BOSTON - Coldplay chose quality over quantity Monday night in Boston as the band put on a performance worthy of at least one of the many championship banners hanging from the TD Banknorth Garden ceiling.

Playing its final tour date in the U.S. before heading to Japan for the two-day Summersonic Festival, Coldplay treated the sold-out Garden crowd to 90 minutes worth of hit after hit, including nine of 10 tracks from the band's fourth album and latest artistic triumph, "Viva La Vida."

Lights went down in the steamy Garden around 9:20ish and Coldplay got things started in the dark, opening with "Life in Technicolor," the instrumental first track off "Viva La Vida." Next up was the first radio release from the new album, a pulsating version of "Violet Hill" which had frontman Chris Martin on guitar.

However, it didn't take Martin long to take his familiar intense hunch over the piano as he tore into the next number, and probably the band's biggest hit, the Grammy Award-winning "Clocks" off of "A Rush of Blood to the Head."

The first of several sing-alongs came next as the Garden crowd took over Martin on lead vocals for "In My Place," one of the band's pearls from its debut album "Parachutes." Martin finished up the song by accompanying guitarist Johnny Buckland to the end of a runway jutting out into the stands for a Buckland solo. Drummer Will Champion then ditched the kit for the next number and joined the rest of the band up front with a huge bass drum as he helped pound out "Viva La Vida," the thumping, hand-clapping, violin-laced, co-title track that had heads bobbing. Martin showed off his vocal versatility on "Yes," his voice diving deep and mixing nicely with the Middle Eastern-influenced tones offered by his bandmates - a song about as atypical Coldplay as we've heard and proof positive that the band did indeed branch out and change things up on this latest album.

Things got back to normal as Martin tenderly worked the piano during the delicate beginning of "42," a number that doesn't stray too far from John Lennon's "Imagine." Martin and Co. grabbed their gear and made their way to another tiny side stage, lit from beneath and barely big enough to contain the four members, who pulled off an impressive techno-version of "God Put a Smile upon Your Face." Then the foursome regrouped for the laser-show-friendly "Speed of Sound."

It wasn't until this point, after the ninth song, that Martin finally took the time to say 'Hi' to the packed house, joking that "this is a lot of people for a Monday... we appreciate you coming out when you could be watching Home Improvement or whatever it is that's on television right now."

The peppy sing-along "Yellow" followed and that went right into another thumping, hand-clapper "Lost!" Martin finished up the second half of "42" before the band sent the crowd into a tizzy with the emotional "Fix You." Another atypical Coldplay diddy followed, the folksy, swaying "Strawberry Swing."

Fans were surprised to see the foursome dash to the end of the Garden opposite the stage and plop down for an acoustic version of "The Scientist." Martin half-heartedly apologized to rock legends Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan for his efforts on the harmonica, noting that "just because you're the lead singer doesn't mean you can play harmonica." But Martin made up for it on the next number as his harmonica work backed Champion's vocals on a short and sweet, stripped down version of "Death Will Never Conquer," a rare B-side that has Martin singing on the studio version.

The band took a brief break before finishing up with "Politik," a confetti-covered "Lovers in Japan," and then - as Martin put it - a "cheesy dedication" to mutual fan and Patriot quarterback Tom Brady, "Death and All His Friends," Martin needing two takes after being off key with the first string of lyrics. It was the lone slip-up in an otherwise champion performance.