TORONTO -- Coldplay fans have Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young to thank for the British pop-rock band's breakthrough hit, Yellow. "If it wasn't for Canada, that song wouldn't really exist," Coldplay singer Chris Martin said during the group's Toronto concert debut Tuesday night at the Warehouse. "That was me trying to sound like Neil Young." Canadian connections notwithstanding, the concert definitely had a sense of anticipation about it. Tickets were snatched up in all of 10 minutes and then the concert was delayed from February due to illness. Before the group took the stage 25 minutes late, a computerized voice announced: "All the way from the United Kingdom, please welcome Coldplay!" Later, after the band had left the stage before their encore, the same voice said: "Scream if you want to hear more songs. It's up to you to bring them back." Playing on a barebones stage, except for three glittering disco balls hanging above, the four-piece band -- rounded out by guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion -- expertly worked their way through a tight, 70-minute set. The big sound coming off the stage was impressive and the audience responded with plenty of enthusiasm. "You seem like a friendly bunch," said Martin, two songs in. "Today's been a weird old day for us. We've never been mobbed so many times. So thanks to everyone who mobbed us." Without question, Martin, who handled acoustic and electric guitar, piano and harmonica duties and often cheerfully danced around the stage, has become something of a heartthrob. While all young girls around me were busy screaming for him -- at one point Martin compared himself to a Backstreet Boy -- I was swooning over the dreamy sound coming from Buckland's instrument during such songs as Don't Panic, Spies, Everything's Lost, We Never Change and Trouble. Chances are the next Coldplay album, represented by a wealth of new material dropped into Tuesday night's set list, will be a harder, more electric collection than their debut, Parachutes. Martin specifically talked about the excitement of picking up an electric guitar for the first time a few months back to write the new songs: "It's like kissing a girl for the first time." Or, in this case, some serious heavy petting. (More on: Coldplay).