yeah, i saw the last 20 minutes or so of it and was pretty positively surprised. they put on a good show...i'm glad i got to see them in 2002 shortly after Rush of Blood came out...I don't know if I'd enjoy it as much in one of the megalarge venues they play nowadays.

"In its early days, Coldplay could easily be summed up as Radiohead minus Radiohead's beat, dissonance or arty subterfuge. Both bands looked to the overarching melodies of 1970's British rock and to the guitar dynamics of U2, and Mr. Martin had clearly heard both Bono's delivery and the way Radiohead's Thom Yorke stretched his voice to the creaking point. "

That pretty much sums up how I feel about them.

And Dalen, as usual, I think you're going a bit far in calling this "great." It is too bland to be great, it's too much of a recycled "Rush of Blood" sound for me to call it great. Yes, it's good, nice music, and they have sound pretty much down, but this is not "great."

If it's great, it's great in the same way one might be inclined to call the new U2 album great. In that it's really not, but if you wanted to convince yourself that it's great you probably could.

ok, well let's just say that i'm really enjoying the new album material. i agree they haven't re-invented themselves, but why should they? i love what they sound like now. the hooks, the wonderful guitar parts, chris' voice. it all hits me really hard, and i feel pretty passionate about their music.

same goes for U2 actually.