Coldplay performs at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, Calif. on May 31, 2025. Photos: Anna Lee. PALO ALTO, Calif. —It was at times unorthodox, but the opening night of the North American leg of Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour was a joyous triumph. The first of two sold-out…

Insert Foot ain’t feeling the Super Bowl this year. Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. Chris Martin just called me an idiot. I’ve been called worse by much better singers. The Coldplay frontman recently gushed a steaming pile of smelly fanboy nonsense to Apple Music 1, eventually blithering “You have to be…

Music of the Spheres, the ninth album from Coldplay, is the auditory culmination of years of electronic experimentation. Over the course of about two decades, Coldplay transitioned away from acoustic earthly music and into the world of big-budget production. Five of the 12-track song titles are emojis, reflecting the…

The synthetic meditations of 2014’s Ghost Stories and the vibrant alt-pop anthems of 2015’s Head Full of Dreams saw Coldplay ruminate on its embrace of pop music. Granted, Chris Martin and co. have always remained rock more in name than in execution. The palatable timbre and sticky hooks span from…

Coldplay performs at HP Pavilion in San Jose on April 27, 2012. Roman Gokhman/STAFF. There is nothing subtle about Coldplay. Every move is exaggerated. From frontman Chris Martin’s strut and “someone take a picture while I’m in mid-air” jumps, to Will Champion’s animistic assault on his drum set, to…