Great interview. I've been meaning to check out that band for a while, but I keep putting it off.

 

Great to see Politik live getting love, which I personally think is one of their top live performances.

Great interview. I've been meaning to check out that band for a while, but I keep putting it off.

 

Great to see Politik live getting love, which I personally think is one of their top live performances.

 

They are fantastic.

 

 

Great interview too. :)

Roadie #42 - Blog number #99

August 27, 2009 10:27 am

#42 and the new song soundchecks...

 

 

You get the distinct impression that the Stockholm crowd are going to be a belter when the soundcheck finishes and from outside the stadium walls you can hear the thousands of early arrivers chanting the "woah-oh-woah-oh-oh...." from the Viva chorus.

 

In fact, there's so many folks outside that word comes around that they're going to open doors early. Within minutes, the floor is filled way back past the mix tower. It's the first "stadium proper" and we couldn't really have asked for a better start.

 

So yes, a soundcheck today. There's a few visual elements of the show to refine, which means the irrepressibly cheerful Ben Miles who runs all the video content is rushing around at a rate. Musically, the band are dusting down a few older tracks and also give a new tune a crack.

 

I can never tell when they're doing new stuff whether they're playing something that they've been working on in the studio at length, or whether they're actually playing it for the first time and they're just so in tune with each other that it sounds like a complete work right away.

 

Today's new song is achingly beautiful - truly widescreen and slo-mo. The fellas weave around each other, instinctively leaving spaces for one another and stepping forth when the music calls for their contribution. Hearing things in their rawest form like this is a real treat.

 

It's a funny day for me, really. Initially, I think to myself that coming in early to soundcheck means longer in the venue and a chance to get a whole bunch of loose ends tied up. Inevitably, a million little fires spring up that require immediate attention. Before long we're heading into showtime and the priority of making the show happen makes a nice, clear way to fold up the to-do list for later.

 

The band are beginning to feel very solidly footed in the big setting - and the crowd are superb. Arlene (from Coldplay's management team) tells me that this was one of the fastest of the stadiums to sell out and it shows. They light a fire under the band early on which fuels the whole night.

 

The noise as the crowd sings the end of Yellow is so intense that Chris sits on the stage edge and leans back taking in the scene. Audience entertaining artist, it's hard to know who's having the better time.

 

The ending to Strawberry Swing gets a little ad-libbed vocal from Amsterdam. I learn later that there were folks in the crowd holding up banners asking to hear it. Not content with the fact that when it's been requested at previous shows Chris has claimed to have forgotten the words, they had apparently also made banners with the lyrics on them. Beats an autocue any day of the week...

 

The Hannover Stadium is vast and impressive. It's another soundcheck day today, so we're in early and the fellas continue with some work on some things old and some things new.

 

 

Today's new tune, I'm pretty sure, appeared quite spontaneously. Soundman Dan Green has requested the first song of the setlist, which usually signals that the soundcheck is done. Will is still playing out the end of the X&Y track the guys have been working on, but suddenly he mutates the beat into a strange cartwheeling funk.

 

 

The rest of the fellas join in and there's an idea evolving before our very ears. Chris checks that it has been recorded for future reference and the intro to Life In Technicolor begins.

 

The afternoon passes in the usual blur for me before we're into showtime. The crowd are loud and the stadium acoustics swell the sound to massive proportions. Dan Green informs me in the van that it's a fabulous sounding stadium and he's enjoyed himself very much.

 

You should bear in mind that Dan has mixed hundreds upon hundreds of Coldplay shows from as far back as their Camden club days and for almost every one of them his response has simply been "yeah, it was good". This comment then, is likely to mean that tonight was something pretty special. Certainly, in terms of the band's performance, the audience response and the way the whole production is gelling, it's probably the best show of the stadiums so far.

 

We're still in the early stages of shows this big of course, so it's not without its growing pains - but my, how they've grown!

 

R#42

aaaaww.New song :D

It's gone from the site, so thanks for posting (it'll probably be back though).

 

Almost 100 blogs; I wonder if he'll do something special for nr. 100!

Always a pleasure :D

Oh man. New tunes make me excited.

I bet it's Ode to Deodorant 2!!!!!!!! :)

Aahhhhh new song...!! :dance: I bet it's already PERFECT, like Miller said...

Mysterious Miller...

He'd better say nothing than just saying "Today's new song is achingly beautiful"... :mean:

 

*dying to hear it*... :sunny:

Dusseldorf photoblog overflow

August 28, 2009 7.04 pm

More photos from yesterday's live blogging

Good evening. Following yesterday's live photoblog in Dusseldorf, we thought you might like to see a few of the pictures which slipped between the cracks. And so here they are...

