Their new album could also be referred to as “Moon Music,” however Coldplay took the stage at a surprisingly sunny hour for a uncommon club present at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on Monday.
I imply, it was nonetheless late afternoon, not even night but, when the alt-rock giants shrunk themselves right down to on a regular basis life measurement on the 650-capacity venue that was infinitely extra intimate than their final native concert events at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
“Getting the band Coldplay to perform before 9 p.m is one of the most difficult things in the world,” Coldplay frontman Chris Martin advised the gang on the non-public SiriusXM concert that's now out there to stream on the service.
“And the reason we’re playing so early this afternoon is because tomorrow we’re doing the ‘Today’ show that starts at, like, 3:15 a.m.,” he continued, joking that “this is really just a sound check for that in some way.”
All kidding apart about their begin manner earlier than regular rock star hours, although, Coldplay is as accountable because it will get for a band whose main viewers has hit center age proper alongside with them. And as such, they've achieved their due diligence on the promo rounds for his or her tenth studio album “Moon Music” — with, as they lately introduced, solely two extra to go — hitting the “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Saturday Night Live” earlier than their SiriusXM present and Tuesday morning’s “Today” look.
They’ve been working New York like most acts with far much less pedigrees than them do lately — nonetheless making an attempt to promote their new songs even when most individuals nonetheless simply wish to hear “Yellow,” “Clocks” and “Viva La Vida.”
“When you’re an older band, I know it frustrates a lot of people because we’re still doing new songs, and I know that’s annoying for some of you,” mentioned Martin, ever boyish and wiry at 47.
“But you know, once upon a time, even that song ‘Viva La Vida’ was new, and everyone in the room was like, ‘What the f–k is this?’… Every new song we have, lots of people say it’s terrible, and then 10 years later, it’s a worldwide super classic.”
To that extent, Coldplay opened with the atmospheric title monitor of “Moon Music” earlier than a solo Martin was joined by the remainder of the band: guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion.
They hit their stride with the feel-good vibes of “feelslikeimfallinginlove,” the “Moon Music” single that — charts be damned — is one other traditional Coldplay anthem.
They switched from that Max Martin-produced pop bliss to the driving, U2-esque rock of “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face” from their 2002 masterpiece “A Rush of Blood to the Head.”
It was a jolt that was now not as jarring because it as soon as was: Coldplay is as a lot pop as it's rock now.
Other new songs corresponding to “We Pray” — the place Coldplay was joined by Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna and Argentine star Tini — and the soul-disco bop “Good Feelings” that includes Nigerian songstress Ayra Starr confirmed the worldwide energy of the group.
Coldplay additionally debuted a brand new music, “The Karate Kid,” from the deluxe model of “Moon Music,” with Martin beginning and stopping on the piano whereas delivering the falsetto feels — as if he was working it out for him and the band in real-time.
Then Coldplay indulged themselves for the “superfans” with the 10-minute “Coloratura” from 2021’s “Music of the Spheres,” which felt like a prelude to the space-trippiness that’s heard on “Moon Music.”
Afterward, Martin mentioned, “OK, let’s play ‘Yellow.’ Thank you for letting us do that.”
But whereas once more discovering “something beautiful” in “Yellow” — as he does each single time — Martin might have discovered one other Coldplay heart-melter in the brand new piano ballad “All My Love,” which ended the present earlier than it was even darkish outdoors.
