Coldplay: Getting What You (Didn't) Pay For

Last night was Coldplay's free concert at Madison Square Garden - and I have to say, this is an instance where you really got what you paid for. My first time seeing Coldplay live, I had been told going in that Chris Martin's voice is either hit or miss. While his voice was on par, he did seem to have some difficulty with the lyrics, but overall the set was enjoyable.

Playing some new songs off the new album, one of which (I still don't know track names by heart yet) was very Radiohead-esque, there was also an ample amount of songs from all previous albums. Different from the piano-solo rendition of "Yellow," Martin and the band walked out to the 200 levels and played the song sans piano.

I won't even bother touching on the opening acts, the second of which was just too psychedelic and had bizarre incorporations of Fantasia imagery (think dancing crocodile and hippo in a tutu).

To everyone's shock – the real kicker that just made you feel cheated (even though you really only spent money on $9 beers and foot-longs) there was NO encore! I'm still speechless – whether it was Chris Martin's embarrassment at screwing up the lyrics or just sheer laziness - who knows. Someone please enlighten me if you are able.

But hey – a free show by a hot band at the Garden is still pretty cool.