Chelsea, that was a truly amazing experience.

Now I wish I can replace those who were not happy with the whole trip and join you instead. Hah.

I was actually looking forward to a Q&A session with Phil :laugh3:

 

In a way I'm disappointed they didn't provide what was promised especially considering some people only came to talk serious "music industry" to them, but they didn't have to add any surprises either. Swings and roundabouts. And its a 100 Coldplayer meetup too! :D

 

(make sure there are barrels of beer on the boat next time!)

I was actually looking forward to a Q&A session with Phil :laugh3:

 

In a way I'm disappointed they didn't provide what was promised especially considering some people only came to talk serious "music industry" to them, but they didn't have to add any surprises either. Swings and roundabouts. And its a 100 Coldplayer meetup too! :D

(make sure there are barrels of beer on the boat next time!)

 

Haha, 3.50 bottled beers :confused: I should have had a few more at the pub!

 

 

and wow, I really really regret not going over to the set.

I do, in some ways, regret not going over to the set... But we'd probably have to have left pre the guys coming over anyway (or kipped in the station until the first train this morning. But given the temperatures around, that would have been extreme!) But instead I went to the pub and spent some more time with teh Coldplayers I'd bonded with... And really, you can't fault that at all. For once not feeling like you're talking to disinterested parties is unbelievable in itself, but all the people were so lovely.

 

Stories from the set and band meeting = amazing!

 

I loved it. I'm still loving it. It doesn't feel real in my mind. I woke up this afternoon (yeah, I didn't get to bed until 4 this morning) and thought 'did that actually happen?' It's surreal. I will never, ever forget it. I loved every minute and even if it wasn't what we were told (I wouldn't say promised) I think it was a million miles better.

 

I have to agreed on the signed things front. But eh, they've been busy and the whole thing was a logistical nightmare. Just having the video on my ipod will be enough for me forever to remember the night by.

OK, this is really, really sloppy. I hope to have a more coherent version blogged on my personal blogs tomorrow or so if anyone wants to check that at a later point. And I'll post my pictures once they're sent to me! :D

 

 

 

 

I got to the boat early. I didn’t go to the pub because I just needed to make sure I was in the right place at the right time, and I knew everyone would come over soon anyway. The boat was parked (do you park boats?) at the pier, and I could see people setting up, but no one else was around. Other Coldplayers started to trickle in and we made our introductions. News had come only hours before arriving that not only would we not be able to Tweet on the boat, but we would not be able to take pictures, either. This was heartbreaking news, but Debs (DEBS!!!) took all our cameras and phones at the door. At this point I thought the band would still be there at some point, so I was a bit sad, but really my excitement overshadowed all of that.

 

Once we were all on the boat, which took AGES (100 is a lot of people, you know), two guys with a megaphone started to talk to us. They were PAs for a film crew, and they informed us that we were to be part of Coldplay’s next music video. Which a lot of us had guessed in the past week, but it was a lovely surprise nonetheless.

 

We had to sign really, really intense contracts. The first was about them using our image in any way they want. The second was a confidentiality agreement, saying that EMI would find us and kill us if we even talked about this before Wednesday, when the video and song come out. In the end they called EMI and overturned that one, so this is all legal, me posting all this.

 

They played us “Christmas Lights.” It’s very Coldplay, very Viva, but just so great. I teared up the first time I heard it. We had to learn how to sing a bit in the middle, which is very similar to the VIVA chant, so we practiced that about 400 times.

 

And then we all bundled up and went to the top, open-air deck of the boat. We were driven to South Bank on the boat, between the OXO Tower and the National Theatre, where a film set was set up and Coldplay were. The boat was anchored a bit offshore, so we couldn’t see anything of the guys or the set besides the camera shooting us and the lights on us, but it was thrilling anyway. We were each given a balloon, and were instructed to let go of them at a specific point in the song we were singing along to (which they will actually track onto the song, they recorded us singing thousands of times with huge mics). We did four takes over the course of two hours. It was kind of a riot: being told hundreds of times “LET GO OF THE BALLOON ON THE FOURTH ‘OHH’” and “THIS IS JUST A REHEARSAL, DO NOT LET GO OF YOUR BALLOON ON THIS ONE.” It was freezing and we were all politely cutthroat about being at the railing so we’d be visible, but it was just a blast. I was in the very front for all but one take, so I think I’m going to be pretty visible in the video. It was cold and a bit like being in school, but I thought it was epic fun, no matter what other people say.

 

Afterwards, they opened the bar and set up Coldplay karaoke and it was a very nice party. I had a pint, which would damn me later. I didn’t take very many pictures or anything—we didn’t have our cameras or phones most of the time anyway. It was nice to just talk to so many of the people I’ve known only through the internet, or only through meetings at concerts, for years. It’s also a shame, though, because there’s so much going on and so many people that you just can’t talk to everyone. I missed out on really talking to a bunch of people. But I would like to say that I love Debs Wild. This is not news, but she’s just such a nice person, and so lovely to talk to. I got a shite picture with her, and she’s just so adorable. I want to be Debs Wild.

 

We pulled back into the pier around 10. A few of us (me, Anna, Jamie, and Daniel come to mind first) decided to go back to South Bank on the off chance the band was still shooting. We, or I should say I, wasn’t getting my hopes up. We walked along the river for about half an hour to get to where the shoot was (I have a stupidly keen sense of direction) and the scenery and security were still there and everything, and we freaked out. They let us watch as long as we didn’t take pictures, again, for confidentiality reasons.

