Live Review: Coldplay, Lianne La Havas, Jess Kent

Coldplay played the first Sydney show of their A Head Full Of Dreams tour last night, and delivered so much more than music. It was magic. It was a night that the 45,000 people who had poured into Allianz Stadium are unlikely to forget anytime soon.

With non-stop pyrotechnics, confetti streaming from the sky, fire shooting from the stage, giant colourful balloons, glowing wristbands and a host of special effects, the crowd were mesmerised from the second Chris Martin and band kicked off.

First up were Jess Kent and Lianne La Havas, who were both personally introduced to the stage by Martin himself. While Kent's sound was catchy, she played to a mostly empty stadium as the crowd slowly filtered in. 

La Havas proved to be a young artist to definitely watch. Her voice and lyrics penetrated the soul, and while she told the crowd "this has been the best thing I've ever done in my life," there's no doubt we will be seeing a lot more of her.

But it was Coldplay, and in particular Martin, who stole the night. Kicking off with A Head Full Of Dreams and Yellow, the audience was immediately showered with confetti and fireworks. We wondered how they could possibly build on such immediate excitement, but the energy from the band fed off the energy from the crowd and continued to grow.

Running from one stage to the next, Martin delivered vocally perfect renditions of songs both old and new, but trying to pick a favourite moment would be like trying to pick a favourite child. It was all incredible. When he threw our "Australian anthem" - John Farnham's You're The Voice in at the end of The Scientist - people loved it.

It was highlight after highlight as we sang and danced along with Martin, while he owned the stage, leaving no wonder as to why this band has been killing it for 20 years now.