Robyn interview

12 July 2012 4:38 pm

We caught up with the Swedish singer who's been touring with Coldplay

 

Swedish singer Robyn has been the main support for Coldplay across the UK and America over the last few weeks. We gave her a shout to find out how she's been getting on.

 

 

Hello Robyn. You've been touring with Coldplay since the end of May. Has it been fun?

Yes!

 

Have the US arena shows felt different to the English stadium dates?

The atmosphere in the stadiums was incredible and I bet is was special for Coldplay to play to their home audience, but I think the arenas were great too because it's inside so the lights are more intense and you feel the crowd more in a smaller space. I like that.

 

For Coldplay fans who haven't yet heard your music, please could you give us a little idea of what it's like?

I'm fascinated by beautiful melodies and I think it would be safe to say that I make pop music in that sense. I would describe it as electronic pop music with its feet on the dance floor.

 

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcNo07Xp8aQ[/ame]

 

As an established artist with a big fanbase of your own, how do you approach support shows compared to headline shows?

I just go on my gut feeling. If it feels like an audience that I could communicate with in some way then I do it. But I don´t mind the challenge playing to a crowd that doesn't know me, I get off on that.

 

Have the Coldplay fans been good listeners?

Yes, they have. Especially in the States, maybe because I've toured more there on my own as well. I think Coldplay audience in the States seems very curious of new music. And it's nice to open up for a band that is so supportive of their opening acts, because then the audience knows that I'm there because Coldplay wanted me to be.

 

Is America somewhere that you've played a lot? Do you think the audiences there are different to the European ones?

The British crowd gets the kind of music I do, we had an amazing reception in Manchester especially. But American audiences are great to play to, they are very vocal!

 

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6ImxY6hnfA[/ame]

 

Do you enjoy travelling around America? It always seems like quite a big and fascinating place.

I think we as Europeans feel like we should be quite similar to Americans since we are all part of the western world, but it's like you said, a huge country and very different from Europe. There are many originals here, can you say that? Originals? I mean you can find anything here if you go looking for it. Americans invented youth culture.

 

How have you spent your days off?

In bed. Haha. Coldplay were nice enough to let me do some club shows some nights after the Coldplay shows so I've used my days off to rest up.

 

You're from Stockholm, where the band play in August. What's the one thing they - or the fans - should do in the city before the show?

Challenge my band for a ping pong game at the royal tennis court which is next to the Olympic stadium!

 

If you had to pick one show as a highlight of these dates with Coldplay, does one spring to mind?

Manchester. Selfish, but because they just reacted so well to my music. Also, Coldplay put on a great show too and the crowd went off! I watched the show with Jay-Z and Beyoncé who were kind enough to invite me to watch it with them.

 

Were you a fan of Coldplay before the tour?

I love Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall and made a cover of it for the BBC Live Lounge last year. My sister Effie is a major Coldplay fan and turned me on to their music a couple of years ago. We saw their last show in Stockholm together.

 

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrPsscpC-UI[/ame]

 

Have you watched the show much? What do you think?

I saw the whole shebang in Manchester and then I've watched parts of it on maybe 5 other occasions. My favorite part is of course the wristbands, but also seeing people letting go to the music. There is a combination of happy and sad in Coldplay's songs that I think speaks to a lot of people.

 

Have you been able to hang out with the band?

We've seen each other in the hallways and had a chat here and there. They are very nice lads. It´s been a great tour to be on and me and the band have felt very welcome by everyone on the tour.

 

What's coming up next for you? Is there a new album in the pipeline?

Yes, new album. When I don´t know. First vacation! And some more shows later this year in Australia and Europe.

 

Finally, the question we ask all interviewees, what's your favourite Coldplay song?

Viva La Vida and Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall. They both have a melancholy that I like. And the melodies are beautiful.

 

For more information on Robyn, head to robyn.com.

Robyn was very nice. And now that I have been listening to her music. I think she was a great selection as support act.

