Careful what you say about Viva la Vida, bloggers: Chris Martin may well be listening in. Rather than going with another marquee name sure to fill seats, the Brit-rock juggernaut they call Coldplay is busy stacking their forthcoming American tour with up-and-comers beloved by interweb music dorks.

After picking up hot commodity Santogold for a few dates, Coldplay will be joined at four shows by yet another favorite of the self-publishing set (and, hell, us too): Jonathan Meiberg's Shearwater. The Austin troupe, still soaring after the recent Matador release of their fine Rook LP, have a few dates of their own in North America before taking the big stages generally populated by the likes of Coldplay.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/51400-shearwater-to-open-for-coldplay-too

 

Sounds like people are in for a treat those dates, I haven't heard of them before, but what I'm listening to now is gorgeous!

never heard of shearwater.....good band?

^Apparently.

do we no which dates?

Oh, sorry. It's in the link.

 

Coldplay and Shearwater:

 

07-14 Los Angeles, CA - The Forum

07-15 Los Angeles, CA - The Forum

07-18 San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion

07-19 Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena

damn. i wanted them. no news on who's playing october in the us yet right?

if they somehow manage to get vampire weekend by the time they hit NJ in october i may wet myself. just a wild dream, though.

^Well, Chris has said he's a fan, so who knows. You'd have to be a pretty big indie snob to turn down a spot opening for them (or really, really busy)- bands need exposure any way they can get it these days.

ooof that would be aweseome.

i was gunna see them last weekend at the free show in the city but i was groudned. but it rained so it was ok.

 

edit, just checked their myspace they only have scheduled dates through end of september

So is Chris Martins brother, who has the band 'Milktooth or Milkteeth' or whichever, still opening for him, or No??

yeah, i wanted to go too, but i had plans.

 

yeah, i mean it's not THAT unlikely for vampire weekend to open for them since coldplay are big fans, but theyre getting pretty big (and therefore busy) in their own right, so we'll see. assuming i got tickets for NJ, i'd die :dead:

hell, if that's the case, i'd be willing to pay quite a bit more for my ticket on stubhub or the like.

Shearwater! Holy crapola! :stunned:

I need to take a listen...........

Santogold opening :

 

July

23 Chicago, IL United Center

25 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center

29 Montreal, Bell Center

30 Toronto, Air Canada Center

 

August

2 Hartford, CT XL Center

3 Washington DC, Verizon Center

4 Boston, MA TB Banknorth Garden

 

I'm so fucking happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

They remind me of Okkervil River overall but the lead vocals remind me of The National. Not bad.

this is a FUCKIN GOOD band

yeah! Their good, I usually hate opening acts.

Shearwater interview

July 15, 2008 10:38 am

We chat to Coldplay's current support act

 

 

With Austin swoon-rockers Shearwater supporting Coldplay on the opening four dates of the tour, Coldplay.com called up frontman Jonathan Meiburg ahead of the first LA show, to find out a little bit more about them.

Photo by Stephen Dewall

 

Hi Jonathan. Are you looking forward to the dates with Coldplay?

Oh heavens, yes. We've never done shows on this scale before. We're really, tremendously excited about it.

How do you prepare for shows in bigger venues like these?

Well, I'll just try to keep the guitar in tune and I'm gonna make sure I don't wear my glasses so I can't see anything. But, really, we're all just gonna try to do our jobs as best we can. I can't wait.

 

Are you a fan of Coldplay's music?

Yeah. Actually, I was just thinking of all the different places and times that I've listened to Coldplay. I remember listening to them at an albatross colony in New Zealand a couple of years ago.

Ah, so you take your name from a bird because you really are bird watchers?

Yeah, I am. But I try to be surreptitious about it and not let on to people.

Which Coldplay song works best in an albatross colony?

Oh boy, I think it was maybe Clocks.

 

On headphones, or blasting it out for the albatrosses to hear?

Well albatrosses make enough noise on their own. They're really not quiet birds. They make all these strange guttural, choking sounds.They're very, very weird.

 

When you play as a support act, do you have to approach it differently to a headline show?

Um, it's sort of like a nice challenge. It's nice to think that these are people who don't know anything about you and this is your chance to really show them a range of what you can do. It's a good kind of pressure.

 

Will you adjust your set for the Coldplay audience?

No, you can spend too much time thinking about that sort of thing. We're just gonna try to play the set that flows best and that we're least likely to screw up.

 

For those who don't know Shearwater's music, can you tell us what it's like?

I would say it's sort of lyrical, mystical art-rock for fans of natural history museums.

 

Do they have good natural history museums in America?

Oh, they're fantastic. When we're on tour, if we ever have a day off in a city that's got one, I always go there. Washington's got a great one, as has New York and we passed one today in Los Angeles that I've never been to, so I might try to get to that. Plus LA has La Brea, which isthe site of the famous tar pits where there were so many interesting animals preserved.

 

You're with Coldplay in Las Vegas too. That doesn't sound like a natural history museum kind of place.

No, it's not very natural any more. I think some people would argue that Vegas is more of a museum for the misery of the human condition.

 

What will be on your rider for the Coldplay shows?

I'm afraid our rider is a bit boring; a lot of bottled water and fruit. The things that kill you on tour are all the things that you want to do. It's so easy to not eat very well, drink a lot and not get enough sleep. So we tend to try to go against that. We sleep a lot, don't drink very much and eat hippy food.

 

Have you seen Coldplay live before?

No, I haven't. I'm really looking forward to it. From the footage I've seen of the shows they've played so far, I think these shows are gonna be something special.

 

Watch out for the magic balls. Word has it they cost £900,000.

Oh my God, really? I'll give those a wide birth backstage then.

 

Finally, what is your favourite Coldplay song?

Probably Yellow, just because it's the first I heard of them, as it was for a lot of people. I think you often get the most emotional associations with the song that you hear first. I love it.

 

Shearwater are supporting Coldplay in LA, San Jose and Las Vegas. To find out more about the band, click here to check out their official site and here for their MySpace

Shearwater // July 2008

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kschneid/sets/72157606148127298/

Two albums for download

 

Everybody Makes Mistakes (2002):

http://rapidshare.com/files/136864884/Shearwater_Everybody_Makes_Mistakes.rar.html

 

Rook (2008):

http://rapidshare.com/files/136868822/Shearwater_Rook.rar.html

(Great album)

 

The voice of the frontman sounds like Morten Harket's voice. Really beautiful!