Sunday, June 22, 2008

17 June 2008- Espacia Movistar- Barcelona, Spain

Sadly I haven't been able to find all that much info on this show.

Setlist
Apparently it was the same as the Brixton show.
Crowd: N/A

But lots of videos
God Put A Smile Upon Your Smile- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr6ktIKtCto - great!
Viva La Vida - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js1GALwFC9M - this song can never go wrong
Lovers In Japan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVbFq4YtDrU - very clear audio
Yellow (acoustic)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0FyRfjwbwM
LIT and Violet Hill - http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=VEiLKphospQ
Clocks - http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qxn-Of8jto
Lost! - http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=ToZhdKoLTYQ - Chris looks into the camera
Clocks- http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=Zur-QfFzMoM - almost a pro shot this is incredible footage sadly only one minute long

18 June 2008 - BBC Television Centre, London



Setlist
Life In Technicolor Violet Hill Clocks In My Place Viva La Vida 42 Trouble Lost Yellow (acoustic) Fix You Lovers In Japan
Crowd: 500 including Ricky Gervais and Jay-Z
Professional Review
Fan Review
The band were on and a much better, tighter musical start than Monday I thought, they are learning this quick. It was lovely to see them all perform so close, and Guy seemed much more involved which I was happy about. Chris' voice was much better than Monday, he hit a lot more notes, and there were some good exchanges with all the BBC staff on the various terraces, the people outside the gates (not too many there at all and I think almost everyone, if not everyone, witth a ticket got in) and most hilariously the builders on the site well over the road who were very amused and gave a hearty wave.The sound really was loud and good, impressive. And the rain held off thank goodness. The set? LiT's a spine-tingling opener. Violet Hill absolute rocks live, but such a short song alas that blink twice and it's over. Lost sounded better again live than on the album, slightly less cluttered, but still too much. Perhaps the acoustic's ruined the full version for me forever? I guess they like to play it because the whole band's involved and doing something different (except Chris)? Guy on drums etc - for me the set-up's far more refreshing than the actual song.42 was relatively error-free this time - Chris only messed up the start! - and for me a great live track already. Trouble played again, I hope they'll at least alternate that with Don't Panic on the main tour (and Shiver too much to ask?), but the helicopters bit was fun, the Chris we know and love (and sometimes tear our hair out too lol).Yellow acoustic again seemed popular (and I absolutely loved it!) Will is a great guitar player it must be said, very steady. By this point the crowd seemed a bit more interested in the celebs around. Again, lovely that Fix You wasn't the end (though I miss the light). Lovers in Japan is a special song for me and to see it twice in three days as the closer was something else. It finally got my aching limbs and brain-starved sleep into the Perfect Motion that Sunscreem made famous all those years ago. Chris introduced it as saying 'let's see which way the wind's blowing' and it turned out it was blowing towards TV Centre, with the entire front garden area and many of the onlookers enjoying our shower of butterflies
Video
Broadcast on BBC2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L8WGt_b8OM - lame Intro, Violet Hill, Clocks, Partial In My Place
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPIEz6SBhCg - In My Place, Viva La Vida, partial 42
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta2mNO6kQVk - 42, Trouble, partial Lost!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoS2wDVD85g - crowd singing Fix You, Lover In Japan
Video of Gig
Audio
Photos


16 June 2008 - Brixton Academy, London

Setlist:

1. Life in Technicolour 2. Violet Hill 3. Clocks 4. In My Place 5. Viva La Vida 6. Chinese sleep chant 7. God put a smile upon your face 8. 42 9. Square One 10. Trouble 11. Lost 12. Strawberry Swing 13. Yellow 14. If Death will ever concuer me---ENCORE---15. Fix you 16. Lovers in Japan


Crowd: 5000


Professional Reviews

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article1299788.ece (the band is spending nearly a MILLION POUNDS on video screens for their world tour stage!!!)
Fan Review
What a gig, ranks alongside the best I've seen them (6 or so times, stretching back to the Rush tour)No Politik (really missed that!) very little X&Y. No SoS thank the stars, Sqaure One was a revelation mid-set. The other highlights for me were Yellow (Acoustic) - was a bit iffy at first but to be honest by the end I was stunned, it's incredible and Lovers in Japan (of course!) with the confetti. Cheesy on MTV, wicked in person!42 was AMAZING live till Chris messed up the end lol. Clocks was slightly understated, which was fine. VLV not my fave so I made a break for the bar and missed it really talikng about extortionate water prices with the great staff The crowd were rotten, far too many people who obviously got there tickets online for a huge sum. The exceptions were the guys I met from here who were all stellar, especially my dance partner (he knows who he is!) and some other guys dotted around who were obviously huge fans (and they were probably from here too hehe). Guys, we have one hell of a tour to look forward to .

Video
Intro and Life in Technicolour - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEHhz_LHki8 (very noisy)

Strawberry Swing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTb8FVo9q1w (great fan shot)


Lovers In Japan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiC0CHZ8aFk (shaky but very close and decent sound)

Yellow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MudmmiyA1E (another great vid)


Audio
Broadcast live on Radio1

Interview







Photos




Monday, June 16, 2008

Review of Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends

I'm sure all of you have read countless reviews of this album already so I won't be writing the regular style of review. Rather I'm going to have a stab at what I think VLV will sound like live on stage during this massive forthcoming world tour, which mind you still hasn't been given an official name. Note that I am treating this as a 13 song album

Life In Technicolour - Common sense would tell you that this would be the ideal way to kick off any show but I personally don't agree. The only way I could see this working is if they follow LIT with a their best firestarter "Politick". But really I feel that this song will sound awesome almost anywhere in the setlist.