Adria Petty & Alan Bibby POC video interview

13 July 2012 4:51 pm

The co-directors of the Princess of China video tell us more about it

 

The wonderful video for Coldplay's current single, Princess of China feat Rihanna, was co-directed by Adria Petty and Alan Bibby. We dropped them a line to find out a bit more about it.

 

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uw6ZkbsAH8[/ame]

 

So the Princess of China video has now been watched 25m times since the start of JUne. You must be pleased with the response?

We are blown away and delighted.

 

How did you guys come to be involved with the video?

AP: I have always wanted to do a project with my good friend Alan Bibby. When Chris Martin called me to do this with him and Rihanna I could not imagine doing it with out a justice league of superhero power. So I called up Alan to co-direct and co-concept. Alan is an expert director but also a connoisseur of culture and this extends to the kung fu cinema genre. Something I am not nearly as versed in. So basically we collaborated very equally and did a divide and conquer.

AB: It seemed like the perfect opportunity to collaborate on something that we both felt incredibly passionate about.

 

Did you have lots of ideas for the video, or was what we see in the finished video always the plan?

We had tons of ideas. But with the limitation of the shooting and prep time we landed on the ideas now you see in the video. The video looks just like the video we had in our minds.

 

How would you describe the concept of the video?

The concept of the video was about a complex love affair. Complicated by power, external forces and a male female power dynamic. We wanted to use the trailer format to combat the tricky time signature and unique songwriting. There is only one chorus in the middle of the song and a long outro. We also felt strongly the video should feature them both in what felt like a film event. The story is sort of a victorious rōnin returning home to find his loved one has become a bit of a gangster geisha. She now has become a match for him and a butterfly that is impossible to catch.

 

How closely did you aim to tie it to the lyrics?

AP: The only lyric that really had significance for me was "once upon a time... ". Just setting up the fantasy of the whole thing. Because I feel videos should let songs speak for themselves.

 

The geographical influences of the video seem to stretch beyond just China - was that intentional?

Yes. We did not want to be on the nose about the world we were creating being China. We wanted to create our own visual mix of influences from a variety of different places and times, from many different genres

 

Where was the video shot (and over what period)?

A day and a half in the deep outskirts of Los Angeles.

 

Did it all go to plan?

Yes miraculously it really did. We had a top level crew and a bunch of great people in both Coldplay and Rihanna's organisations that really guaranteed that.

 

 

The bits with Rihanna and the multiple arms look particularly complicated - was that hard to achieve?

All in a day's work.

 

How about the flying sword fight scenes?

With a lot of the video we wanted to stay true to the practical effects that the kung fu films and samurai epics we love used - so for these scenes, Chris and Rihanna were suspended from harnesses and cables, allowing them to literally fly through the air. They were both incredible with their own stunts.

 

How were Chris and Rihanna to work with?

Chris and Rihanna were both so professional and gorgeous to watch. We had so much great footage we could have made a second video with it. It really was quite a high to see them on camera.

 

Presumably adding the special effects took a while after the shoot?

It was a particularly complex and involved process, especially as everyone who was involved had such high expectations. We were incredibly lucky to be working with an amazing team of friends and collaborators who took it to such an amazing level. there were definitely a lot of late nights involved.

 

Did it all end up as you'd hope it would?

Yes we love this video. It is one of our favorites.

 

Finally, we ask all Coldplay.com interviewees for their favourite Coldplay song. What's yours?

AP: Mine is We Never Change.

AB: Mine's The Scientist

We Never Change :dazzled:

^ good choice :nod:

Isn't it a bit odd that the people whose favourite CP songs are We Never Change and The Scientist have directed the Princess of China video? :lol:

Yes, I never thought they'd pick those two.

Yes, I never thought they'd pick those two.

 

i am at least unsurprised by The Scientist as a choice. :P

The geographical influences of the video seem to stretch beyond just China - was that intentional?

Yes. We did not want to be on the nose about the world we were creating being China. We wanted to create our own visual mix of influences from a variety of different places and times, from many different genres.

I'm sorry but this answer is incredibly dumb to me, and shows a lack of respect. Yes you have to be on the nose when speaking about China, especially if you're using Japanese influences, for god's sake, didn't they study the wars between the two countries? Apparently not. I suggest they put german and jewish characters for the next video since who cares about history.

