Coldplay

Festivals need a big act who can bring things to a close and in Coldplay the IOW has a headliner who clearly fit the bill. This is touted as their last appearance for some time, possibly Chris and the boys have got tired of the music they make to a plan they had years ago in Devon to make songs to conquer crowds.

They’ve done that and tonight in front of a crowd predominantly only here to see them, they can salute their achievements and take a bow. Whether this is their final curtain is unclear, they appear to be relishing more and more final ever shows.

But the atmosphere here is incredible; even if you aren’t a Coldplay fan you have to concede that they do the festival headliners thing rather well. They have the screens and lasers, lights, smoke and camera angles and it’s been a wonderful weekend of sun and music. We're sun burnt tired and so blissful that the opening chords of ‘Square 1’ have some people delirious with pleasure!

Chris writhes gymnastically around on the floor as he sings and the lights bathe us on such a warm evening. We’re thanked for waiting for them, as though there’s been nothing else on our mind all weekend but the thought of this. ‘Politik’ has more acrobatics and it’s clear that the band are loving the vibe too.

‘Yellow’ is a huge sing along and in this moment you realise it’s a piece of IOW history strong enough to rival the legendary Glastonbury sets people talk about for years. Large yellow balls bounce about above us and as they explode they spill their cargo of golden glitter confetti which rains down on smiling sunburnt faces. The stage falls silent and the crowd yell back every word and Chris stands and grins. The architect of Coldplay sees his work completed as 50,000 and more people sing back his song.

‘Speed of Sound’ follows and Chris darts from stage left to stage right stepping out under the big screens for fans to take pictures of their hero. Before ‘God put a Smile’ Chris jokes that they are only here to stand in for The Darkness and then as he starts the intro chords apologises that the intro is so boring and probably the worst of the weekend. But by the end it’s a sea of arms and vocal accompaniment again.

‘What If’ has Chris move to a piano with the Make Trade Fair letters clearly visible upon its side and he sings to a sea of glo-sticks, flashing lights and mobile phones amongst the flags and hands. Tonight Chris tells us we are to be let into a secret, if England win the World Cup then Coldplay are going to release a song called ‘Do the Crouch’ ... Chris repeats the lanky striker’s robot dance and invites us to join in.

Guitarist Johnny Buckland sings for ‘Beautiful World’ and both the stage and us are bathed in red and blue light and parts of ‘Shiver’ are in the medley before Chris sings, “Get up off your sofa, get up off your couch, get up off your sofa and do the Peter Crouch!” and we all cheer loudly.

‘White Shadows’ and it’s such a warm barmy evening tonight, Chris and Johnny lie down to gaze up into the night sky as the long chords fill the air, perhaps they’re sending themselves to sleep. As if Chris is aware of my irony, he tells us, “This song is for being a Coldplay fan in a cynical world” and it’s ‘The Scientist’ While the main lights of the stage beat down upon us in the crowd illuminating us all for the band to see. The band take pictures of the crowd on disposable cameras before throwing them into the crowd.

As a small instrument set up is constructed on the podium in front of the stage which has been there all day, making cameramen angry by squeezing the pit to the width of just one person, and is now to put the band in the crowd for the rest of the set.

They drag some fan up onstage to become the ‘Crowd Fan of The Year’ and hand her a bottle of champagne to swig from and offers of sexual shenanigans with Johnny. She’s called Jo and is a bit of a looker and Chris points out she’s just a sample of the quality of the crowd at IOW. There certainly has been lots of attractive girls here all weekend.

With her sat amongst them drinking the champagne, the band play ‘Till Kingdom Come’ or their own version of ‘Van Demon’s Land’ and it’s all very U2. Chris tells us he bumped into Lou Reed before he left the island and he was in a strange mood and asked them a favour, and begins ‘Perfect Day’ but he messes it up, “Well he didn’t play it so we had too!” before re-starting and us all singing along and realising how Lou Reed’s set could have been.

‘Clocks’ is a sign the night’s drawing to a close, but there’s still time to mesmerise us, with space scapes as a back drop, red and green lasers, amazing camera work on the big screens of flags and lighting and silhouettes. It’s certainly a mouth agape spectacle.

It’s rather grand and continues into ‘Talk’ and Coldplay have given us a headline performance that we’ll all remember and have made the IOW festival special with a professional performance. The encore is merely an opportunity to sing with them to ‘Swallowed in The Sea’, ‘In My Place’ and the finale of the lung bursting vocalisation of ‘Fix You’ and the usual end of fireworks.

Coldplay put the icing on the cake of another IOW festival, perfect weather, however the filling of the musical cake has been a little thin. More big names with more than one album under their belt next year would be grand.

As for Coldplay long may they continue to have their final show. They’ve learnt all the tricks of being a headline act.

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