TORONTO - Coldplay has officially graduated to the big leagues. The British pop-rockers opened their latest North American tour last night at the Air Canada Centre with a big-sounding and slick-looking show that will only further the theory the band are the natural successors to U2.

One good sign: The 16,000 available tickets for Coldplay's ACC gig were snapped up in minutes.

And in a repeat of their Kool Haus appearance back in May, the group, led by charismatic singer-pianist-guitarist Chris Martin, kicked off the one-hour-and-45-minute ACC concert with the arena-ready new rocker Square One, from their latest album, X&Y.

It was an excellent choice as Martin stood in front of a large curved video screen at the back of the stage while bandmates -- stellar guitarist Jonny Buckland, pounding drummer Will Champion and low-key bassist Guy Berryman -- made as much noise as humanly possible.

But Martin waited until the second song, the piano-driven rocker Politik, to improvise lyrics about yesterday afternoon's Air France plane crash at Pearson airport.

"Give me your hand, give me a high five, give me a plane crash where everybody survives," Martin sang.

Afterwards, Martin mentioned the event again: "We've never felt more welcome anywhere in the world than we have in Canada. We know it's been a rough day in your city and it's an amazing blessing that everybody is okay."

That pronouncement was followed by yet another crowd-pleaser, Coldplay's first big hit, Yellow, which saw the release of a dozen or so yellow large balloons into the audience on the floor.

Unbelievably, that song was topped by the next one, a clap-happy rendition of God Put A Smile Upon Your Face, which saw the video screen alternately turn red or go to close-ups of individual band members, most notably Buckland who turned in a staggering guitar solo.

Martin alternated between piano -- decorated with a lime green equal sign representing fair trade, his pet cause -- and acoustic guitar all night, but was never rooted in one place as he energetically roamed the stage and got closer to fans whenever possible.

During X&Y's first single, Speed Of Sound, he actually fell to his knees and bent backwards to belt out the song's final notes and later danced in slow circles around the stage during the new tune, White Shadows -- a song that ended with Martin and Buckland shaking hands.

A joke or comment were also never too far away.

Martin maintained the band's heartbreak song, Warning Sign, was originally written for Celine Dion but was rejected, a joke for which he later apologized during the performance of another tune, Everything's Not Lost.

There was also plenty of bells and whistles like that aforementioned video screen, a cool light show and makeshift band outfits in the form of head-to-toe black attire and white shoes.

But it was the band's music that was the real star of the show as such smashing standouts as The Scientist -- complete with a call and answer between Martin and the besotted crowd -- the uber euphoric, crashing piano showstopper Clocks and the show-ending, sing-along number In My Place could attest.

Another highlight was the new song, 'Til Kingdom Come, originally written for Johnny Cash, which saw the group gather at the front of the stage just as they did at Kool Haus.

Champion took over on keyboards while Berryman eventually kicked in with harmonica, but its simple presentation worked wonderfully.

Even when Coldplay screwed up, like during the final song of the night, the organ-driven ballad, Fix You, they were wildly likeable.

"Woah, woah, woah," said Martin, stopping mid-song. "It's the first night of the tour and we f--ked up that song up royally. People of Canada forgive Coldplay for messing up. The Rolling Stones would never do that."

The second attempt was perfect, complete with Martin swinging an overhead light wildly above his head while he improvised lyrics yet again.

"When we do a show, there's no place we'd rather go, I'm sure you all know, we get the best crowd in Toronto," he sang, charming until the end.

What they played:

Square One

Politik

Yellow

God Put A Smile Upon Your Face

Speed Of Sound

Low

Warning Sign

Everything's Not Lost

White Shadows

The Scientist

'Til Kingdom Come

Don't Panic

Clocks

Talk

Encore:

Swallowed In The Sea

In My Place

Fix You