Cemetries of London- one of the best Coldplay songs I have ever heard. The only problem might be re-creating the emotion that this song emits on CD. Chris has never really been an emotionally driven performer, but to nail this song in concert he might just need to do that this time around.

Lost!- this song should be played acoustically as the CD version is a joke

42- a very interesting song, but so far my least favourite of the album. If they are too play this song on tour it should be on a night where they don't play many other ballads. There's nothing worse than having a show saturated with slow ballads but this song does build up quite well. It just reminds me of What If in terms of structure, that song was sublime until the heavy guitar riff kicked in and destroyed the emotion of the song.

Lovers In Japan- a wonderful up -tempo catchy pop song. This song has featured a couple of times during the promo tour and I would not be even the slightest bit surprised if it is played at every gig this year and so far the band have played it impressively every time. A great song to stick in after a couple of ballads or maybe early in the set to get the crowd on their feet.

Reign of Love- Another awesome song of this record. As odd as this may sound I think that the band could stick this on the back of any song and it will still sound right. But it belongs in the encore.

Yes - Not quite sure how this will go down live. I think it all really depends on how well Chris delivers this vocally as his deep baritone is the stand out aspect of this song. and re-creating the string section might create some problems, unless they manage to take a string quartet of some sort around the world with them

Chinese Sleep Chant- put simply this is Coldplay's best effort to date musically speaking. By far the most complex guitar work from Jonny, the drumming is very impressive and from what I've seen from their BNN gig Chris has no problem delivering the vocals. A MUST LIVE

Viva La Vida - lets just say they would be blimin mad not to play this at every show. Can't wait to see the spectacle that will take place on the screens behind them while this song is played. The band has had a fair bit of practise with this song in front of big audiences this would have to be the first song the boys have written that will sound great in a massive stadium.

Violet Hill- just like the first single of X&Y (Speed of Sound) this opening single from the band will have to be played every night due to its popularity and the fact that it is the first single. But just like Speed of Sound this is yet to convert well live, so you won't be hearing any complaints from me if this is not played much this year

Strawberry Swing - a perfect song to play at any festival but sadly the band has not included many on their itinerary. I'm finding it hard to imagine this song live, so I will have to reserve my judgment until I see some footage but a great song nonetheless

Death and All His Friends - wouldn't be a bad song to end the night with but its no Amsterdam or Life is For Living. But if the band does want to do a bit of an improv section at the end of their shows (which would really surprise me but will be a welcome addition) this would be the ideal song to lead into it.

The Escapist- I highly doubt that this song will feature much at all this tour and if it does it will most probably be at the beginning of the encore or maybe if they support U2 one time this will be the right song to lead into their gig. ( I am refering to the U2 song Where the Streets Have No Name which sound identical to LIT)

PLEASE COMMENT!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Family & Friends - 13th June- Wembley Arena, London

Setlist
Life In Technicolor Violet Hill Clocks Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love Trouble 42 In My Place Yes God Put A Smile On Your Face Strawberry Swing Yellow If Death Will Ever Conquer Me Politik Lost Fix You Viva La Vida
Crowd- under 500
Review
Chris Martin compared the Coldplay live comeback to a pre-season friendly last night. The singer told the crowd of friends and family at London’s Wembley Arena that getting back on stage was like a trip to the football with his dad when he was a nipper. He said: “Excuse us for this embarrassing shambles of a rehearsal. This reminds me of when my dad, who is 107, took me to Torquay for a pre-season game against Liverpool — and they were absolutely shit. We see this as a pre-season and we’ll be on it when the season starts. Luckily none of you have spent a blind penny.” In typically modest fashion, Chris was only telling half the story. Coldplay were brilliant as they made their return to the stage in front of an almost empty venue. When it comes to seeing live shows, this job lands some great tickets. But one of the best I’ve ever had was last night’s. Within 30 seconds the audience were smiling as single Violet Hill kicked in with a video montage playing in the background. World leaders including George Bush and Tony Blair had been edited to dance along to the song. Next song Clocks kicked in and the crowd were on their feet. The band showed off their wealth with six fancy video orbs, hanging from the ceiling which cost the band a jaw-dropping £900,000. Chris performed his trademark lyric-changing to suit the gig, poking fun at relatives and pals who had turned up to see them on free tickets. And his wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, sang along while standing in front of the lighting desk. Normally you would say the crowd got their money’s worth but even if tickets were £100 each it would have been a snip. The band moved from the main stage to a tiny platform in the middle of the arena and were almost elbowing each other off stage as they played. They made plenty of mistakes but that was the whole point of the exercise. By the time they have perfected it the show will be unmissable. It’s brilliant to have one of Britain’s best live bands back.


