10 Most Overblown Stage Productions In Music Today

4. Coldplay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpI445BZj64 While Coldplay may not be cool, hip, trendy, alternative, or even mildly-fashionable, they do have an incredible way with an audience. Even as early as 2002, the band were using limited budgets to simply light up the arenas they played in, creating a phenomenal Pink Floyd-esque strobe-laser show that ended up being central to both their 'Live in Sydney' DVD, and the award-winning video for hit single 'Clocks'. As early as 2002, the band started employing classic stadium-rock tricks to amplify their live show, with confetti cannons accompanying the likes of 'In My Place' while inflatable balloons appeared during 'Yellow'. Even such simple tricks as band members taking pictures throughout the shows on a disposable camera that would then get thrown to the audience, or taking an audience member's phone and singing down the line to someone were thrown in to create a more 'interactive' feel to the shows than is customary for such a big band. Once they started headlining stadiums, that's when the big guns started coming out. The band included fireworks throughout the set (how big must a band's balls be to actually begin a gig with fireworks?!), catwalks, 'B' and 'C' stages for in-the-crowd acoustic sets, greater emphasis on video projections and the famous 'Xylobands' (the radio-controlled glow-in-the-dark wristbands handed out to gig-goers). Their hit-packed 'Mylo Xyloto' tour grossed $192 million from just 84 concerts and saw the band (along with five big screens, tonnes of confetti, inflatable props, a three-tiered backdrop, and the aforementioned wristbands) travel around the world many times, earning a reputation as one of the most inventive, crowd-friendly acts of all times.