While I did believe the drums were way loud in the last concert I saw, I had no real problem with the sound - it prolly helped that it was at a shed (an outdoor venue). The bass player was mixed too far down, and the guitarist was mono-toned in that it sounded the same on every song (Coldplay isn't known for musicianship). Martin's tinpan alley piano stood out, as did other keys. There were only so many speaker anyway - I can't remember so few speakers at a concert. No monitors sitting on the ground, a few on stage, the mains were suspended from the rack above the stage - it was still loud as hell, but not uncomfortable (my ears stopped ringing within minutes). Certainly not hi-fi, but this is an MP3 crowd, so the bar is lower.

Coldplay also used a lot of video in it stage show. In fact, they had three or four cameras on the band and had an editor doing some pretty fancy cuts on the fly - looked like a music video. They also had a decent light show as well as some other gimmicks (giant yellow bouncy balls (bring a sharp pencil FA), confetti and other things. With the number of cameras there, I thought maybe they were taping for an upcoming DVD - if they do use it, listen for me...I'm the guy in the background going, "There here! the gods of rock are heeerrreeee!!!! Oh my god I'm gonna pass out...you guys roooool! Awesome! Yeah! yeeaahhhh!!!!!!!"