I'm sorry but this answer is incredibly dumb to me, and shows a lack of respect. Yes you have to be on the nose when speaking about China, especially if you're using Japanese influences, for god's sake, didn't they study the wars between the two countries? Apparently not. I suggest they put german and jewish characters for the next video since who cares about history.

 

I think that what the director meant was not to recreate a chinese-like ambientation but more like the one of an indefinite asian country or something like that

I'm sorry but this answer is incredibly dumb to me, and shows a lack of respect. Yes you have to be on the nose when speaking about China, especially if you're using Japanese influences, for god's sake, didn't they study the wars between the two countries? Apparently not. I suggest they put german and jewish characters for the next video since who cares about history.

 

Agree. The video is Princess of China, not Princess of Asia. They should have thought better of it.

I'm sorry but this answer is incredibly dumb to me, and shows a lack of respect. Yes you have to be on the nose when speaking about China, especially if you're using Japanese influences, for god's sake, didn't they study the wars between the two countries? Apparently not. I suggest they put german and jewish characters for the next video since who cares about history.

 

i just get the feeling that these people in general have little to no clue what they're actually doing. :P

like this line here:

 

"We wanted to use the trailer format to combat the tricky time signature and unique songwriting. There is only one chorus in the middle of the song and a long outro.

 

i don't quite understand exactly how a trailer format makes the song format any easier to deal with, especially since the pacing of the video as a trailer is too slow and repetitive. just sticking a rating image at the beginning and credits at the end doesn't make it a trailer. :P

i don't quite understand exactly how a trailer format makes the song format any easier to deal with, especially since the pacing of the video as a trailer is too slow and repetitive. just sticking a rating image at the beginning and credits at the end doesn't make it a trailer. :P

 

I think they were trying to copy the Knights of Cydonia music video by making it look like a movie trailer :\

Roadie #42 - Blog #175

15 July 2012 8:36 pm

#42, the DC close shave and the return of Oldplay

 

Good grief - here we are at the last show of the leg and I’ve got a bag full of untold stories and observations from along the way.

 

I must apologise for the radio silence of late. I won’t make excuses - hows about I tell you about right now and then when I get home I’ll start picking through some stuff I missed out along the way?

 

We’re in Washington DC right now - although for a little while, it did feel as though maybe we wouldn’t be.

 

We were all set for the trip down to DC from the day off in NYC. We get as far as the fasten seatbelts sign before the pilot comes over the bing-bong to tell us that there are storms in DC and the airport has temporarily stopped all air traffic. Shouldn’t be a problem, but for a half hour, we’ll be going nowhere. Get comfy.

 

 

Half an hour turns into slightly longer. The clock ticks onwards from “early afternoon on gig day” to “worryingly closer to showtime” - quite literally with every second. Tour Manager Marguerite swings into “this cannot fuck up” mode. There’s talk of trains, there’s talk of Baltimore - there’s probably talk of a lot else besides, but I decide to keep my head down and stay out of the way. Too many cooks and all that.

 

Eventually, the storm clears (both literally and metaphorically) and we’re taxiing towards a non-cancelled show. Near-misses it seems, don’t only occur in the air…

 

Arriving late means that the first DC show day is a complete blur for me. Wolf Gang are well underway by the time we get in, meaning we’re straight into show-prep and done before you know it.

 

Two shows in one city always means the chance for a bit of mischief after the first show. For the band party, there is no runner as we’re staying in the city. For the crew party, there is no load-out after the show and even better, no load-in the following morning. All of this makes it seem rude not to get together and write off the following morning. And so it is in DC. Mags has organised an end of tour-leg party for all. I’m not a big one for hanging out in noisy rooms after noisy pop concerts, but this is a gathering of the tour family and as such pretty much unmissable.

 

This is probably the happiest and warmest touring family I can ever remember being part of, so the opportunity to all hang out in a room together with our hair let well down is truly wonderful. I’m starting to realise how much I’m going to miss this tour (or more importantly my friends on it) when it’s over, so I’m trying to force myself from hotel-room hermitage and out to enjoy as much of it as I can while we’re still out here.

 

As is the nature of these things, my memories are somewhat blurry of the evening - and it’s probably best for all concerned that photographic evidence is minimal. I do remember the 3am champagne toast, complete with squalls of feedback from the karaoke mic (prompting inevitable screams for the audio department to get a grip). I remember Robyn and her folks turning up moments after the DJ had played her track Dancing On My Own and her proceeding to commandeer the decks for a DJ set of her own.

 

 

(And I may be mistaken, but I swear I remember the same song of hers being put on later by the resident DJ, prompting the wonderfully bizarre sight of her dancing on the bar while the video version of herself sang the tune on the screens behind her.)

 

Unsurprisingly, the following morning doesn’t start until the following afternoon. Most conversations in the venue begin with “what time did you leave?”.

 

I’m in the midst of one of these conversations in catering when through the walls comes an explosion of punk rock mayhem. This can mean only one thing.

 

Oldlay.

 

For many years, there has been a “crew band” comprised mainly of the backline department, but filled out by anyone who fancies getting involved. Robyn’s tour manager it seems, is none other than Ali McMordie, from seminal punk heroes Stiff Little Fingers. He’s taken the bass spot on the stage and I arrive on the arena floor just as they finish a rousing cover of Anarchy In The UK (complete with Nicole from production and Tiff from wardrobe dancing up a storm).

 

It’s too good for just one tune and they plough through another as I reach for the camera. No better way to blow away the morning after cobwebs!

 

Like a Halley’s Comet sighting, it came from nowhere and disappears every bit as fast. When they’ll grace the Coldplay stage again, I have no idea, but in the meantime, I give you the July 2012 incarnation of Oldlay. Contact Steve Strange at X-Ray for booking details…

 

 

On the subject of folks getting up and doing their own thing, I should mention how many great outfits folks have been wearing to the shows on this tour. The whole graffiti theme of the record screams of self-expression and creativity, so seeing folks arriving in their own Mylo outfits is a superb strengthening of all of that.

 

Trainer Dan pointed this guy out to me before one of the recent shows - apparently this fella has been to a bunch of Coldplay shows and even kept the butterflies from a Viva show he saw a couple years ago to make the hat he wore this time around - good work!

 

 

Another Trainer Dan spot was these two young ladies who created their own entire outfits for the show they came to

 

 

All this talk of unusual attire would of course be incomplete without this crew contribution from that most happy-go-lucky of lampies, Phil Sharpe.

 

 

I *think* this may have had something to do with Oxfam, but as ever, it feels more fun not knowing.

 

So that’s the crew and the fans - what of the band? Well, it’s been a family-tastic tour, with the band enjoying a lot of time with loved ones, whilst in some of the more lovely parts of the USA. This always results in huge smiling faces and fully enthused shows.

 

 

 

They’re hugely on form and they’re enjoying every minute of it, it would seem. Perhaps they too realise how wonderful what’s going on here is. Whatever the reason, the shows have been belters.

 

 

 

I’ve been on the road for over twenty years and I can recall plenty of that time that’s been a struggle. What’s going on here though is very special and supremely enjoyable. These are friendships that will endure until all of this is just a “do you remember when?”.

 

 

I’ll remember this for the rest of my life - and for that, I feel very fortunate.

 

R42

LOVELY BLOG :dazzled: :wacky:

Amazing blog as always :dazzled:

All this talk of unusual attire would of course be incomplete without this crew contribution from that most happy-go-lucky of lampies, Phil Sharpe.

 

 

I *think* this may have had something to do with Oxfam, but as ever, it feels more fun not knowing.

 

:lol:

These are friendships that will endure until all of this is just a “do you remember when?”.

 

I’ll remember this for the rest of my life - and for that, I feel very fortunate.

 

R42

*makes emotionally laden unintelligible fangirl squeal* :wacky:

Wolf Gang interview

18 July 2012 9:13 pm

Max McElligott tells us about the band's recent support slots

 

London four-piece Wolf Gang supported Coldplay on the latest leg of the band's Mylo Xyloto tour in North America. We asked frontman Max McElligott to tell us how they got on.

