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Live Review
by SaschaS
30-8-2002
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| Mr Chris Martin of Coldplay |
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Live: Coldplay
Forum, London
Thursday, August 29, 2002
Coldplay’s another guitar-rock dimension
Coldplay come onto the stage in total darkness and, without a caveat, lunge into the first track of their second album, ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’, only released four days ago; ‘Politik’ is delivered with its opening salvo so huge, so powerful and so deafening that soon gives way to a more sensitive passage. The template for the peaks’n’troughs approach of Coldplay…
But tonight is a special night, Chris Martin called it a “homecoming”, this being the Radio 1’s Evening Session broadcast show. The radio-prog’s presenter – it is sadly the week when the Beeb bosses announced it being axed in December to be probably replaced with some dumb, big-tittied, blonde presenter, no doubt – also a tonight’s announcer, Steve Lamacq gets a song dedicated to him because he was the one who aired Coldplay first.
That was three years ago and now they have “made it to a stadium band”, Martin wryly remarks when he becmes superfluous to singing verses of ‘Yellow’. Not only that but the whole atmosphere, when you could smell people perspire admiration, added to this being one of the most energetic, enthusiastic and blinding shows Coldplay ever played.
Martin was happy, bopping around on stage, twirling and smiling, his confidence visibly improved, with plenty off-the-cuff remarks that included mention of that ‘Pop Idol’-loser, Darius, who kept them off the top single’s spot because he was “better looking”. The Coldplay’s creative centre can be so magnanimous because he knows that witching a year Darius will in be past tense’d while Coldplay are only starting their journey to the world’s stadia.
It is enough to hear – in a good cross-selection of ‘Parachutes’ and ‘Rush Of Blood…’ songs – the re-arranged version of ‘Spies’ that rises from an U2-esque intro to mutate into a Pink Floyd-ish (via Radiohead) sonic expansion while retaining its emotional context and know that the future keeps the door wide open for these boys. Well, Martin in particular, as the other three remain in semi-darkness, on the periphery of the spotlight firmly locked on the frontman. (One-colour-at-time lighting adds incredibly to the whole spectacle, as well as four, individual-member screens used in the second half of the show.)
Martin takes a solo spot to cover Ash, present tonight, prefacing it with a story how he used to admire the band and regularly listened to them in his first car and they are to tour States together next month; ‘Shining Light’ is delivered stripped to its ballady rudiments and sounds magnificent. After the broadcast ended (just before 10pm) the enraptured fans weren’t in a mood to leave and the band returned to encore with Echo & The Bunnymen’s ‘Lips Like Sugar’ and a snippet of Westlife’s ‘Flying Without Wings’.
On tonight’s evidence, Coldplay are the new Oasis; no, not quality-wise because Coldplay prefer to write original songs but by evoking the same kind of admiration, devotion and fandom… Across the globe, for the difference from the Mancs. (Congrats to Coldplay on being the only Brit-artists to win an MTV Vid-Award later that night.)
Goodbye to Lamacq’s Eve-Sesh and thank you for all the choons!
Full setlist:
‘Politik’
‘Shiver’
‘Spies’
‘Daylight’
‘Trouble’
‘One I Love’
‘Don’t Panic’
‘Everything’s Not Lost’
‘Shining Light’
‘Warning Sign’
‘God Put A Smile Upon Your Face’
‘Yellow’
‘The Scientist’
‘Clocks’
‘In My Place’
‘Life Is For Living’
‘Lips Like Sugar’
‘Amsterdam’
SaschaS
30-8-2002
Coldplay disc ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’ is available now on Parlophone
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