Random Coldplay thoughts...

[cp3176]

Just relax, they just worked non-stop, essentially, since what, 2013?

-They finished MX tour like New Year's Eve 2012

-Must've spent most of 2013/14 working on Ghost Stories

-2014 promoting Ghost Stories

-2014/15 writing/recording AHFOD

-2016-17 massive world tour

-And now it's the first month of 2018 after many of us said they need a break and we are freaking out, thinking that the band has disappeared off the face of the earth :joy:

 

In the wise words of some singer named Chris, "don't panic".

 

whos chris

[Krizer]

I was browsing through Zildjian's instagram (a cymbal manufacturer, whose cymabls Will uses) and found Will!!!

 

PS I am back here again! I have been very busy with university and personal stuff. :)

 

[MEDIA=instagram]BZood8FDNcF[/MEDIA]

Mobile Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZood8FDNcF/

[I ran away]

Saw it randomly on the members section of Coldplaying: Happy Birthday [uSER=101247]@diogo_sg[/uSER] !

[yoyo2000]

Saw it randomly on the members section of Coldplaying: Happy Birthday [uSER=101247]@diogo_sg[/uSER] !

Me too!!

Happy Birthday!

 

फृआगइआष

[I ran away]

I just realized that when you invert the beginning letters of the family name of Jonny Buckland you get... Jonny LUCKBAND !!

His destiny was in his name :D

[Draco]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/coldplay-became-worlds-comfort-blanket/amp/

You may have to register for the telegraph to read this but the title was cute

[onlylove]

I had a dream I met Chris Martin at a party and we had great philosophical discussions for hours. It was nice.

[I ran away]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/coldplay-became-worlds-comfort-blanket/amp/

You may have to register for the telegraph to read this but the title was cute

I made an account and copied the article here for everyone:

 

How Coldplay became the world’s comfort blanket

 

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin on stage in Brazil, November 2017 Credit: Getty

• James Hall
  

11 January 2018 • 7:00am

Twenty years ago next Tuesday, four wide-eyed students in a band called Starfish played their first gig in the now-defunct Laurel Tree pub in Camden. Paying £4 on the door, around 115 people – mainly friends from University College London – watched the band, who had first rehearsed six days earlier. With a sound indebted to the melancholic-yet-uplifting indie rock of Jeff Buckley and Radiohead, Starfish played six songs, including the appallingly-titled Ode to Deodorant.

 

Within months, Starfish changed their name to Coldplay and wisely dropped the deodorant song. Four years later, they headlined Glastonbury and became one of the world’s biggest acts. To date, they have sold more than 70 million albums and played stadiums from London to Lima and Mumbai to Miami.

 

Two decades on from the Laurel Tree, how did these four unassuming individuals become a globe-straddling phenomenon? And why, despite chart-topping albums, Hollywood lifestyles and a phenomenal live reputation, have the band never quite managed to shed the tag of being a bit straight and uncool, the aural equivalent of a zingy cup of herbal tea?

 

Back in the Nineties, initial reaction among industry talent scouts – the A&R men – was mixed. Jon Chapman, the former Island and Virgin Records A&R manager, saw Coldplay at the Borderline in 1998 and recalls singer Chris Martin’s “nervous contagious enthusiasm”. A&R legend Mike Smith, who signed Blur and Arctic Monkeys, said recently that he found Martin “quite annoying” at London’s Bull & Gate the same year. Even Dan Keeling, Parlophone’s A&R man, who signed Coldplay in April 1999, was initially “unimpressed” when he saw them in 1998 in Soho.

 

“There were 30 people there,” Keeling says. “The band looked very studenty; Chris was wearing a grey jumper that was three sizes too big. A couple of members wore stonewashed denim. Chris was handing out Curly Wurlys, and I remember thinking ‘Oh God, I’m not sure about that’. They hadn’t nailed their sound. Far from it. So I left. They were just another band.”