 

 

Hi Max, how are you?

Very well thank you!

 

You've reached the end of your dates with Coldplay, how have they been?

We had the most amazing time, it really exceeded our expectation of how it would be, which was already pretty high!

 

For Coldplay fans who haven't yet heard Wolf Gang, what do you sound like?

I suppose we play melodic rock/pop, our set for these dates was pretty upbeat/romantic, we don't shy away from big choruses.

 

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZLv36LvRo8[/ame]

 

Was this the first time you'd done an arena tour?

Yes it was, we've played to large crowds for one-off supports with the likes of the Killers or at festivals, but this was the first time where each night our workplace was a huge arena!

 

How was it playing in these big venues?

Well let's just say it really gets the adrenaline going... you can't see everyone's face like at a smaller show, but you still feel an overall presence that is quite empowering.

 

Presumably you have to approach support shows slightly different to headline ones?

Actually we put as much energy into a support as we do with a headline show, you won't see us shying away from the dancing and the falling around the stage just because it's not our show! Obviously you don't play for as long, but that just means you have to use up all the energy in a shorter amount of time...

 

Do you think there's an art to playing a good support show?

When we were discussing what or setlist would be for these shows, we settled on mostly upbeat punchy songs, because you have to capture the attention of a crowd that doesn't necessarily know or care who you are. So you have to hustle and try and win them over, which is a fun challenge. And you must always thank the band who's stage you are sharing!

 

Were the Coldplay audiences receptive?

I genuinely think that the crowds we played to enjoyed our set, we had a really positive response on our Twitter and Facebook, and each night we would go and do a meet and greet for whoever wanted to come and say hi, we were kind of taken aback at how many people turned up each night!

 

Have you guys toured America before?

We've played SXSW in Austin, Coachella in Palm Springs and one or two shows in LA and New York, but nothing quite like this before.

 

How were you getting around?

We were driving around in an increasingly smelly bus. The scale and diversity of America really becomes apparent when you're seeing it all slide by past the window. We've seen some beautiful things on this trip.

 

What was the longest journey?

We had a 14 hour drive through what I think may have been Louisiana...

 

How do you kill time on the long trips?

We had internet on the bus so I'd be responding to tweets and working on music on my laptop. There's an Xbox on the bus so I think Lasse and James were getting really into a boxing game. Listening to music is always a soothing way to pass the time...

 

Did you manage to do any sightseeing?

Well we wanted to cram as much music in as possible on this tour so whenever there was a day off, we went and played our own headline shows, in Dallas, Jacksonville and Boston. So that ate into our free time. I guess the sightseeing will have to wait until next time...

 

What were your favourite experiences of the tour?

The first support date we played in Dallas was just epic, as we'd waited so long to jump onto that stage and play our hearts out, it felt amazing.

 

Any idea how you came to be on the tour?

I'm can't be 100% certain but I hear that Guy Berryman had heard the songs and liked them so apparently it came through him.

 

Were you a fan of Coldplay?

We grew up hearing their songs all the time, I used to play the piano parts just for fun, it was quite educational to see how each song was structured, it was a good insight into solid songwriting.

 

What do you think of their show?

We all agreed it's probably the best live show we've ever seen. It doesn't matter what kind of music you're into, it's just an undeniable feast for the ears and eyes, a real jubilant euphoric celebration of epicness... you forget how many amazing songs they have.

 

Did you have a chance to hang out with the band at all?

We bumped into them a few times backstage, they all seem like very down to earth and friendly chaps. They filled our dressing room with Champagne and a card for when we got off stage after the first show which was a nice touch.

 

What have Wolf Gang got planned for the rest of the year?

We are returning to America actually in October, we'll be playing our own shows on the East and the West coast, and hitting up the places we played with Coldplay for round 2!

 

Finally, what's your favourite Coldplay song?

There are too many to pick one, but I used to listen to 'Amsterdam' religiously. It has a really lovely piano part, that starts off really introspectively and ends with a huge release. Tugs the heart strings.

 

For more information on Wolf Gang, head to wolf-gang.co.uk

It was great seeing this band support Coldplay. They are up to great things!

14hour drive thru Louisiana LOL. It wouldn't take 14hrs to walk across Louisiana. :laugh3:

14hour drive thru Louisiana LOL. It wouldn't take 14hrs to walk across Louisiana. :laugh3:

 

I was surprised that it takes my son 4 hours to get from New Orleans , where he goes to college, to Monroe where my brother in law lives. But in talking with someone in the crew, it was 16 hours to get from Houston to Tampa.

Wolf Gang were so awesome :dazzled:

Roadie #42 - Blog #176

24 July 2012 9:43 pm

#42 gets mistaken for a woman and spins a ripping piano yarn

So I arrive at the check-in desk at Heathrow airport and tell them where I’m going and what my name is. I always feel a little doubtful when I do this that it’s actually going to work, that they’ll look at me incredulously and demand a huge docket of paperwork that demonstrates my entitlement to travel. Years of following this procedure though, (and on occasion turning up not actually knowing what city I’m going to, just a vague idea of which country it might be) has made me a little complacent, I guess.

I know that Tour Manager Marguerite will have been as dotted-of-i and crossed-of-t as she ever is, so I know that somewhere in my phone will be the email with my flight confirmation details. I eventually find the required code and recite it to the lady behind the desk who repeats it to someone on the phone. She shakes her head and laughs. “Well he doesn’t *look* like an Anne-Rose”.

 

“I can be Anne-Rose if it helps me get to Toronto” I offer helpfully. She’s still engrossed in the phoneceall though.

 

“Yes probably Copenhagen”.

 

Now I like Copenhagen, but it’s not really on my list of places to be today.

 

She tries to explain, but it’s beyond me. Someone with the same surname as me, but a double barrelled first name, has checked in over in Copenhagen. Someone there pressed the wrong button, so she has become me and now I’m her. I never knew that these people wielded such power. I say I’m cool with it if they are. I’ve still got a posh seat and we both land in the same place at the same time. Let’s just get to the lounge, eh? Names are for tombstones, baby…

 

I take my dubious documentation and plough onwards. The airport is in full Olympic chaos mode.

 

I decide to proceed direct to the gate, in the hope that there is a little respite from the crowds over there. This involves a short train journey. The carriage is resplendent with the same flocks of the world’s most lost. I miss my stop because it’s impossible to move. Never mind, I think. This thing is a loop. I’ll wait ’til they’ve all gone and start again, but I can snag pole position by the door for the next lap.

 

We reach the last stop and a woman who has clearly never thrown away her Prefect badge tells me (in no uncertain terms) that I’m to get off the train immediately. I argue, I plead, I beg, but she is a formidable opponent. She is here to ensure that the Olympics are secure and I am not to interfere. She waves me off up the stairs with talk of checking in again and going through security again.

 

“Yes, hello” I wince as I arrive at the transfers desk “my name is Anne-Rose…”

 

I’m standing at another counter in front of another confused individual. She gets on the phone and reads out some numbers from my boarding card. “Well he doesn’t *look* like an Anne-Rose…..”. I begin to slump in my shoes and think of getting back home to bed. I’m starting to quite fancy it.

 

“Ah yes - Copenhagen - right…”

 

I’m waved onwards and twenty minutes later I plop down into seat 20A to YYZ feeling as though I’ve already completed an assault course.

 

The flight attendant is wheeling the drinks trolley past and absently enquires over the partition “would you like a drink, Miss? Er? Oh….”

 

“Cup of tea and a double vodka please”.

 

And so to Cananda…

Now I did promise to have a yarn-clearout, didn’t I?

This has got pretty long already though, so I’m going to channel the 2002 Christopher Martin. On the first tour I did with the band (Rush Of Blood), Chris was forever legging it back to the mic after the house lights had come up and people had begun to leave. “The regular Coldplay concert is over, but I’ve got this song I’ve been fiddling with - if you want to hear it, you can stick around - if you think it’s shit, you can go home.”

