His band make their return, Chris Martin seems to have got himself so worked up about the media reaction to Coldplay's fourth album that he has forgotten about the response from his legions of fans. This show, the first worldwide to promote tuneful mouthful Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, was a timely reminder that left him smiling for a change.

In recent weeks he has walked out of interviews with both The Observer and Radio 4's Front Row, each time beautifully living up to his meek public image by quickly returning and apologising for getting het up. Speaking about a press that is often disproportionately harsh when it comes to a band whose only crime is playing rock without the rebellion, he said: "We're about to be fed to the lions again." In contrast, this evening was a happy trip to a petting zoo.

As with so many of these smaller-scale promotional gigs, there was a sense that the pleasure was in being there rather than the performance itself. An hour long instead of the two or more people will get at the band's O2 Arena shows in December, half the set drew from the new album, and fans had not yet had time to learn enough words for the all-important singalongs.

Still, it was free, the second Coldplay giveaway after comeback single Violet Hill was down-loaded two million times for nothing.

There was still much that was familiar - old favourites Trouble, In My Place and Clocks were all aired, and Martin reprised his hopping backwards dance as he skitted between piano and guitar.

But there were surprises too, notably from drummer Will Champion, who came to the front to bash a kettle drum during Viva La Vida and then sang lead vocals for the first time. His thin voice graced an unfamiliar folky ditty during a novel acoustic encore on the balcony.

New tracks such as Lost! and 42, which built over three parts to a fabulously catchy conclusion, stood up well among the past hits. Set closer Lovers In Japan sounded like a future favourite too, but paled next to its immediate predecessor, Fix You, which was born for that closing confetti explosion and will still be wheeled out in encores if they make 20 more albums.

So there was no new tearjerking ballad to show off, but from the response here, Martin can stop reading his own press and relax. Coldplay are going to be okay.