Coldplay, Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester

Boys behaving impeccably

Coldplay are not cool. And they never have been. Famously derided by the former Creation Records boss, Alan McGee, as "bedwetters'', they have never enjoyed the kudos once heaped on his most famous signing, Oasis. Yet, despite never having been hyped by the music press or wooed as style-mag darlings, the four impeccably behaved middle-class boys without a drug-addled tale of rock excess to tell arrive for the first night of the UK leg of their arena tour as the biggest band in Britain.

They have certainly come a long way from their humble, Radiohead-aping beginnings. Their infinitely (almost tediously) polite, teetotal front man, Chris Martin, now even has the ultimate rock-star-calibre girlfriend – the Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow. The band have sold more than 13 million copies of their two albums worldwide, and the BBC's adoption of the driving piano chords from the band's new single, "Clocks", as its theme tune of choice has helped to ensure that Coldplay have not only hit the big time but slammed, head on, into the mainstream.

That overexposure may not have endeared the band to their critics, but it has not dampened the enthusiasm of the 13,000-strong crowd. The roar of anticipation is deafening as Martin and his three bandmates step on to the spartan, aqua-lit black stage. The soulless horseshoe of the MEN Arena becomes a writhing mess of screaming, hugging fans, arms waving as they sing along to every song.

From the pleading and intense set-opener, "Politik", Martin, too, is incapable of standing still. He exudes confidence as he mauls his instrument while bouncing about like a deranged undertaker, dressed in a black suit and blood-red T-shirt.

Despite his thrashings and the venue's massive size, the intimacy of the songs – their sweeping, anthemic melodies and Martin's soul-exposing lyrics – is not lost. Diamond-strong and dagger-sharp, Martin's voice tears through the beautiful, raw ballad "The Scientist" and the lovelorn breakthrough single, "Yellow", as though he were opening his heart for the very first time.

Chris Martin is Coldplay – the band's other members fade back into the dark. He has slain his shyness and no longer compulsively thanks the crowd for its support, as he did in the past. Instead, his banter takes the form of self-effacing jokes. The audience is entirely under his spell by the time he comes to the yearning "Trouble", the last song before the band return for their three-track encore. "Better than snorting coke off the back of a hooker," he says triumphantly – his giddy grin mirroring those in front of him – before qualifying that with: "which we don't do." Here, we have witnessed the coming-of-age of a true rock'n'roll star. Well, almost.