 

 

Coldplay performing in California, December 2000 Credit: Getty

But when Keeling saw them in early 1999 in Manchester with his friend Caroline Elleray, who later signed Coldplay’s publishing deal, they’d vastly improved. The songwriting now showed promise in so many different areas, Keeling says: in the vocals, the playing, the drama. He particularly remembers a “brilliant” Buckley-esque song called Bigger Stronger. “I couldn’t believe they’d come on so much,” he says. Chapman also recalls a far better band in 1999: “In that short space of a few months they had grown exponentially from a singer with nervous energy to the band that promised and ultimately delivered much greater things.” Parlophone signed them shortly after.

 

Great songs drove Coldplay’s success. The sound was somewhere between the big uplifting stadium rock of U2, the deadpan indie of Echo and the Bunnymen, the yearning balladry of Travis and the pure pop of a-ha. Lyrically, they groaned with pathos, hope and togetherness. Crucially, the band understood dynamics; songs often built to a rousing singalong climax. A glorious soaring chorus made Yellow a major hit in 2000. The softer follow-up, Trouble, was equally appealing. Keith Wozencroft, then managing director of Parlophone, says initial sales expectations for their debut album, Parachutes, were modest.

 

“Breaking an artist was deemed a gold record, so 100,000 sales. If you get a band past that, you’d be really happy,” he says. Parachutes sold 8.5 million. Later singles In My Place and Clocks became instant classics. Their second album, 2002’s A Rush of Blood to the Head, sold 12 million copies. Their third, 2005’s X&Y, sold 20 million. In five years, Coldplay went from popular to big to huge.

 

 

Admittedly there were other factors at play in the band’s phenomenal journey – some of them distinctly un‑rock ’n’ roll. For a start, there was the fortunate timing.

 

Coldplay were signed in an “in between” phase in music: specifically, the four-year window between Britpop’s final retro swagger in 1997 (very un-Coldplay) and the garage rock revival spearheaded by The Strokes in 2001. At the time, Radiohead’s OK Computer ruled. If Coldplay had formed a few years later, when guitar bands in skinny jeans were in vogue – and A&R men were falling over themselves to sign jangly garage bands like The Libertines or Razorlight – they may not have registered.

 

But not being tied to any particular scene was, perhaps paradoxically, the key to their longevity. The trend for jangly guitar bands lasted a matter of years. By never being part of a fashionable movement in the first place, Coldplay have – almost by definition – never been out of fashion. Their very “inbetweenness” has become part of their success story.

 

They were polite and worked hard, which audiences appreciated. Martin spent early gigs apologising – it was “the Hugh Grant, English thing”, Keeling says – and his teetotal lifestyle let him focus on songwriting, thus creating a virtuous circle. Sensible business decisions – such as equally splitting royalties and investing in the company behind the flashing wristbands they give out at shows – gave the band ballast.

 

 

Coldplay's Chris Martin with Beyoncé and Bruno Mars at the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show Credit: WireImage

Wozencroft says Coldplay were helped by being self-aware without being arrogant: “They wanted people to like them.” This self-effacing charm helped them break the US almost immediately. They won their first Grammy in 2002 for Parachutes. When Clocks beat Beyoncé and Eminem to a Grammy a few years later, Coldplay became household names.

 

Of course, they have attracted criticism, too. Creation boss Alan McGee famously called their output “bed-wetters’ music”. But, following the horrors of 9/11, the world craved “safe” and Coldplay’s music fitted the bill perfectly. The band were writing their second album when the attacks happened. Lyrics to Politik – “give me love over this” – were influenced by Martin’s response. In dark times, who could fail to be soothed by the sonic balm of 2005’s Fix You? Coldplay became the world’s comfort blanket: warm and reassuring. When Glastonbury relaunched in 2002 with a safe new £1 million super-fence and softer vibe, who did Michael Eavis choose to headline? The show helped catapult them into the big league. They fitted the new world order.

