12 Coldplay Months Of 2008: MAY (Eight Unplayed Tour Dates!)

[busybeeburns]

Coldplay: "Arcade Fire Shaped Our New Album"

 

In May's first NME magazine, Chris Martin talked about the bands new base, where they can avoid the paparazzi he hates. He revealed that Coldplay had hired a new headquarters for the band, specifically designed to deflect attention from the group and help them avoid photographers. Shifting topics Martin explained how Coldplay ended up working with the legendary Eno. "It was Brian's idea," he revealed. "I would often meet up with him for tea and start playing tabla machines...and that just turned into a years worth of production."

 

The band also revealed how Arcade Fire influenced the new album: "After he worked on 'Neon Bible' Win Butler told us, 'You should work with this guy, [long time Eno-collaborator] Markus Dravs - he'll whip you lot into shape!' " explained Martin.

 

 

Dirty Pretty Things Frontman Carl Barat Bashes Coldplay Giveaway

 

Carl Barat criticised the decision by Coldplay to release their new single for free online. 'Violet Hill' was available to download completely free at coldplay.com. The band had hoped following in the footsteps of Radiohead and Nine inch Nails, both of whom released music for free in recent months, would drum up interest in their forthcoming fourth album 'Vida La Vida'. However, Dirty Pretty Things frontman Carl said it simply made the climate a tougher place for smaller bands.

 

He said, "You could say they (Coldplay) were jumping on the bandwagon a bit. You can't escape the fact that big name, big money bands who release their stuff for free are harming the scene. The industry is struggling financially and this is like missile after missile. How do new bands compete?"

 

However...

 

Ten days after Dirty Pretty Things frontman Carl Barat criticised the decision by Coldplay to release their new single for free online, they followed suit by making 'Hippy Son', a song from their forthcoming second album, 'Romance At Short Notice', available to download free!

 

Guy Berryman Runs The London Marathon

 

The Sun newspaper [15/04/2008] reported that not many rock stars could run a marathon - but Coldplay's Guy Berryman completed the gruelling London course in less than four hours. Impressive by any standards. Gordon Ramsay may have pipped him to the line - but he trounced Ronan Keating!

 

Coldplay's Violet Hill Propels Coldplay.com to 'Bands & Artists' No.1

 

US visits to Coldplay.com increased 1,800% since the band's new single, Violet Hill, was released for free online, Hitwise said after comparing the daily US visits for April 29, 2008 versus April 27, 2008, MarketingCharts reports. On April 29, 2008, the day the single was released on Coldplay.com, the website ranked as the most visited website among the Bands and Artists category. A little more than 1 out of every 40 visits to Bands and Artists category went to Coldplay's website.

 

Two days before the release of the single, the website ranked number 305 among Bands and Artists websites from more than 500 websites in the category. "While publishers become increasingly concerned about the cannibalization of their revenue stream, experiments by Coldplay and Radiohead at a minimum prove that free music downloads provide added publicity to increase awareness for album releases," said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research, Hitwise.

 

Those seeking the single were emailed a link for the download. More than half - 52.33% - of visits to Coldplay.com came from a website in the Email Services category on April 29, 2008, indicating that fans were eager to receive the download, Hitwise said.

 

 

Coldplay Single Downloaded By 2 Million People

 

It was announced that 2 million people downloaded Coldplay’s new single ‘Violet Hill’ while it was available as a free download. The song, which was the first off the band’s new album ‘Viva La Vida’, was uploaded onto the band’s website on April 29th. Had the song been chart eligible it would have outsold last week’s Top-40 four times over. The song was then released officially on digital-download on May 5th.

 

Meanwhile, the exclusive screening on Channel 4 of Coldplay's new video for Violet Hill was removed from television listings, Coldplaying revealed. It was now thought that the video would for now be part of the secret content slowly being unveiled on the official Coldplay site.

