TORONTO -- Even in the midst of a heady moment before a cheering, sold-out crowd last night at the Molson Amphitheatre, Coldplay's Chris Martin couldn't forget just how far his British band had come in the three short years since they first played here. Back then, he suggested the pop-rock group was playing to about five people. Last night's crowd of 16,000 snapped up all the tickets in one day. "It gives us great pleasure to play Toronto," said Martin, in reference to the fact that the city has had its fair share of concert no-shows in recent weeks due to fears about the spread of SARS. "It's f--king cool that so many people appreciate what we do." Opening with Politik, from their sophomore effort, A Rush Of Blood To The Head, the band -- rounded out by stellar-sounding guitarist Jon Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and muscular drummer Will Champion -- achieved full potency by the second song, God Put A Smile Upon Your Face. Martin, who alternated between pounding the heck out of his piano and playing acoustic/electric guitar, happily danced and twirled around the stage, seemingly oblivious to the audience. The problem was that it would be a while before Coldplay reached that level of euphoria again, with such rousing crowd pleasers as Yellow -- their breakthrough hit in North America from their first album, Parachutes -- and the encore standout Clocks. Still, the group did manage to intoxicate on more than a few occasions, due in no small part to the intense passion displayed by Martin and the dreamy and loud guitar playing of Buckland, particularly on such Parachutes songs as Don't Panic and Everything's Not Lost. Even if last night's hour-and-forty-minute show didn't uniformly soar like the group's concert back in September at the Air Canada Centre Theatre, it definitely had its moments. Like when Martin came out during opener Ron Sexsmith's set to sing on Gold In Them Hills -- something he also did on Sexsmith's latest album, Cobblestone Runway, championing the unsung Toronto tunesmith in the process. "What did I do?" joked Sexsmith as the crowd reacted to Martin's early presence on stage. Or when Martin substituted a line of Everything's Not Lost with "If you think you're supposed to be at Ozzfest, and got the wrong place," alluding to Ozzy Osbourne's concert at the ACC down the road. Or even when Martin displayed goofily infectious aerobic arm gestures during Yellow and In My Place and ended The Scientist with a few verses of What A Wonderful World. Often it was the audience itself which provided the best moments, happily singing along during Trouble, Everything's Not Lost, Yellow, The Scientist, and In My Place causing Martin to break into a big grin. The light and video show of last September's gig were also back but this time, for some reason, they seemed more suited to the songs and the spectacular outdoor setting. (More on Coldplay)