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!!