 

I was on a live film set from 11 at night til 3 in the morning with Coldplay. I saw the entire thing being shot, I know every word of “Christmas Lights” now. Regardless of who was in the shoot and what they were filming, it was FASCINATING to see how a real film set works. I could never be an actor, or a musician, or anyone who has to do all that over and over and over. Nerves were frayed, from crew and band alike, I think. They were running hours late and there were technical problems and sound problems, but it’s not like it was all a shambles, either: I think this is just how film sets run. There were BRILLIANT takes that made me just hug myself for how much I love these guys.

 

Phil came over and talked to us for a while, a good while. We talked about the boat and he answered some Coldplay-related questions for us, like how he came up with the name “Politik” (he was impressed we knew that he was the one that did: it’s from Karl Marx’s realpolitik, which isn’t exactly hard to work out). He said he meant to be on the boat with us, but got asked to be in the video instead. I said that made total sense, but I was actually looking forward to the Q&A with him, and he apologized and I said there was no need to, because we were talking now.But what a nice man. Oh my gosh.

 

It was also FUCKING FREEZING. Well, I mean, I have a very high tolerance for cold, so I’ve been colder, but it was not comfortable. My bigger problem was that I had to pee, and had since 10 when we left the boat and I downed a pint. All I wanted was a toilet, honestly.

 

I waited from about 10 to about 2, when really nice crew people that gave us handwarmers told me where a public toilet was. I ran to it. It was locked. I came back, the security guards told me how to break into the one at the OXO tower. I ran there. I couldn’t do it: the codes they gave me for the keypads were behind padlocked gates. And I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that I was missing what I waited all those hours for. I’m psychic like that.

 

I ran back, still bursting for a loo. I saw the others walking away from the scene, and I just knew they’d met the band. They looked at me and said “we’re really sorry…Chris came out and hugged us and signed things and took a group picture.” And I saw the autographs in their hands and I just couldn’t believe that I missed him. Daniel and Graham stayed with me as the others left, and the three of us were standing at the side barrier near the stage as I was feeling my chance slip away from me. I got upset. I’m not really a crier, so I didn’t cry or anything, but my heart just broke a bit.

 

Apparently Chris Martin saw my heart breaking. He waved at me from the stage a few meteres away and shouted “HI!” and I waved back and said something like “I’m sorry to distract you, I’m just sad I needed the toilet when you came around to speak to everyone and missed you!” and he said “Well you know how it is: when you gotta go you gotta GO!” and I laughed and made the poor choice of saying back “but I didn’t even go! Everywhere’s closed! AGH!” and he said something like “oh God, I’m sorry, that’s terrible!” He was drawn back into filming again, but I felt a bit better about things, even if I did just have a conversation about my bladder with Chris Martin. I was ready to just leave only half sad, but Graham and Daniel said they wanted to stay on anyway to see if they could meet the rest of the band. I was hesitant, because Chris already saw me being upset that I missed him and I was embarrassed, but I stayed. When he got a free minute about 10 minutes later, he came over to talk to me to make up for it. I think I behaved myself rather well this time. But he made eye contact with me when he shook my hand, and it sounds so disgustingly obsessive and girly to say, but I did wither a bit when I saw how blue his eyes really were. I like, had to look away. He shook my hand and asked my name and said “hey Chelsea, I think I signed your book,” and sure enough, when I’d been on my toilet adventure, Daniel got my Roadie book signed for me from him, with my name and everything. So I got a picture with him…it didn’t come out, but I’ll post it later anyway. I think I could tell he was just tired and ready to go home, and I felt bad taking him away from set for a silly fan picture, but he was just so, so nice despite all that. These guys are such good people.

 

I was ready to be satisfied with that, but I stayed on with Graham and Daniel to catch the rest of the band. And catch them we did. Around 3AM, a bunch of cars pulled round to the back of the set, so we went back there. Guy came out first—he looked worse for wear and was a bit cheesed off and in a rush to get out of there, but he was still so, so nice. I didn’t push him to sign my book, though. Jonny was next: oh, what a lovely man he is. HE SHAVED THE HOBO BEARD, girls. It’s regular scruff now. He seemed excited that we were some of the ones on the boat from earlier, and apologized for the cold, saying he couldn’t believe we’d been out there so long. And then Will. Oh, Will. Will is the nicest man ever. He came right over to us and hugged me and asked us a bit about the boat and took pictures with us and signed things, and acted nothing like he’d spent all night playing the same thing over and over and making nice to the camera over and over. To him, it was 11AM in the morning after a good night’s sleep, not 3AM after working all night. I apologized for keeping him from getting in the car to go home and he just looked at me right in the eye and laughed and said “there’s nothing to be sorry about, you’ve just been in our video for us, this is the least I can do,” or very close to that. The sincerity made me wilt in sheer love.

 

Daniel has the pictures of me with the other three on his camera, so I’ll post them when he sends them to me (and I still have his signed picture as collateral! SORRY, DANIEL! I forgot to get it out of my bag for you), but they all seemed to come out well besides the Chris one, which is just hilariously bad. The Will one was especially cute: he reached over the barrier to put his arms around me.

 

Simon Pegg was there too; he’s in the video. We only shouted hi at him and he waved and asked us how we were, but that’s OK. God, I love that man too. Anyone who knows me knows how obsessed with him and Edgar Wright and Nick Frost I am.

