Tash Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Coldplay unveil brand new material at SXSW show The group's iTunes Festival show saw them play tracks from their forthcoming sixth album 'Ghost Stories' Coldplay unveiled a run of brand new songs at their show last night (March 11) at SXSW in Austin, Texas. The band played an 11-song set at the Moody Theatre as part of the five night long iTunes Festival, kicking off with new song 'Always In My Head', the opening track on their forthcoming sixth album, 'Ghost Stories'. The band also played new single 'Magic' and well as unveiling 'Ghost Stories' track 'Another's Arms', closing the evening with the Jon Hopkins produced 'Midnight'. 'Ghost Stories' is set for release on May 19. "We've been away a long time, and I can't think of a better way to come back into the world [than] in the intimate surroundings of Austin and just a couple of 100 people and the millions watching at home," said frontman Chris Martin during the show, referring to the fact that the gig was streamed on Vevo. After playing 'Magic', Martin commented to the crowd: "That's the first time we've ever played that, and I'm happy it was with you." Previously unheard song 'Another's Arms' was relatively downbeat and featured an operatic female vocal whilst opener 'Always In My Head' was more low-key and understated when compared to the more flamboyant 'hits' played last night, such as 'Viva La Vida', 'Clocks' and 'Paradise'. During 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall' confetti cannons showered the stage and band with streamers before 'Fix You', which Martin introduced by sending "all our love" to everyone involved with the missing Malaysia Airlines plane which went missing over the weekend. "Thank you guys for giving us such a warm welcome back," stated Martin after 'Fix You', with the band returning for an encore of the electronic-driven 'Midnight', which was the first taster to be released from 'Ghost Stories' last month. The performance of the song started with Martin sitting on the edge of the stage, whilst bassist Guy Berryman played what appeared to be some sort of rainbow light activated theremin. link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tash Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Coldplay Preview New Songs At SXSW Coldplay launched their new album ‘Ghost Stories’ with a one-hour showcase performance at SXSW in Austin, Tx on Tuesday night. The band played three songs from the sixth Coldplay album ‘Ghost Stories’ for the first time ever live and also dedicated the classic ‘Fix It’ to the victims of the Malaysian aircraft mystery. Coldplay’s ‘Ghost Stories’ will be their first album through Warner Music since the multinational record company acquired Coldplay’s former EMI imprint Parlophone Records. Coldplay performed at the Austin City Limits Theater on Willie Nelson Boulevard for the iTunes Festival as part of SXSW. link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tash Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 SXSW: Coldplay and Imagine Dragons Kick Off iTunes Festival "We’ve been away a long time and I can’t think of a better place to come back into the world," Coldplay’s Chris Martin told fans on Tuesday night at South By Southwest." “We’ve been away a long time,” Coldplay’s Chris Martin told fans on Tuesday night at South By Southwest, “and I can’t think of a better place to come back into the world.” Or a more auspicious one. Coldplay’s first North American show in more than 14 months had the eyes of the world focused on it -- literally. As the inaugural headliner of the first U.S. iTunes Festival, taking place over five nights during this year’s SXSW, Coldplay’s “come back” was streamed worldwide as well as being one of the most in-demand lottery tickets for those there in the flesh at Austin’s ACL Live at Moody Theatre. The British quartet wasn’t exactly creeping back into vision. Then again, creeping has never been Coldplay’s way -- certainly not since the group became a global force more than a decade ago. It’s comfortable in the bright spotlight, and if Tuesday’s show seemed surprisingly brief at just 50 minutes and 11 songs, it also established that Coldplay hasn’t accrued much rust while hunkered in the studio making its forthcoming Ghost Stories album, due out May 19. And the presence of brand new, never-before-played material certainly gave the set an extra charge. “Always in My Head” opened the show on a gentle, easygoing note, while “Magic” and “Another’s Arms” were vibe-y and soulful, with trance-like grooves and, in the case of the former, a gradually building arrangement that achieved an ambient lift-off after its stark beginning. The show-closing “Midnight,” meanwhile, was another matter, with Martin’s heavily Auto-Tuned vocals swimming through trippy electronic textures, an outgrowth of the group’s varied European techno influences and a head-scratcher of a way to end the night. Coldplay couched the Ghost Stories quartet amidst familiar material, however. Playing on a compact stage and clearly reveling in the close proximity the Moody allows to its audiences, Coldplay employed some lasers and an explosion of streamers during “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” that left the band members looking like mummies. The likes of “Charlie Brown,” “Clocks” and “Vida La Vida” were as dependably anthemic as ever, and after the crowd’s exuberant response to the latter Martin noted that, “We’ve been in the studio a long time, and we forgot people sing along.” Meanwhile, “Atlas,” from The Hunter Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, fit comfortably alongside the big hits, and before “Fix You” Martin sent “good vibes and love across the ocean” in reference to the Malaysian airliner disappearance. At set's end, Martin thanked the fans “for giving us such a warm welcome back” -- and an audible demand for more in the not too distance future. link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIVA.42 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 OH BOY I love the new stuff Always in my head is so far my favourite new song! the intro is just lovely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIVA.42 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Also anyone know what music was playing while waiting for the show to start? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tash Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Also anyone know what music was playing while waiting for the show to start? Have you tried Shazam? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIVA.42 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Don't have a phone I just recently lost mine :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tash Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Paradise [video=youtube_www;9uArLwrsTSs]www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uArLwrsTSs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tash Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 I messed that up but that's OK :nice: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayden Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 What an amazing event, I love both new songs especially "Another's Arms" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipotle Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Also anyone know what music was playing while waiting for the show to start? I read it was from Tycho's new album Awake [video=youtube;6XJBDX3Z0BY] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blockflote Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I think I'm in love with Another's Arms <3 also Midnight was fucking great, they play all the synths and that's so cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MosesTheMarshmallow Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Thanks for the info and videos Tash!!!!! Brief thoughts: 1. I don't like Always in my Head. I've listened to it 3 times now and it's even more repetitive and one-dimensional than Magic or Up in Flames. I like both of those songs but Always in my Head has distilled other people's criticisms of those songs into one thing. I don't know. The guitar line and synths are pretty but just very static. The bass line when the song picks up a wee bit is really nice though! The song just doesn't go anywhere and the lyrics don't seem very redeeming. Edit: the high hat in this song is really nice. So is the bassline. 2. Magic sounds good live! My only complaint is that Chris doesn't play piano (Jonny does and only at the beginning). I think it would've added to the authenticity and emotion were Christ to play piano until the very moment he actually needed the acoustic, as in 42. The live-outro is nice too!! 3. Atlas sounds EPIC live. This was even better than the Apollo performance besides a couple small flubs Chris and Jonny made (though they save it in both cases). It's a shame Atlas isn't making it on any album since it just sounds so damn good. It's kind of like the Moving to Mars of this era - a piano-guitar union that recalls old Coldplay but sounds fresh and modern through the presence of electronic sounds and synthesizers and more deep lyrics relevant to recent Coldplay eras. Great to see Will singing at the end too! 4. Another's Arms...I like its intensity a lot. It has a couple noises from what seems to be trap music which I respect a lot. The song overall has a lot of sex and swagger in that vague R&B influenced way. I'm not very hot on that vocal sample...it would've sounded better as a an ebow noise on Jonny's guitar or something. Or if it were Rihanna (I honestly do think that). Maybe it's just the way it sticks out. Also, the lyrics are a bit repetitive...in fact, that seems to be a theme with the songs we've heard so far besides Midnight. Repetitive beats, chord progressions, and lyrics. I guess that's consistent with the more hip hop and R&B roots that Ghost Stories might be trying to pay homage to, but I think without an appropriate dose of the Coldplay touch, things get a bit boring. That said, Jonny's solo in Another's Arms is quite nice and the piano works well [but as a precursor to my point about MX...it's nowhere near as interesting as Hurts Like Heaven, the benchmark of Jonny's guitarwork.] This song feels pretty "accessible." I felt myself feeling it on first listen. 5. Midnight - Guy playing the laser harp?!?!?!. COOL. Chris's vocals are good but not great. You can tell he's a bit fatigued by the show (and rightly so, because they're still performing at top form). I'm a little sad that the live version doesn't have a lot more dimension compared to the album version. For example, I would've liked to see Jonny playing an extra guitar line or something...which would've given it more Coldplay identity. Overall, we've heard half of the songs from GS and my expectations are down and my hopes are low. I hope that what we've heard so far is the weak half of the album and that the good ideas shown in these songs are carried along with just a little more Coldplay bombasticness. I just listened to MX and what I heard was actually 1. a lot of lyrical depth and diversity, 2. Jonny, Guy, and Will really shining on their instruments, and 3. what in my mind was an optimal balance between the old-Coldplay and electropop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taz1853 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Annoyed I couldn't watch this. Don't own anything but an iPod classic 160gb to keep my full library on and I don't want to update iTunes as the update after mine had a redesigned layout. I installed a virtual PC but then QuickTime wouldn't install so I saw the links to the live stream but they didn't do anything! Boo apple, why not just add an online portal?! Anyway, has anyone uploaded the full concert outside of iTunes yet? Really want to watch it through. And I'm right in thinking atlas is missing from the new album because it was written for / used for