In the Pit: Coldplay @ SECC, 9 Dec

 

Unless you're lucky enough to live in a lead-lined nuclear bunker, Coldplay are almost impossible to avoid in today’s pop culture. And whether they like it or not, they've become intrinsically tied to the more mundane fabric of everyday existence.

However, as I make my way to the mammoth arena that is the Glasgow SECC, something in my subconscious tells me that Eno approves and that maybe I have been wrong all this time; maybe I am about to experience something momentous (after all this is the same producer that has worked with the mighty Talking Heads and U2). On the other hand, this is the band whose title track on their latest album, Viva La Vida, is the subject of a plagiarism lawsuit served by guitarist Joe Satriani.

When Chris Martin & co finally take to the stage (playing with sparklers behind a thin screen) the roar from the crowd makes it difficult not to get a little roused and I feel my cynicism fading. Martin has the crowd in the palm of his pen-covered hand from the outset, as he prances about the stage amid a spectacular laser show as though he were the messiah preaching to the masses – to say this man is narcissistic is surely an understatement. The show appears to be more choreographed than any I have seen, although it is clearly the intention to not appear this way. Also taking photos of tonight’s show, I am positioned at the end of what is described by security as a ‘runway’ which (right on cue) Martin & guitarist, Jonny Buckland, head down to pose for an effective photo shoot during the fourth song. But it's a truly dazzling display.

On my way home to the capital I even find myself whistling Speed of Sound and have to admit that I actually quite enjoyed tonight. OK, so I'm not exactly a complete convert, but I think I now know what to buy my mum for Christmas.

 

Check out more shots from the night here