Photos

Saturday, June 14, 2008

More Promo

Here are some youtube clips from the last few days of promo shows

Jonathan Ross Show - Interview - Violet Hill - Viva La Vida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qte8BBs0i_Q

This starts off really well with Chris having a bit of a joke with Ross, the interview does not last all that long and it cuts to Violet Hill straight up. The song sounds a bit disjointed and doesn't really flow live on stage, Chris at times struggles to re-create the energy that you hear on the track. Watch Will carefully, he does a great job through this little showcase. They follows this up with Viva La Vida and here we see a massive improvement from the MTV Awards and the BNN performances, the vocals are near perfect and the band plays brilliantly especially the harmonies by Jonny and Guy and Will in particular. This will most certainly become the highlight of every live show. My only concern is the amount of backing tracks being used might detract from the actual performance.

BNN Popsecret - Chinese Sleep Chant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I54_OY3xMY

Chris describes this as a "louder" song and I must admit I disagree with him here. The song possesses a much more atmospheric feel to it, similar to that of Radiohead during their Kid A days. All four of them are thrashing away at their instruments throughout the song but i don't believe that it quite makes to the level of Politick or even Yellow for that matter. Just like Viva La Vida this song is a must during their upcoming shows. Lets hope that the boys pick and choose their setlist more carefully this time meaning that they should select songs that convert well live as opposed to songs that are popular or sound great on CD. A great example would be Rush of Blood To The Head which may not be the best track off that album but it does sound awesome live as does Everything's Not Lost. I really hope that they keep X&Y songs to a minimum during this tour anything more than 4 songs from that album would be too much; Talk and Fix You will be regular choices and personally I would love to see White Shadows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEPK8jK8AFY - this is Fix You from the same gig. Notice that Jonny still hasn't written a variation to the original guitar solo, it is becoming pretty tiresome now.

Here is something extra that you may enjoy

Radiohead - How To Dissapear Completely - Kid A - at Pinkpop 2001
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLUKkw7Giys

Friday, June 13, 2008

Cancelled Shows And Jonathon Ross

Due to production issues the band has had to delay the official start of their world tour. Instead of starting in Philapelpha the band will instead start at the LA Forum on the 14th of July. That leg of the tour will finish in Boston. Three dates in Canada have been cancelled altogether. Just to add salt to the wound Chris has badly injured his knee during band rehearsels this past week so the free gigs(which still stand) may not show Chris at his best. The new schedule is up on the official website right now.

For you lucky people in the UK here is the link to the boys performance on the Jonathon Ross Show last night. They played both Viva la Vida and Violet Hill. It should be up on youtube once those brits wake up and I'll put a link to it here once that happens.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00c18h5.shtml?q=ross&start=1&scope=iplayersearch&version_pid=b00c18d5

Release Week!

Here's a recap of what has happened in the past week. I won't be saying too much about the album itself which came out in the UK on the 12th. Here's a whole lots interview and promo performances from all over UK and the world.

First up here's a amateur recording of a soundcheck before the Jimmy Kimmel Show. http://youtube.com/watch?v=r3Sxpbpcoow - it's the track Yes of the album.

Exciting news that the band will be performing on the very popular Jonathon Ross Show on Friday night UK time starting at 10-30 on BBC1. I will have the youtube link tomorow. Also on the BBC on Wednesday 18th June there will be a 45 minutes performance by the band to which free tickets were given out to fan earlier today. This show will also be broadcast.

Speaking to Billboard, Coldplay's manager Dave Holmes has hinted at the tour itinery for the band into 2009.Following the conclusion of the first North American leg, the group has international touring on tap through early October, after which it begins another round of North American dates. In 2009, Coldplay will play European stadiums and might even play such venues in North America next year "if we can do the business," manager Dave Holmes tells Billboard.
I really hope the band changes someting because their sound just isn't suitable for large stadiums.

The band yesterday did a massive series of interviews across multiplie radio stations. First up was the Jo Wiley Show Here it is: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ex98ga rapidshare: http://rapidshare.com/files/12191781...2.08_.mp3.html. After that was the an interview on Radio 2 which I haven't managed to get my hands on. That was follow by a rather interesting interivew on the show Front Row during which Chris walked off mid interview then returned to answer one more question rather reluctantly. Have a listen yourself here http://www.sendspace.com/file/w2unr0. Finally this afternoon (or night depending on where you are) the band will do an interview with Steve Lamacq's BBC 6 Music show from 4pm.

If none of these links work then just go to this thread on Coldplaying.com http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45856 - you may need to be a member to access this section of the site.
Here's a little treat for everyone. this is footage of the band on their first Australia tour performing as part of the travelling Big Day Out festival in 2001. this is a song called "Animals" http://youtube.com/watch?v=ASXvUpNcl-w

Secret BNN Gig-audio
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=058MJZOO
01 – Intro02 – Violet Hill03 – Clocks04 – Stage Banter05 – Lovers In Japan06 – Stage Banter07 – Chinese Sleep Chant08 – Stage Banter09 – Viva La Vida10 – Stage Banter11 – Fix You
Haven't seen the show yet myself so won't say much on it today. Tomorow I will have stuff about the new album and reviews on the promo shows the band has done so far.

