Newsreel: Oracle answers 10,000th question

August 22, 2008 7:44 pm

That's a lot of questions

Good evening. We're pleased to announce that, today, the Oracle answered the 10,000th question to be submitted to Coldplay.com for their attention. The Oracle hasn't actually answered all 10,000 of them, but it still feels like a landmark moment. Head on over there to celebrate.

 

Anchorman

Newsreel: Oracle answers 10,000th question

August 22, 2008 7:44 pm

That's a lot of questions

Good evening. We're pleased to announce that, today, the Oracle answered the 10,000th question to be submitted to Coldplay.com for their attention. The Oracle hasn't actually answered all 10,000 of them, but it still feels like a landmark moment. Head on over there to celebrate.

 

Anchorman

And out of those 10,000, how many has the Big O actually answered? :dozey:

^ 143 I think...

 

question this may be dumb, did we ever confirm who is prospekt?

No official confirmation, but it's Phil.

yeah thought so too tnx ^

Albert Hammond Jr to support in Europe

August 26, 2008 11:42 am

Strokes man to play 23 shows

We're very pleased to confirm that Albert Hammond Jr will be joining us for our trip across Europe in September and early October. We chose him because he's brilliant and we love him.

 

Sept 1 – Strasbourg, France

Sept 2 – Mannheim, Germany

Sept 4 – Lyon, France

Sept 6 – Barcelona, Spain

Sept 7 – Madrid, Spain

Sept 9 – Paris, France

Sept 10 – Paris, France

Sept 12 – Cologne, Germany

Sept 14 – Hamburg, Germany

Sept 15 - Berlin, Germany

Sept 17 – Stockholm, Sweden

Sept 18 – Stockholm, Sweden

Sept 19 – Oslo, Norway

Sept 22 – Prague, Czech Republic

Sept 23 – Budapest, Hungary

Sept 24 – Vienna, Austria

Sept 26 – Munich, Germany

Sept 28 – Zurich, Switzerland

Sept 29 – Bologna, Italy

Sept 30 – Milan, Italy

Oct 2 – Rotterdam, Netherlands

Oct 3 – Rotterdam, Netherlands

Oct 4 – Antwerp, Belgium

 

Vote for Coldplay.com in the BT Digital Music Awards (*ahem* and Coldplaying.com too)

 

http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=105

WHAT. THE. HELL.

 

WHY CAN'T ALBERT BE SUPPORTING IN AMERICA?!?!?! :bigcry:

 

and if i was only still living in rotterdam...i could practically walk to the venue AND see albert! :sad:

Newsreel: Hear special BBC show on Saturday

August 27, 2008 10:12 am

BBC Radio Theatre gig to be broadcast live

Good morning. On Saturday, Coldplay will play a special concert for the BBC, which will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 2. The show will take place from 7-8pm, with build-up on both Radio 2 and Radio 6. Click here for full details and to listen live online, wherever you are. The BBC will also be showing video of the gig on the site afterwards.

 

The concert will take place in London's BBC Radio Theatre, a venue which was opened in 1932 and visited shortly afterwards by King George V and Queen Mary. "Their Majesties were greatly struck by the hall, which is among London's finest, with an audience capacity of 700," reported the Daily Telegraph at the time. It is not clear whether any royalty will be attending Saturday night's show.

 

Anchorman

 

http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=106

Newsreel: Post is go!

August 27, 2008 8:06 pm

Check out the new section

 

Good evening. We're very pleased to announce the launch of a new section here on Coldplay.com. Post is a place where all the pictures, videos, interviews and blogs which appear on this website will now gather together, in one handy place. Post also contains some things that are new to the site, such as the official band biography for the current album and some more exclusive pictures (like the one of the band with an elf prince in the Brixton LiveBlog gallery).

 

Should you be looking for the Oracle, you'll find a button at the bottom of the front page and one on the navigation bar, pointing you in the general direction of their impressive wisdom.

 

Anchorman

 

 

 

 

 

this is AWESOME...go watch the "will's 30th birthday" thing....so cute! :nice:

The POST thins is amazing.Greeeeeaaattt pictures.All in one place.I like it!!!

I didn't get the elf thing until I saw the picture :)

awwww, the chris/will video is adorablllllllle

 

i must say that this is the best addition yet, i think :D

news/anchorman!

 

"Should you be looking for the Oracle, you'll find a button at the bottom of the front page and one on the navigation bar,

pointing you in the general direction of their impressive wisdom.

 

Anchorman"

 

^^ :inquisitive: Um... that is suspicious.

So the Oracle IS more than one person???? :thinking:

 

I'm loving this Post thing too! :nice:

(Although at first I thought it meant Mail, so i was a wee bit confused...)