 

One thing is for sure: the band have never been cool or edgy. Too often they’ve gifted detractors reasons to sneer: the Bono-esque moralising about ending poverty, the Les Misérables-lite costumes for Viva la Vida, the gawkiness, the smugly-worded “conscious uncoupling” when Martin separated from Gwyneth Paltrow, and EMI’s share price plummeting in 2005 due to the band’s album being delayed, for example.

 

“They certainly weren’t rock ’n’ roll,” Keeling concedes. “I mean, handing out Curly Wurlys is not like Mick and Keef, is it, strutting their stuff in the Seventies?”

 

 

For all that people love to hate them, it is hard not to be impressed and moved when seeing them perform. A Coldplay show is a riot of colour and communal positivity. Such is the level of production that their gigs end with rolling credits. Coldplay’s live prowess has coincided with a cultural shift: as physical music sales decline, people will shell out for visceral experiences. They want memories, not stuff. The year Coldplay started, Americans spent $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) on gig tickets. In 2017, they spent $7 billion (£5 million). Coldplay have ridden this wave.

 

Their sound has also moved with the times, becoming more pop and mainstream and less guitar-led. In 2012 they duetted with Rihanna and two years later worked with Avicii, the dance music producer. Some argue this move has diluted any gravitas.

 

Sylvia Patterson, author of I’m Not with the Band and a Coldplay watcher, says that while early songs had heart and vulnerability, “Coldplay’s ‘songs’ today are more musical impressions, sonic vapours, a surface twinkle featuring lyrics mostly about birds, sparkles, rainbows, stars and dreams.

 

“Chris can still conjure an epic, sing-a-long melody, but he doesn’t do deep anymore. I just think he’d find it too exposing. Their live shows – they’re still brilliant – compound the dreamy illusion: butterfly confetti and primary colours,” she says.

 

But perhaps keeping things vague and shiny is also a way of keeping their appeal broad and their momentum going. In this sense, 20 years on, Coldplay seem to be playing an astute long game that sums up modern music. They know that surviving as a band means adapting to shifting musical tastes. And they know that the future lies in immersive live music. And if this means occasionally substituting heart for colour, and replacing vulnerability with spectacle, then it’s a price they seem willing to pay.

[yoyo2000]

^That's a very accurate article and kinda explains the conflict between Oldplayers and Newplayers.

 

फृआगइआष

[cp3176]

A completely random comment not even really related to Coldplay, for desktop users look at the page numbers count :D

[I ran away]

A completely random comment not even really related to Coldplay, for desktop users look at the page numbers count :D

2013....?

[cp3176]

2013....?

 

Yes they're all years, 2018 will be coming soon :D

[onlylove]

^That's a very accurate article and kinda explains the conflict between Oldplayers and Newplayers.

 

फृआगइआष

 

I'm literally all Coldplay. I like all of their albums. While AROBTTH is my favorite, Ghost Stories is my second. I feel like musically I also have opened my aperture in similar ways that the band has. I listen to everything, indie, grunge, rock, pop, rap, R&B. I think its insightful of this article that the fact Coldplay did continue to evolve meant they survived.

[cp3176]

I'm literally all Coldplay. I like all of their albums. While AROBTTH is my favorite, Ghost Stories is my second. I feel like musically I also have opened my aperture in similar ways that the band has. I listen to everything, indie, grunge, rock, pop, rap, R&B. I think its insightful of this article that the fact Coldplay did continue to evolve meant they survived.

 

Same though

[alisbe]

I made an account and copied the article here for everyone:

 

How Coldplay became the world’s comfort blanket

 

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin on stage in Brazil, November 2017 Credit: Getty

• James Hall
  

11 January 2018 • 7:00am

Twenty years ago next Tuesday, four wide-eyed students in a band called Starfish played their first gig in the now-defunct Laurel Tree pub in Camden. Paying £4 on the door, around 115 people – mainly friends from University College London – watched the band, who had first rehearsed six days earlier. With a sound indebted to the melancholic-yet-uplifting indie rock of Jeff Buckley and Radiohead, Starfish played six songs, including the appallingly-titled Ode to Deodorant.