the hunger games? I.e it isn't this era its in between? Taz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tash Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Thanks for the info and videos Tash!!!!! You're welcome : ) I don't like Always in my Head. I :heart: it! Midnight - Guy playing the laser harp?!?!?! NME called it a light activated theremin. Whatever it is called, it looked fricking amazing! The confetti was hilarious :lol: The internet stream sucked, the app worked prefect The crowd looked quite lame :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taz1853 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Oh. And I'm not keen on these lyrics. Coldplay are fulfilling their lovey dovey stereotype when they did so well with MX :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayden Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Is there a version of Magic anywhere yet? Keen to hear it live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIVA.42 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 the crowd kinda made the whole concert seem kinda dull and it annoyed me.. but I can't wait till the actual tour starts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tash Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Is there a version of Magic anywhere yet? Keen to hear it live. Crap audio or incomplete, this is the best one I can find atm: [video=youtube_www;GuFdjkF7Dr0]www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuFdjkF7Dr0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MosesTheMarshmallow Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 You're welcome : ) I :heart: it! NME called it a light activated theremin. Whatever it is called, it looked fricking amazing! The confetti was hilarious :lol: The internet stream sucked, the app worked prefect The crowd looked quite lame :| 1. Why do you like Always in my Head? Just curious. I don't mean to seem overly critical but I feel a bit challenged (by Coldplay) as a Coldplay listener tonight. 2. I'm pretty sure Guy's still playing bass though because if you count the number of laser beams, it corresponds to the intervals between the notes in the bass line and he switches hand positions when he should be changing bass notes. So not technically theremin. So I think NME is wrong. :p :p :p 3. I'm surprised anyone was still able to play their instruments after that stream. It was getting pretty streamy in there. ;) ;) ;) Oh. And I'm not keen on these lyrics. Coldplay are fulfilling their lovey dovey stereotype when they did so well with MX :( Exactly. VLV and MX are very out there lyrically. Though I will also say the raw emotional honesty of X&Y really resonates with me. GS's stuff not so much for some reason. Is there a version of Magic anywhere yet? Keen to hear it live. Incomplete but... *removed since Tash posted same video* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tash Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Why do you like Always in my Head? Just curious. I don't mean to seem overly critical but I feel a bit challenged (by Coldplay) as a Coldplay listener tonight. Most of my favourite Coldplay songs are the quieter ones, this song definitely belongs to that category. And I kinda like the lyrics as well. I'm pretty sure Guy's still playing bass though because if you count the number of laser beams, it corresponds to the intervals between the notes in the bass line and he switches hand positions when he should be changing bass notes. So not technically theremin. So I think NME is wrong. :p :p :p I'm not saying NME is right, it's more that I don't really care what it is called, it looked too epic to care about that :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvdmm Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Overall, we've heard half of the songs from GS and my expectations are down and my hopes are low. I hope that what we've heard so far is the weak half of the album and that the good ideas shown in these songs are carried along with just a little more Coldplay bombasticness. I just listened to MX and what I heard was actually 1. a lot of lyrical depth and diversity, 2. Jonny, Guy, and Will really shining on their instruments, and 3. what in my mind was an optimal balance between the old-Coldplay and electropop. Thats the whole point of this album I think. Its supposed to be understated and not bombastic in any way. So far they HAVE managed to create the right balance I think (Another's Arms for example has a distinctive Parachutes feel to it yet it incorporates the electro theme going on so far in all the new songs). GS is shaping up to be their most interesting album and will probably divide fans even more so than MX did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayden Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Incomplete but... *removed since Tash posted same video* Crap audio or incomplete, this is the best one I can find atm: [video=youtube_www;GuFdjkF7Dr0]www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuFdjkF7Dr0 Thank you :D (So far) I've liked the sound of Magic live! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciaA26 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Chris has never been the most consistent when it comes to good lyrics but I'm worried about Ghost Stories going off the 4 songs we've heard now. Love him so much but they sound like a teenagers work. Love the sound though, and the fact that Guy seems to be playing a much more prominent role Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciaA26 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 And also the new position of the piano...not something that I'm sure about at the moment but I guess it showcases the rest of the band more than Chris which seems to be a focus of the new album? Guy doing a lot more, Jonny coming off the guitar for one song and playing piano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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