 

I know I haven’t talked about the details of the video shoot or anything: I will say that it’s reminiscent of the LiTii video, minus the puppets, with an old-fashioned stage and kind of a panto-like setup with confetti and fireworks. And the boys wear suits. Real suits and ties. And there’s some awesome camera work going on: Chris rises up from the floor like Frankenstein at the beginning. But they didn’t want details of the shoot itself getting out, so I’m not going to go into great detail about it. People will probably be cranky about that, but we’re all going to get to see it Wednesday, and I’d like to respect their wishes, as they were so gracious to us throughout the whole day, INCLUDING the boat with the drinks that it was “ridiculous” we had to pay for etc etc. I don’t want to enter all the drama I’ve been seeing bits of tonight, but honestly, guys, can we be grateful for what we got? I’d still say the same thing if I hadn’t hung around on set all night and talked to the boys, too. It’s amazing what we got to do, open bar or no open bar, meeting the band or not meeting the band (and I will tell you that the film set was so behind and stressful that they couldn’t have possibly gotten away to meet us—it’s about logistics rather than desire to be there). I know I was one of the ones convinced that the band would be there, and I turned out to be dead wrong, and I’m sorry if I got anyone’s hopes up by talking about it. But when nothing’s promised or confirmed, I don’t think we can turn around and say we deserved to have it when we don’t know all the circumstances behind why things happened the way they did.

 

 

 

 

WARNING: VERY, VERY LONG.

 

pretty much sums up last night :)

 

and there you were being all pessimistic....

 

I'm sending the pics now!

OK, this is really, really sloppy. I hope to have a more coherent version blogged on my personal blogs tomorrow or so if anyone wants to check that at a later point. And I'll post my pictures once they're sent to me! :D

 

 

 

 

I got to the boat early. I didn’t go to the pub because I just needed to make sure I was in the right place at the right time, and I knew everyone would come over soon anyway. The boat was parked (do you park boats?) at the pier, and I could see people setting up, but no one else was around. Other Coldplayers started to trickle in and we made our introductions. News had come only hours before arriving that not only would we not be able to Tweet on the boat, but we would not be able to take pictures, either. This was heartbreaking news, but Debs (DEBS!!!) took all our cameras and phones at the door. At this point I thought the band would still be there at some point, so I was a bit sad, but really my excitement overshadowed all of that.

 

Once we were all on the boat, which took AGES (100 is a lot of people, you know), two guys with a megaphone started to talk to us. They were PAs for a film crew, and they informed us that we were to be part of Coldplay’s next music video. Which a lot of us had guessed in the past week, but it was a lovely surprise nonetheless.

 

We had to sign really, really intense contracts. The first was about them using our image in any way they want. The second was a confidentiality agreement, saying that EMI would find us and kill us if we even talked about this before Wednesday, when the video and song come out. In the end they called EMI and overturned that one, so this is all legal, me posting all this.

 

They played us “Christmas Lights.” It’s very Coldplay, very Viva, but just so great. I teared up the first time I heard it. We had to learn how to sing a bit in the middle, which is very similar to the VIVA chant, so we practiced that about 400 times.

 

And then we all bundled up and went to the top, open-air deck of the boat. We were driven to South Bank on the boat, between the OXO Tower and the National Theatre, where a film set was set up and Coldplay were. The boat was anchored a bit offshore, so we couldn’t see anything of the guys or the set besides the camera shooting us and the lights on us, but it was thrilling anyway. We were each given a balloon, and were instructed to let go of them at a specific point in the song we were singing along to (which they will actually track onto the song, they recorded us singing thousands of times with huge mics). We did four takes over the course of two hours. It was kind of a riot: being told hundreds of times “LET GO OF THE BALLOON ON THE FOURTH ‘OHH’” and “THIS IS JUST A REHEARSAL, DO NOT LET GO OF YOUR BALLOON ON THIS ONE.” It was freezing and we were all politely cutthroat about being at the railing so we’d be visible, but it was just a blast. I was in the very front for all but one take, so I think I’m going to be pretty visible in the video. It was cold and a bit like being in school, but I thought it was epic fun, no matter what other people say.

 

Afterwards, they opened the bar and set up Coldplay karaoke and it was a very nice party. I had a pint, which would damn me later. I didn’t take very many pictures or anything—we didn’t have our cameras or phones most of the time anyway. It was nice to just talk to so many of the people I’ve known only through the internet, or only through meetings at concerts, for years. It’s also a shame, though, because there’s so much going on and so many people that you just can’t talk to everyone. I missed out on really talking to a bunch of people. But I would like to say that I love Debs Wild. This is not news, but she’s just such a nice person, and so lovely to talk to. I got a shite picture with her, and she’s just so adorable. I want to be Debs Wild.

 

We pulled back into the pier around 10. A few of us (me, Anna, Jamie, and Daniel come to mind first) decided to go back to South Bank on the off chance the band was still shooting. We, or I should say I, wasn’t getting my hopes up. We walked along the river for about half an hour to get to where the shoot was (I have a stupidly keen sense of direction) and the scenery and security were still there and everything, and we freaked out. They let us watch as long as we didn’t take pictures, again, for confidentiality reasons.

 

I was on a live film set from 11 at night til 3 in the morning with Coldplay. I saw the entire thing being shot, I know every word of “Christmas Lights” now. Regardless of who was in the shoot and what they were filming, it was FASCINATING to see how a real film set works. I could never be an actor, or a musician, or anyone who has to do all that over and over and over. Nerves were frayed, from crew and band alike, I think. They were running hours late and there were technical problems and sound problems, but it’s not like it was all a shambles, either: I think this is just how film sets run. There were BRILLIANT takes that made me just hug myself for how much I love these guys.

