Somebody once commented that Led Zeppelin were responsible for inspiring more terrible bands than anyone else in history. They may have been surpassed in the last six or seven years by Radiohead, who deserve some severe, vicarious scolding for the contorted histrionics of Muse, and more generally the reasonably recent invasion of melodramatic, male-falsetto rock (Jeff Buckley probably owes us an apology there, too).
But of those to be lavishly anointed by the English music press, Coldplay, at least, are talented pretenders to the emotional rock throne. (Perhaps that should be "power ballads", if the term hadn't been so severely tainted by the likes of Richard Marx.)
Returning to Sydney only six months after their first visit, when their sweet, often acoustic arrangements were swamped on the main stage at the Big Day Out, Coldplay have graduated with disorientating speed from small club shows to an audience of thousands at the Hordern.
Still riding high on the strength of their debut album Parachutes, the boys have developed the confidence and new material needed to do justice to such a big show. And they've turned up the amps a notch or two, which certainly helped.
"Thanks for turning us into the British Bon Jovi!" quipped Chris Martin, Coldplay's vocalist, clearly bemused by his band's brief, but alarmingly successful career trajectory.
But Martin's only rock excess last night was to casually fling his harmonica into the crowd, straight after a short, loosely effective solo in Don't Panic.
Switching between acoustic guitar and piano, Martin remained the focus, his beautiful voice sweet and rich, as the band went through virtually all of the songs on their album - the melodic craftwork of Shivers and Spies and the celebratory Everything's Not Lost.
Switching between acoustic guitar and piano, Martin remained the focus, his beautiful voice sweet and rich, as the band went through virtually all of the songs on their album - the melodic craftwork of Shivers and Spies and the celebratory Everything's Not Lost.These were balanced by a considerable number of new songs which slipped easily into the set, including a grittier-than-you'd expect rocker called Idiot and a piano-driven soundscape that was very like Radiohead's Pyramid Song with its struck chords and building guitar swirl.
Martin humbly credited their defining hit Yellow - a great song not yet destroyed by constant airplay - as the one reason Coldplay have been able to travel round the world. An extended encore included a genuinely unexpected cover of Leon Payne's Lost Highway, made famous by Hank Williams and a thousand covers since.
From the sound of things, Coldplay have more sides to their musical personality to show us.
KELSY MUNRO (Sydney Morning Herald)
SETLIST
01. Shiver
02. Murder
03. Dont Panic
04. Spies
05. In My Place
06. Everything's Not Lost
07. We Never Change
08. Idiot
09. Yellow
10. A Sudden Rush Of Blood To The Head
11. See You Soon
12. Trouble
13. God Put A Smile Upon My Face
14. Lost Highway
15. Amsterdam
16. You Only Live Twice
17. Parachutes
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