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-d....php?id=200171 - video (1.11GB)

http://www.stuff4all-hosting.com/VIDEO_TS.zip - video (1.02GB)

http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=5358626792400416340 - Google Video Stream

Sunday, June 8, 2008

BBN -Pardiso, Amsterdam- 5 June 2008

Setlist
Violet Hill
Clocks
Lovers In Japan
Chinese Sleep Chant
Viva la Vida
Fix You

Crowd -150-180

Review (fan)
Life In Technicolor inititally was on the setlist as well as the opening song, but they decided to scrap it at the last minute and add Fix You instead.Each song played featured short films shown on a television set, for instance: the dancing politicians video was shown during Violet Hill.After they played Lovers In Japan, somehow the television set fell down, just missing the keyboards played by Jonny and Chris. Chris was quite stunned: "I can't believe it. I finally smashed a TV, and the tour hasn't even started yet."Luckily it was still working though... "Ah, it's not even broken, that shows how 'Rock 'n Roll' we are"Chinese Sleep Chant was quite loud, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it.Highlight was Viva La Vida though. When the "oooooo-oooooooohhh" bit (sung by Will, Guy and Jonny) came, the whole venue started chanting along leaving Chris with a stunned smile. "Thank you", he gratefully answered. "You are a great crowd"After Fix You (Chris asked us if we wanted to hear either that or Trouble, but the majority chose Fix You), the gig sadfully ended and the band said goodbye ("Jonny has an appointment with the dentist", Chris joked)Outside the venue I had the wonderful experience meeting the whole band, and shaking hands with Will, Jonny and Chris. Unfortunately we were warned in advance that cameras and recording equipment were strictly forbidden and banned from the venue, so I didn't bring one. So I don't have any pictures to show you, unfortunately.

Recordings
Audio -
http://rapidshare.com/files/12082941...adiso.wma.html (first three songs)
http://rapidshare.de/files/39649075/...lland.mp3.html (last three)
or
-> http://www.mediafire.com/?zs1nkzznhxy (full show)

Video
Violet Hill - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrD2yhtmS9A
Clocks - removed
Lovers In Japan- removed
Chinese Sleep Chant - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVU44j3g6sA
Viva la Vida - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5I3RPbS8aI
Fix You - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEPK8jK8AFY

you can stream the show here http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=72237...adb5fd3d908920

I will have more details and links and pics after my exams as well as footage from Jimmy Kimmel Live and Myf Warhursts interview with the band

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Alternative Links

Here are some alternative links

http://rapidshare.com/files/120109326/archive0283.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/120107213/PnL_ColdPlay-VivaLaVida.rar

if it asks for a password enter the following : http://streetmp3.blogspot.com/

download these ASAP before they are removed. 90% of the links I have come across have been removed.

I am taking a break from this blog for the next 8 days or so. My next post will be next saturday after I have listened to the album a couple of times. I have my end of semester exams this week.

LEAKED

here is the album in full. enjoy. i strongly recommend everyone to buy the album anyways

COLDPLAY- VIVA LA VIDA OR DEATH AND ALL HIS FRIENDS (2008)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HLH9KEVV

Monday, June 2, 2008

Lovers In Japan (Acoustic)

Here is the REAL Lovers In Japan in acoustic. I am guessing that the song that appeared on Greys Anatomy is something different. This makes it 6 out of 10 songs have already been released. Violet Hill, Viva la Vida, Life In Technicolour, Lovers In Japan, Lost and which ever song appeared on Greys Anatomy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkf9CZePQUc - watch it while you can before EMI destroys it

Sunday, June 1, 2008

SUPER COLDPLAY WEEK

This is a massive week in the world of Coldplay as we edge closer to the album release. Here is a rundown of what is scheduled to go on this week:
  • will be interview on KROQ's breakfast showKevin & Bean Monday morning between 7 and 10 AM PST, on June 2
  • Special Coldplay Announcement on Zane Lowe, 2nd June 2008
  • Coldplay are to launch the all-new Q Radio as studio on June 2. Coldplay will be appearing on the new QPM show hosted by former XFM presenter Samanthi at around 7pm. They will also apparently premiere Lovers in Japan which was previously heard during Greys Anatomy
  • on Virgin Radio UK June9th interviewed by Ben Jones
  • will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday, June 4th
  • will perform 'violet hill' in german tv at tv total (pro7) on 4th june 08.
  • Steve Mead will be playing listeners' top 20 Coldplay songs on Saturday 2nd August, 10pm UK time, on Phoenix FM
  • gives exlusive concert in The Netherlands, June 5th
  • Myf Warhurst interview to be aired on Triple M at midday on June 6 along with video footage on the website

I am sure there is much much more going on this week but this is about all I could find for now.

First Live Performance and War!!

Well in the last couple days tickets went on sale for the entire UK tour and parts of the European tour and just a matter of hours ago the band went on stage for the first time in over 15 months both events have caused all hell to break loose on Coldplay fan forums.

Like I said on my last post most of the tickets for the UK tour sold out in a matter of minutes but that was not the issue. The problem most people had with the ticket sales was the fact that there were NO GENERAL ADMISSION tickets available, for those of you not familiar with concert terminology GA simply means the moshpit. Instead all the shows will have seats setup on the ground level of the arena in six seperate zones. This is created a mini cyber war on Coldplaying.com, about 90% of fans are extremely angry at the situation. here is a sample of reactions.
xXGarfieldXx said "I am GUTTED. It won't be a proper gig, I hate sitting at gigs."
fudge : "I can't see a reason for it. It's not like there's a likelihood of mosh-pit-death at a coldplay gig for goodness sake! I like the fact that I can show I'm a true fan by showing up and queuing to earn my space at the front"
Beximus "I'm not happy with this no standing. I've never sat at a Coldplay gig. No one's going to sit anyway - its just ridiculous."
Voodoo_geisha : " I've paid them over 40 quid of my money (and i'm a skint student!) and i shall do whatever i like in the place i've been forced to 'sit' in"
On the opposite side
Ebs757 :"there were seats on the floor in Chicago... it didn't really make a difference its more of an organization thing idk why people are bitching about that "
Hayley : "Coldplay started out in small venues with seating.It should still be all about the music
But this is not the first time Coldplay has done all seater events, many shows during their previous tour in America were all seater and most of the feedback was positive.
Now the other thing that has divided the Coldplaying community was the bands perforance of Viva la Vida at today MTV Movie Awards in the US. Here is the link to the performance I will let you decide for yourselves what you think of it.



