Coldplay
Croke Park, Dublin
★★★★☆
Given the speed with which this four-night run in Jones’ Road sold out, Coldplay are just as much “the people’s band” as Oasis who dominated the news this week, albeit perhaps for a different set of people. The Gallaghers and certain rock snobs might find Coldplay’s open-hearted approach gauche but Chris Martin does not waste time worrying about what’s “cool”. He’s far too busy putting on a show that does everything bar set fire to Croke Park to connect with the ecstatic audience.
The sensory onslaught that hits for the first section is almost too much to take in. Those sustainable wristbands given out to each audience member flash and change colour in time to the music and light every corner of the stadium cleverly, making all of us a part of the show. It’s a bit like dancing in the centre of the Milky Way or through an explosion in a power station.
[ In pictures: Coldplay's triumphant, ecstatic Croke park showOpens in new window ]
If that wasn’t enough, huge balloons are released as Croker loses its collective mind to choruses purpose built for this kind of night out: Higher Power, Adventures Of A Lifetime, Paradise, and a marvellous version of The Scientist which, right from the familiar opening piano chords, had the faithful swooning.
Martin gives it a bit of admirable Irish – “Céad míle fáilte, conas atá tú?” – before returning to his native tongue to profess it is “one of the great privileges of our life to perform here”.
Moving to the extended B Stage for a pounding Viva La Vida led by drummer Will Champion, it then all goes up another gear for Hymn For the Weekend with Martin sprinting about like an Olympian as the confetti guns explode. “We played 160 shows before today and I thought I was experienced but I really don’t know how to handle a crowd this wonderful,” he gushes and you can see where he is coming from.
Bringing up some visiting Italian fans from the crowd to serenade them and their late father Vincenzo from the piano, Martin dedicates the same song (Everglow) to Sinéad O’Connor, Dolores O’Riordan and Shane MacGowan. While we’re still trying to absorb that, he has us all bouncing to a robust Charlie Brown (or the theme to the Pat Kenny Show as it’s also known) and the joyous sight of a stadium illuminated by 80,000 pinpricks of light is phenomenal. They surpass that again with Yellow where Martin is drowned out by the throng, especially when he takes a chorus with just him and his guitar.
When it starts, the Olé, Olé, Olé chant is absolutely deafening, but is silenced as the wrist bands create giant hearts in the stands to go with Martin singing Human Heart to a puppet, which is a bit odd but is quickly forgotten thanks to the white light flash of People Of The Pride. The familiar piano trills and bass rumble of perhaps Coldplay’s greatest song, Clocks, finds them using the stadium almost as another instrument and is a highlight among many.
The new single We Pray, complete with its full video cast including Little Simz which brought Grafton Street to a standstill on Wednesday evening, just isn’t much of a song despite its message of inclusion but Coldplay can really do no wrong whether they’re prancing about in Day-Glo and cartoon alien masks (really) for Something Just Like This (which goes down like free money) or turning Croker into a rave before leading us all through My Universe. It’s such a powerful performance, the song’s shortcomings are forgotten each time the chorus comes around.
Martin interrupts a superb Sky Full Of Stars to joke that Bono wants Croke Park back and we should enjoy Oasis, but both acts would have to work very hard indeed to match this band’s Springsteen-rivalling ability to connect. When the fireworks explode at the song’s end, it’s only to be expected given Coldplay’s determination to throw everything at this show.
The Henry Purcell-like strings of Sunrise with Louis Armstrong’s spoken intro from What A Wonderful World soundtracks the band making their way to the smaller C stage (another good trick for shrinking a stadium) for a charming acoustic version of Sparks. Martin gives a long list of thanks during the song, including one to the Irish people for leading the way and “being so kind to people around the world”.
[ Coldplay live in Dublin: a triumphant, ecstatic night in picturesOpens in new window ]
[ Coldplay in Dublin: Croke Park ticket information, setlist, stage times and moreOpens in new window ]
The Jumbotron Song, where Martin ad-libs based on audience members he can see on the screen as the camera spins around, is charming and properly funny (“you died your hair yellow, we’re better looking than Radiohead”) rather than cringey, however it might sound on paper.
Overfamiliar as it might be, their weepie anthem Fix You becomes a quasi-religious singalong offering succour and connection, which is what Coldplay are all about. It’s easy to sneer at Martin’s nice guy personality and the determined commercialism of their recorded output but it’s very hard to stay cynical when presented with the sights and sounds of a stadium lost in music, illuminated by those wristbands, and warmed by the unadulterated joy of thousands of people having the night of their lives. The show is an inventive triumph of staging, dynamics, pacing, and – that word again – connection. Soul was the last thing I expected.