 

Phil came over and talked to us for a while, a good while. We talked about the boat and he answered some Coldplay-related questions for us, like how he came up with the name “Politik” (he was impressed we knew that he was the one that did: it’s from Karl Marx’s realpolitik, which isn’t exactly hard to work out). He said he meant to be on the boat with us, but got asked to be in the video instead. I said that made total sense, but I was actually looking forward to the Q&A with him, and he apologized and I said there was no need to, because we were talking now.But what a nice man. Oh my gosh.

 

It was also FUCKING FREEZING. Well, I mean, I have a very high tolerance for cold, so I’ve been colder, but it was not comfortable. My bigger problem was that I had to pee, and had since 10 when we left the boat and I downed a pint. All I wanted was a toilet, honestly.

 

I waited from about 10 to about 2, when really nice crew people that gave us handwarmers told me where a public toilet was. I ran to it. It was locked. I came back, the security guards told me how to break into the one at the OXO tower. I ran there. I couldn’t do it: the codes they gave me for the keypads were behind padlocked gates. And I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that I was missing what I waited all those hours for. I’m psychic like that.

 

I ran back, still bursting for a loo. I saw the others walking away from the scene, and I just knew they’d met the band. They looked at me and said “we’re really sorry…Chris came out and hugged us and signed things and took a group picture.” And I saw the autographs in their hands and I just couldn’t believe that I missed him. Daniel and Graham stayed with me as the others left, and the three of us were standing at the side barrier near the stage as I was feeling my chance slip away from me. I got upset. I’m not really a crier, so I didn’t cry or anything, but my heart just broke a bit.

 

Apparently Chris Martin saw my heart breaking. He waved at me from the stage a few meteres away and shouted “HI!” and I waved back and said something like “I’m sorry to distract you, I’m just sad I needed the toilet when you came around to speak to everyone and missed you!” and he said “Well you know how it is: when you gotta go you gotta GO!” and I laughed and made the poor choice of saying back “but I didn’t even go! Everywhere’s closed! AGH!” and he said something like “oh God, I’m sorry, that’s terrible!” He was drawn back into filming again, but I felt a bit better about things, even if I did just have a conversation about my bladder with Chris Martin. I was ready to just leave only half sad, but Graham and Daniel said they wanted to stay on anyway to see if they could meet the rest of the band. I was hesitant, because Chris already saw me being upset that I missed him and I was embarrassed, but I stayed. When he got a free minute about 10 minutes later, he came over to talk to me to make up for it. I think I behaved myself rather well this time. But he made eye contact with me when he shook my hand, and it sounds so disgustingly obsessive and girly to say, but I did wither a bit when I saw how blue his eyes really were. I like, had to look away. He shook my hand and asked my name and said “hey Chelsea, I think I signed your book,” and sure enough, when I’d been on my toilet adventure, Daniel got my Roadie book signed for me from him, with my name and everything. So I got a picture with him…it didn’t come out, but I’ll post it later anyway. I think I could tell he was just tired and ready to go home, and I felt bad taking him away from set for a silly fan picture, but he was just so, so nice despite all that. These guys are such good people.

 

I was ready to be satisfied with that, but I stayed on with Graham and Daniel to catch the rest of the band. And catch them we did. Around 3AM, a bunch of cars pulled round to the back of the set, so we went back there. Guy came out first—he looked worse for wear and was a bit cheesed off and in a rush to get out of there, but he was still so, so nice. I didn’t push him to sign my book, though. Jonny was next: oh, what a lovely man he is. HE SHAVED THE HOBO BEARD, girls. It’s regular scruff now. He seemed excited that we were some of the ones on the boat from earlier, and apologized for the cold, saying he couldn’t believe we’d been out there so long. And then Will. Oh, Will. Will is the nicest man ever. He came right over to us and hugged me and asked us a bit about the boat and took pictures with us and signed things, and acted nothing like he’d spent all night playing the same thing over and over and making nice to the camera over and over. To him, it was 11AM in the morning after a good night’s sleep, not 3AM after working all night. I apologized for keeping him from getting in the car to go home and he just looked at me right in the eye and laughed and said “there’s nothing to be sorry about, you’ve just been in our video for us, this is the least I can do,” or very close to that. The sincerity made me wilt in sheer love.

 

Daniel has the pictures of me with the other three on his camera, so I’ll post them when he sends them to me (and I still have his signed picture as collateral! SORRY, DANIEL! I forgot to get it out of my bag for you), but they all seemed to come out well besides the Chris one, which is just hilariously bad. The Will one was especially cute: he reached over the barrier to put his arms around me.

 

Simon Pegg was there too; he’s in the video. We only shouted hi at him and he waved and asked us how we were, but that’s OK. God, I love that man too. Anyone who knows me knows how obsessed with him and Edgar Wright and Nick Frost I am.

