It's mad to think that it's over a year since I saw Coldplay at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam as they took their good vibes and eco-friendly message to the canal-laden Dutch city.
Now it's Dublin's turn.
It's even more mad to think that when this tour hits Croke Park next weekend it'll be two years and five months since they hit the road this time around. Around the World in 80 Gigs, eh?
Act I: The Plan
Covid of course, got in Coldplay's way last time out, and there was no tour to promote 2019’s Everyday Life album as the world closed down due to the pandemic.
But when Music of the Spheres was released in late 2021, an environmentally friendly world tour was also announced and took to the road the following March.
Up until last summer, no Irish dates had been announced, so obviously fans here had to improvise and travel elsewhere if they wanted to catch the band. No surprise then, that when I’m sitting on a flight to Amsterdam to see them, the burning topic on this less than eco-friendly mode of transport is, ironically, Coldplay.
The guy beside me is going. So are other members of his family who are dotted around the plane. Same goes for the guy on the aisle side of the guy beside me, along with his pals. "Why not?" says flight neighbour number one. "Amsterdam’s a great place to visit and Coldplay are brilliant live. I’ve seen them a few times and they’re always amazing."
So, after leaving off my bag and getting a bite, it’s down to Ajax’s Johan Cruyff Arena for the gig. The prospect is obviously appealing and the setting is almost effortlessly seductive. It's a Dam fine place to put on a show.
Act II: The Mood
There’s something magical about Amsterdam. Sure, there’s the red light district, which is basically a tourist trap these days. There’s the Anne Frank house, which is also something of a tourist trap, but one with a scary message and a tragic history lesson that must be learned on repeat forever more.
And then there are the cafes where you can legally inhale.
There’s also the Rijksmuseum, which is only beaten by the Louvre in terms of scale. And there’s the odd canal, as well as the dam on the Amstel river that gave the city its name.
But it has a rock ’n’ roll history too. This is the place where John Lennon and Yoko Ono took up a brief residence at the Amsterdam Hilton and the world watched when they began "talking in our bed for a week", as immortalised in The Beatles' song The Ballad of John and Yoko. It’s also the place where Coldplay performed twice just the weekend before.
And while John and Yoko’s message was a cry for peace that summed up the late 1960s, Coldplay are equally passionate about a current, emotive subject: The environment.
Before the band hit the stage, atmospheric music fills the venue as the on-stage screens display a deluge of environmentally-sound images and messages. The band isn't here just to play some songs, they want to save the planet too.
Act III: The Stars
Of course, a Coldplay gig is very much an audiovisual event, something that works extremely well as a communal experience for tens of thousands of fans in stadia such as the Johan Cruyff Arena. Rock ’n’ roll has come a long way since Elvis started swinging his hips and curling a lip on the back of a lorry.
It's merely stating a fact that Coldplay are the ultimate stadium band these days. They took the U2 template and ran riot with it. For sure, Beyoncé is unmatched when it comes to putting on a show, but what Chris and the lads do is bring the audience along with them for a multi-coloured musical ride.
It’s a bit like TellyTubbies for the over twenty-fives. Eh-oh! Let's go!
You’d expect the hits - and they’re there in some quantity, from early successes Yellow, Viva La Vida and Paradise, right up to more recent fan favourites such as Something Just Like This, My Universe and Hymn For The Weekend. Naturally, recent album Music of the Spheres has the highest representation with six songs on the set list.
And while Chris Martin always looks like he lost an argument in a paint shop before stepping on stage, the rest of the band resemble three blokes who’ve just come straight from a shift in a warehouse.
They don't look like pop stars - which is the point. They may be superstars, but there's nothing flash about this lot. They wouldn't look out of place in a queue at Tesco's.
And that’s obviously no coincidence. Coldplay bend over backwards to make their gigs resemble the greatest sing-along set you’ve ever experienced (well, outside of Paul McCartney). Everyone present is made to feel a part of the experience rather than being mere spectators. You're not here to merely observe but to participate.
After opener Higher Power, giant bouncing balls are released into the crowd and the wristbands everyone got on the way in are flashing in tandem with Adventure of a Lifetime. We’re on our glittering way.
The gig is structured into four acts - which, eh, 'inspired’ the structure of this piece - allowing the band to utilise the three stages dotted across the stadium. By the end of song four, The Scientist, they’re on the move.
Personal favourite Viva La Vida sees the band relocate to the B-Stage and the inevitable 'woh-oh's echo out from the crowd, clearly enjoying themselves and really getting into it.
The party continues amid eco-friendly fire, confetti and fireworks, favourites from Yellow to Clocks follow, and Chris reads out banners held by fans before bringing a couple of punters, Nina and Marvin, on stage. Nina’s recovering from cancer, so it’s a nice touch to have her sing along on stage.
Before you know it, they’re performing A Sky Full of Stars and that’s it. Well, sort of. There’s some people on the pitch. They don’t think it’s all over. They want more.
Act IV: Home
By the time the encore comes around - bookended by stellar versions of Sparks and Biutyful - you’d expect a bit of wear and tear from the performers. If maybe not from the rest of the band, who quietly get on with things, surely Chris Martin should be knackered. He's been centre-stage all night. But he looks like he’s just getting started.
He joins the lads down on C-stage at the far end of the pitch from the main stage, grinning his face off and singing just as clearly and passionately as he was over two hours ago when the show began.
He may be a child compared to veteran rock ’n’ rollers such as Springsteen and the Stones, but Chris Martin's nearly 50 yet his stamina is as relentless as his enthusiasm. He's basically thanking the world as the show comes to an end. And still he encourages the crowd.
"Lift up your hands and look towards the big screens," he says. Cue a kaleidoscope of colour, laser beams, spheres. Oh, and 50 odd thousand wristbands glowing. All lighting up the Amsterdam night. The multi-coloured message is clear: "We are all one in the universe."
I'm not sure that Coldplay can save the world - let’s face it, that’s up to a lot more folk than four blokes in a band - but they certainly know how to give its residents a good time while the planet burns.
John Byrne's Coldplay review previously ran in July 2023
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