It is rare that a band can fill two nights in a row at GM Place, but then this is the biggest band in the universe.
In concert: Coldplay
Where: GM Place
When: Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m.
There is an extended bridge deep into the Coldplay song Fix You during which the band harmonizes prettily over a chiming guitar part. The sound abruptly stops and Chris Martin comes in on piano, ". . . And I will try to fix you."
It's pure Coldplay, this rush of sound dammed up by something revelatory, like Martin promising salvation or something else important sounding, even though a lot of the lyrics are too big and ambiguous to be meaningful: "Do you feel like a puzzle/You can't find your missing piece?"
Or, again from new album X & Y: "You and me are floating on a tidal wave/you and me are drifting into outer space."
The band's cause is fair trade for Third World countries, which is why Martin sports a big equal sign on his wrist. And they wonder why they garner U2 comparisons.Coldplay wears the crown of being the biggest band in the universe at the moment, hence the two nights at GM Place, which has a capacity to seat 18,000 people.
Its members are doing their damnedest to look humble in the face of widespread adulation, and it couldn't be easy.
Chris Martin, as every breathing person will know, is married to sleepy-faced beauty Gwyneth Paltrow. As you might have heard, they have a daughter named Apple and another baby on the way.
Check out your grocery-store magazine rack for details.
His marriage alone plucked Martin from the pack of British pop bands and transformed him into an identifiable celebrity in his own right. Of course, there is also the fact that every album his band releases turns to platinum, many times over.
The truth is, Coldplay is a decent band that writes thoroughly hummable melodies, particularly the ones from their 2002 album Rush of Blood to the Head (before that, the band released 2000's Parachutes).
The band is also particularly gifted in the imposing big-sound department, that quality of swallowing up its listener in one mighty gulp, an overwhelming, exhilarating sound that is hard to resist for even the most jaded power ballad listener.
And then there is the sanctimonious quality about the band (Martin in particular) that has caused a bit of a backlash.
When Martin sits emoting at his piano, bathed in a tranquil blue light, he leaves the impression that he just might, with enough concentration, be able to cure the common cold with his purity of conviction.
As Mark Twain said of someone, he looks as if he's "waiting for a vacancy at the Trinity."
The band's incongruous marriage of humble lyrics and music of sweeping proportions moved New York Times writer John Pereles to declare Coldplay "the most insufferable band of the decade." While fans hear Martin and hear the healer of his generation, Pereles hears "a passive-aggressive blowhard."
That a band should incense a critic to such superlatives is quite hilarious, especially if you consider that Coldplay is basically a benign band with Hallmark-card-ready messages.
Coldplay makes pretty-enough songs, spreads a decent message, and makes a lot of people happy -- to the tune of a possible 36,000 in Vancouver.
And Coldplay will play at this year's Juno Awards on April 2, live from Halifax. Any superstar band willing to show up at our little awards show deserves at least a slap on the back.
Aside from marrying into American movie-star royalty, it's a band whose story has been heard a thousand times.
Best friends Martin and guitarist Johnny Buckland meet at university in 1996, form a band, play their first gig, release an EP, release a full-length CD in 2000, score a hit with the song Yellow, and off they go.
Initially the band was lost in the fray, alongside sweet-sounding bands like Travis.
But as music industry pundits pronounced the band the next U2, somehow Coldplay broke through and went further than anybody could have expected.
They are breathing a rarefied air because ask yourself this: How many bands these days could expect to fill GM Place two nights in a row?
Perhaps it's that remarkable ascendence that has earned them some wrath.
Source: http://www.canada.com
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