Pete's Oxfam Blog - the Autumn US leg

[greeneyes1207]

I'm so excited to work for Oxfam at tomorrow's show! yay!!

[Pris]

at this rate we'll have names for most of the crew :D

 

Now all we need is a pic to go with the name........ ;)

 

Pete is a drummer?!?!:wink3: Seriously?!:bomb:

 

 

ok ok I'll stop acting like a teenager now!:blush: hehehe

 

Jejejejejje.............. that's exactly what i was thinking........... :P

[Carlaatje]

at the next concert just yell fin and see who looks up!

[Carlaatje]

a shortie:

United States of America has a new President.

November 5th, 2008 / No Comments » / by plusby

 

A quick note of a memorable moment in history.

 

Outside my Atlanta hotel room, I can hear car horns beeping and voices shouting for joy. I have the TV on. More of the same. Celebrations in the street and huge crowds gathered in Time Square, NYC, and Grant Park, Chicago. The Chicago crowd awaiting their Senator, the President-elect, Barack Obama.

 

The tour made it’s way down to Atlanta today. All eyes on the bus were on the election. Some people in this city won’t get much sleep tonight. With all this beeping outside, I might not either..

[busybeeburns]

thanks!

[Carlaatje]

you're welcome! :D

 

btw I love that I learned this awesome news from Pete's blog first...

[Christa42]

Damn, you are good Carla, quick and cute

[Jenjie]

you're welcome! :D

 

btw I love that I learned this awesome news from Pete's blog first...

 

I learned it on the radio. It just never ended. I kept waking up and it was still going!!

[Carlaatje]

Damn, you are good Carla, quick and cute

 

:blush:

ad it was HOURS ago!

 

I learned it on the radio. It just never ended. I kept waking up and it was still going!!

 

yep first thing i did was turn on my computer...:uhoh: but I had to charge my phone!!!:rolleyes:

I wake up to a parachutes... so no obama news there :P

[busybeeburns]

[Coldplay Oxfam Blog] Atlanta, Georgia (part one).

 

Extra show added due to phenomenal demand. That’s how this show came about. Without it, there would have been a lot of people who missed out. As it is, they didn’t have to. Another sold out show in another state in the US. Coldplay whipped up another storm. The set may have settled into a groove, but the crowds are jumping around wherever we go. One of the Oxfam volunteers summed up the crowd reaction.. ”that was magical.”

 

I’m sitting on Bus 5, waiting for Doyle (our driver), to hop on and take us on to Orlando, Florida. I’ve not been there before.. I hear it’s kinda hot. Slices of cold pizza and plastic cups filled with various beverages, is the order of the day (even if we are just an hour into it).

 

So I want to say a big Oxfam welcome to ‘Sleepercar’. They played their second show of this tour tonight. I like what I hear, even if it has only been snippets through a balcony curtain. I’ll have to make a point of watching the whole set some point, and get some pictures for you. I hear they are long-term friends of the band, from the ‘Parachutes’ days. I’m going to have to speed this up. The internet connection will get cut off when the wheels on the bus start to roll.

 

Hundreds more Coldplay fans signed up with Oxfam America today. Hundreds more people wanting to find out more, to get involved, to do what they can, to take action, to make a difference. Over 45′000 people have got involved with Oxfam for the first time, during this tour. As i’ve said before, Coldplay have done something amazing by inviting us out here. They have supported Oxfam for many years now. Every night, I meet people who say they checked out Oxfam, when they saw the ‘MTF’ on Chris’ piano, and the Make Trade Fair = on his hand at every show. Or looked up the website address from the album sleeve cover. Or met an Oxfam volunteer on a previous tour. The bands support has had a real influence on the Make Trade Fair campaign and also, just how many people know what Oxfam does. That’s awesome.

 

One of my favourite songs in the world just came on the TV. I got a bit distracted. Someone just said “why not just take our last three paper plates as well.. we haven’t even got ketchup!” (I’ll leave it up to your imagination why..) I’m talking nonsense. I’d better go. See you in Florida.

 

Pete

 

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=100

[busybeeburns]

[Coldplay Oxfam Blog] What a difference a day makes

 

 

22:45, 6th November 2008. Orlando, Amway Arena. The arena empties out. Orlando Magic 98 - 88 Philadelpiha 76ers. The court in the center is shiny. Smooth under all those squeeking sneakers. Giant figures leave the court. Sweatbands are off to be rung out. Cheerleaders bound off, with white toothed smiles across their faces. Scoreboard is flashing. Disco ball is rotating. Magic’s mascot is circulating. TV crew are out doing reviews of the game for the audience at home. Charles Barkley (NBA, Suns & Sixers legend, who also used to slam dunks on my Super Nintendo in his spare time), packs his papers court-side to leave (or at least I think it was him..).

 

10:45, 7th November 2008. Orlando, Amway Arena. Is this the same arena? Squeeking floor nowhere to be seen. No hoops. No mascot. No crowd to cheerlead. Instead - cases. Lots of cases. Cables hanging from points high in the arena. Catwalks *(under construction). Amp stacks waiting to be lifted. Forklifts beeping. Bags full of butterfly confetti. Roadies dressed in black (beards across their faces).

 

22:45, 7th November 2008. As if by (Orlando) magic.. the stage is being torn down again. Coldplay have left the building.. just as those giants did. Butterflies, plastic cups and popcorn cartons are being swept. Floor chairs removed. Cables are being tied. Trucks are reversing in, being filled, and bolted shut. Oxfam volunteers gather around the last table standing. More than 550 people signed up tonight with Oxfam America. One more Coldplay show. Hundreds more Oxfammers out there. Maybe some of them will be back soon as volunteers themselves. No hand-clappers needed tonight. No cheerleaders required. Jonny, Will, Chris and Guy took the stage for ’Yellow’, clad in personalised Orlando Magic basketball tops. That was the closest we got to the night before. Those were thrown to the crowd. And we were back to a Coldplay show.

 

Amazing how these tours roll on. We are now back on the bus, waiting for our 5am bus call. One of the lighting guys just got on the bus.

 

“What’s happening in the world at large?”

 

“Oh, you know, just enjoying my morning in the parking lot.. in.. wherever it is we are..”

 

See you in the next place. Pete.

 

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=101

[Carlaatje]

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=102

 

new bloggie!!

 

De-ja-voo in Atlanta.

November 11th, 2008 / No Comments » / by plusby

 

Right. Time to catch up. Access to the internet on tour is never as easy as it is, when switching on a computer, in the ‘comfort’ of an office block or internet cafe. Wireless internet is set up in tour production and management offices. This usually leads to a line of roadies sitting on road cases outside, or sitting on the floor around the production team. In these concrete block buildings.. that signal doesn’t travel too far. Crew rooms are usually slightly less equipped for internet, as they are for showers and couches. Ocassionally, like today. There is a crew office. Today, it sits at the back of Production. It’s a tiny little room, which randomly has mean-looking cartoon characters, wielding hockey sticks and perched on basketballs, painted on the walls. It’s a strange little place. The tour buses have a handy intermittent internet connection too. It does not cease to amaze me, that I can send an email to my friends back home in England, from a tour bus, moving along Atlanta streets to a venue.

 

We’re back in Atlanta’s Phillips Arena. De-ja-voo. We walked in saying “Good to see you you again” to the venue staff, as if we had worked with them for years. This is the second show of two in this building. Two shows in Florida were sandwiched in between. Last stop was Ft. Lauderdale. As a British guy used to rain and frost in November.. it was a strange experience to be outside in a t-shirt before the bus left Florida at 2am.. It turned out to be a long ride from there to Atlanta. 15 hours later, we rolled up at the hotel last night.

 

I wanted to talk about our amazing volunteers. Each city Coldplay goes to, a different group of Oxfam volunteers are always there. Every day, I head outside to meet them. There is always a group patiently waiting, ready to work hard for Oxfam for a few hours before they go in to see the Coldplay show. I have met all sorts of people, with all sorts of stories. It has to be one of the best parts of this job. So many of our volunteers here, tell of how they first heard about Oxfam from a Coldplay album sleeve, or shout out from the stage. One volunteer in Ft. Lauderdale summed up the feeling well..

 

“I wanted to do what I can to help overcome poverty around the world, and I get to see a great Coldplay show, for free. What could be better?”.

 

I wanted to share this link with you, from one of our volunteers in Philly a little over a week ago. His name is Logan Deck, and he made this video. Thanks Logan.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SqB5-CTanQ]YouTube - Oxfam International[/ame]

[busybeeburns]

thanks! :D

[The Joker]

i'm logan deck :)

[busybeeburns]

cool thanks for the video! :D

[busybeeburns]

Atlanta, Georgia (part 2)

 

I’m huddled in a corner behind one of the Oxfam pop-up banners by our table at the entrance to the arena. If I look up, I can see three of Oxfam’s volunteers enthusiastically passing out free badges and signing up Coldplay fans to the Oxfam America mailing list. Here come 5 more fans ready to sign on the sheets. It’s great to listen to some of the little things that happen at the stall..

 

“When I say ‘Cold’ .. you say ‘Play’ .. Cold - Play. Cold - Play!

