ACL Review, Photos: Coldplay, Friday, AMD
Coldplay, Friday, ACL 2011. Image via Sean Murphy.It’s fitting that before Coldplay took the stage for their Friday night headliner slot, the theme song from Back To The Future played over the AMD stage’s speakers. They’ve been recently quoted as wanting to move past their old sound and try to incorporate more modern elements into the songs, and having a futuristic producer like Brian Eno certainly helps. The group debuted a number of tracks off the upcoming album Mylo Xyloto, and like many artists nowadays (and like many at ACL), Coldplay seem to be enamored with electronic flourishes. Synthesizers and keyboards fight with Chris Martin’s old piano, and drummer Will Champion blasts away with drum-machine-like precision. Still, Martin is a true showman, capable of selling the new songs along with the old. Early singles like “Yellow” revved up the raucous crowd, especially with a color-specific light show dazzling the night sky. Martin made a number of quips about co-headliner Kanye West, who was performing at the same time on the Bud Light stage, but these two simultaneous concerts underline the sonic diversity that makes ACL so exciting. And the searchlights, shining from both the AMD and Bud Light stages to form a luminous canopy in the middle of Zilker Park, only sweetened this fact.
- Art Levy
