All Points West 2009 preview

August 2: Coldplay

We were hoping Tool and Coldplay would perform on the same day, if only to see a sociological case study in how fans of each band would behave with each other. Oh well. Perhaps paradoxically, Coldplay’s anthemic and emotional tracks always felt equally at home among the individual’s headphones and stadiums; personal enough for a cathartic experience, yet grand and expansive enough to be arena-sized sing-alongs. Yes, their heart-on-sleeve approach makes them an easy target, but when the chorus of “Yellow” hits, try not to sing along.