This is what some fans said:
Elena20 : "it was good but i did expect more"
Jess831 " I was expecting much worse, it wasn't THAT bad. Besides from Chris's pitchy vocals, it was quite good, I thought.:"
MigEl: "really disappointed, Chris sang bad, that's not usual on him"



Friday, May 30, 2008

Snippets of video and song and other stuff

Well alot has happened in the last 48hrs. Here is a short summary and some useful links



First, as you may remember the title track of the album was released through iTunes. well now the online music store has used a snippet of the song as a part of a new promo in support of the boys new album. It is only 30 seconds long but posseses some pretty impressive visual effects. It comprises of the start and end bits of the song. Personally I think that Coldplay should employ iTunes to make their videos from now, because that 30 sec clip is far superior of anything we've seen from the band since The Scientist video clip. Here is the link to a high quality version of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrORVz37M8E



Next we have a very small preview of another track of the album called "42" (it was rumoured a long time ago that the album was going to be only 42mins long, you may remember me having a whinge about this in my first post). It is part of track 6 of the album and this snippet is about 30 seconds long also and does not include any lyrics! Sadly to me it sounds slightly repetitive but does have a nice rhythm to it so I can't wait to hear this in full in tandem with Chinese Sleep Chant. But I shall let you decide for yourself here is the link :http://home.q4music.com/cgi-bin/q50/track.pl?id=620



Just a quick run through some promo performances the band has lined up leading upto the album launch. First of all the band will be interviewed on Virgin radio on June 9th. Not long after the album release they will appear on the Jon Stewert show on the 26th of June. Also they will perform on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on the 4th. On the 5th I believe they will perform in the Netherlands in a secret sort of exclusive gig but I am not too sure about it. I just recently ran into information saying that they will air a live performance of Violet Hill in Germany on the 4th of June the same date as their Jimmy Kimmel show. I wrote before that the band will be playing Violet Hill live for the first time at the MTV Awards but instead they have chosen to play Viva la vida. Sorry if this is all over the place.



That's about all that I've got to say but be sure that there is much much more news out there about the bands recent activities. Tickets for the UK tour went on sale today and most were snapped up instantly so far according to GigsandTour.com Birmingham both shows are gone a third has been announced the sole Liverpool show is sold out also, most tickets for the Manchester shows are sold. Yet tickets are still avaiable for all three London shows. Parts of the European tour (Germany mainly) were available from today also but I have no idea of the status as most of the sites are in foreign languages.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

UK and European Tour 2008

Well this would have to be one of the biggest announcements we have received so far this year from the band. They have released the dates of their massive upcoming UK and European Winter Tour. The tour begins in France on the 1st of September and they remain on the road until the 4th of October where they wrap up that leg in Antwerp (Belgium). As i mentioned in a previous blog they will tour North America in November and then they will return home for a huge arena tour. Starting on the 1st of December and concluding on the 18th in Belfast. Even though I won't be going to any of these shows, I'm extremely glad that they are sticking to playing moderate sized arena's and staying away from football stadiums. The structure of this tour gives me the idea that we might be seeing the boys down under in Australia around February or March or at least a South American tour around that time.

Like I said the band is doing a really big tour playing at some very well known venue here's a little run down of some of the more famous arena's included in the tour:

Halle Tony Garnier- This is a stunning venue situated in a small district of Lyon. It has a capacity of 17 000 most of which is standing. In recent times the hall has played host to Kylie and Alicia Keys as well as Muse. Coldplay play here 4th September

Bercy - easily one of the most well known venues in Europe. Typically this Parisian building is a sports arena but it hosts countless artists and bands on a regular basis. The band I believe has played this venue before. If you would like to see what this place looks like look no further than Placebo's amazing DVD Soulmates Never Die. It has the same capacity as Tony Garnier.

02 World- Most people outside of Berlin most probably would not of heard of this venue. But its basically London's 02 Arena in Berlin and I believe that Coldplay will be the first band to play here in September. The website for this venue has a webcam but I am not sure if it remains on during shows. A little bit of trivia, Coldplay will be playing four shows in three cities during their tour named O2

Datchforum- this is one date which puzzled me greatly. The venue would be I think the smallest Coldplay will play in during this tour holding a maximum of 12 000 people. Are they not so popular in Italy? Mind you they are doing another show in Bologna at a venue of much the same size.

Odyssey Arena - this place has been nominated as the 'International Large Venue of the Year' (Outside of North America), so I am assuming it must be pretty damn good. The arena itself is the biggest of its kind in Ireland holding over 14 000. Just some useless trivia for you, mega boy band Westlife has played a record 50 concerts at this arena since 2001!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

What Do You Want?

We are nearing the start of Coldplay's eagerly anticipated world tour and this blog will finally start doing what it was made to do, and that is to document the Viva la Vida world tour (not the actual name of the tour). Before that I would like to know what people reading this blog would like to see on it. At the moment this is what I am thinking of including:
  • News on tour dates as well as releases
  • Gig reviews from newspapers and other media outlets
  • Links to bootlegs (both audio and video, pro-shot and amatuer) and a review of the quality
  • Photos
  • Tickets Sales and any financial data I can get my hands on
  • Setlists (including soundcheck if possible) and any notable events during the shows
  • Fan reviews of the shows

Just in some news that came in late last night. The band is believed to be in the process of putting together a massive UK arena tour. The key word there for me was "arena" as opposed to football stadiums which they attempted to do during the X&Y even though their music is barely "big" enough to fill a small venue. So I'm very relieved to hear that they will be sticking to smaller joints. According to the article from which i got this information, the band will do a show at the SECC in Glasgow on December 5 and 6. The SECC is a fairly small venue capacity of about 13 000, in my opinion the perfect size for Coldplay to perform in. But don't believe this until its officially on the bands website

Saturday, May 24, 2008

The Calm Before The Storm

Well the past week in the world of Coldplay has been relatively quiet and peaceful. With only two notable events, namely the leak of a video of Life In Technicolour and the confirmation of a free show in Barcelona

The Life In Technicolour video is basically of the band performing the song in studio. The best thing about the video is that it shows Brian Eno working his genius while Coldplay perform. Once again EMI has shifted heaven and earth to make sure that the video is near impossible to find. But I have located one on AOL video which I hope will survive the EMI juggernaut before you watch it. Just to let you know I like this instrumental alot more after seeing the band perform it. Its not exactly Metallica or Rush instrumental standard but it still has a nice rhythm. I hope they can incorporate this into their live shows, i really want to see the band depart from their days of revolving around Chris's vocals. I dont expect them to do Deep Purple-styled 30min improvisation but rather a larger focus on the musicianship of the band as well as the brilliant ingenious lyrics. The leak of this video has created rumours that the band just may do a Radiohead (a la Scotch Mist and 93 East) and create a video/webcast of them performing the entire album in studio. The rumour has been fuelled by the ending of the video posted below. Tell me what you think.
here is the link to the video
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/life-in-technicolor-rough-cut/2444285261

Just quickly the band confirmed that they will play a free promo show at the Espacio Movistar in Barcelonam, Spain on the 17th of June. Just looking at the venue's Spanish website I noticed that there is a webcam section, which made me a little bit curious about whether they webcast gigs held at the venue. But I guess we will have to wait and find out. Other bands rocking the joint around the same time as Coldplay include the Stereophonics, Fat Boy Slim, and Alanis Morrisete.

In less notable news, Coldplay have taken another huge step on their journey to becoming U2, by officially selling out. Two nights ago the soap opera drama series Grey's Anatomy closed the show with a Coldplay song. Most fans are calling this Lovers in Japan which is one part of track 5 of the album alongside Reigns of Love. Nonetheless the song isn't to bad, at least when compared to other songs i've heard Grey's Anatomy use. The song is pretty much split in two, so there is the slight possibility that this might be the entire song. Anyways, the first part is very much a return to Parachutes, a sound which won the band many many fans so too revive that sound is a good move by the band. From around the 3min mark the song it becomes more of what I enjoy, its literally a groovy rhythm mixed in with some very atmospheric strings topped off by some nice piano work with only the drum work being a little bit dissapointing. I haven't had a read of the lyrics yet so I wont comment, even if I had I think i'll keep the analysis to those of you who know what they're saying. I'll try not to think too much about them giving their song to an American drama show.

So the march towards the official release of the album continues, fan forums continue to be littered with fake album leaks (which more often than not turn out to be viruses), we have now heard 5 tracks of the album (not including The Escapist) sadly the boys haven't done much of a promo tour like most other bands do. I remember the Red Hot Chili Peppers doing a long promo tour in support of Stadium Arcadium. Nonetheless the past few weeks have provided gripping viewing and I'm sure it will get better as we near the big day.

Just to whet your appetite even further here is the first proper review of the album from The Sun newspaper
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article1202492.ece

Please leave comments. Thank You

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Some Additional Notes

Just thought I should add a few more things to yesterdays post

  • First of all, Life in Technicolour which was leaked a few days back (which will be the first instrumental to appear on a Coldplay album ) includes the work of Jon Hopkins, a well-respected electronica composer. According to Billboard and The Observer, Hopkins has also lended a hand on the hidden track "The Escapist" which plays during the credits of a British prison film by the same name. The movie premiered at this years Sundance Festival.
  • Here is a link to a track-by-track breakdown of the Viva la Vida by Q Magazine featuring 12 tracks including the two hidden tracks (The Escapist and Sleeping Chinese Chant, which goes hand in hand with a recent survey deeming Coldplay to be the artist which sends the most people to sleep)

http://news.q4music.com/2008/05/coldplay_viva_la_vida.html

  • You may have noticed the poll I've added to this blog. Its basically a survey to see how many people are actually reading this blog and whether there is any point at all in continuing. I guess the entire purpose of this blog is too document the world tour which is yet to start so I won't be making many changes until then.
  • I would really appreciate it if people could comment after reading the posts. It doesn't bother me how critical you are. Also, it would be great if you guys could spread the word about this blog regardless of whether you like it or hate it. Thank You Carolyn for your comments!!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

FREE SHOWS

Big news my friends. The band have completely revamped their home page (www.coldplay.com) the site now only has four simple banners.