 

I know I haven’t talked about the details of the video shoot or anything: I will say that it’s reminiscent of the LiTii video, minus the puppets, with an old-fashioned stage and kind of a panto-like setup with confetti and fireworks. And the boys wear suits. Real suits and ties. And there’s some awesome camera work going on: Chris rises up from the floor like Frankenstein at the beginning. But they didn’t want details of the shoot itself getting out, so I’m not going to go into great detail about it. People will probably be cranky about that, but we’re all going to get to see it Wednesday, and I’d like to respect their wishes, as they were so gracious to us throughout the whole day, INCLUDING the boat with the drinks that it was “ridiculous” we had to pay for etc etc. I don’t want to enter all the drama I’ve been seeing bits of tonight, but honestly, guys, can we be grateful for what we got? I’d still say the same thing if I hadn’t hung around on set all night and talked to the boys, too. It’s amazing what we got to do, open bar or no open bar, meeting the band or not meeting the band (and I will tell you that the film set was so behind and stressful that they couldn’t have possibly gotten away to meet us—it’s about logistics rather than desire to be there). I know I was one of the ones convinced that the band would be there, and I turned out to be dead wrong, and I’m sorry if I got anyone’s hopes up by talking about it. But when nothing’s promised or confirmed, I don’t think we can turn around and say we deserved to have it when we don’t know all the circumstances behind why things happened the way they did.

 

 

 

 

WARNING: VERY, VERY LONG.

 

pretty much sums up last night :)

 

and there you were being all pessimistic....

 

I'm sending the pics now!

(make sure there are barrels of beer on the boat next time!)

:laugh3: you should have warned the staff that coldplayers are drinkers :D

Studying movies and all that stuff, I would have done anything to see a set with Coldplay :bomb:

Anyway, I'm glad to see that them too have image & sound problems :laugh3: Looks like it always happens, and to everybody!!! :laugh3:

 

Thank you for that amazing story :) Can't wait to see the video now, and to hear the song :)

OK, this is really, really sloppy. I hope to have a more coherent version blogged on my personal blogs tomorrow or so if anyone wants to check that at a later point. And I'll post my pictures once they're sent to me! :D

 

 

 

 

I got to the boat early. I didn’t go to the pub because I just needed to make sure I was in the right place at the right time, and I knew everyone would come over soon anyway. The boat was parked (do you park boats?) at the pier, and I could see people setting up, but no one else was around. Other Coldplayers started to trickle in and we made our introductions. News had come only hours before arriving that not only would we not be able to Tweet on the boat, but we would not be able to take pictures, either. This was heartbreaking news, but Debs (DEBS!!!) took all our cameras and phones at the door. At this point I thought the band would still be there at some point, so I was a bit sad, but really my excitement overshadowed all of that.

 

Once we were all on the boat, which took AGES (100 is a lot of people, you know), two guys with a megaphone started to talk to us. They were PAs for a film crew, and they informed us that we were to be part of Coldplay’s next music video. Which a lot of us had guessed in the past week, but it was a lovely surprise nonetheless.

 

We had to sign really, really intense contracts. The first was about them using our image in any way they want. The second was a confidentiality agreement, saying that EMI would find us and kill us if we even talked about this before Wednesday, when the video and song come out. In the end they called EMI and overturned that one, so this is all legal, me posting all this.

 

They played us “Christmas Lights.” It’s very Coldplay, very Viva, but just so great. I teared up the first time I heard it. We had to learn how to sing a bit in the middle, which is very similar to the VIVA chant, so we practiced that about 400 times.

 

And then we all bundled up and went to the top, open-air deck of the boat. We were driven to South Bank on the boat, between the OXO Tower and the National Theatre, where a film set was set up and Coldplay were. The boat was anchored a bit offshore, so we couldn’t see anything of the guys or the set besides the camera shooting us and the lights on us, but it was thrilling anyway. We were each given a balloon, and were instructed to let go of them at a specific point in the song we were singing along to (which they will actually track onto the song, they recorded us singing thousands of times with huge mics). We did four takes over the course of two hours. It was kind of a riot: being told hundreds of times “LET GO OF THE BALLOON ON THE FOURTH ‘OHH’” and “THIS IS JUST A REHEARSAL, DO NOT LET GO OF YOUR BALLOON ON THIS ONE.” It was freezing and we were all politely cutthroat about being at the railing so we’d be visible, but it was just a blast. I was in the very front for all but one take, so I think I’m going to be pretty visible in the video. It was cold and a bit like being in school, but I thought it was epic fun, no matter what other people say.

 

Afterwards, they opened the bar and set up Coldplay karaoke and it was a very nice party. I had a pint, which would damn me later. I didn’t take very many pictures or anything—we didn’t have our cameras or phones most of the time anyway. It was nice to just talk to so many of the people I’ve known only through the internet, or only through meetings at concerts, for years. It’s also a shame, though, because there’s so much going on and so many people that you just can’t talk to everyone. I missed out on really talking to a bunch of people. But I would like to say that I love Debs Wild. This is not news, but she’s just such a nice person, and so lovely to talk to. I got a shite picture with her, and she’s just so adorable. I want to be Debs Wild.

 

We pulled back into the pier around 10. A few of us (me, Anna, Jamie, and Daniel come to mind first) decided to go back to South Bank on the off chance the band was still shooting. We, or I should say I, wasn’t getting my hopes up. We walked along the river for about half an hour to get to where the shoot was (I have a stupidly keen sense of direction) and the scenery and security were still there and everything, and we freaked out. They let us watch as long as we didn’t take pictures, again, for confidentiality reasons.

 

I was on a live film set from 11 at night til 3 in the morning with Coldplay. I saw the entire thing being shot, I know every word of “Christmas Lights” now. Regardless of who was in the shoot and what they were filming, it was FASCINATING to see how a real film set works. I could never be an actor, or a musician, or anyone who has to do all that over and over and over. Nerves were frayed, from crew and band alike, I think. They were running hours late and there were technical problems and sound problems, but it’s not like it was all a shambles, either: I think this is just how film sets run. There were BRILLIANT takes that made me just hug myself for how much I love these guys.

