If You’re the kind of person that thinks of rock ‘n’ roll as the language of society’s outsiders, kicking back against the world in the loudest and most obnoxious way possible, then you should never, ever go and see Coldplay. For some time, the British band has been a well-oiled entertainment machine, and last night at Barclays Center their vast array of bells and whistles took up almost as much focus as any of their songs.
There probably isn’t a crowd in the world that Chris Martin can’t coax into excitement and even though the band is due to play a New Year’s Eve show at Barclays with Jay-Z tonight, the front man was determined to get the party started early. “No one ever spares a thought for poor old December 30th,” he chirped. “Tomorrow’s just a ‘warm down’ for this show!”
Indeed, for the first half- hour, it was more like being at a pageant than a pop concert. Crowd members were given light-emitting bracelets upon arrival, which flashed in sync to opener “Hurts Like Heaven” and numerous other tracks, thus creating a spectacular human light show. Gigantic blasts of confetti also accompanied the rousing chorus of “In My Place” and the release of huge inflatable balls rounded off a robust run-through of “Major Minus.” It’s a shame they weren’t in town a month ago because, with tricks like that, they would have been a smash at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
But thankfully, Coldplay allowed their chops to slowly cut through the choreography. Almost 15 years on from their formation, they still have a small army of naysayers who gleefully write them off as wimpy and whiny. It’s an accusattion that the quartet make a point countering by giving songs like “Violet Hill” and “God Put A Smile On Your Face” a thunderous make over. It’s here that the Chris Martin show temporarily takes a break and the other members of the band get their chance to shine, especially guitarist Jonny Buckland, who can elicit a truly remarkable palette of sounds from his ax. The only thing that stands between him and guitar-hero status is the fact that he dresses like a soldier who’s just been kicked out of the army for being too unfashionable.
But the quartet rarely indulge themselves musically. Instead, the main concern is taking the show to the crowd — in every possible sense. Aside from the main stage, the band also utilizes a second stage in the middle of the arena from where they deliver an electronically driven version of the Rihanna duet “Princess Of China,” with Ri-Ri adding her part via a pre-recorded video playback. Martin even throws in an acoustic encore from the back of the arena, while standing touching distance from the delighted fans stuck in the cheap seats.
If it all sounds like one pandering gesture after another, that’s because it probably is. But there’s no denying the outcome. As the house lights go up, 18,000 visibly excited fans walk out singing the band’s harmonies in unison and go home feeling that they weren’t just spectators to Coldplay’s show, but that they were actually part of it. Now, that really is entertainment.