Main Stage, Witnness 03

With the Coldplay circus rolling ostentatiously into town, it pays to remember that this time last year Chris Martin & co were seen by many as just another indie band. ‘In My Place’ was starting to work its magic but A Rush Of Blood To The Head was still around the corner, celebrity girlfriends and global success a far-fetched dream. Yet tonight proves just how effortless their transformation has been.

With a set that has been trotted around the world a couple of times, surprises are few. Highlights, though, are many. Head towards the stage and you become lost in a mass of grinning, bouncing souls who sing and hug each other with equal gusto. Wander back up the hill and the sheer scale of it all comes into view.
These songs don’t need any help in filling this space but they come complete with spectacular lights, effects and lasers. What sets the Coldplay show apart, however, is the realisation that the small gestures matter just as much as the large ones. Martin is as full of self-deprecating charm as ever, an utterly charismatic front man without reeking of self importance. At one point he scrawls Keep Trade Fair on his hand, aware that the giant video screens will magnify it out of all proportion.
It’s a trick that his band pull off too, taking the smallest and most natural of human emotions and turning them into anthems of – and for – the people. It’s the reason that they can turn this vast open area into something intimate and beautiful. And it’s why we won’t have seen the last of them amongst these rolling hills.