 

Phil came over and talked to us for a while, a good while. We talked about the boat and he answered some Coldplay-related questions for us, like how he came up with the name “Politik” (he was impressed we knew that he was the one that did: it’s from Karl Marx’s realpolitik, which isn’t exactly hard to work out). He said he meant to be on the boat with us, but got asked to be in the video instead. I said that made total sense, but I was actually looking forward to the Q&A with him, and he apologized and I said there was no need to, because we were talking now.But what a nice man. Oh my gosh.

 

It was also FUCKING FREEZING. Well, I mean, I have a very high tolerance for cold, so I’ve been colder, but it was not comfortable. My bigger problem was that I had to pee, and had since 10 when we left the boat and I downed a pint. All I wanted was a toilet, honestly.

 

I waited from about 10 to about 2, when really nice crew people that gave us handwarmers told me where a public toilet was. I ran to it. It was locked. I came back, the security guards told me how to break into the one at the OXO tower. I ran there. I couldn’t do it: the codes they gave me for the keypads were behind padlocked gates. And I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that I was missing what I waited all those hours for. I’m psychic like that.

 

I ran back, still bursting for a loo. I saw the others walking away from the scene, and I just knew they’d met the band. They looked at me and said “we’re really sorry…Chris came out and hugged us and signed things and took a group picture.” And I saw the autographs in their hands and I just couldn’t believe that I missed him. Daniel and Graham stayed with me as the others left, and the three of us were standing at the side barrier near the stage as I was feeling my chance slip away from me. I got upset. I’m not really a crier, so I didn’t cry or anything, but my heart just broke a bit.

 

Apparently Chris Martin saw my heart breaking. He waved at me from the stage a few meteres away and shouted “HI!” and I waved back and said something like “I’m sorry to distract you, I’m just sad I needed the toilet when you came around to speak to everyone and missed you!” and he said “Well you know how it is: when you gotta go you gotta GO!” and I laughed and made the poor choice of saying back “but I didn’t even go! Everywhere’s closed! AGH!” and he said something like “oh God, I’m sorry, that’s terrible!” He was drawn back into filming again, but I felt a bit better about things, even if I did just have a conversation about my bladder with Chris Martin. I was ready to just leave only half sad, but Graham and Daniel said they wanted to stay on anyway to see if they could meet the rest of the band. I was hesitant, because Chris already saw me being upset that I missed him and I was embarrassed, but I stayed. When he got a free minute about 10 minutes later, he came over to talk to me to make up for it. I think I behaved myself rather well this time. But he made eye contact with me when he shook my hand, and it sounds so disgustingly obsessive and girly to say, but I did wither a bit when I saw how blue his eyes really were. I like, had to look away. He shook my hand and asked my name and said “hey Chelsea, I think I signed your book,” and sure enough, when I’d been on my toilet adventure, Daniel got my Roadie book signed for me from him, with my name and everything. So I got a picture with him…it didn’t come out, but I’ll post it later anyway. I think I could tell he was just tired and ready to go home, and I felt bad taking him away from set for a silly fan picture, but he was just so, so nice despite all that. These guys are such good people.

 

I was ready to be satisfied with that, but I stayed on with Graham and Daniel to catch the rest of the band. And catch them we did. Around 3AM, a bunch of cars pulled round to the back of the set, so we went back there. Guy came out first—he looked worse for wear and was a bit cheesed off and in a rush to get out of there, but he was still so, so nice. I didn’t push him to sign my book, though. Jonny was next: oh, what a lovely man he is. HE SHAVED THE HOBO BEARD, girls. It’s regular scruff now. He seemed excited that we were some of the ones on the boat from earlier, and apologized for the cold, saying he couldn’t believe we’d been out there so long. And then Will. Oh, Will. Will is the nicest man ever. He came right over to us and hugged me and asked us a bit about the boat and took pictures with us and signed things, and acted nothing like he’d spent all night playing the same thing over and over and making nice to the camera over and over. To him, it was 11AM in the morning after a good night’s sleep, not 3AM after working all night. I apologized for keeping him from getting in the car to go home and he just looked at me right in the eye and laughed and said “there’s nothing to be sorry about, you’ve just been in our video for us, this is the least I can do,” or very close to that. The sincerity made me wilt in sheer love.

 

Daniel has the pictures of me with the other three on his camera, so I’ll post them when he sends them to me (and I still have his signed picture as collateral! SORRY, DANIEL! I forgot to get it out of my bag for you), but they all seemed to come out well besides the Chris one, which is just hilariously bad. The Will one was especially cute: he reached over the barrier to put his arms around me.

 

Simon Pegg was there too; he’s in the video. We only shouted hi at him and he waved and asked us how we were, but that’s OK. God, I love that man too. Anyone who knows me knows how obsessed with him and Edgar Wright and Nick Frost I am.

