The morning after and I'm still in shock and more than a little sore. A packed crowd of 70,000 soaked and sweaty bodies singing along to songs mainly about death as the Viva La Vida bandwagon swept into a stunning Wembley Arena for the last of an incredible 159 tour dates. Backed up by the all-conquering Jay-Z; whose hour set could quite easily have been a headline performance, Chris Martin and Co. launched straight into a rocking rendition of 'Life in Technicolor' that had the whole crowd jumping as the rain poked itself into every orifice.

What followed was a two hour mix of supremely confident entertainment which included Simon Cowell, bouncing balls and fireworks - not words you would often find together in the same sentence. Fortunately, Cowell's only high-trousered contribution was on a pre-recorded clip as the crowd was urged on by Martin to audition for X-Factor by singing the chorus to Trouble.

As could be expected, it was the highly-elastic Martin who led the way with plasticine dance moves that involved spinning, jumping and repeatedly pretending to trip up. He was, however, more than amply backed up by a thumping drum performance by Will Champion, as well as guitarists Berryman and Buckland who once in a while ventured onto the two walkways along either side of the stage. In fact Champion sang twice, including a somewhat lacklustre cover of 'Billie Jean' as the crowd were cajoled into a mobile phone Mexican wave, once the rain had ceased.

Given that this was a two hour show it was inevitable that the tempo would drop from time to time. However, if I was to be anal about it, I would say that the interchange between songs was often slow and disjointed whilst Glass of Water killed the mood six songs in; as did the band's move to the 'C' stage in the middle of the arena.

On the other hand, an epic 24 songs were played in a two hour set with Coldplay's latest album 'Viva La Vida' covered almost in its entirety. Whilst it is difficult to pick out a favourite song of the night 'Violet Hill' was particularly memorable, as was the fireworks display that illuminated Wembley at the end of a special evening.

All in all, whilst Jay-Z repeatedly "'preciated our energy", and Girls Aloud were...well Girls Aloud, it is Coldplay who are firmly-buttocked on the throne of popular music. Viva La Coldplay.

Written by Ben Lamy