OK, I'm not saying they're Britney Spears who has never sang live in her life, I'm asking people who have been to their concerts

and know a thing or two about playing an instrument (unlike moi :awesome:), what songs (or parts of songs) they just do on playback + sing live.

For example, I think that VLV, Lost, Charlie Brown, parts of Paradise etc. are all almost 100% playback.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhKxtv1FiUM]Coldplay - Charlie Brown (UNSTAGED) - YouTube[/ame]

 

Look at CB, obviously they're going to playback the alien voices, but if you look closely at Jonny, I think he's totally faking it. :confused:

And does Chris really have a built-in organ or synthesizer for Fix You?

 

I don't care if it's not all live, I just wanna be sure that I got it right. ;)

OK, I'm not saying they're Britney Spears who has never sang live in her life, I'm asking people who have been to their concerts and who know a thing or two about playing an instrument (unlike moi :awesome:), what songs (or parts of songs) they just do on playback + sing live.

For example, I think that VLV, Lost, Charlie Brown, parts of Paradise etc. are all almost 100% playback.

 

 

Look at CB, obviously they're going to playback the alien voices, but if you look closely at Johnny, I think he's totally faking it. :confused:

And does Chris really have a built-in organ or synthisyzer for Fix You?

 

I don't care if it's not all live, I just wanna be sure that I got it right. ;)

 

I do know, from talking to Hoppy, that Chris's piano is wired to play different sounds, so he is actually playing those parts.

 

When I saw them at KROQ, in that tiny studio, we could hear the instruments even without amplification, and they were definitely playing. Their keyboards, like when Jonny or Guy play, are wired to produce sounds other than a typical piano/organ sound, though.

I do know, from talking to Hoppy, that Chris's piano is wired to play different sounds, so he is actually playing those parts.

 

When I saw them at KROQ, in that tiny studio, we could hear the instruments even without amplification, and they were definitely playing. Their keyboards, like when Jonny or Guy play, are wired to produce sounds other than a typical piano/organ sound, though.

 

Thank you. I'm not that unsure about the piano/organ thing, I'm mostly sceptical about Jonny's guitar playing, cause it sounds too perfect, every riff is the same, so I don't know about that... But If more people confirm that he's indeed playing it live (those questionable songs), I'll respect them even more (if that's humanly possible). :D

It's live, just the synths and strings

Coldplay plays everything live that they can. They only can't when it's a weird instrument that would require more people, like Viva La Vida, Paradise, some of CB, etc.

 

And yes, Chris' piano can play lots of sounds. You can tell from the sound relief thing in 2009, because he impulsively ran away and played the organ part out-of-time like a minute after the song ended. No recording could have predicted that.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZORJRMM1XM&list=FLWVIRFXFK2sTCcMXy9ngq9g&index=10&feature=plpp_video]Coldplay - Fix You from sound relief 2009 Chris Martin crowd run - YouTube[/ame]

Chris and Jonny are faking being married to those women and are really in love with each other. It's true. Hoppy told me.

I saw Chris and Jonny at the Little Noise sessions last week, and Jonny's guitar was very loud.. we were right by his amps and it was great. It was just Chris and the piano and Jonny and the guitar. NO playback that night. I can't tell you about HUGE stadium shows, but don't ever worry that Jonny can't play his guitar, because I'm telling you now, he so can.. he rocks!

 

Edit, also I think he can loop his guitar, so that he can play one riff, record it live, then play the next one, if that makes sense.. because the looping thing got stuck during paradise last week, and he had to manually turn it off.. I think that must be fairly commonplace.. Although I am certainly no expert.. so I could be wrong..

 

 

Here's a link to a video someone took of that show.. not the best sound on the video, but that guitar is awesome.. :D

Thank you. I'm not that unsure about the piano/organ thing, I'm mostly sceptical about Jonny's guitar playing, cause it sounds too perfect, every riff is the same, so I don't know about that... But If more people confirm that he's indeed playing it live (those questionable songs), I'll respect them even more (if that's humanly possible). :D

 

Jonny's definitely playing live. (His keyboard I'm not sure of though.) I heard a fuckup in the Charlie Brown riff at least once, but can't remember when.

the riff to charlie brown is so easy i can play it almost perfectly!

But how da fuck can you explain "Gimme Beyonce, Beyonce" from that CP performance? :inquisitive:

 

 

OK, boys & girls, I believe you, I shall now go and slap myself for being a non-believer. :D

 

^ during the show they did in Paris on October 31th I finally understood what it meant (he wants people to move their hands like in the single lady video :lol: )

Chris and Jonny are faking being married to those women and are really in love with each other. It's true. Hoppy told me.

 

:awesome:

@Comicforce

 

I didn't think of that looping thing, sounds totally rational!