 

It was previously announced by Radio Times (radiotimes.com) that an exclusive broadcast of Coldplay's new video would broadcast on UK's Channel 4 on May 13 at 11.05pm, but according to new listings it had been replaced by a Sex and the City: World Premiere Special. Meanwhile, MTV Germany were still claiming that they would broadcast Coldplay's new video on Tuesday (May 13th) at 16:00 hours (German time) in the TRL show live from Berlin.

 

Coldplay Plan Summer Of Big Surprises - Inlcuding Release Of Non-album Tracks

 

The phenomenally successful free single download was just the start, claimed Coldplay management and label. With the band recording additional material that did not make the album’s final cut, Parlophone is also promising a treat for fans, with a number of other non-album tracks eventually seeing the light of day (Prospekt's March EP!)

 

Triple M (Melbourne) Talks Exclusively To Coldplay

 

Triple M (Melbourne) had an exclusive interview with Coldplay, to talk to them about the new album Viva La Vida. Soon you will be able to see the exclusive video interview, but for now here's a sneak peak with some audio and photos.

 

Watch all the videos here

 

<embed src="http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1417325500" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=1587942444&useOverlayMenu=false&playerId=1417325500&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="486" height="412" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed>

 

 

Viva La Vida (song) Available On iTunes

 

Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" went up from pre-order from Apple's iTunes store, and those who made the pledge for the album would get immediate access to the title track. Viva La Vida (individual track), was also available for purchase individually on iTunes at a price of €0.99.

 

The new album came with an acoustic version of the new song "Lost!" When you pre-ordered; the title track would download immediately and you'd also receive an additional acoustic version of "Lovers In Japan" when it would be released on June 17. To hear the title track, as purchased from iTunes, one would essentially have had to fork over $9.99, and the cut unfortunately came encoded with DRM at 128 kilobits per second.

 

And... since becoming available for pre-order, "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" pre-order had shot to #1 on the iTunes Top Albums chart. and with it the "Viva la Vida" single had shot to the #5 spot on iTunes Top 10 Songs.

 

Those who did get to hear the Viva La Vida song, we asked you what you thought of it! Coldplay also had two new entries in the US singles top 40 charts. The title track 'Viva La Vida' signed in at 15, becoming the highest new entry of the week, while 'Violet Hill' debuted at 40.

 

A new Apple iTunes ad featuring music from Coldplay’s forthcoming ‘Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends’ aired on US TV. The 30-second spot was filmed by director Mark Romanek and was broadcast between segments of American Idol last night, it features a clip of the band performing the new single from the album. A graphic element on the TV clip declares: “Viva La Vida Coldplay, exclusively on iTunes.”

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0533O-BULA]YouTube - VIVA LA VIDA- COLDPLAY itunes commercial[/ame]

 

Coldplay Sets Dates for Extensive "Viva La Vida" Tour

 

Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" world tour -- which would land in North America, Europe and Japan -- was set to begin at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center on June 29 and extend well into next year, Billboard.com revealed. However, it later turned out not to be the case as the early shows were postponed due to "production delays."

 

Coldplay's tour will also feature magic balls!

 

June 29: Philadelphia, PA; Wachovia Center

July 2: Washington, DC; Verizon Center

July 3: Hartford, CT (XL Center)

July 5: Detroit, MI (The Palace of Auburn Hills)

July 6: Cleveland, OH (Quicken Loans Arena)

July 8: St. Paul, MN (Xcel Energy Center)

July 9: Kansas City, MO (Sprint Center)

July 10: Oklahoma City, OK (Ford Center)

July 12: Phoenix, AZ (Jobbing.com Arena)

July 19: Las Vegas, NV (MGM Grand Garden Arena)

July 21: Sacramento, CA (ARCO Arena)

July 24: San Jose, CA (HP Pavilion)

July 27: Pemberton, BC (Pemberton Festival)

July 29: Edmonton, AB (Rexall Place)

July 30: Calgary, AB (Pengrowth Saddledome)

August 1: Winnipeg, MB (MTS Centre)

