A night in Ahmedabad
One of the reasons why I am insistent that this publication does its best to avoid material judgments on the merits of individual acts is because a) there are tons of venues for music criticism and b) the reason why live music draws so many people in is almost aside the music. It's the community, the vibes and the temporary shelter from the outside world.
This is not a preamble to say I don't like Coldplay - I like them fine - but rather, no one would mistake them for being "cool." From an pretty soft-sounding first album, which gets as close to bedroom pop as a four-piece band can accomplish, they quickly by design or plumb luck, ascended to U2 stadium rock understudy. And when U2 faltered, they assumed the mantle and have not given it back.
So, perhaps they alone, could accomplish what they did last week - which is through the largest stadium show ever recorded.*
That event took place in India, in Ahmedabad. Twice! Per Billboard, night one drew 111,581 fans and night two drew even more: 111,989. If Coldplay wasn't the world's biggest band before, they are now. The pictures and videos from the event are impressive.
For all your quibbles about Chris Martin and his conscious uncoupling, he's incredibly down-to-earth for someone who leads a band that can gather 220k+ attendees in a two-day period.
Post-event, there have been some murmurs about the majority of fans not knowing the songs, especially in the Mumbai shows that preceded Ahmedabad, but does anyone really need to know lyrics to a concert to have a good time? Sure, it probably helps, but if ever there was a vibes band, it's Coldplay - I'd even argue they're better not listening to the lyrics than listening to them (sorry 😦).
There were several reviews from non-Coldplay-fan locals who thoroughly enjoyed the show and treated it like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Isn't that what live music is supposed to be?**
And this is not to say that a huge venue is requisite for life-changing experience; many people - myself included - are likely to cite an underground or dingy club seeing a soon-to-be-selling-out-arenas act being a pinnacle of experiences.
It is my hope that every live music experience fundamental alters at least one person's perception - and when it's 110,000 people, many of whom might be exposed to a band they had very little knowledge of before, that is very likely.
* I'd bet the 1966 Beatles could have beaten it if, instead of Shea Stadium, they played Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
** (nb: I tried to link to some local reviews, but the amount of pop-up ads on the websites actually astounded me - I saved your computer a lot of memory).