 

Within months, Starfish changed their name to Coldplay and wisely dropped the deodorant song. Four years later, they headlined Glastonbury and became one of the world’s biggest acts. To date, they have sold more than 70 million albums and played stadiums from London to Lima and Mumbai to Miami.

 

Two decades on from the Laurel Tree, how did these four unassuming individuals become a globe-straddling phenomenon? And why, despite chart-topping albums, Hollywood lifestyles and a phenomenal live reputation, have the band never quite managed to shed the tag of being a bit straight and uncool, the aural equivalent of a zingy cup of herbal tea?

 

Back in the Nineties, initial reaction among industry talent scouts – the A&R men – was mixed. Jon Chapman, the former Island and Virgin Records A&R manager, saw Coldplay at the Borderline in 1998 and recalls singer Chris Martin’s “nervous contagious enthusiasm”. A&R legend Mike Smith, who signed Blur and Arctic Monkeys, said recently that he found Martin “quite annoying” at London’s Bull & Gate the same year. Even Dan Keeling, Parlophone’s A&R man, who signed Coldplay in April 1999, was initially “unimpressed” when he saw them in 1998 in Soho.

 

“There were 30 people there,” Keeling says. “The band looked very studenty; Chris was wearing a grey jumper that was three sizes too big. A couple of members wore stonewashed denim. Chris was handing out Curly Wurlys, and I remember thinking ‘Oh God, I’m not sure about that’. They hadn’t nailed their sound. Far from it. So I left. They were just another band.”

 

 

Coldplay performing in California, December 2000 Credit: Getty

But when Keeling saw them in early 1999 in Manchester with his friend Caroline Elleray, who later signed Coldplay’s publishing deal, they’d vastly improved. The songwriting now showed promise in so many different areas, Keeling says: in the vocals, the playing, the drama. He particularly remembers a “brilliant” Buckley-esque song called Bigger Stronger. “I couldn’t believe they’d come on so much,” he says. Chapman also recalls a far better band in 1999: “In that short space of a few months they had grown exponentially from a singer with nervous energy to the band that promised and ultimately delivered much greater things.” Parlophone signed them shortly after.

 

Great songs drove Coldplay’s success. The sound was somewhere between the big uplifting stadium rock of U2, the deadpan indie of Echo and the Bunnymen, the yearning balladry of Travis and the pure pop of a-ha. Lyrically, they groaned with pathos, hope and togetherness. Crucially, the band understood dynamics; songs often built to a rousing singalong climax. A glorious soaring chorus made Yellow a major hit in 2000. The softer follow-up, Trouble, was equally appealing. Keith Wozencroft, then managing director of Parlophone, says initial sales expectations for their debut album, Parachutes, were modest.

 

“Breaking an artist was deemed a gold record, so 100,000 sales. If you get a band past that, you’d be really happy,” he says. Parachutes sold 8.5 million. Later singles In My Place and Clocks became instant classics. Their second album, 2002’s A Rush of Blood to the Head, sold 12 million copies. Their third, 2005’s X&Y, sold 20 million. In five years, Coldplay went from popular to big to huge.

 

 

Admittedly there were other factors at play in the band’s phenomenal journey – some of them distinctly un‑rock ’n’ roll. For a start, there was the fortunate timing.

 

Coldplay were signed in an “in between” phase in music: specifically, the four-year window between Britpop’s final retro swagger in 1997 (very un-Coldplay) and the garage rock revival spearheaded by The Strokes in 2001. At the time, Radiohead’s OK Computer ruled. If Coldplay had formed a few years later, when guitar bands in skinny jeans were in vogue – and A&R men were falling over themselves to sign jangly garage bands like The Libertines or Razorlight – they may not have registered.