August 3: Omaha, NE (Qwest Center)

August 4: Chicago, IL (United Center)

October 20: Montreal, QC (Bell Centre)

October 21: Ottawa, ON, (Scotiabank Place)

October 26: East Rutherford, NJ (Izod Center)

October 29: Toronto, ON (Air Canada Centre)

October 30: Toronto, ON (Air Canada Centre)

November 3: Boston, MA (TD Banknorth Garden)

November 11: Atlanta, GA (Philips Arena)

November 18: Houston, TX (Toyota Center)

November 19: Dallas, TX (American Airlines Center)

November 21: Denver, CO (Pepsi Center Arena)

November 22: Salt Lake City, UT (Energy Solutions Arena)

 

01 September 2008: Zenith, Strasbourg, France

02 September 2008: SAP Arena, Mannheim, Germany

04 September 2008: Tony Garnier Hall, Lyon, France

06 September 2008: Palau St Jordi, Barcelona, Spain

07 September 2008: Palacio de Deportes, Madrid, Spain

09 September 2008: The Bercy, Paris, France

10 September 2008: The Bercy, Paris, France

12 September 2008: Koln Arena ,Cologne, Germany

14 September 2008: Colorline Arena, Hamburg, Germany

15 September 2008: O2 World, Berlin, Germany

17 September 2008: Globe Theatre, Stockholm, Sweden

18 September 2008: Globe Theatre, Stockholm, Sweden

19 September 2008: Spectrum, Oslo, Norway

22 September 2008: O2 Arena, Prague, Czech Republic

23 September 2008: Budapest Arena, Budapest, Hungary

24 September 2008: Vienna, Austria

26 September 2008: Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany

28 September 2008: Hallenstadion, Zurich, Switzerland

29 September 2008: Palamalaguti, Bologna, Italy

30 September 2008: Datchforum, Milan, Italy

02 October 2008: The Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands

03 October 2008: The Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands

04 October 2008: Sportpalais, Antwerp, Belgium

 

As previously reported, Coldplay would play free concerts in London (June 16 at the Brixton Academy) and New York (June 23 at Madison Square Garden). Roughly 50 shows were planned for North America, followed by Europe and the U.K. Coldplay would also headline the Summer Sonic festival Aug. 9-10 in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. About 90 dates total were expected for the year. More shows were expected to be announced in the coming weeks. "Last time we ended up doing 150 shows; we’ll probably end up roughly the same," Coldplay manager Dave Holmes tells Billboard.com.

 

Brixton & MSG Coldplay Contests - Win Tickets For Free Shows!

 

Coldplay.com was updated to include details of the free shows in June, at London's Brixton Academy on June 16 and at New York's Madison Square Garden on June 23. Not only that, competitions to win tickets for both gigs was opened. One lucky winner for the NYC show would also win flights from wherever they lived, plus hotel accommodation. Plus, by entering either competition, you'd also help to unveil exclusive Coldplay videos and artwork...

 

Coldplay On Cover Of Billboard Magazine

 

Coldplay graced the cover of this month's Billboard magazine, as you can see by the image. The following excerpt is from the article that will be released on 17th May 2008 (this Saturday).

 

05/17/2008 - The album that will put the new EMI under its greatest global scrutiny to date is also 2008's most eagerly awaited release. EMI Group chairman Guy Hands says, "Right across the world, this is the most anticipated album of the year." Just as "Viva La Vida" is a bold musical statement by a group that Martin says had grown to feel "a little dirty" by the end of its last campaign, the importance of this album to the new EMI is hard to overstate.

 

 

Meanwhile Billboard said that Coldplay refused to speak to one another before they began work on their new album - because they'd fallen out with each other. They reported:

 

Frontman Chris Martin admits he and his bandmates were at a stalemate when they started to work on Viva La Vida or Death and all his Friends in 2006. But the four musicians managed to enlist the help of superproducer Brian Eno [pictured], who Martin credits with helping to get their sound - and relationships - back on track. He says, "The place we got to two years ago felt dirty. We weren't speaking. We all had our corner office in a tower block, but there was no vibe. We had to get our own place and then call Brian in. We decided to play in a little room, forget our awards and reviews."

