:awesome: I guess I'm listening to the radio tonight.....

Coldplay to play Christmas Top of the Pops - get free tickets

December 1, 2010 6:06 pm

Band to perform Christmas Lights on festive special

 

Good evening. The legendary British music TV show Top of the Pops is returning to BBC One this Christmas, with a special one-off show for the festive season. And we're pleased to report that Coldplay will be giving a unique, one-off performance of Christmas Lights.

 

What's more, we have tickets to the show to give away to Coldplay.com readers, via the BBC's website. Click here if you'd like to apply for tickets for the recording, which will take place at BBC Television Centre in London on the afternoon of December 8th.

 

NB: These tickets will be given out by the BBC on a first-come, first-served basis. So you'd best be quick...

 

Anchorman

 

http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=673

I'm I the only person who thinks the term "one-off" sounds, uh, I dont' know... :sneaky:

I applied, even though I REALLY shouldn't have :bomb:. I'll have so much work to do...slim chance of winning, though, so I'm just going to put it out of my mind until I do or don't get an email.

 

Coldplay is making me fail this term, I swear.

totps :dance:

will they dress up like Santa:p

I applied as well.I live in London now, might as well

I wish I lived in London. :disappointed:

 

Maybe someday. :)

Personally-signed guitar auctions for Crisis

December 8, 2010 11:44 am

Bid for one of two guitars signed by the band

 

Good morning. Ahead of Coldplay's two Christmas shows for Crisis, the charity is auctioning two guitars which will be signed by the band, with a personal message to the winning bidder. You can bid for them on eBay at http://cldp.ly/crisisgtrs. The two auctions run until Tuesday, 14th December.

 

Anchorman

Open'er Festival headline slot announced

December 9, 2010 10:30 am

Polish festival slot confirmed

 

 

Good morning. We're pleased to report that Coldplay will be heading to Poland in 2011 to headline the Heineken Open'er Festival in Gdynia, on the north coast of the country. The band will be performing on the opening night of the festival, Wednesday, 30th June.

 

Weekend tickets for Open'er are on sale now, costing 370 PLN or 410 PLN with camping. Day tickets are due to go on sale in mid-January, costing 165 PLN.

 

For more information, and to buy tickets, head to www.opener.pl.

 

Anchorman

The day tickets are only 35 euros! :awesome: I'm so going.

Might use this excuse to visit my foster brother is Poland :D

The day tickets are only 35 euros! :awesome: I'm so going.

So... do you think they'll just be hopping over to Poland after visiting a farm in England? * cough, hint *

Interview with Mat Whitecross (Christmas Lights video director) - pt 1

December 11, 2010 12:42 pm

The first part of our chat with director Mat Whitecross about the new video

 

 

Mat, pictured left, on the Christmas Lights shoot

 

Hello Mat, how are you?

Good thanks, just on my way to watch the band at Top Of The Pops.

 

Well, congratulations on the video.

Aw, thank you.

 

When did you first hear you were doing it?

Phil rang me, probably about a month before we shot it. He just said, "We don't know exactly what we're going to do yet, but I think we want something very low key for this. We're busy on the album, so it's got to be something small." And then I spoke to Chris and he said, "Really, I just want you to come along and we'll walk along Oxford Street and you can film us with a Handycam. Really simple."

 

And then from that little acorn…

Exactly! It was supposed to be a tiny little video. And then after a couple of days, Chris suggested doing something like the Beatles' video for All You Need Is Love, with a lot of friends and family in the studio, doing something which wasn't too obviously Christmassy, and not too cheesy. Just something which was fun and felt like it was a kind of family Christmas event.

What happened to that idea?

Well, then they talked to the techies in the studio and they pointed out that the band are right in the middle of making an album and everything's set up how they like it, so it could disrupt the flow of the recording. So, then we thought about finding another studio to do it in.

 

But that didn't happen either?

No. That was when Will mentioned that he'd been to Willesden Music Hall before and that he loved that as a venue. He suggested we did it there, so that it felt more like something on stage, with a nice Christmas vibe. But all the music halls around town were booked up, for Christmas. And then they suggested getting Misty Buckley involved.

 

What was her role?

She's this incredible designer. She did the Take That Circus tour and she does Glastonbury every year. She's sickeningly young and talented. So she came in and we sat down and tried to work out what we could do without being able to book a music hall, and we came up with the idea of building our own music hall and putting it in a really interesting location. And that was the start of the video that it became.

 

And that decision was made with just a few weeks to go?

Yeah, this is with three weeks left. Misty was right in the middle of several other things and I was finishing off something too. And it still wasn't definite at this point. So Chris said we should all come into the Bakery and have a chat about it with the band, and we started brainstorming and watching things online and Misty showed us some of her designs. The band got really excited and said, "Yes! This is what we're definitely going to do. Let's start from tomorrow."

 

The band were quite involved in it all, then?

Yes, that's what's great about working with Coldplay. Whenever I've worked with them, they'll brainstorm and have hundreds of ideas and then you just try and take the best ones and put them into the video. So Chris would just come out with these ideas. Like he'd ring me up in the middle of the night and say, "I really want there to be three Elvises playing strings, in jumpsuits." I thought he was joking. And then two weeks later, there they were!

 

 

What other ideas did Chris have?

Well, it was his idea to be lying on the floor next to the piano as the beginning of the video. And he wanted some kind of illusion quite early on. So we got in touch with this illusionist. He suggested a few things - some of which just didn't work with our one shot idea - and we ended up kind of using the levitation idea. I think Chris's starting point was that we wanted to do everything live and real as much as possible, and to try and do it as one shot if we could.

 

And then you had to find a location.

Yes. We talked about doing it in tunnels under Waterloo, then Chris suggested doing it on a rooftop and we managed to secure the roof of John Lewis in Oxford Street. But then Chris thought it'd be good to do it by the river, to tie in with the line about where the sea and city meet. Then we got down to the South Bank - and this is now about five days before the shoot - and he loved it. So it'd gone from being this tiny little video we were going to shoot as mates walking down Oxford Street at midnight, to being something quite huge. That was great, but also borderline terrifying.

 

Was it a stressful experience?

Yeah, that would be a fair description! The band and the crew were absolutely lovely and patient, but it was one of the hardest shoots I've ever done. I think I probably put pressure on myself because they're friends, as well as people that you're working with. So, I was desperate not to let them down. It's always pressure when you're working on a film or music video with people who professionally you want to do a good job for, but when it's with mates, and they're trusting you with their money, you really don't want to cock it up!

 

It would've been awful if, after all that, the video was rubbish.

Oh God, it would've been horrible. When we finished that night, because it was such a complicated shoot and we were all freezing - particularly the band and the Elvises who weren't wrapped up - I really wasn't sure if we had it right. The band were incredibly patient, though. It was so cold. I think a lot of other bands would've just walked.

 

But you're pleased with the video?

Yeah, I really am. It's such a beautiful song, we just wanted to do it justice. But the response has been fantastic.

 

Christmas Lights is available to download now from itunes.com/Coldplay. Look out for part two of our interview with Mat soon, in which he tells us about meeting Coldplay and making the band's first ever video.

 

http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=678&page=0

Great interview :wacko:

 

I'm just wondering what happened to Roadie #42 and the album covers interview... :sick:

Yes, I loved reading the interview as well!

It all happened really fast then with the video. Amazing actually how well it turned out when some of the ideas came in only a couple of days before shooting. :awesome:

 

I'm looking forward to part 2!

Making a Coldplay video with all those effects in a few days, that's just insane :lol:

Making a Coldplay video with all those effects in a few days, that's just insane :lol:

 

it is, yet somehow it's also not surprising :P

Good evening. This Friday (Dec 17th), Coldplay will be heading into BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge for a chat and to perform the new single, Christmas Lights. The appearance will be part of Fearne Cotton's show, which is on from 10am to 12.45pm, UK time. You'll be able to listen online from anywhere in the world by clicking here.

 

Don't forget, Christmas Lights is out now at all digital stores - you can get it from iTunes at http://www.itunes.com/coldplay. Big thanks to everyone who's bought it so far.

 

Anchorman

 

http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=679

i cant wait:dance:

NICE!!!!!

Chris plays Christmas Lights in the studio

December 14, 2010 11:31 am

Watch Chris tinkling the festive ivories...

 

 

Good morning. We've just been sent this video which Phil Harvey (Coldplay's elusive fifth member) made on his mobile phone last night, of Chris playing Christmas Lights. It's quite lo-fi, but very lovely. (Remember, you can download Christmas Lights from all digital stores, including iTunes at http://www.itunes.com/Coldplay).

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R1FplnGXzo&feature=player_embedded]Chris singing Christmas Lights[/ame]

 

 

Anchorman

Beautiful :heart:

That really is stunning. Love him smiling at the end. <3

Brill, love the lights

:wacky: So cool.

Nice treat on a shit day!