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.

 

haha! Typical! :lol:

Well... instead of throwing all of them away, why not sell them again? :P

From Singapore, a T-shirt bearing the correct band name, spelt correctly, but with a picture of the lads from Travis on it.

I recall Guy mentioning this in an interview. Funny stuff, even though I feel sorry for the folks who fall for it. :(

Roadie #42 - Blog #102

September 6, 2009 10:07 am

#42 and the Catalan chorus

 

http://coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=490

 

I remember somewhere back last year I talked about the band's stadium show in Tokyo. It was an absolutely belting night and I wrote the following:

 

"You get the impression that the guys are on such a roll that the PA system could fail, the lights could go dead and they'd still carry on, just them and the crowd, too caught up in the moment to notice anything had changed."

 

Roadie sensibility sometimes approaches the superstitious - so much so that phrases such as "tempting fate" and "touch wood" are commonplace and spoken with completely straight faces. It should come as no surprise then, that the chance to test out the bold claim above, comes on a night with 64,000 punters and a bunch of cameras filming for an as yet unspecified project.

 

 

The band take to the stage to absolutely deafening cheers. If any crowds on this tour have actually sung the opening melody from Life In Technicolor, they haven't done it as loudly as this lot. I'm underneath the stage and I can hear them. Great night, guaranteed.

 

There I go again....

 

Suddenly, as the band hit the huge thumping chords before the verse of Violet Hill, something is plainly up. Intermittently, I stop feeling the thud of the bass through my feet. From where I am, I can't place what's going on exactly, but the scrambling of audio crew makes it plain that the problem-solving hot potato appears to be theirs.

 

Much happens very quickly to get the stage left PA stable. From Clocks forwards, my feet remain shaken throughout, which means that we're back on track. It also means that the problem has been nipped in the bud by the third song. This could easily have turned into a gig-spoiling nightmare, but there are many very experienced and skilled people here who weren't about to let that happen.

 

Lets not forget though, that there's also four very stubborn and determined fellas on stage not about to let that happen either. I remember Jonny telling me about the band's first Glastonbury show, way back when. They were dropped off at the wrong gate, miles from their stage with only minutes before they were due on.

 

Many fledgling bands would have accepted defeat, perhaps been a bit gutted, perhaps just taken it away as a story to tell in the pub. Coldplay however, ran the width of the festival site with their guitars, borrowed as much as they could lay hands on from other bands present and did the gig whilst still trying to catch their breath.

 

There are many stories throughout their history that illustrate this shared personality trait. Problems, setbacks and obstacles seem to fuel them on to succeed out of sheer defiance. If anything, this has got stronger with age. They don't let up one bit tonight and turn in an astonishingly impassioned performance.

 

And then finally, we have the sixty thousand Spaniards. They're jet engine loud throughout, willing the band onwards and chasing away the demons. The decision to film here was down to one thing only - that is, the fact that the crowd are utterly astounding.

 

FC Barcelona, the world-beating football team that play in this city, have apparently adopted Viva La Vida as their unofficial anthem. This means that many of the crowd here tonight are already well-used to belting out the "woah-oh-woah-oh-oh" from the chorus during matches.

 

Today, they've been singing it outside whilst queuing, they've been singing it between the opening acts and they're singing it between songs tonight. When the song itself kicks in, it's the proof that what I said way back in Tokyo is indeed true. The event and the emotion are bigger than any technical concerns.

 

What's important here is the band and the audience and more even than that, the songs. It's the shared experience, the communal celebration of this thing that so many people feel the same way about.

 

It's been an emotional night, for sure.

 

Never a dull moment....

 

R#42

Weird how he only mentioned that VH sound problem and not sound problems that existed throughout the whole show. Did the crew really not notice that loads of people couldn't hear? :confused:

 

Nice blog though, excited for "unspecified project" :D

 

Nice blog though, excited for "unspecified project" :D

I am pretty sure they will be recording Wembley as well ... :D

 

And maybe ... just in case a live DVD is ever on the agenda ... they will probably mix stuff from different cities.

Remember the Vancouver filming.

 

This whole tour is way too massive to just record/release footage of only one city so they probably put stuff from different locations on it ... if we ever get a live DVD at all ;)

And a tour diary I hope :bomb:

I'm a bit disappointed of how Miller covered the last shows, like seriously, the only thing coming out of the gig in Udine is...the dodgy merchandise, well thanks for the great image of our country :(

 

anyway, let's move on to the nice things and I really hope for a tour diary on this DVD as well :D

And a tour diary I hope :bomb:

That's what I hope/pray for as well ...

 

Not because I want to see a certain someone up close but it's kind of funny/refreshing to see what's happening behind the scenes ;)

 

And I reckon' Miller captured enough mini-movies to put it out as a documentry :D

 

It would be even more 'charming' if it was done more 'amateur like', even though Miller proves that he's far away from being an amateur ;) :p

We also have the Southbank Show "tour diary" to look forward to as well :)

yay for a BCN blog! :dance:

 

 

but... what about the puppets?¿?

Weird how he only mentioned that VH sound problem and not sound problems that existed throughout the whole show. Did the crew really not notice that loads of people couldn't hear? :confused:

 

Nice blog though, excited for "unspecified project" :D

 

 

no, it wasn't the whole sow. Only the first songs and Chris said sound problems where solved.

 

Great, because that is what I felt, I could see the stadium singing, only the people besides me exasperated me sometimes, but I could hear the stadium!!!

Decent blog. Wouldn't have minded a video so we could hear what they were talkiing about (the singing being loud I mean)

 

I love R#42 :p

...a night with 64,000 punters and a bunch of cameras filming for an as yet unspecified project.

 

Maybe Bonus material for the Wembley DVD, would be most likely?

or a behind the tour documantary which is directed by Matt Whitecross??

I don't understand what went wrong, can someone please explain?

I couldn't understand the blog. :P

I don't understand what went wrong, can someone please explain?

I couldn't understand the blog. :P

 

During Life in Technicolor and Violet Hill, there where small sound cuts. You can see it here:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHHwhRowSi8]YouTube - Coldplay @ Barcelona 04/09/09 II[/ame]

0.07 / 0.27 / 0.56

 

(the video is not mine)

 

Maybe Bonus material for the Wembley DVD, would be most likely?

or a behind the tour documantary which is directed by Matt Whitecross??

 

Mmm... I don't think they record an entire gig with, at least, 20 cameras just for a behind the tour documentary. It is for something else. Something bigger.

We also have the Southbank Show "tour diary" to look forward to as well :)

Yay!!!!!!!!Cant wait!!!

Is CP.com down? Are they updating? :)

Maybe^

weird

down for me... maybe!!! :)

working for me

its up now. Nothing new

Yep, it's up again, without update. Ah, never mind :lol:

 

Greetings from Barcelona

September 7, 2009 5:47 pm

Wish you were here

 

 

 

 

The Coldplay-shaped puppets on tour

Gosh, they should really repaint those puppets. :stunned: