Yes, Jay-Z has released a redux version of Coldplay’s “Lost!” from their latest album Viva la Vida. Yes, the track is nothing more than Jay-Z talking over the vocal-less parts of the song that gained fame and drew ire for being featured on an iTunes commercial. Yes, there is much to argue about this track, good or bad, groundbreaking or overdone, etc…

But, what I find so interesting is the styles being combined here. Coldplay’s sound is far from edgy. Its emotional pop rock vocals and instrumentation create much more atmosphere than in your face, look-at-me sounds. Jay-Z is known for being provocative and for attacking an audience with lyrics that standout and force the listener to what he is saying.

The song works, from a point of view completely detached from the popularity of the rock-hip hop movement, because of that difference in style. The song sounds a little layered, admittedly, but the atmospheric presence of Coldplay remains comfortably in either the background or the foreground of the song, allowing Jay-Z to say whatever he wants and without clashing (at least obviously, I have not listened too intently to the competing lyrics).

The part of the song that I find so amusing is that each music entity is popular for different reasons. Coldplay publicly admits that they are not cool guys. Chris Martin, the front man and thus the true representative of the group, looks like an average guy who tries to get through throngs of photographers with his head sheepishly tilted down, peering up to get to wherever he is going. Jay-Z lives life big.

Even though he and Beyonce kept their relationship a private matter, his personal presence in any room looms large. He attracts attention and wants it. That is not to say that Martin hates attention. He is a star and thus almost by definition likes being in the public eye, but his reputation is that of a shy guy struggling with his celebrity. This mash of two public appearances is perhaps more amusing and entertaining than the song itself.

Near the beginning of Coldplay’s free concert at Madison Square Garden on Monday night to promote its new album, ”Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends,” Chris Martin, the lead singer, joked with the crowd: ”I understand there have been some complaints about the ticket price.” The roar of 11,500 fans suggested they were quite happy.

The band and its label, Capitol, also had plenty to be happy about. ”Viva la Vida” sold 316,000 copies in the United States on June 17, its first day of release, and is expected to reach No. 1 this week with sales in excess of 700,000, industry executives say. (Final figures will be released by Nielsen SoundScan on Wednesday.)

Despite the steep drop in overall album sales in recent years and tumult within Capitol’s parent company, EMI, the opening-week numbers for ”Viva la Vida” are roughly equivalent to those of Coldplay’s last album, ”X&Y,” which sold 737,000 copies in its first week three years ago and went on to sell three million. Apple, the dominant online seller, said ”Viva la Vida” had the best advance and first-week sales of any album in the five-year history of iTunes.

The success of ”Viva la Vida” comes a week after Lil Wayne’s ”Tha Carter III” (Cash Money/Universal) became the first album in three years to sell more than a million copies in a week. But with album sales down 11 percent from this time last year (and 2007 sales down 15 percent from 2006), people in the industry greeted the news of Coldplay’s success with caution.

”The music industry has held up better this year than we had feared,” said Richard Greenfield, who is a media analyst at Pali Research. ”We’ve seen a moderation in CD sales declines instead of an acceleration.”

The success of ”Viva la Vida” affirms Coldplay’s stature as a superstar act and underlines the importance of nontraditional marketing. In late April the band made its song ”Violet Hill” available as a free download for a week, and the show at Madison Square Garden, which drew a capacity crowd, followed free concerts in London and Barcelona last week. The band was also featured in a prominent television commercial for iTunes.

”You have to try and be more creative these days to get people’s attention,” said Dave Holmes, Coldplay’s manager. ”You can’t rely as much on the traditional methods.”

Radio has also played a big role in the album’s success. In an aggressive but unusual strategy, the band sent two singles to stations in advance of its release, and this week the title song is No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart.

The more novel aspects of Coldplay’s campaign attracted attention from the news media and helped build broad excitement that contributed to radio demand, said Kevin Weatherly, the program director of KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, on which ”Viva la Vida” has been the most-played song since it was put into rotation at the end of May.

”This is one of those pop-culture events that we want to be all over,” he said. ”We need big rock bands that can deliver, and we want to do everything we can on our end to support that.”

About a third of the sales for ”Vida la Vida” were for digital downloads. Lil Wayne’s album, on the other hand, sold about 10 percent digitally, which made it a blockbuster at brick-and-mortar stores, said Ish Cuebas, the vice president for music at Trans World Entertainment, which operates more than 800 stores, including FYE and Coconuts. ”That drove a lot of traffic into retail,” he said.

Analysts and industry executives say that the sales spike these last few weeks has been badly needed, but that two albums alone cannot offset broader losses, and that no clear blockbuster is likely in the near future.

”Unit sales do not equal profitability,” Mr. Greenfield said. ”The weakness in the industry has moderated a bit, and it appears that the strength of the release schedule is the primary driver of that. How sustainable that is for the remainder of the year remains a big question mark.”

The trappings surrounding Coldplay’s fourth album, “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” (Capitol), telegraph the driving emotion behind it. Its title isn’t actually a title, but a choice between two possible titles. There are two different versions of a song called “Lost” — one boldly rhythmic, another mildly acoustic. And the most believable line from the album is when Chris Martin sings “I used to rule the world” in “Viva La Vida” and then talks about becoming a street-sweeper. For lesser bands, such indecision would spell disaster. For Coldplay, it’s simply a minor setback that they sometimes overcome by owning up to the uncertainty. After all, the magnificent “Viva La Vida” has already become the band’s biggest hit single — not just because it’s the group’s catchiest song or because it’s also in an iPod commercial, but because it covers lyrical ground Martin clearly relates to, while the band tries its hand at new things.

The spareness of “Viva La Vida’s” musical backdrop, along with help from producers Brian Eno and Markus Dravs, was supposed to hail the birth of a new, more experimental band. However, those working orders arrive and depart quickly — sometimes in the middle of a song, leading to uneven pairings like the familiar, if bland, “Yes” with the thrilling, early-U2ish “Chinese Sleep Chant,” and mixed messages about the need for their midtempo rock and its big, anthem-like choruses, brainy verses and falsetto flourishes. THE ALBUM “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” THE GRADE B- BOTTOM LINE Oddly uncertain, though sometimes nicely unhinged, Coldplay questions its future. COLDPLAY CUTS Sure, the Coldplay sound is defined by the simple sing-along “Yellow” and the chiming, piano-driven “Clocks,” but there’s more to the band than just their hits. “Everything’s Not Lost” (from 2000’s “Parachutes”): Building on a Billy Joel-tinged, piano-mannish opening, the epic unfolds into a stirring, “come on, yeah” affirmation. “Politik” (from 2002’s “A Rush of Blood to the Head”): The dramatic pounding guitar bits bust into the bits of piano calm to suggest something as different as Chris Martin’s laundry list for new world leaders.

“Swallowed in the Sea” (from 2005’s “X&Y”): It’s a standard Coldplay love song filtered through a bit of Pogues booziness and seafaring traditions that makes you want to raise a pint in their honor. SEE THEM Coldplay is playing a free concert at Madison Square Garden on Monday, with tickets handed out through their Web site, coldplay .com. They return for a show at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., Oct. 26, but ticket info is not yet available.

Coldplay’s new single, “Viva la Vida,” is already ubiquitous – at least, 30 seconds of it. That the song is patently inoffensive in its wallpaper-like omnipresence on radio and television is a new wrinkle for the band. With a gentle, string-propelled melody and Chris Martin’s plangent voice – for once not creaking through a falsetto while singing an instantly catchy line, “I used to rule the world” – it feels completely innocuous whenever iTunes or iPod TV advertisements come on, or when the song crops up in a modern radio playlist. As of press time, “Viva la Vida” sits at the no. 2 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 single charts.

It’s not a particularly new direction for the globe-trotting British quartet – a slowly building mid-tempo song that is equally at ease in a TV spot or on a summer festival stage – but it lacks the myopic self-importance of such previous Coldplay singles as “Clocks” and “Yellow,” songs about nothing that aspired to have something to say. A patina of political observation runs through “Viva la Vida,” but it is mere window dressing to an incorrigibly catchy pop song.