^ i think they just suck at grammar :P

most people do the "their" thing when it technically should be "he" or "he/she." "their" just sounds better, though, and sounds less pretentious.

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

i bet this is where they are gonna put lyrics,... I was wondering about that since viva only has 4 letters

Yay! :dance:

Newsreel: Listen again to BBC show

August 31, 2008 8:15 am

Hear it on the iPlayer

 

Good morning. Last night, Coldplay played a special concert in London for the BBC. If you missed it, then you can listen to the whole show on the Beeb's iPlayer here. On Monday, the BBC are also promising to add photos and videos here. Plus, right here on Coldplay.com, we'll be bringing you a report on proceedings from our very own Roadie #42.

 

Anchorman

 

Click to cast your daily vote for Coldplay.com in the BT Digital Music Awards

Roadie #42 - Blog #23

August 31, 2008 7:02 pm

#42 reports from last night's BBC show

Like the school summer holidays, our three weeks at home went all too fast. In many ways, starting again at the BBC is perfectly consistent with the "back to school" analogy. The BBC has that wonderful institutional feel, a similar must and polish smell and a strict adherence to regulations that is at first mildly annoying, but eventually becomes quite endearing.

 

 

We're at the BBC Radio Theatre today, in the West End, which I'd guess holds around 250 people. The stage is undoubtedly the smallest space we've tried to fit the gear into on this tour so far. There's a good deal of juggling and repositioning until it all begins to make sense.The soundcheck is a relaxed affair, with Chris dropping into Gravity (as per 24th June 2003 in the Timeline) at the piano for a brief moment. Chances of this making it into the set are well below slim I'd say, as Jonny didn't even recognise it and Chris couldn't remember half the chords. I've always loved that track myself though. Easily the best song they've never released!

 

After the soundcheck, it's a quick run around the BBC buildings to do a couple of radio interviews. It truly is a one stop shop here at the BBC! First up is Dermot O Leary, possibly the most affably chipper man in broadcasting. Dermot goes onstage to warm up the crowd and introduce the band later this evening, so it's a nice way to hook up with him prior to the event.

 

 

Then it's on to Steve Lamacq. Once described by Mr. Buckland as "like the Yoda of radio", Steve gave the guys their first huge step up on British radio (as per 25th Feb 1999 in the Timeline)with a live session before they even had a proper record deal. There's laughter aplenty, then a rather out of the blue announcement of future plans. Steve has Michael Stipe on the phone for an interview, so the fellas chat with him and talk about plans for an EP, asking him to choose a name for it. It's a multiple choice question, but he's emphatic in his view, so it looks as though he's settled the matter of what the next Coldplay release will be named (no doubt Anchorman will be making that official before very long). There was also time for Will and Jonny to check the football scores...

 

 

There is really very little point in me describing how the gig went, as it went out live to radio.

 

There was a particularly amusing roadie tale doing the rounds as stage-time approached this evening, though. Apparently, the lampies loaded in and started programming the previous night. Now, when pointing beams of light, it's much easier to see them if there's a bit of "fog". Apparently, Sparky (our lovely lighting man) dutifully checked that there would be no trouble with smoke detectors. After being assured that all was well, he pumped out a rather generous amount, ready to get to work. Somewhat inevitably, the BBC's smoke detectors had a major panic attack. This led to the whole building being evacuated. Apparently the BBC chaps were most apologetic to him and took the heat (probably not the best phrase under the circumstances, I agree...). They assured all concerned that their errant fire alarm system had been recalibrated and that all would be well. The fire chief was less than sure and insisted that before he leave, the smoke machines were fired up again. Needless to say, alarm bells and flashing lights ensued and all and sundry were out on the pavement once again. Apparently, the result of all this fun and games was that Radio 3 and Radio 4 ended up being off air for some time. Now if this man's smoke machine trigger-finger can bring down two national radio stations, empty an entire building and summon half the London Fire Brigade, you really do have to wonder what it was he did that earned him the nickname Sparky...

Great post from Roadie 42 :D

^^ funny post! gotta love him!

can't wait fir his next! it will be about the kick off in strasbourg! and hew ill be talking about a crazy fan called Chavi and how she jumped on Guy hahahaha

Roadie's friends took down Radio 3 and 4 :laugh3:

could you picture the guys running out of the building ?! ha

:laugh3:

Roadie 42 certainly thinks Anchorman will confirm the EP news soon.... eeee I'm so excited!!!

Albert Hammond Jr interview

 

Albert Hammond Jr interview

September 2, 2008 7:22 pm

We catch up with Coldplay's latest support act

 

http://coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=114

 

With Albert Hammond Jr supporting Coldplay on the current European leg of the Viva La Vida tour, we gave The Strokes' guitarist a shout before the Strasbourg show to find out more about his solo project.

 

Albert, second left, and his band

 

Hi Albert. So, it's the first gig of the European tour today.

Yes it is. I'm about to do soundcheck.

 

Are you excited?

Are you kidding? Yeah, I'm very excited.

 

It must be quite strange to be supporting when you're used to being in a big headlining band yourself?

No, it's not strange. I feel really lucky, happy and excited. You have all the excitement of the venue and being a part of something that's so big, but without the pressure. It's not your show, so even if you fuck up terribly people will just be like, "Oh well, the support band wasn't so good". But when it's your show - people have come to see you so you feel that pressure to really deliver for your fans.

 

Do you approach a support gig differently to a headline one?

I guess my goals are always big. I try and make an impact on people, to leave the crowd feeling excited for what's coming next. I'll just be pushing and trying to do my best.

 

When you're with The Strokes, do you guys pick your support bands?

Yeah, we do similar things to Coldplay. We do shows that we can sell-out alone, so then we can bring in whoever we want. We'd much rather do it that way.

 

Presumably you'll hope to win over some new fans on this tour?

Yeah, that's the great thing about opening - you can reach people that might not have heard you. You're playing to a different crowd every night and to an awful lot of people. If I saw an opening band and I liked it I would assume that the headlining band like them too. I never see an opening band and think, "They must hate them!" Ha ha!

 

But you do hear about tours where support bands get bought on by their labels.

For sure, but you can always feel that vibe. The whole fun thing that made me so excited about doing this tour is that I know some of the guys from Coldplay. They're a good bunch of guys and I'm looking forward to hanging out, playing music and having fun.

 

It's quite a long tour across a lot of countries.

Yes, 22 shows in like 30 days.

 

Are these countries you've been to with The Strokes?

I think I've been to most of them with The Strokes and last year with my solo stuff, but a lot of the smaller cities in these countries I've never been to. So it'll be interesting to see what they're like.

 

Do you get time to sight-see when you're on a tour like this?

I imagine we will have a chance to walk around and see some things. I hope so.

 

For those who don't know your solo music, can you give us a rough idea of what it sounds like?

It's melodic music - I like melody and I like rhythms. I think it'll be a fun half a hour before you see Coldplay - I think it's a really good match. That's what I remember telling them when I was saying that I wanted to open for them. I thought we'd make a really good match musically. I felt it would feel like a great show.

 

So did you ask if you could support them?

Yeah, we were actually making our records at the same time and we were going to be putting them out at the same time, so I was saying "Let me come out on the road". But I was actually surprised that I got the gig. Every band would want to come and do this tour. It's an amazing experience. Even though I know them, I still feel very lucky that I got it.

 

When did you meet them?

I think the first time was backstage at an Oasis show in New York, when I met Chris and Guy. And then I met Jonny and became really good friends with him. Every time he comes to New York and every time I go to London we always go for dinner. He's great. We just really click as friends.

 

Some people would imagine that someone like you who's in a massive band might be too proud to support a band like Coldplay.

I don't really like that mentality. I don't understand it. We're all doing the same thing, just trying to get by playing music. I'm excited for them that they've reached the level they have. And it's fun to be apart of it.

 

Presumably you've been to see Coldplay live before?

Yes, many times. A few years ago I almost actually came along for a week of shows with them. I had my bag packed and everything, then I had to goon tour. But the last time I saw them was in New York earlier this year when they did the free show at Madison Square Garden.

 

What did you think of the New York show?

It was great. I love how they go on a little stage and then go to the back of the crowd. You can see it's really fun for the fans. It's really cool to still try to find a way to make something feel intimate, especially at the back where the people usually never see the band. And then, of course, all the lights and stuff are something you have to do on these big shows, but they do a great job of it. It's very beautiful.

 

Do you think you'll be playing music with them on this tour? Either backstage or onstage?

I have no idea. But I hope to hang out, yeah.

 

And finally, what's your favourite Coldplay song?

Probably Fix You. I remember I was on tour and I hadn't heard the song and I saw the video. It really got me. The video really works with the song. I was just like, "Wow! This is amazing!".

 

Well you'll get to hear it 22 times in the next 30 days. :inquisitive:

Yeah! I'll have it memorised. I'll be able to do the lights.

 

To find out more about Albert Hammond Jr, click here to check out his MySpace.

i'm still bitter that he's not doing an american leg with coldplay :mean: :P

I didn't realise until today how intense this leg of the tour is! 22 dates in 30 days and they're playing like France, Germany, France, Spain...jumping all over the show. They'll be knackered :stunned: