The way things are going, Coldplay aren't going to be appearing at venues as small as this for much longer. Still, it is a measure of the startling speed of their rise that there's still an endearingly shambolic quality about them. For half an hour, the crowd were thrilled by the sight of roadies wandering listlessly around the empty stage; finally someone managed to play the introductory tape of Ennio Morricone's music from Once Upon a Time in the West. The band strolled onstage, plugged in and negotiated their way safely through Spies. But when frontman Chris Martin then sauntered over to his electronic piano to sing Trouble, the evening screeched to a halt. The instrument refused to emit any sound, even when Martin banged his head on the keys. They hastily rejigged the set-list, an apologetic Martin returning to his acoustic guitar while technicians crawled around in the wiring.
Despite it all, Coldplay possess an elusive but unmistakable allure, and not only to the sizeable female contingent in the audience. While their album, Parachutes, radiates inward-looking aloofness, their live performance introduces some much-needed personal warmth, almost exclusively from Martin. Geezerish and remarkably chirpy for a man who sings such lugubrious songs, Martin banters matily with people in the front rows like a rockin' Jamie Oliver, and hams up his frontman role by making melodramatic dashes into the crowd to let people grab at his clothes and adore him.
But when the music starts, the going gets serious. Sometimes lampooned as a baby Radiohead or as "Jeff Buckley-lite" (presumably on the strength of the vaguely Buckleyish tune, Shiver), Coldplay's moochy, autumnal songs hover perilously close to the student/bedsit bracket, but the band consistently lift their material with cunning arrangements and purposeful musicianship. Their best songs have a distinctive colour that sticks in the mind, whether it's the keening, trebly guitar that Jon Buckland sends gliding above Don't Panic, Martin's stately piano figure in Trouble, or Guy Berryman's bassline in Sparks. Almost everywhere, Will Champion's restless, hustling drum patterns give the music an urgency that its slow tempos and melancholy melodies might otherwise lack.
Although they lobbed a couple of new songs into the mix, including the string-synth-powered In My Place, the Coldplay repertoire is still fairly narrow, and the big question is which way they will jump next. Yellow, needless to say, was the crowd-pleasing highlight of the evening. A couple more like that could find the foursome leaping up the US pop chart.