The first leads to a piece of art named La Liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty leading the people) and will most probably become part of the albums final artwork. Its quite a dramatic piece, a huge departure what we've seen in past albums. I really hope this is reflected in the music itself.

The second link informs us that from 12-15UK time Tuesday 29th. the first single of the album Violet Hill will be available for free to download off the website for a week only. There is also a link to the 7" available from NME.

The third link is more relevant to this blog. On the 16th of June (release date of the album) the band will play at the famous and somewhat intimate Brixton Academy in London for FREE. Tickets to the show will be available very soon.

The final section is very similar to the previous one. They will be playing a FREE show at the legendary Madison Square Gardens in New York. You might remember the last time they performed at the venue at the end of their 2003 tour. The show is scheduled for the 23rd of June.

Members of the band recently appeared in some rich lists, so supporting these free shows shouldn't be a problem whatsoever.

Friday, April 25, 2008

What's Happening?

The world of Coldplay has been surprising quiet despite the album release coming closer every day. Most of the talk on fan forums has been about false alarms on leaks and people claiming to have heard some of the songs that are set to be released. Since the announcement of the final tracklisting of the album there have been no more additions to the official website. But news services have announced that Violet Hill will be released as a single on the 6th of May and it will premiere of BBC radio on the 29th of April as will Xfm. I am more than certain that there will be recordings of the song on websites everywhere and I will most certainly include a link here for people to download the song. Xfm is also claiming that they will have the most exciting Coldplay news we have ever heard on Monday morning, it will be very interesting to hear what this news is.

The most dramatic news of the past two weeks has been the announcement that the band will be giving away multiple songs through the UK music mag NME. The preview CD will be included in the May 7th issue of the mag and will contain two new songs including most probably Violet Hill.

Also the band has announced that they will be presenting their entire upcoming album Viva la Vida (some claim that the Death and All His Friends is simply an alternative name for the album) in Barcelona. The album will be showcased in front of only 1000 people including mainly journalist. It is expected to take place in the week leading up to the June 16th release date (although music retailers HMV claim to be releasing it on June 13th with shops in the Netherlands stating that they will also release the album on the 13th).

There have been reports of a video shoot in the Italian island of Sicily yet others claim that they have shot a video in Spain. We will need to wait another week to find out just what the video is like even though i must admit I personally am not looking forward to the video as Coldplay has repeatedly failed to make half decent videos over and over again. With the exception of The Scientist I've struggled to stay awake to the end of any video no matter how much i liked the song itself. Let's hope they can get their acts together this time around.

Sadly there is not even a hint of tour news which is really the only type of news I am really after.
Would people prefer to see Coldplay in a small arena style venue or a larger football stadium? I would really appreciate it if people left comments.

CHECK OUT U2 3D!!!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Possible Dates

This is not official news of the bands website but it has appeared on some newspaper sites.

Summer Festival, Quebec

This announcement has appeared only on French websites which i have attempted to translate and this is what I've derived from it. The band will be performing at the festival on the 3rd of July which is the opening day. According to Wikipedia its an outdoor/indoor festival held through the Canadian city of Quebec. Coldplay are rumoured to be playing at the Plains of Abraham (i wonder if they will play Moses or not) which is the biggest of the venues situated on open fields. Other bands playing include Linkin Park (the other big new band of this decade next to Coldplay) and Yes (another song the boys could play). Here are some links

http://www.infofestival.com/Festival/en-ca_section1.html - Official Site in English
http://www.burpblog.com/archives/reg...-a-quebec.html - Some news in French
http://www.showbizz.net/articles/200...te_quebec.html - The site from where i got the news

UK Tour Dates??

In March the band released pictures of their new website (which still has not been implemented) on the screenshots there was a section dedicated to tour dates. The following dates appeared on the picture

25/6/08 - Wembley Arena, London
26/6/08- The NIA, Birmingham
29/6/08 - Apollo Manchester

There is a band (Def Leppard) playing at Wembley the night after the 25th but that night is empty so there is a good chance this could be true. The NIA is also free on that night with Connie Fisher playing the night before. On the other hand the Manchester Apollo is taken on the 29th by Bullet For My Valentine.

http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43390 - More Screenshots of the site

Tracklisting Released

Here are the songs set to appear on the upcoming Viva la Vida album

"Life In Technicolor"
"Cemeteries Of London"
"Lost!"
"42"
"Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love"
"Yes"
"Viva La Vida"
"Violet Hill"
"Strawberry Swing"
"Death And All His Friends"

For those of you wondering where the rest of the songs are i'm sorry to say that they are the only songs set to appear on the album. before i say anything else let me get some things straight. it is down right impossible to judge any album from the titles of the songs and the order in which they are going to appear so this announcement tell us very little about the album itself. on top of this announcement the band has promised us a "couple" of singles before the release of the album which is great news as it means that we will most probably being hearing some new songs by the end of the month or early in May (either 'Yes' or 'Violet Hill' or '42'). Despite the rather superficial nature of this news i still do have a couple of issues.