 

Same goes. Those with time to kill can stick with me as I gas on about wet pianos and stadium shows. Anyone with a better offer (which has to include pretty much anything, really) you are formally excused.

 

Still here? Right, this began as a blog from Dallas show one on the last leg - about getting back indoors, under a roof and in the dry. Here goes:

 

Me, I’m all for it right now. I loved the stadiums and always have, but arenas do feel very, very comfy. No rain, no worries and no need to plan your trips to catering around the half hour round trip which that can sometimes entail.

 

While we’re talking transitions from huge outdoors to merely ‘very big’ indoor ones, I should probably wrap up the last of the stadium shows, which I’ve not mentioned in these pages yet. Now, I’ll say right here, that the following is not a tale for the faint hearted. Certainly too, I should mention that what follows has a very narrow focus on what happened in my world on these shows - not the *only* things that happened. But they happened to me and I’m writing, so…

 

It all began on the second Emirates Stadium show. I was under the stage trying to solve a somewhat perplexing technical issue that had caused Rhianna to arrive somewhat later than planned on the video screen the night before. There’s actually a crowd of us working around my rack trying to work out at exactly what point in the signal chain goes from glorious harmony to crazed technical fizzle.

 

Suddenly, through the speakers perched on my rack, I hear a piano firing one note like a machine gun. Either someone is sat playing something extremely avant-garde at one of Chris’s pianos out on the stage, or I have more trouble than I first thought.

 

By employing a methodology commonly referred to as “unplugging one thing at a time until the fucking noise stops”, I determine that the problem is coming from the piano out on the B-stage. Not good. Andy, my co-conspirator, takes off with a laptop to run some tests. Soon he’s radioing back that the poor old b-stage upright has had a complete nervous breakdown. Even with gentle coaxing (turning it off and on again) it can’t be convinced to play nicely - it just wants to perform the jackhammer sonata. Very not-good.

We do, of course, have a spare piano, so it’s hurriedly thrown up onto the ramp (Equipment failures always make me want to hurriedly throw up…) and the pianos are switched out. This leaves us good for a show, but nowhere to go should there be more problems. (Which, at the rate we’ve been going, is more likely than not.)

 

We get the errant piano into the loading dock and begin to pull it apart. Besides enough butterflies to stuff a mattress, there is a pretty impressive amount of water in there. We get to work clearing it out and putting fans on it for a bit of air drying. From memory, the show passed with pleasantly little in the way of surprises.

 

Fast forward to Sunderland a couple of nights later. My folks are in attendance, making any visits from the fuck-up-fairy particularly unwelcome. It’s rainfall the like of which would have any sane individual refusing to leave the house. Perfect for a Coldplay stadium show, then

Chris launches into Paradise and it sounds pretty different from the standard version. Improvisation? Freeing himself from the bounds of rigid harmonic structures? No. The piano is fucked.

 

There’s a full on Keystone-Cops-meets-F1-pit-crew moment and there is a new piano in place for him. They make it through Paradise and head for the C-stage. As they’re out there, the familiar machine-gun-sonata begins through my speakers. Oh Lord. The piano we calmed down in London has relapsed in the downpour.

 

We’ve got the length of “Speed Of Sound” to get the piano out from underneath the B-stage, up the ramp and onto the mainstage in time for Clocks.

There’s two dead pianos lying on their backs on the skate-ramp stage right. Some gigs have a bunch of broken drumsticks behind the drumriser by the end - we’re going through timber at a slightly more alarming rate.

 

We skin-of-the-teeth it through to the end of the Sunderland show, but the horror begins to dawn, that we have one good piano now and after the day off, we have two stadium shows in one day - at opposite ends of the country - and the helicopter that’s getting us between them is not piano-friendly.

 

Our Wembley Stadium Radio festival is already being handled by the old piano that Vicki Taylor painted for the Viva Grammy awards. We also know a hire company that has the same model (in black) they can hire to us as a spare. That’s that sorted then. A van is booked with a reliably lead-footed driver to get these two pianos from London to Manchester. He’s convinced he can get the journey done with enough time for the pianos to be onstage by showtime that night.