That’s the refreshing aspect of Coldplay’s fourth album, “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” (Capitol), which is out today. With legendary producer Brian Eno behind the mixing board, and cover art that cops its image from French Romantic painter Eugne Delacroix’s 1830 “Liberty Leading the People,” which commemorated the July revolution that removed Charles X from the French throne, this album has been rumored to be Coldplay’s most politically minded and musically adventurous. And perhaps it is. Lyrically, Mr. Martin favors the use of clich%s and other opaque imagery throughout, and the band doesn’t rely too heavily on its signature piano-based melodies anywhere on the album’s 10 songs. But what’s most appealing about this album is how easy it goes down. Coldplay has rarely sounded this unambiguously mainstream pop-rock.

The band’s migration away from its norm is encapsulated on “42,” a song that starts off sounding like the Coldplay of old. Over a solitary, self-pitying piano line, Mr. Martin resorts to his falsetto, whining the trite line, “Time is so short and I’m sure there must be something more,” over a swelling wash of synthesizers. But at the 90-second mark of the song, drummer Will Champion and bassist Guy Berryman puncture the synth breeze with a throbbing groove, and soon guitarist Jonny Buckland is slicing through this neck-snapping rhythm with darting chords. The three instruments swirl into a noisy thundercloud that eventually parts as Mr. Martin’s voice returns, minus the falsetto and emoting in a more natural register, singing the elusive line, “You didn’t get to heaven but you made it close.”

It’s a surprisingly well-arranged musical dynamic, paired with superficially catchy lyrics. Some credit for that should be bestowed upon Mr. Eno. While, yes, Mr. Eno did produce the indelibly edgy 1978 no-wave compilation “No New York,” he has also produced almost every U2 album since 1984’s “The Unforgettable Fire.” Obviously, he knows how to steer bands toward the middlebrow appeal of stadium pop.

But also credit Coldplay for trying something slightly different without trying too hard. Critically maligned since its 1999 debut album, “Parachutes,” as a watered-down Radiohead clone, the band has distanced itself from that derisive comparison not so much in sound but in temperament. Of the major British rock bands of the ’90s, Radiohead has always been the one with the most ambition, with aspirations to art, social commentary, political observation, music industry upheaval – the whole nine. And while Messrs. Berryman, Buckland, Champion, and Martin probably did enter the studio thinking about making a more musically experimental album with some vague ideas about contemporary politics (Mr. Martin has been a vocal advocate of free trade in years past), they clearly didn’t place any such notions above the goal of making a perfectly listenable pop album.

“Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” is never anything more than a mainstream artifact, but there’s something rather cute about such modest goals. Mr. Martin himself is such a self-deprecating presence in interviews that it’s hard to think about him and the band deciding to sing about paranoid androids, technological disenfranchisement, or other such postmodern milieus. Coldplay sounds perfectly at ease singing about such pulpy concerns as ghosts (the ethereal “Cemeteries of London”), nonspecific emotional malaise (the TV on the radio-esque “Lost”), love (”Lovers in Japan”), and loneliness (the slinky rocker “Yes”). On “Violet Hill,” Coldplay comes nigh close to sounding like heavy rockers – complete with a guitar solo – while in the disarmingly effective “Strawberry Swing,” the band whips up an eclectic folk song through which Mr. Martin sings a bubbly, romantic ditty about the proverbial good old days.

It’s in such giddy moments that Coldplay emerges as more Dave Matthews Band populist than Radiohead cultist. “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” isn’t going to win over the band’s naysayers, but its workmanlike drive toward the mainstream’s middle ground perfectly suits a band that sounds as though it is as surprised as its harshest critics that it’s an arena draw.

Chris Martin learned piano as a youngster and began playing in bands at fifteen, with music serving not only as a passion but also as a way of facing down his shyness. The foursome met at University College London in the mid-1990s. Martin and Jon Buckland started writing songs together and from the start believed their artistic synergy would take them far. Guy Berryman joined later, as did Will Champion, a guitarist who moved to drums to accommodate Buckland, also a guitarist.

The group released a pair of independent-label EPs, Safety (1998) and Brothers and Sisters (1999). Their touring in England and promising material caught the attention of Parlophone, which released the group’s next EP, Blue Room (1999). The disc contains “Such a Rush” and “High Speed,” which would show up on their debut album, Parachutes (2000).

Parachutes makes ample use of Buckland’s breezy, sometimes twangy guitar chords. Martin offers comforting words, singing “I’ll be there by your side” on “Shiver,” and “I promise you this / I’ll always look out for you” on “Sparks.” With a pronounced accent and a relaxed tenor, Martin sounds a little like Dave Matthews. “Don’t Panic” recalls the tagline from the sci-fi novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by British author Douglas Adams. With a shuffle beat and whimsical falsetto vocals, the song also shares the book’s fatalism about the state of the universe.