 

I know I haven’t talked about the details of the video shoot or anything: I will say that it’s reminiscent of the LiTii video, minus the puppets, with an old-fashioned stage and kind of a panto-like setup with confetti and fireworks. And the boys wear suits. Real suits and ties. And there’s some awesome camera work going on: Chris rises up from the floor like Frankenstein at the beginning. But they didn’t want details of the shoot itself getting out, so I’m not going to go into great detail about it. People will probably be cranky about that, but we’re all going to get to see it Wednesday, and I’d like to respect their wishes, as they were so gracious to us throughout the whole day, INCLUDING the boat with the drinks that it was “ridiculous” we had to pay for etc etc. I don’t want to enter all the drama I’ve been seeing bits of tonight, but honestly, guys, can we be grateful for what we got? I’d still say the same thing if I hadn’t hung around on set all night and talked to the boys, too. It’s amazing what we got to do, open bar or no open bar, meeting the band or not meeting the band (and I will tell you that the film set was so behind and stressful that they couldn’t have possibly gotten away to meet us—it’s about logistics rather than desire to be there). I know I was one of the ones convinced that the band would be there, and I turned out to be dead wrong, and I’m sorry if I got anyone’s hopes up by talking about it. But when nothing’s promised or confirmed, I don’t think we can turn around and say we deserved to have it when we don’t know all the circumstances behind why things happened the way they did.

 

 

 

 

WARNING: VERY, VERY LONG.

 

What an amazing story, i'm sooo happy for you!!! :hug:

I can't wait for Christmas Lights!!And it's just great you're going to be in a Coldplay video!!!!

Glad most of you had a good time! :D Would have loved to have been there.

 

I can understand that some people might be a bit dissapointed the band weren't there/no signed photos etc., but none of that was promised. You still got to be in a coldplay video and meet loads of other coldplayers!

 

I just hope that if Debs or anyone from the coldplay HQ reads this thread, they won't be put off from holding events like this in the future due to some of the negativity :\

I do, in some ways, regret not going over to the set... But we'd probably have to have left pre the guys coming over anyway (or kipped in the station until the first train this morning. But given the temperatures around, that would have been extreme!) But instead I went to the pub and spent some more time with teh Coldplayers I'd bonded with... And really, you can't fault that at all. For once not feeling like you're talking to disinterested parties is unbelievable in itself, but all the people were so lovely.

 

Stories from the set and band meeting = amazing!

 

I loved it. I'm still loving it. It doesn't feel real in my mind. I woke up this afternoon (yeah, I didn't get to bed until 4 this morning) and thought 'did that actually happen?' It's surreal. I will never, ever forget it. I loved every minute and even if it wasn't what we were told (I wouldn't say promised) I think it was a million miles better.

 

I have to agreed on the signed things front. But eh, they've been busy and the whole thing was a logistical nightmare. Just having the video on my ipod will be enough for me forever to remember the night by.

 

 

 

Couldn't agree more :D I feel so honored to have been a part of this!

 

I met some truly brilliant coldplayers :) And don't forget Debs Wild, Chris Salmon and Andy Rugg who were some of the kindest nicest people I've ever met.

 

I'll never forget it

I'm glad you guys all had fun! :D

honestly, the negativity isn't really rampant folks. and i feel like anyone whose said anything negative (like myself) has only had to keep talking because people keep ostracizing them. i never said it wasn't a good night, which could be lost in my having to explain and defend why i was disappointed. if coldplay hq doesn't want to do something in the future because a few people wished they had gotten what they'd been told (not even something more) than they wouldn't very well be much like coldplay hq.

I was on a live film set from 11 at night til 3 in the morning with Coldplay. I saw the entire thing being shot, I know every word of “Christmas Lights” now. Regardless of who was in the shoot and what they were filming, it was FASCINATING to see how a real film set works. I could never be an actor, or a musician, or anyone who has to do all that over and over and over.

 

 

i'm rather jealous of you now, not just because you got to meet Coldplay, but because you got to be at a film set :P:wacky:

the repetition can be a bit much to handle, especially when you're the editor. :freak:

 

but congrats! you totally deserved it :awesome:

 

But he made eye contact with me when he shook my hand, and it sounds so disgustingly obsessive and girly to say, but I did wither a bit when I saw how blue his eyes really were. I like, had to look away.

 

they are so, so blue and so big it's almost frightening :stunned:

I just wanna hear more about the song :)

What? You will be on a Coldplay video? :shocked2:

I would give everything for that! Do you know for which song this video is?

And did you hear it?

^ christmas lights ,will be released o. The 1st December .

They heard the song yes...

Think about it from their point of view. Had they announced it was a video shoot they know the nature of this forum and it would have been Tweeted and Facebooked round the blogosphere and half of London would have turned up and ruined the shoot. It's the nature of the beast nowadays. The schedules for shooting of some of our top TV shows are treated like National Top Secrets nowadays to avoid hoardes of people in the background ruining the shoot/ shouting.

 

Maybe the band had initially planned to meet them all, but it just wasn't possible? I mean the shoot was apparently behind schedule anyway since they didn't leave until 3AM or something. Apparently Phil said at the set they planned to do the Q&A but he was called to the set. Maybe he had to replace someone who couldn't be there, etc, etc.

 

I'm just saying to be open to the possibilities of problems popping up and to not judge the band or it's management so quickly in regards to what was 'promised' or not.

You guys that are upset that you didn;t get the Q&A are being so ridiculously selfish right now.

What don't you comprehend... YOU. were. in. a. coldplay. music. video.

Honestly... I can't believe I'm reading comments about people being disappointed, seriously.

I really can't believe it.

I have to agree with everyone else, shut the fuck up everyone, you're going to be in a god-damn music video. Honestly.

You guys that are upset that you didn;t get the Q&A are being so ridiculously selfish right now.

What don't you comprehend... YOU. were. in. a. coldplay. music. video.