 

But not being tied to any particular scene was, perhaps paradoxically, the key to their longevity. The trend for jangly guitar bands lasted a matter of years. By never being part of a fashionable movement in the first place, Coldplay have – almost by definition – never been out of fashion. Their very “inbetweenness” has become part of their success story.

 

They were polite and worked hard, which audiences appreciated. Martin spent early gigs apologising – it was “the Hugh Grant, English thing”, Keeling says – and his teetotal lifestyle let him focus on songwriting, thus creating a virtuous circle. Sensible business decisions – such as equally splitting royalties and investing in the company behind the flashing wristbands they give out at shows – gave the band ballast.

 

 

Coldplay's Chris Martin with Beyoncé and Bruno Mars at the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show Credit: WireImage

Wozencroft says Coldplay were helped by being self-aware without being arrogant: “They wanted people to like them.” This self-effacing charm helped them break the US almost immediately. They won their first Grammy in 2002 for Parachutes. When Clocks beat Beyoncé and Eminem to a Grammy a few years later, Coldplay became household names.

 

Of course, they have attracted criticism, too. Creation boss Alan McGee famously called their output “bed-wetters’ music”. But, following the horrors of 9/11, the world craved “safe” and Coldplay’s music fitted the bill perfectly. The band were writing their second album when the attacks happened. Lyrics to Politik – “give me love over this” – were influenced by Martin’s response. In dark times, who could fail to be soothed by the sonic balm of 2005’s Fix You? Coldplay became the world’s comfort blanket: warm and reassuring. When Glastonbury relaunched in 2002 with a safe new £1 million super-fence and softer vibe, who did Michael Eavis choose to headline? The show helped catapult them into the big league. They fitted the new world order.

 

One thing is for sure: the band have never been cool or edgy. Too often they’ve gifted detractors reasons to sneer: the Bono-esque moralising about ending poverty, the Les Misérables-lite costumes for Viva la Vida, the gawkiness, the smugly-worded “conscious uncoupling” when Martin separated from Gwyneth Paltrow, and EMI’s share price plummeting in 2005 due to the band’s album being delayed, for example.

 

“They certainly weren’t rock ’n’ roll,” Keeling concedes. “I mean, handing out Curly Wurlys is not like Mick and Keef, is it, strutting their stuff in the Seventies?”

 

 

For all that people love to hate them, it is hard not to be impressed and moved when seeing them perform. A Coldplay show is a riot of colour and communal positivity. Such is the level of production that their gigs end with rolling credits. Coldplay’s live prowess has coincided with a cultural shift: as physical music sales decline, people will shell out for visceral experiences. They want memories, not stuff. The year Coldplay started, Americans spent $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) on gig tickets. In 2017, they spent $7 billion (£5 million). Coldplay have ridden this wave.

 

Their sound has also moved with the times, becoming more pop and mainstream and less guitar-led. In 2012 they duetted with Rihanna and two years later worked with Avicii, the dance music producer. Some argue this move has diluted any gravitas.

 

Sylvia Patterson, author of I’m Not with the Band and a Coldplay watcher, says that while early songs had heart and vulnerability, “Coldplay’s ‘songs’ today are more musical impressions, sonic vapours, a surface twinkle featuring lyrics mostly about birds, sparkles, rainbows, stars and dreams.

 

“Chris can still conjure an epic, sing-a-long melody, but he doesn’t do deep anymore. I just think he’d find it too exposing. Their live shows – they’re still brilliant – compound the dreamy illusion: butterfly confetti and primary colours,” she says.

 

But perhaps keeping things vague and shiny is also a way of keeping their appeal broad and their momentum going. In this sense, 20 years on, Coldplay seem to be playing an astute long game that sums up modern music. They know that surviving as a band means adapting to shifting musical tastes. And they know that the future lies in immersive live music. And if this means occasionally substituting heart for colour, and replacing vulnerability with spectacle, then it’s a price they seem willing to pay.