But the album’s highlight is the soothing “Yellow,” which, despite its dreamy tempo and sentimental lyrics, became a sleeper hit on Top 40 radio. The ballad’s invasion of rock radio was surprising, and some critics dismissed it as easy-listening music for young professionals. But the album’s superb melodies and original fusion of acoustic and electronic rock won over the group’s peers, who awarded Parachutes the 2001 Grammy for best alternative music performance.

However, the sudden demands of constant gigs caught up with Martin, who had to cut short a U.S. tour in 2001 with throat problems. The group retreated to the studio to work on a follow-up. The result was A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002), in which the group avoided the sophomore slump that affected so many of its compatriots who sought international success.

Like its predecessor, the album sold more than 1 million copies. This album features a larger dose of Martin’s piano, but with co-producer Ken Nelson returning, it maintains the group’s trademark ethereal groove. The ballad “In My Place” uses abstract lyrics but manages to be moving nonetheless with the rousing coda, “Come on and sing it out, now, now.” The majestic “Politik” begins with piano chords before kicking into an intense, guitar-and-drum-propelled anthem. Martin indulges in falsetto wailing and simple piano arpeggios on second single “Clocks,” whose pulsating beat made it an unlikely dance-club hit. Another standout, the Beatle-esque “The Scientist,” highlights Martin’s echoing piano and cryptic but seductively delivered lyrics.

Confirmation of Coldplay’s surprising U.S. success came with its 2003 tour, which included several dates in the Midwest. The band members kept ticket prices reasonable, between thirty and thirty-five dollars, aimed for mid-size venues, and made themselves available to the press and sponsors. On tour the group unveiled a new song, “Moses,” that became a favorite and raised hopes for future work.

Meanwhile, like their fellow Atlantic-crosser Bono of U2, Martin became involved in political causes, attaching himself to Oxfam, which believes that saving small Third World farmers requires an international effort to raise the price of many basic foodstuffs.

Coldplay helped make the case that soft music does not have to be treacly or banal. The group also showed that British bands can still appeal to mainstream America if they’re willing to start modestly and engage in the necessary back-slapping.

In 2000, Coldplay released its first album, Parachutes, which quickly shot to the top of the British charts. It remained in the top ten for more than 30 weeks. For a rock album, it had a quieter sound than most bands, yet was full of raging emotion. “We were trying to say that there is an alternative,” Martin said on the band’s website. “That you can try to be catchy without being slick, poppy without being pop, and you can be uplifting without being pompous. Because we’re sometimes playing quieter Page 83 stuff, it’s hard to sound like we’re trying to change things, but we wanted to be a reaction against soulless rubbish.”

Their approach worked. In sum, the album sold about five million copies worldwide and earned them a stack of honors. At the 2001 Brit Awards (the British Grammys), the band went home with both the Best British Group and Best British Album awards. That same year, Coldplay also won three NME (New Music Express) Carling Awards, for Best New Artist, Best Single (”Yellow”), and Session of the Year, for a live BBC show. Before releasing their album, the band had been playing in small pubs across Britain, but after the success of Parachutes, band members headed to the United States for their first headlining tour.

In October of 2001, the band started work on its second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head. By Christmas, the producers were satisfied that the album was complete. Coldplay members, however, felt the album needed something more. “There was a feeling it was almost going too smoothly,” Buckland related on the band’s website. “We were pleased with it, but then we took a step back and realized that it wasn’t right. It would have been easy to say we’d done enough, to release an album to keep up the momentum, but we didn’t.” In the end, Buckland is glad they went back to the studio so they would have an album they were satisfied with and would be proud to tour with for two years.

The resulting album, released in August of 2002, was a bit more upbeat from the first and chock full of emotional beauty and maturity. By September, it sat atop both the UK and Canadian LP charts. Once again, the band’s efforts proved award–winning. At the 2003 Brit Awards, A Rush of Blood to the Head captured awards for Best British Group and Best British Album. Coldplay also won two Grammy Awards, one for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for “In My Place” and Best Alternative Music Album. The band spent 2003 on tour. Coldplay also collected several video awards at that year’s MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Group Video, Breakthrough Video, and Best Direction, all for “The Scientist.”