Honestly... I can't believe I'm reading comments about people being disappointed, seriously.

I really can't believe it.

 

I agree with you on a level. It's incredibly insulting to those that would have loved to have gone, but couldn't. Just because it didn't go as planned or it didn't live up to your fantasies doesn't mean you should be downing HQ or coming up with conclusions you have no idea about. You still got to go and it was a fantastic opportunity that you should be grateful for.

 

It's fine for them to express their 'opinion' - that's what this site is for - but I feel some posts have been incredibly condescending, whether they meant to or not.

Okay, I have to say, I loved it so so so so so so so much, but I hate myself for not going to South Bank afterwards. It's not about not meeting them, it's about having the chance to see them record a video and meet them and not having been there. That's just killing me right now.

 

But I'll be fully recovered when I see the video.

 

Again, I thought it was amazing and no faults on their part in my opinion, I just should've gone to the damn shooting.

I agree with you on a level. It's incredibly insulting to those that would have loved to have gone, but couldn't. Just because it didn't go as planned or it didn't live up to your fantasies doesn't mean you should be downing HQ or coming up with conclusions you have no idea about. You still got to go and it was a fantastic opportunity that you should be grateful for.

 

It's fine to express your 'opinion' - that's what this site is for - but I feel some posts have been incredibly condescending, whether you meant to or not.

 

Okay. I agree with you on the first part.

About people being ridiculous.

But the second part?

How am I condescending?

I'm just stating that I can't even fathom how people would be upset that there was no Q&A? I know a lot of people that went, and I haven't heard them complain about it at all, they couldn't believe that they got to be in the music video.

Personally I think being in a music video is better than a Q&A.

you can't be upset because a roadie was sick, I mean really.

My opinion... is that people that are upset about the Q&A should really think about being considerate to the people who couldn't go.

It's really a big slap in the face.

 

 

I have to agree with everyone else, shut the fuck up everyone, you're going to be in a god-damn music video. Honestly.

^ This all the way.

Really I agree with you all the way man. I still can't believe people would be upset, just because there wasn't a q&a.

The boys are back: Coldplay film the video for latest single Christmas Lights on London's South Bank

 

They haven’t released a new song since early last year but after months of working on their next album Coldplay are finally ready to do what they do best.

 

 

The English band will be releasing their latest single ‘Christmas Lights’ on Wednesday December 1.

 

Frontman Chris Martin, 33, treated fans to a sneak peak of the new track yesterday as he and the band filmed the video on the South Bank of the River Thames.

 

Boys are back in town: After a long break alternative rock band Coldplay are set to release their new single on Wednesday 1 December. The boys looked smart on the set of their new video 'Christmas Lights'

 

 

 

Viva la voice: Frontman Chris Martin clutches at his heart before reaching for the sky during filming of the video

 

The rockers performed the song surrounded by old instruments on a theatre –inspired stage complete with red velvet curtains, an Elvis-themed backing band and flashing lights.

 

Aboard a boat on the water a group of people were lit up holding balloons which were then released en mass into the night’s sky.

 

Coldplay’s long awaited next album, the name of which has not been announced, is the culmination of months of work from the group.

 

Front man Chris Martin told Q magazine that the album took inspiration from the White Rose movement where a group of young people living in Germany in WWII printed anti-Nazi flyers.

 

The Viva La Vida singer said: ‘I admire it. I've spent a lot of my life playing it a bit safe or conforming to something, even though I don't agree with it. So I have great respect and admiration for people who don't.’

 

 

 

Lights, camera, action: Coldplay perform their new single Christmas Lights on a stage draped with red velvet and littered with antique instruments before the lights and pyrotechnics engulf the stage

 

Balloons: On a boat on a the Thames a group stood with their balloons raised lit up as part of the video

 

Up, up and away: The balloons are released and make their into the sky with London in the backdrop

 

 

Scribble: The boys posted a handwritten note to their site telling fans about new song Christmas Lights

 

To announce the release of their new song a handwritten note (right) was posted on the official Coldplay website dated 24 November 2010.

 

As well as telling fans that the song is written in the key of G, the release date and that it will be available on I-Tunes, a portion of scrawl had been scribbled out which fans have worked out to read: We are doing the video right now. It is a mid-tempo number.

 

The single marks the bands return to centre-stage, but it has been Chris Martin’s wife who has been hitting headlines recently by flexing her musical muscles.

 

Gwyneth Paltrow, 37, has received rave reviews for her single ability and acting skills playing Kelly Canter in the movie Country Strong.

And Martin was on hand to give his wife a helping hand teaching her how to play the guitar for her role as the country singer.

 

The Oscar winner stars as an alcoholic singer who embarks on her career resurrection tour after she is plucked out of rehab by her husband.

 

The Nashville-based film also stars Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl fame and Garrett Hedlund.

 

Christmas Lights is out on Wednesday December .

Gwyneth's new film Country Strong opens in US cinema on December 22

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1333416/Coldplay-film-video-new-single-Christmas-Lights-Londons-South-Bank.html#ixzz16PSOa1lF

Okay. I agree with you on the first part.

About people being ridiculous.

But the second part?

How am I condescending?

 

Oooh, no I didn't mean you at all!!! Sorry, I guess I needed to reword that! I meant some of the negative posts in here being condescending, like they'll say stuff like 'I was there, you weren't, I know what happened, so there!' - like they are somehow superior for their experience :rolleyes:

 

Sorry about that! I edited my post to be a bit clearer! :)