Yusuf Islam (nee Cat Stevens) played the El Rey in Los Angeles Monday for an acoustic, invite-only show. Most of the tracks played live were off his new full-length Roadsinger, the singer’s second release in thirty years.

According to Yahoo, a May 3 date in New York was dashed before Islam took the stage in L.A. earlier this week. The NY show cancellation was credited to an undisclosed work visa issue. Islam converted to being Muslim 32 years ago and was placed on the U.S. suspected terrorist list in 2004, prompting his deportation and accusations that he was funneling money into groups that supported terrorist acts. His last show in NY in 2006 was a rarity as well.

Islam’s set list included “Peace Train”, “Where Do The Children Play?” and “Father And Son”. No word if he played “Foreigner Suite”, which Islam is suing British band Coldplay for plagiarism. Coldplay’s song “Viva La Vida” — as we’re sure everyone and their mother is aware of — is also under scrutiny from Joe Satriani in terms of stealing guitar riffs and shit, like the line “I used to rule the world.” Very valuable.

Islam quit music at the end of the 1970s to focus on his faith and family before returning to live performances several years ago.

Coldplay has said enough is enough with all the copy-catting banter that has been circulating around their song “Viva La Vida”. As we previously reported, both Cat Stevens and Joe Satriani have accused the pop-rock musicians of ripping off their music. The band has adamantly denied the accusations and now Will Champion, the band’s drummer, has a message for them both: “there are only eight notes in an octave and no one owns them.”

In an interview with Hamptonroads.com, Champion was insistent that Coldplay was innocent, and had no intention of having “Viva La Vida” sound anything like either Satriani or Stevens’ songs. He also added that pop song writing is relative, and it is undeniable that some songs are going to use some of the same chord progressions as others. (Thank you Champion for reiterating our point.)

In a statement Champion said: “It’s tough when people accuse you of stealing something when you know that you didn’t. We accept that it’s part of the territory and know it is only for some reason the successful songs that seem to be the ones that are accused of being stolen. So you go figure it out. There are elements of our music that I’ve heard in other people’s music, but a very difficult thing to define. There are only eight notes in an octave and no-one owns them. There are probably about 12,000 songs that feature the exact same chord progression. I think it [plagiarism] lies on an intent to steal, which we certainly have never done and never would. It’s unfortunate but it’s the way people are. That’s that. We’re confident we haven’t done anything wrong.”

Chris Martin and co. seem to have mastered the art of the generic pop-rock song when they wrote the title track for their last album Viva La Vida. Why else would the British alt-rockers keep finding themselves under scrutiny from other musicians accusing Coldplay of ripping them off? First it was Joe Satriani, claiming the foursome stole the melody for “Viva la Vida” from his song “If I Could Fly”, but now Cat Stevens has joined in on the drama, claiming the band actually ripped off the melody from his song, “Foreigner Suite”.

Unlike Satriani, Stevens has not said he will take legal action against the group, but the musician told The Sun that he is the real inspiration behind Coldplay’s music. Though this claim might seem a bit more plausible than the Satriani case, (can’t you envision Chris Martin rocking out to Cat Stevens over Joe Satriani any day?) we have to say, it is probably one more instance in pop song writing, where a generic melody takes the shape and sound of some other melody that was already written. It is the risk you run when in pursuit of writing a three-chord hit, too bad Coldplay just found a bit more success than their accusers while doing so.

This is not the first time Stevens has been a victim of song writing copy cats. In 2003, Stevens and The Flaming Lips agreed to split the royalties from the Lips’ song, “Fight Test” after it was said to be too similar to Stevens’ 1970 song, “Father and Son”. Even though Stevens doesn’t seem interested in pushing legal action against Coldplay, let this be a note to Chris Martin while in the studio: Just let Jon Hopkins and Brian Eno write all of your songs.