Btw, I don't doubt Jonny's abilities, of course he can play all the songs, they are not that complicated.

I just wasn't sure if he can play them without the studio magic.

Chris said that his husband Jonny really matured as a guitar player for MX. :awesome:

 

Thank you for that Clocks video, it's the first time I heard it without drums, and it's still awesome. ;)

I'm pretty sure Coldplay play everything that they possibly can live. Anything that needs a strange instrument or something is probably playback (though Will totally plays that bell for Viva...). I dunno. I guess it depends on the song. Though, I think that if there's anybody that we can be absolutely certain is playing live, it's Mr. Champion. You can't fake the drums! :D

Yeah, Will rapes those drums every time. He's not needed for Princess Of China tho.

I hope they won't play it on the tour cause Chris sounds schizophrenic when he sings it alone. :D

 

P.S. Who's Hoppy? :huh:

Yeah, Will rapes those drums every time. He's not needed for Princess Of China tho.

I hope they won't play it on the tour cause Chris sounds schizophrenic when he sings it alone. :D

 

P.S. Who's Hoppy? :huh:

 

Hoppy is Chris's guitar tech. We had the chance to talk to him after a show. My husband is fascinated by Chris's piano, so he asked Hoppy a lot of questions about the piano.

LOL at schizophrenic Chris!

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that particular song, but I know that a lot of people have been requesting it for the MX tour, so I can't imagine them not playing it... :\

I gotta admit that Charlie Brown sounds fake ; but you can always hear mess up a couple of notes in Violet Hill, that proves it's always live.

They have a backing track, I think Chris just recently was talking about it in one of the interviews, I mean they do play live, but there is a backing track that plays as well:thinking:

That's what most artists do now ... But Chris never lipsynches... Well I hope not.

The riff from CB is really easy so im not surprised that a guitarist like jonny pulls it off perfectly every time. I've heard them do the looping thing on Us Against the World...I saw Chris pluck like 4 notes on the guitar at the end and then set the guitar down and run back for Politik. Kinda trippy in a cool way :)

Lol - oh to be so simple as calling it "faking"

 

Coldplay uses a level of backtracking in some of their tracks. Most an amateur ear will never pick out. Some points about Coldplay's live performances:

 

1. Chris's piano is not a piano. It is a MIDI controller in a piano casing. The keys run to a sound module which include piano, organ and other synth sounds.

 

2. Jonny and Guy's keyboard is not a keyboard. It too is a MIDI controller that controls various sound modules. The set up is complex and requires someone who really knows what they are doing to set it up. So yes the strings in VLV, the synths of every teardrop, the harpsichord in LIJ, all of it is being played, I can tell that by the minimal level of proficiency Jonny displays when he plays them. No offense to him, but he's a guitar player first.

 

3. Jonny will often look like the strumming motions he makes sound nothing like what is coming out. That is because Jonny (much like the Edge) is a master of guitar effects. The final signal is so drenched in effects that it sounds nothing like it is originally strummed. It generally more of a soundscape. He does have plenty of lead lines, and does mess up more than most guitarists, but not a ton.

 

Chris also messes up on piano frequently. He is a great pianist but tries to do a lot and sing at the same time.

 

The band has a keyboard tech that has yet another MIDI keyboard that is played by him live back by the mixing desk. So there kind of is a 5th member lurking out there, that you never see. Sometimes when you hear more sounds then what can possibly be produced by 4 people, it is because more than 4 people are producing it.

 

All in all some of Coldplay's live performance is back-tracked, but it is not near as much as you would think, probably around 10% of the sounds, backing vocals, etc.

 

VLV and MX songs require considerably more complex algorithms to play live than the previous material.

Thank you. I'm not that unsure about the piano/organ thing, I'm mostly sceptical about Jonny's guitar playing, cause it sounds too perfect, every riff is the same, so I don't know about that... But If more people confirm that he's indeed playing it live (those questionable songs), I'll respect them even more (if that's humanly possible). :D

 

Well, Jonny actually does a lot of small mistakes if you listen closely. Like when they played ETIAW at the EMA. And he screws up the guitar solo on Violet Hill a bit on the Live In Madrid EP as well, I think.

 

The reason Charlie Brown sounds perfect when he plays it is because the same thing is being played on top of the guitar with a synth!

 

And Chris definitely sings everything live, if you listen to a song being performed at three or four different concerts, the singing always sound different.

@ bearcat1229

 

I'm sorry for being too plain, by calling it "faking". ;)

I absolutely agree with you, those were my exact thoughts in case they really do play it live, including the "fifth member" theory. :D

Hoppy is Chris's guitar tech. We had the chance to talk to him after a show. My husband is fascinated by Chris's piano, so he asked Hoppy a lot of questions about the piano.

 

You're so lucky... I guess those are just the perks of living in L.A. :lol: