Luke Pritchard, frontman of The Kooks, has called Coldplay the “best band in the world” and compared them to David Bowie.

The singer said he couldn't understand how the band had received negative press despite their latest album, 'Viva La Vida', topping the charts in the UK and America.

“I can’t believe that they’re getting a hard time,” he said. “It’s weird. How can people undermine them? To me Cold­play are other-worldly.

“I love the whole thing they’ve got going on on this album with the Les Misérables theme.”

As previously reported, Coldplay has so far sold over 500,000 copies of their new album in the UK alone.

In an interview with the Daily Star, Pritchard said that people like to “diss” the band because “it's popular”.

“I’ve often wondered what it would have been like to see David Bowie in his Space Oddity days and even though it’s not as shocking, Coldplay have got a similar thing going on,” he added.

(by Jason Gregory)