Red lights beamed and green lasers shot across the room. Pink, purple, green and yellow colors shined in a windmill-like fixture. And huge balloons dropped from the air and multicolored confetti burst from the sides of the stage.
It was psychedelic and colorful — two words that also described Chris Martin's demeanor Friday night.
The Coldplay singer led the English foursome as they played more than a dozen songs at the Roundhouse in London's Camden Town.
An enthusiastic Martin switched from electric to acoustic guitar and then to the piano throughout the night, jumping around the stage in sneakers and rubbing his head after he finished a song.
"I love your makeup," he yelled to one girl after singing "Shiver," one of the band's first songs.
Coldplay — who has released four multiplatinum albums and has a fifth planned for this year — performed for hundreds as part of the iTunes' free music festival.
"For 12 years, we had to give away tickets, and nothing's changed," Martin joked. "We still have to give away things for free."
On the piano, Martin was most focused, towering over it like a mad scientist on tunes like "Politik" and a new song with a piano groove that the band had never played before and "might not play it anywhere else."
He was vocally top-notch on fan favorites like "Yellow" and "Viva la Vida," where the crowd continued to belt its addictive hook of "Ohhh's" until the band returned for an encore. They closed the show with timeless tracks like "Speed of Sound" and "Fix You." Then they performed their latest song, "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall."
But it was the sound of "Ohhhhh Ohhh Ohhh" from "Viva la Vida" that really ended the night as concertgoers continued to sing it as they exited.
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Mesfin Fekadu covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/musicmesfin