"Is it true that everyone in Vancouver is stoned today?" asked Coldplay's Chris Martin, seven songs into Friday night's concert at Rogers Arena.
His joke produced a big cheer, although obviously a chap of his gentle demeanour wouldn't be involved with any of those uncouth 4/20 shenanigans. This is a man whose rock and roll charm is more debonair than prone to debauchery. At the show's start, he promised his band would "give 119 per cent" and do their best to provide a great night's entertainment. Textbook rock and roll introduction. Acknowledging concertgoers' parking and babysitting expenses in the very next sentence was a significant deviation from the script.
Martin has transformed himself from sensitive songwriter to rock's great salesman. Not in a "drink Pepsi" way. Quite the opposite. He's selling himself and his band. He's doing it sincerely and he's doing it with charisma. And, judging by the response from a full house of adoring fans Friday night, an awful lot of people are buying it.
"In My Place" was only the second song of the night, but at its first chorus Martin was galloping along the stage's runway, throwing his arms in the air as plumes of paper leaves blasted into Rogers Arena around him. That was just one of many touches of production brilliance. Everyone with a ticket was issued an illuminated wristband on entry. When the house lights dropped, 10,000 swaying arms lit up the room instead. Giant beach balls were launched. Colossal inflatable butterflies appeared in the arena's upper level. But the most spectacular moments always came directly from Chris Martin.
It was his enthusiasm that triggered a massive call and response sing-along from the crowd during "The Scientist," which the band followed by launching into a rowdy version of "Yellow" that saw Martin narrowly miss cracking himself in the face with his guitar neck. During "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face" Martin instructed everyone on the upper level to put their hands in the air, softly encouraging the one non-conformer to join in – "I see you in the blue shirt". In perhaps the highlight of the entire show, mid-way through "Viva la Vida" Martin snatched a red bra out of the air, presumably thrown in his general direction by an admirer, then collapsed to the ground at the song's end to soak up the moment.
It's not hard to see why Gwyneth Paltrow and more than a few women in Vancouver find him so dreamy. Chris Martin is the lead singer of an astonishingly successful, arena-filling band. But he's a different kind of rock star. Sensitive. Gentle. Understanding. This isn't sex appeal. This is cuddle appeal.
Coldplay has become one of the biggest bands on Earth and the credit lies entirely with Martin. Guitarist Johnny Buckland joined his frontman to throw rock poses a few times, drummer Will Champion banged away with surprising ferocity while Guy Berryman was the epitome of bass player anonymity. All the excitement, the entire show essentially, came from Chris Martin.
Chris Martin believes that Coldplay is the biggest and best band on the planet. He has the will and sincerity in his rock star moves to make arenas believe it too.
Which must be the heart of their continued enormity, because even in the sonic cauldron of Rogers Arena "Princess of China" (performed with a video projection of Rihanna), "Viva la Vida," "Paradise," "Fix You" and so many more, if you closed your eyes to subtract Martin's charisma, are award-winning yet achingly pedestrian slabs of indie-pop by numbers.
Not that anyone left Rogers Arena disappointed. Chris Martin had delivered. The crowd loved it. But it was Martin, openly and genuinely relishing that love, who enjoyed it most of all.
"Most of you are under the influence of soft drugs," he laughed during the encore, "but we'll take it!"
Coldplay plays Rogers Arena again Saturday night with support from City and Colour, and The Pierces