Coldplay has used its position in the rock world to promote its own political ideologies. Lead singer Martin has become a champion spokesman for Ox-Fam, a British humanitarian organization that campaigns for fair–trade practices in an effort to reduce worldwide poverty. After traveling to Haiti and the Dominican Republic to find out what some global–trade policies do to real people, the band was hooked on the cause. At concerts, Martin’s piano often has the words “Make Trade Fair” scrawled across it. He scribbled the OxFam web address on his hand during the MTV Video Music Awards so he would be sure to include it in his winning speech. Martin also plugs the cause relentlessly during Coldplay’s shows. Before a 2003 concert in Mexico City, the band visited with local farmers in the town of Santa Isabel Tepetzala. In 2003, Martin attended a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting and presented the WTO with a four–million–signature petition seeking trade–rule reform; signatures had been collected at shows.

“Anyone in our position has a certain responsibility,” Berryman noted on the band’s website biography. He said the band has a great platform through its television appearances, records, and notoriety. “You can make people aware of issues. It isn’t very much effort for us at all, but if it can help people, then we want to do it.”

Martin used the 2004 Grammy Awards to stump for another cause. During the ceremony, Coldplay won the Record of the Year award for “Clocks.” When Martin accepted the award, he took the opportunity to do a little political campaigning. According to Scotsman writer Tracey Lawson, Martin accepted the award by saying, “We would like to dedicate this to Johnny Cash [the late country singer] and to John Kerry, who hopefully will be your president some day.” He also used the Brit Awards to call for an end to military action in Iraq.

Viewed as a cutting–edge alternative rock band in the United States, Coldplay remains wildly popular there, but often takes a beating back home. British tabloids love to poke fun at the clean–cut, public–educated rock stars, whom they label as terminally boring. There are no bad boys of rock ‘n’ roll here. Berryman, after all, earned a degree in engineering and Martin, whose degree is in ancient world studies, is thought to be the dullest of all. Martin reportedly loves cricket and rarely drinks. When he started dating actress Gwyneth Paltrow, the press had a heyday. The couple met in October of 2002 backstage at a Coldplay concert. According to Independent writers Ian Burrell and Andrew Gumbel, one British tabloid described the couple as “anti–starlet Paltrow (no wheat, no dairy, no fun) hooked up with anti–rock star Martin (no sex, no drugs, even less fun).” The couple had a daughter, Apple Blythe Alison Martin, born May 14, 2004. They plan to raise her in London. Martin did, however, generate some headlines in July of 2003 when he allegedly chased down a photographer in Australia. Though Martin was arrested, the charges were eventually dropped.

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Q magazine’s Gareth Grundy told the Independent that the band is getting a bad rap for its good–boy image. “People probably say they are boring because they are not cool and everybody likes to like things that are cool. But whether they are cool or not they are a really great band, both on record and live.”

According to Time magazine writer Josh Tyrangiel, rock manager Alan McGee, the man who discovered Oasis, dubbed Coldplay “music for bed wetters.” Martin, however, defended the group to Entertainment Weekly writer Mary Kaye Schilling: “We take s*** for being boring. It just means that instead of doing coke or partying with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, we lock ourselves away and think of a new chord.”

Sitting around thinking about their music, however, is precisely what has made Coldplay so successful. They take the time to be involved in every aspect of album production, down to shooting their own album cover art. Even though their albums are produced with a major label, Coldplay members remain ardently independent in their approach. They keep tabs on everything from the videos to the artwork. They want to have a hand in everything that has their name on it.

Of course, when it comes right down to it, it is Coldplay’s songs that makes them so popular. Speaking to Sound & Vision, Martin talked about what makes a good song good. “Songwriting is the crux, but the best records … are those where the sounds fit the song. There’s no use putting amazing techno sounds on a song that just needs to be played on a blues harp; similarly, there’s no point in having a nice oboe sound on a Nirvana record. But I’m not pretending to be an expert, because I sometimes hear our stuff and think, ‘Ecch.’”

