Coldplay - Left Right Left Right Left

Rating: * * * *

With only nine tracks, and long lingering crowd cheers between songs, Left Right Left Right Left is more like a live mini-album than the whole concert experience. But the band are giving it away for free on their website, so it's a bit rich to complain.

The album is a thankyou to their fans and made up of songs from the tour for latest album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, during which the band played two sold-out shows at Vector Arena in March.

There are four songs from Viva La Vida, as well as Glass Of Water (off last year's Prospekt's March EP), drummer Will Champion's solo ditty, Death Will Never Conquer, and older songs Clocks, Fix You and The Hardest Part.

Even though the album is brief, it reveals the newfound power Coldplay have as a live band. While the older songs, especially Clocks, remain the rousing bread and butter anthems, the latest album's trippy atmospheric approach adds a new dimension to their sound. This comes across best on three-part opus, 42 (with its mangled guitar mid-section) and Strawberry Hill, which unravels effortlessly with an understated rumble and meandering banjo-like riffs.

Sure, a proper paid-for live album would have been more comprehensive but as far as souvenirs go it's better than walking away with just a ticket stub and ringing ears.

Scott Kara