Thank goodness that Coldplay's lead singer lost his voice last time he and his bandmates took a stab at a US tour. Thank goodness because that time around, Philly was omitted from their schedule. Even worse, they didn't have Grandaddy lined up as the opener.
California-based band, Grandaddy, played a humble and mellow set of songs mostly off their latest acclaimed album The Sophtware Slump. Frontman Jason Lytle's soft falsetto vocals created a placid and relaxed atmosphere with such songs as "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot," while later, they managed to pump out solid faster-beat tracks like "Hewlett's Daughter" and "Miner Dial-A-View."
The show was, of course, not without the requisite grunge band shabby beards and song-title-telling movie screen backdrop.
Following an hour of continuous music sans the screen, but with disco ball on hand, Coldplay were ready to take the stage.
After a few singing lessons for Chris Martin and a bit of respite for the whole band, Coldplay's refreshed outlook on touring the States came with a bit of wild antics, only from a mad (as in insane) Chris Martin himself. Playing to a packed warehouse known as the Electric Factory, this rare animal of a band, possessing ubiquitous radio popularity and actual quality music., played a continuous set for nearly two hours.
As Martin broke into song, his voice was indeed back. The remainder of the night, Coldplay played to the maximum on every song. Only a few mess-ups occurred, mostly due to a shiny new red electric guitar. First, the guitar went out of tune, under the hand of Martin, who couldn't put it back together again (so they switched songs on the set list). Two songs later, the guitar dysfunctioned again mid-song (during "Murder") and so the neurotic lead singer was left to dance crazily with his shirt in a way that was reminiscent of Thom Yorke and a drunk six-year-old all at once. He eventually he jumped off the stage.
Minus the mad guitar the songs were show stealers, and current-album gems like "Don't Panic", "Spies", and "Everything's Not Lost", along with a showcasing of a few new tracks, establishing a set that was overall strong and tight.
Interesting new trivia: Martin dished that "Yellow" is about the yellow-colored cocaine that he and guitarist Jonny Buckland once bought.
True or not, it brings a whole new meaning to the lyrics "I drew a line for you...and it was all yellow"
