CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW HERE.

As the lights went down, an overwhelming sense of excitement took over the capacity Sydney crowd packed into every last nook and cranny of the Acer. And why not? We were lucky enough to be present as the biggest non-Bono-fronted band in the world kicked off their five-night stand in Sydney, on the back of their fourth (and easily strongest) record, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.

The bleeps and hums of Life in Technicolor rang out before Chris, Will, Johnny and Guy ran out onto the dark stage wielding not yet their instruments, but sparklers. They locked in and jammed on the remains of their intro track, before launching straight into Viva’s lead single, Violet Hill. Judging from the crowd’s vocal eruption at every swaggering move of Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow, we were in for one fun night with Coldplay. And, indeed to no-one’s surprise, we were.

If one were to read any reviews of this tour’s shows, then you would be sure to know what you were in store for – this is the kind of band that performs the same set each night, to the point of perfection. This could easily make the night boring and predictable if one goes in thinking worst-case scenario. No gig report, however, can really compare to experiencing ‘those’ moments first-hand: the confetti-packed balloons during Yellow, the paper butterflies during Lovers in Japan, the lasers during Clocks.

Indeed, the entire Coldplay live experience revels in spectacle – the aesthetic quality of their performance was awe-inspiring, to say the least. Video screens, spinning glowing balls, runways, huge banners, laser lighting…even an acoustic run-through of Speed of Sound, The Monkees’ I’m a Believer and a Will Champion-sung Postcards from Far Away up in the “cheap seats” played its part throughout the lengthy set. No matter how many times Coldplay does these things, one gets the feeling that it will never cease to amaze their audience, regardless of wherever they may be.

For the haters looking for all the possible evidence that a Coldplay show is all smoke and mirrors, your bubble is to be quickly burst as well. The band sounded magnificent, powering through a near-decade’s worth of hits. The approach to said hits was also quite interesting. The band either faithfully recreated the tracks as they appeared on CD ( Yellow, Fix You ) or completely reworked them (the medley of God Put a Smile Upon Your Face and Talk, performed in a dance style with electronic drums). The latter certainly raised a few (thousand) eyebrows amidst the crowd, but the band definitely deserve credit for not resting on laurels and subsequently lapsing into the generic.

Set highlights were plentiful, but if pressed one would have to divide top honours betwixt the two title tracks of the band’s fourth album. The former received possibly the largest ovation of the entire night; every punter on their feet and every punter singing along like a choir. The energy and excitement was so palpable, the quintessential wordless chant carried on for eight bars beyond the song’s completion. The latter commenced with Martin, with no band or instruments, singing the first verse with that fragile falsetto that has defined several high points in the band’s recorded history. From this intimacy, an epic was built up from scratch, perfectly concluding the first encore of the night.

As the crowd shuffled out to the sounds of The Escapist, which is built upon the very first sounds one hears on VLV, there was a real sense that we’d experienced a performance that so many before us had done. Strangely, at the same time, the euphoria from the masses led us to believe that we’d experienced something unique, glorious and unifying. You can derail the band all you like with as many “wanker” or “bland” insults as you please. But be sure to know, in all actuality, this is a show that is not to be missed, no matter the price of admission.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: My sincerest apologies to Decoder Ring and Mercury Rev – the dastardly public transport system fails us again! From all reports, however, your sets went well and I hope to see both of you sometime later in the year.