British rock quartet Coldplay burst onto the music scene with its debut album Parachutes, released in 2000. Fresh, heartrending, and passionate, the album proved popular on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, capturing honors at both the Brit Awards and the Grammy Awards. Since then, Cold-play has become one of Britain’s leading musical exports, filling venues across the United States with fans yearning to hear their searing love songs and haunting ballads. In 2002, the band released its second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, which also captured top musical honors. Ironically, lead singer Chris Martin credits the band’s insecurity for its success. “I think our strength is not being sure if we’re ever good enough, and so we’re always trying to write a better song—or get a better suit,” Martin told Sound & Vision writer Mike Mettler.

Martin is backed up by guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion. The four met in the mid–1990s at University College in London and became steadfast friends. Music had always been a part of Martin’s life. As a youngster, he banged out songs on the family piano and joined his first band at 15. He grew up the oldest of five kids. Likewise, the other band members had been involved with music most of their lives. Soon after meeting, Martin and Buckland started writing songs together. Buckland had taken up the guitar after he discovered the psychedelic pop band the Stone Roses. Berryman liked Buckland and Martin’s work and added his bass, which he had taken up at age 13. Champion thought the trio had a lot of potential and wanted to join. He ended up on drums, though he had never played them before. Growing up, Champion had concentrated on guitar, bass, and piano, but those positions were already filled.

Eager and anxious to see what they could come up with, the group rehearsed nearly every night during those first years. “We used to play in bathrooms, the basement, even in the park,” Martin said in the group’s biography posted on its website. “Anywhere we could find to play.” The bandmates all lived in the same residence hall and stole the name Coldplay from another resident. It was the name his own band used, but he decided it was too depressing.

Eventually, all of those rehearsals paid off and the young men felt confident enough to make a recording, which they called Safety. The 500–copy, independently produced EP, released in 1998, earned the band a performance slot in the 1998 In the City music festival in Manchester, England, which featured unsigned bands. At the festival, they were discovered by Simon Williams, who offered to produce Brothers and Sisters on his Fierce Panda label. That EP was released in 1999 and Coldplay subsequently signed with Parlophone Records, who in the past had signed the Beatles and Queen. That year, Coldplay also released a 5,000–copy EP, The Blue Room, which included five new tracks.

Coldplay’s 2nd Canadian date took place last night at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Pictures are posted here. Reviews and videos are below…

Setlist [thanks Montreal]

Life in Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks
In My Place
Yes
Viva La Vida
42
Fix You
Chinese Sleep Chant (band playing close together, right side of stage)
God Put a Smile Upon Your Face (techno version, right side of stage)
Speed of Sound
Yellow
Lost! (regular version – not acoustic)
Strawberry Swing
The Scientist (acoustic, b-stage beside sound booth)
Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic, b-stage, Will on vocals)
Talk (remix)
Politik
Lovers in Japan
Death and All His Friends
The Escapist (outro)
——————————————
Green Eyes
The Dubliners

REVIEWS

Montreal Review: Coldplay’s fans will follow

Drawing heavily on new material and feeling the love from a huge crowd, British rockers appear to be well on their way to new ground

Love-ins of this magnitude don’t happen often. British rock band Coldplay held court last night, bringing its soaring, anthemic pop to an enraptured crowd of 19,000 fans at the Bell Centre.

It’s no secret that Coldplay wants to be the new U2. A lack of musical heft aside, the group appears to be well on its way. The standing ovation started the moment the lights dropped, and didn’t let up until the end of the encore. Cheers were deafening and singalongs were omnipresent.

Leaning heavily on material from their new album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, Chris Martin and crew – guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion – made a point of not resting on their laurels. Rather, they showed a continued determination to perfect the art of the unifying, larger-than-life rock concert.

After setting the mood with the new disc’s intro Life in Technicolour, they jumped right into its raunchiest track, the bluesy Violet Hill. The crowd didn’t miss a beat, joining in from the first verse.

Old favourite Clocks followed, eliciting a roar from the opening piano notes. A laser light show provided visual enhancement. But it was nothing compared to the energy Martin brought to In My Place.

Calling for the house lights to be turned up, he went into showman mode – skipping, fist-pumping and bouncing from side to side – much to the crowd’s delight. The chorus, “Yeaaaahhh … How long must you wait for him?” was sung by virtually everyone in attendance.

