Live in Buenos Aires

Commemorating one of the highest-grossing tours ever (at the time surpassed only by and ), put a triumphant cap on their global stadium tour with . Coming full circle at Estadio Ciudad de la Plata (both the starting and finishing point of the tour), the English quartet performed nearly two dozen favorites, focusing on their most rousing, inspirational singalongs, which were energized with copious amounts of exploding confetti, fireworks, and their now-signature light-up LED bracelets, the "Xylobands." The first live album to be entirely recorded at a single show, this collection reflected the band's general tour set list and its specialized party-centric atmosphere (take, for example, the inclusion of 's remix of "Paradise," used to get the crowd going). Aside from the six fresh entries, they stick to the tried-and-true favorites, providing fans with yet more live versions of "God Put a Smile on Your Face," "Yellow," "Clocks," and "In My Place." Without any deep cuts or rarities -- the cover of 's "Heroes" that was a staple of the first half of the tour is sadly absent, but the 2017 collaboration "Something Just Like This" is present -- the only surprises are site-specific treats "De Musica Ligera" (a cover of Argentine rock icons 's 1990 hit) and the previously unreleased "Amor Argentina," 's heartfelt, tango-flavored love letter to the local fans. Even though more than half of the set can already be heard on , , and , this tour's overwhelming energy and the crowd of nearly 50,000 fans make a joyous, communal experience. And yet, despite the massive scale, the band -- and in particular, delivering stage banter entirely in Spanish -- still manages to intimately connect with each fan (and, by extension, listener), a huge part of why they could sell out venues for over a year and a half and 114 shows. Unabashedly embracing the feel-good spirit that defined their second decade together as a group, jumps headlong into the clouds with , their most endearing and exciting live statement to date. ~ Neil Z. Yeung