 

When I say ‘Ox’ .. you say ‘Fam’. Ox - Fam! Ox - Fam!”

 

I haven’t heard that one before. But that’s the beauty of doing this in so many different places. In the background, I can hear ‘Sleepercar’ finishing up on-stage. There’s just 40 minutes until the main attraction hits the stage. These arenas are strange places to work. So hollow during most of the day.. slowly building up a buzz as the sound checks get started, and the hazers keep spraying.. but when the doors open, it’s like working in a busy mall or station. Thousands of people wander about, filling the place up. Some wander aimlessly .. wondering where to buy a pretzel.. eyes glazed.. others stare at the merchandise for a silly amount of time. Some stop by our booth and sign up. Some rush to their seat and wait patiently, not daring to move, in case they miss something. Then there are the ones that miss all that and run in right before the set and skip the aimless/purposeful wandering.

 

They all have a couple of things in common. They all love Coldplay, and they all have the power to make a difference to the world. Oxfam does amazing work to overcome poverty. We are here to help people see how they can help. How their actions collectively can save lives. The more people who get involved, the more Oxfam can do.

 

I just have to say.. there’s a bit of competition going on. The stall next to ours is renting out binoculars for those people in the noseblead seats (*the ones up high). Seriously. Ours is a way more exciting stall. No offense.

 

Anyway, back to the show. I have to run and get the volunteers tickets, so i’d better go. Hoping for a smooth trip tonight.. Atlanta - Kansas City. Wow. We’re covering some ground.

 

Back in production.. 10 minutes to stage time. I can hear Chris Martin in the next room warming up his voice..

 

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=103

[Carlaatje]

i'm logan deck :)

 

nice video :)

[The Joker]

thank you :]

[busybeeburns]

Inspiration.

 

Destination Kansas City. We rolled up at the Sprint Center, Kansas City today. Some of these arenas have quite grand and strange designs. This one struck me that if you shone some flashlights on it, it would become a crystal ball. At the moment though, it just looks a bit like a glittering fruit bowl you might find in a certain Swedish megastore..

 

It was another mammoth drive yesterday. I sympathise for the truck and bus drivers when we do long-hauls like that. It’s an incredible country to tour. You drive for as long as it would take to cross the whole of some large countries, just to get to the next city. Weird when you start to see 7 or 8 hours as a ’short drive’.

 

Today we are on the first of 2 in a row. We have 9 more shows out here before we tread back across the pond. Strange to think that Coldplay have only done one show so far in their home country.. When we have done over 50 already this year.

 

Back in Atlanta, we had a great night with Oxfam. The volunteer group really stuck together and worked as a team. All of them seeming over the moon to be helping Oxfam and eagerly anticipating their free Coldplay show. They all got the chance to see Chris Martin perform ‘Green Eyes’ for the first time in the whole tour. A good treat for their efforts. I think there is a chance of some more set changes soon with the release of ‘Prospekts March’.

 

So what inspires us to get involved? Coldplay have certainly inspired thousands, possibly millions of people to get involved with Oxfam’s work to overcome poverty. I wonder how many more bars of Fairtrade chocolate have been eaten, since the start of the Make Trade Fair Campaign. How many people have switched to Fairtrade coffee. How many people have helped train a teacher through an Oxfam Unwrapped gift.

 

I have been inspired by all sorts of things. Seeing people come together to call for change. Listening to Eddie Izzard narrate a recycling advert. Adding my face to the Control Arms ‘Million Faces’ petition. Seeing over 101’000 people at UK festivals in 2007, sign up to an Oxfam campaign to combat Climate Change. Running marathons surrounded by people raising money for charity by running 26.2 miles. Listening to family and friends debating presidential candidates. Working in rural Madagascar, to help build school benches and collecting drinking water from rivers. Whatever inspires us, whether it be a symbol on a piano on a Coldplay stage, seeing an advert on TV, talking to a relative, joining a petition online, speaking to an Oxfam campaigner.. Small actions change lives. Be moved. Be involved. Because you’ve got power, and it’s time for justice.

 

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=104

[xxKels]

Thanks Ian!

[busybeeburns]

Chris Martin is talking and the crowd are cheering.

