But this famously meticulous band still seemed appealingly unrehearsed at times Tuesday night. For instance, an acoustic version of "Billie Jean" -- presumably a recent addition to the set list -- let Martin test his falsetto against Jackson's (not even close, but you have to admire Martin for being game).

You also have to love the way Martin constantly stretches his warm baritone to accommodate Coldplay's impressive musical ambitions. Hits such as "Clocks" and "Yellow" -- the latter accompanied by the release of large, yellow balloons into the audience -- sounded fantastic live, especially considering the work that goes into making them sound so perfect in the studio.

All the band members -- keyboardist Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berry man and drummer Will Champion -- appeared to play at least two instruments, with their superior musical skills most evident during a segment in which they left the main stage to crowd a tiny one placed higher up in the amphitheater, in order to better play to the audience on the lawn. The crowd-pleasing band ended up mounting two such small stages during the show.

The contrast in stage size underscored just how small a work force creates the band's big, elaborate sound in concert. And that Martin, though an incredibly charming and natural front man, is only part of the story. Or as Martin put it, before starting a perfectly lovely solo rendition of "The Hardest Part" on the small stage, he would be an "(expletive) nightmare" as a solo act.

He was being ridiculous, of course, but when he subsequently ran back to the main stage to join the band for a rousing "Viva la Vida" -- one of the band's more musically complex songs -- he proved that Coldplay only sounds like a dream with all parts in place.

Source: Sacramento Bee

Pictures of Coldplay at Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA (13th July 2009):