A really interesting band played the MGM Grand Garden Arena Saturday night. Its songs were built on unpredictable arrangements and compelling dynamic changes; its lyrics felt heroic without seeming sophomoric; and its musicians displayed instrumental sophistication belying their relative youth.

Oh yeah, Coldplay played, too.

But enough about them. Saturday’s concert will forever be remembered as a Shearwater show … at least, it will be by one of the 14,000 or so attendees. The Austin, Texas, five-piece with roots in more heralded indie outfit Okkervil River made the most of its rare arena visit, presenting a set of emotionally powerful material in the spine-tingly tradition of Jeff Buckley, Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden and the early U.K. folk-rock scene.

Of course, Coldplay’s legions largely failed to take note of the opener, many instead choosing either to snap and send cell-phone photos of themselves (“Dude, guess where I am!?!”) or excitedly scan the room for Gwyneth Paltrow. The rest of the night was about as unsurprising, from the employment of lasers and confetti to Chris Martin’s insistence on pointing his microphone toward the crowd at every grand vocal juncture to his bandmates’ near-complete lack of musical personality, save drummer Will Champion’s unexpected one-song turn as lead singer (for “Death Will Never Conquer”).

As he did during a 2006 stopover, Martin acknowledged The Killers twice—blending a line from “Read My Mind” into “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face” and referring to the Las Vegas quartet as “our only rivals in the world that we care about,” whatever that means. Far worse, he acknowledged in-attendance couple Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley, working her name and his band, Sum 41, into the lyrics to “Politik.” When did rock shows turn into opportunities for celeb musicians to wink at their celeb pals?

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Coldplay, but there’s nothing particularly right about it, either. An optimist might suggest that seeing the Brits sell out the MGM at $60-$100 a pop in this economy is a good sign, particularly when the alternatives for mainstream music fans’ attention include Nickelback and the American Idol crew. But fanaticism for something as mediocre as the band behind wimpy ballads “In My Place” and “Fix You” and bland pop hits “Yellow” and “Clocks” ought not be celebrated.

The band’s latest album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, from which it performed 10 of 11 tracks, is a slight improvement on past efforts, most likely due to the “sonic landscapes” (yes, that’s how they’re credited) contributed by producing great Brian Eno. But that only makes Coldplay half as stimulating as hundreds of bands going today. Shearwater, for one.