CONCERT REVIEW: Coldplay @ Wells Fargo Center 7/5

Finding fault in Coldplay's live presentation on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center - even if you don't care for the British quartet - is like saying that Disneyland isn't your cup of tea. You might not be a huge fan of Mickey Mouse or Goofy but roller coaster-ing around in a car-sized replica of their heads can be a hot wayward thrill.

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CONCERT REVIEW: Coldplay @ Wells Fargo Center 7/5

POSTED: Monday, July 9, 2012, 2:30 PM

Filed Under: Music Concert Review

Coldplay photographed in San Francisco. Assignment for EMI / 3D Management. EXCLUSIVE ALL RIGHTS WORLDWIDE BUYOUT. © Sarah Lee / eyevine (Sarah Lee /eyevine)

Finding fault in Coldplay’s live presentation on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center — even if you don’t care for the British quartet — is like saying that Disneyland isn’t your cup of tea. You might not be a huge fan of Mickey Mouse or Goofy but roller coaster-ing around in a car-sized replica of their heads can be a hot wayward thrill.

Coldplay didn’t have to amaze their believers beyond expanding loudly upon its diligent clean song-craft. Smooth-shaven Hugh Laurie look-a-like Chris Martin and the faceless trio he plays with use a generically epic surround-sound vibe that shrouds even the leanest melody line with both a Gladiator-like grandeur and a romantic sense of intimacy that makes thousands of people feel cozily at home. Lots of brio through each numbing chorus. Anthemic lyrics that don’t seem to say very much but sound really heroic and universally loving when their words are strung together.

That doesn’t mean Coldplay aren’t capable of something dynamic beyond the pale. Dramatic ravers such as “Violet Hill” and “Viva La Vida,” odd-hop mid-tempo jams like “Princess of China,” thudding ballads such as “Up in Flames” and “Warning Sign,” the cool calculating amplitude of “Clocks,” the poignancy of “Fix You” despite its dumb lyrics: These tunes portray a band worth swooning over with every note and flanged guitar thrum.

How Coldplay won over the doubters comes down to the quartet having bombarded them with big easily recognizable stuff familiar to every nice time ever had and held dear from the second the band hit the stage. No nuance. No warm up. Just open spacious production, simple august chords, Chris Martin’s beige but buoyant voice and array of simple but effective FX — that last part being the most effective aspect of the show.

Lots of bands like high-rising flame and mega-LED light schematics. Coldplay made us like them by stunning us with easy-on-the-eyes visuals like hypnotic swirling Day-Glo circles set behind the drummer-oh-what’s-his-name as a centerpiece. Within the first five songs — the pleading “Hurts Like Heaven,” “In My Place” etc. — not only had Coldplay continuously exploded canons worth of colorfully large confetti bits and held multiple droppings of splashily toned giant beach balls. On their very first song, the nonsensically titled “Mylo Xyloto,” they lit up this woven-fiber wireless-ly controlled wrist-let that they gave out to every attendee. Lights went down. Wristbands went on. And the whole effect was better than lifting your lighter or cell phone in praise as each bracelet was differently and boldly colored.

Simple but effective, right? That’s the Coldplay that you came away loving by set’s end. I can’t remember a song of theirs now but damn it if I wasn’t grinning ear-to-ear that night.

Posted by A.D. Amorosi @ 2:30 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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