But Martin was not done. Joining Buckland at the end of the catwalk, he draped his arm over his bandmate’s shoulder and sang to the rafters, falling to the ground at song’s end.

His schtick worked like a charm, as did pretty much everything last night. Martin’s exuberant, goofball grace is contagious. And his band held its own, particularly Buckland, who seemed to delight in drawing new sonic textures out of his guitar.

“Sometimes we go to certain towns – in England, Wales, Germany or Australia – and people don’t sing along, so we get depressed,” Martin said. “So we come here, and everyone is going for it 100 per cent, and it makes us feel fantastic.”

It was a savvy introduction to the next number, the band’s ginormous, career-launching ballad Yellow. The room erupted. It was the only song of the night off the band’s 2000 debut Parachutes. The message: Coldplay has moved on. And its fans have followed.

The group gave thanks, sprinting to the back of the arena to perform The Scientist from up in the stands. The encore brought confetti (during Politik), and fireworks (on the big screen); and, in closing, three more off the new album.

Handclaps and chants of “Olé olé-olé-olé!” continued well after the lights came up. The night, as they say, was won.

Brooklyn singer-rapper Santogold brought urban edge to the opening slot. An indie-rock-hip-hop version of M.I.A., she’ll fare better when she returns to a more intimate venue.

Coldplay’s single Viva La Vida is back in the top ten singles chart in the UK, nearly three months after its original online release. It clambered four places from last week’s no.14. Bloc Party’s new single ‘Mercury’ offered little resistance, which went in at a poor no.16.

Coldplay’s album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends is down one spot to no.4 after The Script’s self-titled album, The Script, shot straight in at number one on the album chart, knocking Abba’s Gold from the top slot.Top Ten UK Singles:

1. Katy Perry – ‘I Kissed A Girl’
2. Kid Rock -’All Summer Long’
3. The Script – ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’
4. The Verve – ‘Love Is Noise’
5. Dizzee Rascal ft Calvin Harris – ‘Dance Wiv Me’
6. Rihanna – ‘Disturbia’
7. Madcon – ‘Beggin”
8. Jordan Sparks ft Chris Brown – ‘No Air’
9. Noah And The Whale – ‘5 Years Time’
10. Coldplay – ‘Viva La Vida’

COLDPLAY are plotting a surprise album which could appear little more than a year after Viva La Vida conquered the planet.

The quartet already have the spine of the collection in place thanks to their super-productive recent studio sessions with BRIAN ENO.

And if CHRIS MARTIN, BERRYMAN, JONNY BUCKLAND and WILL CHAMPION follow up their new offering with a greatest hits collection they will have fulfilled all commitments to their record label, EMI.

That would pave the way for them to follow PAUL McCARTNEY and RADIOHEAD out of the door.

A source at the label said: “The Viva La Vida sessions were incredibly fruitful. They gelled brilliantly with Brian and recorded much more music than they could fit on one album.

“The majority of the follow-up is already in the can, though they will have to go back into the studio at some point to add a few more songs.

“Standard industry contracts tend to be for six albums, so if they provide some kind of compilation after their next album they will be free agents and able to renegotiate their contract or head out on their own.”

EMI was taken over by a finance firm last year and many of the artists signed to it at the time bitterly opposed the deal.

Macca and Radiohead have already walked while the management of ROBBIE WILLIAMS have expressed severe reservations about the new regime.

The formerly beardy pop knob even started a futile “strike” in protest.

Chris Martin, however, has kept a very tactical silence on the subject and where the band’s future lies.

But he has hinted that he wants to get new material out as soon as possible.

When discussing a collaboration with KYLIE MINOGUE that didn’t make the final cut for Viva La Vida, he let slip: “It will be on a record we will put out in 2009.”

But, with global titans such as MADONNA and JAY-Z forgoing multi-million-pound record deals with concert promoters, I wouldn’t be surprised if Coldplay do part company with their home in the next couple of years.

In order to record Viva La Vida, which was released in June, the group constructed their own studio in a disused bakery in North London.

The gap between their previous album X&Y and its follow-up was a whopping three years and the band are keen to reduce the time between albums drastically.

Their touring commitments run up until the end of the year – but they are likely to announce a string of new shows in Australia and the Far East soon.

All this points to a late summer release next year for Coldplay album number five, which is a very good thing.