first the fact that the album will only have 10 songs and will run for a rumoured 42 minutes. this is significantly shorter than previous records. Being a long time Linkin Park fan short albums don't bother me that much (their first two albums combined are just over an hour). what irritates me is that this album has taken over a year to record and a band of Coldplay's calibre i feel should be churning out more than 10 good songs in a year (assuming that they are all good). of course i didn't expect a 'Wall' style double album epic but i would think that the band would give me more than 10 songs for my $15. making the album so short has only added pressure on the band on top of the delayed release and 'new sound'. at this point the music world expects nothing short of a masterpiece. Radiohead's In Rainbows album was only 10 tracks and in my opionion is one of the best albums of the decade. hopefully Coldplay give us something on par with that. but according to Billboard there will be a hidden track on the album called 'Escapist'. i personally think that hidden tracks are the stupidest idea to ever hit music.

The second matter is that the band has chosen to omit several songs which will most probably appear as B-sides on their singles. i think i now know why EMI is going under. do the people managing Coldplay actually believe that people still buy singles like they used to. Down here in Australia it takes barely 8000 - 10000 sales of single to reach the number one spot when less than decade ago those numbers would barely get you a top 10 hit. i really hope the band has some Radiohead-esque ideas to make this all work.

I really hope that the band and its management increase the frequency of announcements such as this one. There's nothing better for album releases than media attention. since its been close to two years since 'The Hardest Part' was released most people have moved on from the band (except of course the hardcore fans) so it will take (once again) Radiohead like antics to generate the right amount of hype over the release.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

First Tour Dates Announced

Summer Sonic Festival

On March 4th the band announced their first date in over a year. the boys will be one of the headline acts at this years Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo and Osaka on 9th and 10th August respectively. They are playing along side the Sex Pistols ( a legendary yet out-dated punk band) the Verve (with Richard Ashcroft finally realising his nothing without his band). other great bands joining them at the fest include the fratelli's, fat boy slim and the wombats. sadly i can't find the english version of their official website so i'm not entirely sure which day they will headline. but here is the japanese version http://www.summersonic.com/index.html
there were rumours circulating that the band was offered over a million pounds to headline the festival and according to The Sun newspaper they accepted an offer of about 1.2 million pounds.

Pemberton Festival

This seems to be Canada's answer to Glastonbury and Coachella. Held in a quiet town with on-site camping this festival is set to attract about 40 000 fans. Coldplay are unsurprisingly headlining this festival as well, along with Nine Inch Nails (God bless free music) Jay-Z (what!!) and Tom Petty. An article from the Vancouver Sun states that this will be the only festival Coldplay will play at during the northern hemisphere summer (could someone please tell them their not U2....yet)

Coldplay - a British band that has sold more than 30 million albums - is releasing a new album in May, but Pemberton is the only festival they will play at this summer, Bourbonnais said.

I'm assuming they will headline the 27th of July. here is the official site http://www.pembertonfestival.com/lineup/index.aspx
the scenery looks just beautiful. would love to see some footage from this show.

Today Show Concert Series

The American morning show "Today" on the NBC channel will be holding a summer concert series starting from April 25 with artists like Chris Brown Alanis Morissete and of course Coldplay. the boys are set to wake up America on the 27th of June. So i'm expecting alot of promo shows and appearances around that period in the States.

with the first single most probably to be released in mid May I think April will be a really exciting month in terms of promo show announcements.

and here is that article i promised you earlier about Chris
http://www.nme.com/news/daily-ligger/35320

Friday, March 28, 2008

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

G'DAY

welcome fellow coldplay fans and hopefully many future coldplay fans. this is my first blog of any kind so it may take me a while to get used to the workings of the blogging world.

this blogsite will include all the coldplay news i can get my hands on but primarily it will be concerned with their live shows around the world. with the help of a couple of coldplay forums and news services i will try and post the setlist of every show with pictures as well as video footage i find on youtube. ideally i would actually like to post audio bootlegs recorded by audience memebers for as many shows as possible, with the bands growing popularity i think this task will be far easier than before.

i must forewarn all of you that as much as i love coldplay i don't hesitate in criticising them whenever i see it is necessary. just to get things rolling nicely i'll start of with my opinion of their new album title and concept

Viva la Vida or Death and all his Friends. its not the length or the mix of two languages which bothers me its more to do with the senseless-ness behind it. i was glad to see that chris martin came out and admitted that he is horrible at naming everything (i'll post the link later). from the bands initial name of Pectoralz to calling a great song "Don't Panic" then naming his kids Apple and Moses and then this. to me is just seems like Coldplay doing another U2 ie. achtung baby was recored mainly in berlin and Coldplay as most of you know by now was recorded heavily in spain. i really hope chris performed miracles on his piano to create this new latin-american sound because i dont believe that any of the other members of the band have shown any sign of musical diversity over their first three albums. from a business sense i do see the attraction of an odd album title and change in direction it has created some extra hype around the album which the band really needed after a poor showing with X&Y.

before you think "how can this guy call him self a coldplay fan" an article in the last issue of rolling stone magazine has rekindled my anticipation of this album. the link is below i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i did.

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/coldplay/articles/story/18915732/
coldplay_at_work_on_something_different_for_upcoming_album

do not click on the link. rather you should copy and paste it into your address bar

prospekt......