Coldplace

Coldplace are playing O2 City Hall on Wednesday 11 November, a tribute to Coldplay. They've been at it since 2004, formed by fans for fans, and they've spent the years since playing across Britain and beyond. They describe themselves as the world's leading tribute to the band, and they're built around the idea of giving the audience the nearest experience to seeing Coldplay themselves.

That doesn't just mean playing the songs live. They talk about transmitting the feeling of them directly into the room, and they pride themselves on the passion they put into the set and the accuracy they aim for. It's a whole-show approach rather than just a list of songs run together.

Frontman Shane Croft is a good part of that. He's said to have the melancholy sounds of Chris Martin down to a science, and he brings the stage presence and the way he deals with the public too, with the aim of leaving the crowd feeling as though they're watching the real thing. If you've spent years listening to those records, that's the kind of detail that makes a tribute work — the voice and the manner as much as the notes.

It's a mid-week one, so keep the timing in mind: the show starts at 19:30, with doors opening at 18:30. The curfew is 23:00, so it's a full evening's run. O2 City Hall is on Northumberland Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8SF.