Tiniest gig ... greatest band

Right now, Coldplay are the biggest band on earth. Their third album, X And Y, topped the charts in the United States as well as Britain and their mammoth tour in support of it is not scheduled to finish until June.

Last night's intimate, fulllength set (to be broadcast on Radio 2 on 8 April) was their last British sighting for the foreseeable future. Rapper Kanye West (namechecked in Politik's re-modelled lyrics), and jazzer Jamie Cullum to DJ Chris Evans and queen of the musicals Elaine Paige were sprinkled among the

competition winners to see what was effectively a stadium show in a living room.

Far from the troubled distracted figure of Coldplay's recent Earls Court stint,

Martin was in sweary, engagingly gregarious mood, flirting with a woman in the front row; stopping Don't Panic to confess that his tale that it was inspired by his brother

wearing a pink tuxedo in Devon was a fib and apologising for

sweating like the proverbial pig.

Martin even had a chuckle at himself when introducing his mother: "If she hadn't let my dad have his wicked way with her, the world of ballads would be very different today..."

Musically, they were as honed as a touring machine should be, guiding the complex Politik from its tubthumping punk

introduction to its climax as an

avantgarde ballad and giving the formerly slender Yellow a meaty, more rocky makeover.

Jonny Buckland's work in recreating Kraftwerk's

Computer Love on the mesmerising Talk confirmed that he is the finest guitarist of his generation, but while Martin was the undoubted star - and he revelled in pulling all the rock shapes he can muster on White Shadows - as a live experience

Coldplay were most certainly a collective. In fact, they were almost a gang. They gelled in spectacular fashion on Clocks.

Towards the end, Martin leant back off his piano stool so his head almost touched the stage (the yoga must be coming on a treat) as his three colleagues created a swirling sound collage around him. Then, in one

swift movement, he righted himself and joined in. Moments later, as they went full pelt, the foursome stopped the song dead. This was thrilling musical gymnastics of the highest order.

They finished with the grandstanding Fix You, which had to be restarted when

Martin's piano malfunctioned. The hiccup scarcely mattered, for the song exuded balm and by the time it reached its "tears

stream down your face" coda many were joining in with the act as well as the words.

A world-class set from a world-class band.

Coldplay, Jay Z, Girls Aloud, White Lies