Coldplay stated that the premise behind their most recent release, 2011’s Mylo Xyloto, was to capture “a rose breaking through concrete.”
In a wild success on Saturday night, Allianz Stadium became that aforementioned desirable bloom of life and colour in Sydney as they rocketed through a euphoric and boundless two hour set of hits and grand-scale props.
With no roofs from night to night for the first time in their career, the sky literally was the limit for these stadium shows, and they may just go down as their magnum opus.
After the instrumental tease of ‘Mylo Xyloto’, Coldplay stormed into ‘Hurts Like Heaven’ with a flurry of fireworks. As Chris Martin sang, “…yes I feel nervous and I cannot relax”, you sure as hell did not believe him.
Bouncing on the spot as he playfully strummed his guitar with a smile on his face – the positivity and confidence was already palpable. This impression spread fast through the tens of thousands in attendance whose LED wristbands, collected upon entering the stadium, sparkled in a sea of colours.
‘In My Place’ saw an explosion of confetti from cannons all over the stadium. It was a torrential downpour of tear drops, love hearts and M (in the Mylo font) shaped tissue paper that denied vision to the stage, but diverted your attention to those close around you who danced in the falling symbols and picked handfuls up and threw it at their friends or back into the air.
It was a comforting sight seeing fellow attendees play, dance, and sing to the empowering ballad that appeared to come hauntingly from behind a hovering shield of kitsch wallpaper.
With this being the 82nd date of the Mylo Xyloto tour, mistakes were rare, but when they happened they added personality and hilarity to the night. “We appreciate you all coming out, we realise it’s not easy to get to concerts, so we will give you the gift of our best concert ever,” Martin proudly proclaimed before a few notes of ‘Major Minus’ came to a sudden halt, “having said that I just fucked up the beginning of that song”.
Scores of large balloons filled with even more confetti entered the audience floor from the base of the stage. Making their way all over the venue during the energetic and frantic ‘Major Minus’. But eventually the production overshadowed the music.
Unfortunately, they became an annoying distraction causing many spilt drinks. For this, the heart-warming hit ballad ‘The Scientist’ is, depressingly, a total blur.
A gentle hush moved over the stadium and a subtle yellow light lit up Martin, who was seated at his piano. Moody and recognisable chords echoed out over the eerie silence and hinted that ‘Yellow’ was up next. This slower than usual version saw the first chorus performed acoustically by just the lead-man, the odd piano chord, and 50,000-odd backup singers before bursting into its familiar original tempo.
A common feature of Coldplay gigs for years has been to have three stages in the one venue. In Sydney that meant aside from the main stage where the band would play with full electric instruments; a space at the end of the runway into the crowd and a small platform at the other end of the stadium for featuring certain acoustic versions.”
These stages bore witness to ‘Warning Sign’, ‘Speed of Sound’, ‘Up In Flames’, ‘Us Against The World’ and a solo cover of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’. “[Elton] can’t hit his high notes any more, so someone else has got to do it,” joked Martin.
These stages allowed Coldplay to showcase their humble and softer side before returning to the full-body electric backbone of the night.
‘Viva La Vida’ was (naturally) the anthemic sing-along everyone hoped it would be and became the most engaging number of the night, whilst ‘Paradise’ was a bass-driven dash towards the end of the show.
The encore included the staccato-arpeggio propelled ‘Clocks’, the always heart-wrenching ‘Fix You’ and the laser/firework filled farewell of ‘Every Tear Drop Is A Waterfall’.
The night started off as an all-out sprint, and after the two hour marathon the band crossed the finish line with just as much energy as they started and with the audience still hanging on to every note.
With over a decade of songs to showcase and more real estate in the venue to accommodate, the band did not rely on theatrics and production to create a success, but instead implemented them as perfect tools to complement the larger than life anthems Coldplay have created and mastered over the last 12 years.
It was a successful night of undying spirit and celebration and proved they’re worthy of the title of biggest band in the world.
