Live 2012

With nearly a decade between <i>Live 2003</i> and <i>Live 2012</i>, there’s noticeable growth (if you’re the type that’s going to go and compare both albums). But what’s more pertinent here is how comfortable Chris Martin and company are performing to a small population from a giant arena stage. Rather than plough through the hits, the band plays them with the same passion and gusto mustered for the first time. “Yellow” gets the audience singing along and then screaming in a Beatlemania-like frenzy when the song blossoms with those shoegazing guitars blasting a beautiful distortion. “Paradise” is equally arresting as the crowd sings along with the opening piano melody in a fever pitch, sounding like football fans chanting at a World Cup game — especially at the end of the song — which when overtaken by cascading waterfalls of crowd participation sounds eerily reminiscent of the epic closing to Pink Floyd’s “Fearless.” By the time the anthemic “Clocks” surfaces and “Fix You” prefaces the encore, it’s evident that Coldplay is one of the biggest bands in the world.