Live 2012 (EMI)

[rating: 4.5/5]

Two discs, one box: and it does exactly what it says on the tin. A terrific reminder of what we’ve just seen, this DVD/CD collection captures the Coldplay boys performing their current set in various venues around the world. It’s a stadium one minute and a smaller joint the next: though much of the action takes place in outdoor arenas. What makes the whole thing so engaging is the doco-snippets cut into the set. The lads play a couple of songs and then it jumps to backstage, under-the-stage, pre-tour, post-gig and anywhere else you’d like to see the band at work. It’s in these segments that the band offers a commentary on where they are as artists and how the tour was brought to life. Visually stunning, the off stage insights are compelling. Ever wonder how those wrists bands came about? Well it’s all here folks. The set list which runs to seventeen songs [sixteen on the CD] includes ‘Hurts Like Heaven’, ‘’Yellow’, ‘Viva La Vida’ and everything else you’ve seen them do over the last twelve months on the road. A perfect souvenir.

Peta Kent