I should come here more often lol I saw this article today and came herd to share it and to my surprise it was already shared:D

[oldiefan]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/coldplay-became-worlds-comfort-blanket/amp/

You may have to register for the telegraph to read this but the title was cute

Yes, I've just read this....... Nice ![emoji847]

 

Sent from my [device_name] using Coldplaying mobile app

[Draco]

I should come here more often lol I saw this article today and came herd to share it and to my surprise it was already shared:D

 

I'm one step ahead of all of you.

[vico xt]

Since this performance, every time I listen to Fix You, I hear that whistle in my mind - I like it so much, but don't know why! :laughing:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=ixOaqZDoBvE;t=30

[yoyo2000]

Happy Birthday Coldplay!!![emoji512]

Happy Birthday to me!

It's so good that I have the same birthday as my favourite band.

Happy 20th, it's been a long time.

 

फृआगइआष

[I ran away]

Happy Birthday yoyo2000...

and Happy Birthday to the one and only Starfish !

[cp3176]

To think that these guys played their first gig 20 years ago... Already...

I bet they never knew they'd come such a long way in a short time. And, here we are, 20 years later, idk how many fans, idk how many shows, tons of songs, several albums and released....

Have to be one of the most successful bands of all time. Especially internationally.

[Green Cap Man]

Sad that the band is still silent. Specially today.

I think we'll have a really long hiatus... Good for them. it may help them reorganizing their ideas and thoughts for future albums.

[cp3176]

Sad that the band is still silent. Specially today.

I think we'll have a really long hiatus... Good for them. it may help them reorganizing their ideas and thoughts for future albums.

 

Yeah, it definitely does seem like their inactivity on social media is hinting at a hiatus... If so it's no big deal. They've only worked on the album for some time, released it, and ended up doing an almost 2 year long tour going around the globe as many times. Don't know, they manage to do it for so long, and appear just fine on the stage like they (especially Chris Martin) has endless amounts of energy.... Doing shows that much and still having enough in each show to make it seem like you still have so much energy... I suppose it's not hard having the energy to do a show like that when the music does enough of the vibe, but to jump around on stage in all shows.... He has so much energy.... Not to mention the other band members, they've done similar songs probably hundreds of times now (some thousands probably! Probably not tens of thousands but you never know lol, well I guess that'd be crazy, maybe some bands out there have done songs that many times) And they still manage to rarely mess up. Great show they do all the time, it's hard to say "keep it up" when they've proven it so much that they're great performers. They really need a break now, not only to spend time thinking about what their next album will be and sound like but just to take some time off. I'm not surprised if they go on hiatus or anything like that. Can't blame em.

[I ran away]

I don't blame them for doing a hiatus, but it is very bewildering that after this successful tour there was not a single Christmas message/Happy New Year to the fans.

A simple tweet with a seasonal greeting or acknowledging the awards they recently won or their 20 year anniversary, for god's sake...isn't too much of an effort even after an exhausting tour.

 

It's almost as if it is on purpose, as if they have consciously decided to stop being a band for the time being. In my opinion - not cool.

[cp3176]

I don't blame them for doing a hiatus, but it is very bewildering that after this successful tour there was not a single Christmas message/Happy New Year to the fans.

A simple tweet with a seasonal greeting or acknowledging the awards they recently won or their 20 year anniversary, for god's sake...isn't too much of an effort even after an exhausting tour.

 

It's almost as if it is on purpose, as if they have consciously decided to stop being a band for the time being. In my opinion - not cool.

 

You do have some points there. There should have at least been a christmas/happy new year message to us, very strange that there was none of that.... And they didn't send any messages on acknowledging the awards they won either, very strange... Hope they come back soon, this isn't really the best of signs :/