 

The stage, a few seconds before the band took to it

 

A Study In Red Silhouettes Number 3

 

Cheeky monkey

 

This is Roadie #42's office. Unfortunately, his agent wouldn't let us take a picture of the great man himself.

 

Look at the star-shaped lights, look how they shine for you...

 

There's some very similar grippage going on there

 

Bass in the Dusseldorfian place

 

Mr Berryman is really very good at throwing those rock shapes

 

This was well into the show - not sure we've ever seen the yellow balloons last so long

 

Some Champion drumming from Will on the C Stage

 

Red heads during Politik...

 

...and red butterflies during Lovers In Japan

 

Thank you and goodnight

 

By the way, on the way home, Chris was saying that it was one of his favourite Coldplay shows ever. Good work Dusseldorf!

 

Anchorman

Greetings from Munich

August 30, 2009 6:23 pm

Wish you were here

 

 

 

 

chris and wills puppet has abit of damage to their faces

100 :dance:

 

Roadie #42 - Blog #100

August 31, 2009 5:02 pm

In which #42 reaches his century

 

So then, the hundredth blog. I suppose I should be doing something special for the end of the first century. Let's face it though folks, every single one of them is special.... (This is another way of saying that if I wait until I've had time to do something uber-cool, we'll be stuck on 99 forever, so we'd better move swiftly along).

 

The Dusseldorf show was covered admirably by Mr Anchorman, so there's not too much to add there. In all honesty, all I remember about that particular day is the insane distances involved in getting anywhere. The vehicles drop us in an underground carpark. If the stadium viewed from above is a clock-face, the vans are at three o'clock. The dressing rooms appear to be at around eleven and several floors up. Getting to the stage involves a clockwise walk underground to six which feels a lot like walking halfway home to England.

 

From the stage (six), I often walk out to the mix tent to set up cameras and so on. For reasons best known to themselves, the stadium security require me to walk all the way up to the back of the stadium (twelve) and then back down to where the tent is set up off centre (nine). Oh well, it's not like I couldn't use the exercise...

 

 

We get in to Munich pretty late and it's an early show. This means we're on site for under four hours - including the show. There's just enough time to grab some food, work out where the dressing rooms are and get on with it. Sometimes it's all you can do just to hang on and not get left behind...

 

A stage time of 8pm, means that the fellas go onstage in the tail end of daylight. It's quite encouraging to see that the show still works very well indeed without the need for total blackout. By In My Place, we're well into dusk and the sight of the band out on the ramps amongst the arms-aloft crowd, set against a backdrop of fading sunset and silhouetted trees is about as idyllic as one could hope for a summer show.

 

The C-Stage is starting to work rather nicely again. It's required a few tweaks to get it as effective as it has been in the arenas and sheds. We're back to that glorious feeling that the band are just a little island of light in amongst the crowd. Tonight, Chris decides for some reason that Mr Champion should sing the falsetto parts during Billie Jean. At first Will is having none of it, but with some coaxing from the crowd, he pulls off an extremely impressive high voiced chorus. Never knew he had it in him!

 

Munich marks the birthday of Mr Phil Harvey, elusive fifth member, creative director and all round helmsman of the good ship Coldplay. Along with Dave Holmes, he's steered the band through plenty of stormy water. He's seen the band go from pedaloes on the Serpentine to the huge supertanker it's become now. Here he is keeping watch from the mix tower. Happy Birthday Cap'n!

 

 

Another anniversary comes as Chris announces from the stage that guitar tech Craig "Hoppy" Hope today celebrates ten years of looking after the band. Back in England, it's the weekend of Reading Festival. Hoppy first met the band when they played at Reading Festival in 1999. I'm led to believe by stories recounted by those who were there, that he made quite a striking impression that weekend.

 

Apparently, he'd been somewhat in the wars and greeted them cheerfully with a scarred and bruised face, sporting several stitches above the eye. Together with a ginger rock-a-billy quiff and 3 inch turn-ups at the ends of his Levis, he couldn't help but make an impression. I'm told that the band, for some reason, were forced to play before the festival had opened its gates, meaning an audience of three people.

 

Times have changed, the crowds have grown, Hoppy's ditched the quiff and had the stitches out. He's still just about the loveliest fella you could hope to meet though and he'll still have no trouble whatsoever drinking you under the table.

 

 

So, here's to many happy returns for Mr Harvey, another ten years for Hoppy and ton up for the Blog.

 

Feels like there ought to be cake....

 

R#42

^ That's a rather lovely picture of Craig. I really like his last name, Hope :D:wacky:

i was really expecting a special treat by 42 for the 100th blog!

 

Maybe a high quality recording of the Dusseldorf show...

 

Would have been an amazing treat to us avid readers of his writings...

It looks like someone threw the puppets from a 10th floor! :lol:

 

 

I was expecting a bit more for the 100 blog but it was lovely as always :nice:

Greetings from Udine

September 1, 2009 10:50 am

Wish you were here

 

 

 

 

The Coldplay-shaped puppets on tour

Man those puppets are looking battered and bruised now!

Roadie #42 - Blog #101

September 4, 2009 12:58 pm

#42 and the dodgy merch

 

Italy can occasionally be challenging for the roadie community. Things are never quite as you expect them and you get the distinct impression sometimes that people would rather be wearing sunglasses and smoking cigarettes than helping you get the job done. Quite frankly, I don't blame them. There's something about the gorgeous weather that makes all this effort seem just a little silly.

 

The pay-off of course, is that the Italians are some of the best crowds you'll ever witness. Wonderfully warm and passionate people, they turn any gig into an emotional event. They're inventive folks too. The DIY ethic is strongly present in the bootleg merchandise. It's present at every show, but normally, it's some folks stood over the road from the venue with a few T-shirts over their arms, looking shiftily round for the law.

 

Here though, they have a whole street bazaar outside the venue with stall upon stall of dodgy merch. Over the years, we've picked up some great dodgy merch. From Dublin, T-shirts with the D missing from the band's name. From Singapore, a T-shirt bearing the correct band name, spelt correctly, but with a picture of the lads from Travis on it. I seem to remember a Mexican bottle opener with a Coldplay decal on it, which lasted all of five minutes before peeling off to reveal the AC/DC logo beneath.

 

Whilst the White Lies are on, I grab 50 Euros from petty cash and ride out there on a golf buggy with Eric Wagner, Coldplay's official Merchandiser. We bump into Bash, Will's drumtech on the way and set off in search of the tackiest offerings available today.

 

It's actually a wee bit disappointing, as much of it looks quite passable. It's worth it though, for the sight of Eric (who has spent the entire day trying to get these folks shut down) haggling with one guy over a hat that was more expensive than the (much higher quality) official gear - and being told it was full price or nothing.

 

Marta from lights was kind enough to model the stripey top for us, but found that as soon as she put her hands in the pockets, the stitching came undone. Just remember folks - it may look like a bargain, but you get what you pay for... ;-)

 

Altogether more impressive, is the co-ordinated fan display at the top of the show. They've brought their own balloons and some even have paper crowns. Before the band even set foot on the stage, the atmosphere is fully charged and the show only goes on to be an undoubted highlight.

 

 

We get to Bern Stade De Suisse and it's been wet. Very wet. All day. We arrive though and it's starting to look up. I'm all set for writing about how the clouds parted and the sun came out for the show, but mother nature has other ideas. By the C-stage, it's quite simply chucking it down. As ever, the crowd don't disappoint and they give it their all regardless.

 

They also do this amazing thing here where instead of clapping and stamping their feet for an encore, they waggle their fingertips. Most odd the first time you see it, but very impressive. Chris comes back on and starts The Scientist, but by now, mother nature has had enough of being ignored. In one of the quietest sections of the show, comes thunder and lightning that appears to be mocking our meagre attempts at sub bass and flashing lights.

 

Chris ad-libs into the "thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening" bit from Bohemian Rhapsody and the place erupts. It's a real shame that this stadium run is so short, as it seems to suit them very well. Still - at least we know what they're capable of now...

 

R#42

 

 

I've tried to embed the video but failed. Can someone teach me how? :thinking:

Funny video :D:D I love when we get those.Some of the merchandise they sell outside the venue is so crazy sometimes.Weirdest thing.I saw a paintbrush painting once and let me tell you, they all looked kind of weird

here's the video embedded

 

<object width="400" height="220"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6429659&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6429659&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="220"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/6429659">Italy</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/coldplayyalpdloc">Coldplay</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

and here you can download it :wacky: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3419485#post3419485

I seem to remember a Mexican bottle opener with a Coldplay decal on it, which lasted all of five minutes before peeling off to reveal the AC/DC logo beneath.

Bahahahaha :lol: Hey, we love our planet, we recicle!!! :lol:

:lol:

This blog was really funny !

I met the merch guy Eric Wagner in Birmingham when I was handing out the Leftrightleftrightleft cds with Oxfam...he was really cool. When we were being sad about missing LiTii, he said he's seen every show-he's been with Coldplay since their very first show-ever!

anyways, thought I'd share that