 

It must be such a strange thing to be in that position. I’m sure most of you have been at a concert before, where the lead singer stops between songs to talk to the crowd. Due to the buzz of 15′000 (or however many thousand people), and the fuzz of a microphone.. it can all become a bit of a blur. Now Chris Martin is a very clearly spoken fella. I understand the things he says from stage, a whole lot better than some artists I have seen slurring into the mic. No slurring for Coldplay at all. Still. I never catch it all. It always amuses me when a singer stops to speak and everyone just cheers anyway. When they stop talking, it’s like the crowd collectively thinks (*oh.. erm.. it’s our turn to say something.. umm.. what should we say?.. umm.. WHOOOP! YEAH! (or just a general screaming noise of appreciation). You know who you are. I’m not saying I mind it. Quite the opposite. I mean it’s not like the band can stop the momentum and have a talking shop about how everyone is finding it so far.. no round tables, no half time analysis. No time for discussions in the Coldplay show. So no wonder, the general feeling of

 

“Yes. We’re fine thanks. Doing great. Loving it in fact.” (becomes a general roaring cheering noise. I doubt the band mind that at all. In fact. It’s probably exactly what they are looking for.

 

It does just make me wonder, whether a singer could try to mumble something random and see if people were listening.. like.. “does everyone here hate giraffes?” Would they still get a cheer? I hope not. Surely at least some people would be exaggerating by cheering. Crikey. I’m going way off track. Apologies for my ramble.

 

Coldplay just played ‘Green Eyes’ again followed by ‘Postcards from far away’. Two nights in a row. It seems to be going down well. They also stuck in ‘Glass of Water’ from ‘Prospekts March’ earlier, for what I think was the first time, since Albert Hammond Jr joined them for it in Belgium. It’s a great song. I hope we will be hearing more of it from now on. The cheering continues right now. They just finished off ‘Viva’ and ‘Lost!’ and are now heading out to the ‘C-stage’ to change where the lucky front row seat holders are. Just for a little while.

 

I met a great bunch of people tonight. The crowd coming through. A couple of very kind Coldplayers. 18 awesome volunteers from the Oxfam Kansas City Action group. It’s a first experience of volunteering for a lot of them. They kept going to the end. So great to meet so many people keen to make a difference with their Thursday night. Wait a minute.. is it Thursday? I’ve forgotten. That’s not good. Tour days blurring into one again. Travel days disappearing before my eyes..

 

It’s a starting point for so many fans. The first chance to learn what Oxfam actually stands for. What we do. Why we’re here. That’s so valuable. Hopefully it will grow into so much more. When people are done cheering from the seats, hopefully they will go home and sign petitions, donate, buy a goat, drink some tea.. Fairtrade of course.

 

From Pete. (Oxfam Coordinator. Blogger. Roadie #31. Person who likes giraffes.)

 

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=105

[melanieau]

Awww, gotta love Pete.

[the.hardest.part]

Awww. Thanks for the shout out Pete!

[busybeeburns]

St. Paul. MN.

 

It is cold. My hands are feeling all crinkly. I went outside in a t-shirt earlier and regretted it. We are a long way from the Florida sun that shone on our tour buses a few days ago. The confetti canons have just blown butterflies over a crowd of 14’500.. From where I’m sitting, at the Oxfam stall, I can see a few of them fluttering down, when someone opens the curtain to go through to their seat. When it’s closed, I just see the glow of the lights, in time with Will Champion’s kick pedal foot.

 

Our amazing group of volunteers will be back from their amazing seats, any second now. They all sat together behind the mix desk tonight. I’m sure the show, and sound there, was the best anywhere in the arena. Great seats..

 

Great effort with the campaigning too. Over 630 more people signed up to find out more about how they can join Oxfam in fighting poverty, and countless more who will maybe see the Oxfam sphere or click a mouse button and read online. Even more great.. is the actions they can all take now - signing a petition to call for health and education for all, or by setting up a college group to become more active in fighting poverty..

 

The crowd are cheering for the encore now. I think the arena is going to be filled with a certain colour very soon. Some of these people leaving early to beat the traffic will probably run back inside too when they hear it start. Seems like the band have had a great time tonight. Loving every minute of this tour which winds it’s way across America once more.

 

Peoples footsteps are already dragging those poor butterflies out onto the street. They really do get everywhere.

 

Here come the masses.. Leaving the venue like it’s on fire. It never ceases to amaze me how fast these places empty.. I don’t just mean the crowd either. 14’500 fans. 4 band members. Band party. 55 crew. 12 trucks (and all their contents). 5 tour buses (and all their roadies). Venue staff.. Security.. Load out has already begun inside. Up here.. It’s a bit like a busy road or a flooding stream. I mean, if you stop, you have to work pretty hard at not looking like a salmon..

 

I’m going to go with the flow tonight. Hop on the bus. 12 hours later.. Fingers crossed.. We will be in Oklahoma City. Never been there on a Saturday. There’s a first time for everything.

 

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=106

[melanieau]

PETE'S BIRTHDAY!

 

Today is Pete's birthday!

 

Happy Birthday, Pete!

 

 

Hope you get a record number of signatures tonight in OKC as a present!