 

Violet Hill Video

 

A website in the Netherlands was the first online to show the full exclusive video to Coldplay's new single, Violet Hill. Previously only a 40 second preview was aired.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDe0soIFbFc]YouTube - Coldplay - Violet Hill[/ame]

 

Coldplay also posted a satirical politically-charged video on their official YouTube channel, entitled Dancing Politicians. The video is directed by Mat Whitecross who also directed Bigger Stronger...

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WqQL5WFN20]YouTube - Violet Hill (Dancing Politicians)[/ame]

 

Q Magazine Article: Interview & Coldplay's Track By Track Synopsis

 

The band talked you through the album, track by track, thanks to Q Magazine. Here's Life In Technicolor and Death And All His Friends:

 

Life In Technicolor: Glorious instrumental. Originally a full song with lyrics, but when described by a stranger as an “obvious single”, the words were removed. Chris Martin: “It’s nice to not have a singer on the first song come in and ruin it. This is our milkman song, the most whistleable thing. We took all the lyrics off because this song was our only safety net.”

 

Death And All His Friends: Melancholy piano segues into spangling guitars and a male choir exalting, “I don’t wanna follow death and all of his friends!” Vocals recorded in an art gallery in Barcelona that was once the medical room of an ancient nunnery. Will Champion: “This is us singing all together and then another us singing together. The Coldplay Choir. And it had an echo that lasted for a long, long time. When we did a lot of group singing we just roped in whoever was around. Studio engineers, whoever.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coldplay In Oasis 'Be Here Now' Row

 

There were raised eyebrows in the Oasis camp over Coldplay’s decision to release their new album on a Thursday. Here's the report:

 

Coldplay hope their upcoming Viva La Vida will topple Oasis’ 11-year reign with Be Here Now as the fastest-selling British record. But the Manchester band’s team believe Coldplay are stealing their idea to do it. Be Here Now sold almost 700,000 copies in the first three days of sale in 1997. Oasis [Pictured, Noel Gallagher] released it on a Thursday — rather than the usual Monday — with three days of manic sales enough to catapult it to No1. Coldplay are doing the same with Viva La Vida, out on June 12. Their last album, X&Y, is currently second on the fastest-selling list. An Oasis source said: “Some people reckon Coldplay have nicked their successful blueprint from Be Here Now to try to break the record.”

 

But an insider in the Coldplay camp said: "The band decided to release the album on a Thursday to bring it in line with the rest of Europe. Oasis was never an influence.”

 

Will Champion Has Twins - Yes Twins!

 

Chris Martin and actress wife Gwyneth Paltrow may attract all the media attention over their children Apple and Moses, but he's not the only member of the band who was a proud dad. Drummer Will Champion and his wife Marianne welcomed twins Juno and Rex into the world on May 7, a little sister and brother to two-year-old Ava-Mae.

 

Q Magazine, July 2008: Playing Down Success

 

Coldplay spoke to Q magazine about public expectations of their forthcoming album, 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends', and their tag as one of the biggest bands in the world.

 

Frontman Chris Martin believes the band have not yet released anything "that good". He said: "I've just been excited about writing. After the last record I felt like God, I can't believe we've got away with becoming this huge band. And we still haven't done anything I think is that good yet. So it was almost like, We've got the job, now we've got to prove why we've got it."

 

Martin, who is married to Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow, added: "The only thing that makes me remember that we're in a big band is when I remember that I'm married to someone famous. Everything else in the day is exactly the same as it was 11 years ago." The singer was also asked if he felt his fame was mostly related to his marriage to Palrow, saying: "Well it's a different kind of fame, that we do everything to avoid."

 

[strawberryswinger]

nice review!

[Mimixxx]

I voted Triple M...as it signalled the start of the promotional tour :D