 

There’s talk of getting the pianos a police escort into the Manchester show in case he gets stuck in gig traffic. Andy is still in Manchester holding the fort. His number comes up on my phone and I answer “Please don’t be bad news, please don’t be bad news, please don’t….”

 

“None of the pianos up here is working properly - not one”.

 

“That’s bad news”.

 

Potentially, this could get really rubbish. We could easily be sat pacing anxiously ten minutes to show with no working pianos and a van stuck somewhere outside Manchester.

 

It’s the stuff of nightmares and then something beyond my wildest dreams happens. I get a call from Yamaha UK. I’ve mailed them asking if there is any way at all they can help - a repair, a loan, anything. The piano we use was discontinued years and years ago, so they don’t even carry it anymore, so my hopes weren’t high. The ones we use we have to bid for on eBay against folks who want them because it’s “as used by Coldplay”. They’re rarer than rocking horse shit. (And right now, all of the ones we have in Manchester are about as much use…)

 

Felicity from Yamaha tells me of a fella in their service department who refuses to throw anything away, because it’s all “bound to come in useful”. This sounds embarrassingly like myself and a lot of us on the crew. Apparently though, the chap in question has a special room in the warehouse that is known as his dump. In there, there is not one, but TWO of our beloved pianos with a huge sign on them saying “DO NOT THROW AWAY, COLDPLAY WILL RING UP AND ASK FOR THESE ONE DAY”.

 

This kind of stuff simply does not happen. It’s like a gift from the roadie-gods. The ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card. I eventually have to stop frothing my thanks and praise in their direction for long enough to arrange a van to get them to Manchester immediately. I go to call Andy to tell him the good news, but notice that there’s a voicemail from him.

 

Turns out that Xylobands inventor Jason, has recently bought a “Coldplay piano” from eBay for his son. An hour ago it was sat in his living room, but now, it’s in a van speeding towards the Manchester show. Word also reaches us that Paris is in town. And he’s got his spraycans! Incredible. He reckons if he gets to work right away when the new pianos arrive, he can have them Mylo-ed up and ready to go by showtime. Just staggering.

By rights, we should not have had a show tonight - on paper, we were completely beaten. Someone, somewhere though, is looking out for us.

 

By the time we make it up from London, most of the vans coming from all corners have arrived and the Manchester gig is positively awash with pianos (Eight of them, I believe). I pass stage manager Craig Finley, as I head up to the stage to check things out. “You’ve got a LOT of effin pianos here today young man”

(Photo from Mr Finley’s Facebook)

 

“Yeah, and with any luck, a couple of ‘em work!”

 

We round up the dead and send them back to Yamaha.

 

The final two Manchester shows are two of the only ones on the tour with not a drop of rain. Whoever has our backs is going well above and beyond…

 

To cap it all, I get a message on my phone on the day of the final Manchester show. It’s “Gaz” the fella I brought one of our eBay pianos from last year. Up until Sunderland, it had been Chris’s main piano. Gaz had listed it on eBay “as used by Coldplay” and eventually sussed that it was us buying it. His first words when he found out were “you’re not gonna paint it mad colours are ya?”.

 

“Um, sorry fella…”

 

Today, he’s got tickets for the show and he quite fancies meeting up to have a look at his old pride and joy in the centre of the Coldplay stage. I break it to him that not only have we graffiti-ed it up to the eyeballs, but we’ve spent the summer standing it in the middle of torrential downpours with just a shower cap for protection.

 

I meet him and his missus and tell him the tale I’ve just told you. He shakes his head in utter disbelief - and quite rightly so.

 

He has a photo taken next to one of our newly recruited pianos - for his is in the sick bay many miles away now.

 

Talking of all this reminds me - I need to phone a fella about some waterproofing, once we land in Toronto. We’ll be back in the great outdoors again in only a few weeks.

 

Never a dull moment…

 

R42

OMG. What a story! This has to be one of the best R42 blogs ever :wideeyed: