At Gillette, Coldplay assemble a glimmering constellation of pop
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While flaunting music from their past two albums, the tour's titular work 'Music of the Spheres' and 2024's 'Moon Music,' Tuesday night's concert stretched Coldplay's potential to different pockets of the pop universe, and demonstrated how much their palette has broadened since their mellow breakthrough hit, 'Yellow.' As light-up bracelets distributed to the audience blinked and cycled through colors in time with the performance, mimicking a glittering galaxy, the band spent two hours assembling a constellation of complementary sounds.
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'Paradise' cast a sweeping veil of synth-pop across the stadium, followed by a burst of drama via the poignant orchestral pop of 'Viva La Vida,' which found Martin and the crowd collectively retelling the fable that earned Coldplay their first No.1 song. 'People of the Pride' leaned into the latter half of pop-rock with a semi-political, fully-electric display of arena rock that caught Martin trading his usual softness for macho swagger, while their fizzy EDM collab with DJs The Chainsmokers ('Something Just Like This') felt ripe for a rave.
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And yes, Coldplay's piano-pop resonates 25 years after the release of their debut album 'Parachutes,' in part thanks to TikTok and some well-timed teariness. Following reports that Martin had parted ways with his partner, actress Dakota Johnson, fans spotted Martin getting misty-eyed during 'Sparks' at a Las Vegas show last month, prompting a spike in streams and posts involving the song — just enough to
The piano riffs of earlier hits 'Clocks' and 'Speed of Sound' have aged just as well, and cradled the stadium with a familiar warmth, although nothing sparkled quite like Martin's visible sense of wonder as a frontman. The gleam of tens of thousands of bracelets was rivaled only by the gleam in Martin's eyes as he skipped along the catwalk, giddy as if it were the tour's opening evening and not show number 200-plus.
Granted, Tuesday wasn't Coldplay's first visit to Gillette Stadium since 2001, but the occasion felt like a triumphant return post-River Rave nonetheless. 'We're going to be massive in Boston,' indeed.
COLDPLAY
With Ayra Starr and Elyanna. At Gillette Stadium, Tuesday.
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