By Brent Warnken
Clad in candy-colored Sgt. Peppers-style jackets and pants (and even apologizing to Paul McCartney for it) while becoming one of the night’s most recurring acts, Chris Martin and the rest of British rock band Coldplay stormed the stage repeatedly last night at the 51st annual Grammy Awards, coming out as one of the night’s biggest winners. Coldplay was nominated for a whopping seven Grammys and came away with three gramophones at the end of the night for Song of the Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best Rock Album, and the band also rocked the stage as one of the evening’s several top performers.
Although recently consumed in a legal battle with Joe Satriani over copyright-infringement with the Coldplay smash single “Viva la Vida,” frontman Chris Martin and his stellar rock band showed their relentless attitudes toward the lawsuit by performing a boisterous performance of the hit song onstage directly following a stint where Martin played a solo pianistic performance of “Lost.” This Grammy version of “Lost” featured a raucous Jay-Z popping up halfway through the song for a rap improvisation, the hip-hop artist even making a seemingly personal attack on Satriani by rapping the words “N—a sue you, you settle.”
Coldplay wasn’t the only dominating act to grace the Grammys, as the duo of bluegrass singer Alison Krauss and former Led Zeppelin rocker Robert Plant stole the show with five Grammy Awards won throughout the evening. Rapper Lil Wayne also hit the Grammy jackpot with four by the end of the night, and musical heavyweights Adele, Al Green, Ne-Yo, John Mayer, Brad Paisley and Sugarland all took away two awards from the 2009 event.
London-based Coldplay has jumped through hoops to get to this favorable position they’re in today, and it all started for this alternative rock quartet in 1998, when vocalist/pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jon Buckland, drummer Will Champion and bassist Guy Berryman joined forces while attending the University College of London. The rockers released EPs Brothers & Sisters and Blue Room before earning a respectable following, and the Parlophone Records-released debut full-length album Parachutes was all worth the wait when it was released in 2000, as the album immediately became a hit in both the U.K. The U.S. Parachutes featured the smash singles “Yellow” and “Trouble” and won the British band their first two Grammy Awards in 2001, setting this group of reflective rockers up for immeasurable success to come.
2002’s A Rush of Blood to the Head was another overwhelming hit across the globe, scoring a Top Five spot on the Billboard 200. 2005’s X&Y was the band’s first to snag the coveted number one slot on the Billboard 200, and Coldplay easily followed up the 2006 release with 2008’s Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, the band’s latest release and instant number one-charting album. Now boasting eight Grammy Awards in their overwhelmingly successful career, Coldplay continues rocking out the only way they know how - with live performances and brilliant albums. Anyone who saw Coldplay perform at the 2009 Grammy Awards knows the extent of this band’s potential, and now you can see Chris Martin and Co. live in concert with Coldplay tickets.
This article is sponsored by StubHub.com and was written by Brent Warnken. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling Coldplay tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.
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