September 2014: Ghost Stories era: 'Always In My Head' to remember

[grids]

Coldplay’s sixth album release has brought many highlights of the year. September 2014 was the month of awesomeness - True Love music video and behind the scenes, iHeartRadio Festival, Los Angeles concert at the Ace Hotel, a secret show for Target employees, nominations for MTV EMA and Q, Chris Martin on a featuring song ‘Iris’ by U2, Chris Martin on co-host at 104.1 2dayFM studio in Sydney, Australia, ‘A Sky Full Of Stars’ alternate music video, and a featuring on Dynamo Magic show.

 

True Love music video and behind the scenes

 

True Love is the third single from Ghost Stories. The video that describes about the two-ballet loving outsiders who are struggling to be accepted by surroundings. The message behind the video is about ‘in spite of the obstacles blocking our access, 'anything is possible'. Directed by Jonas Åkerlund who also is directing the band’s first single on Magic. He mentions that “the idea came about in the same way as ‘Magic’ did” and he adds a different tone and storyline from ‘Magic’. A few comments about the music video can be viewed here.

 

Watch the behind scenes now:

[video=youtube;aaSmDrTax0I]

 

Official video:

[video=youtube;Wpl_6jotaHA]

 

The interview with Jonas Åkerlund on True Love can also be viewed below:

 

Having made the video for Magic, how did the True Love one come about?

Well, between these two videos, we kind of kept in touch. The editing took quite a long time and I also helped them with a campaign for Target.

 

Ah, did you direct the A Sky Full Of Stars advert?

Yes, exactly. So we stayed in touch and we kept talking and listening to more music and discussing what we could do. And then we started to talk about True Love. And it kind of came about in the same way as Magic did. One thing I said early was that I wanted it to be very different in tone from Magic. But related somehow because it has a story.

 

Do you prefer your music videos to have a story?

Actually I don’t prefer it, it’s totally what works with that specific moment and song. Obviously Coldplay’s music – at least in my mind – you really listen to the lyrics and you make up your own story. That’s what I’ve always done when I listen to Coldplay.

 

Where did the idea for the body suits come from?

Well, Chris actually came to me when we were shooting Magic and said he went to a circus show with his kids and saw these guys performing in these outfits. And he said, “I love it, we’ve got to do something with it!” So, I found the guys with the outfits and we created our own ones. But I wrote the story not really thinking about the outfits. I just wrote a story that I think worked for the music – basically a pretty simple love story. But then there were these outfits, which made it very different.

 

There’s a running theme in the video about life as a large person: not being able to get on the bus, or sit in your theatre seat. Is it meant to be an exploration of what it is to be overweight?

Well, the way we approached the story and this whole idea was way more about just being different in the world, where life is a struggle and then you meet somebody who understands you and then it all falls into place. Then you understand that they are very talented, and that together they are stronger. That’s what I was kind of going for as a message or as part of the story. I wasn’t really thinking about the overweight thing. Although of course when you say it, that’s what it’s about as well.

And like Magic it’s about a couple coming together with a happy ending. So there is a similarity with the narrative. Was that deliberate?

Well, I liked the idea of making two completely different videos in tone and look, but still have them kind of belong to the same family. That’s what I was going for. And we did the same thing with this one as we did with Magic, with me writing a proper short film script rather than writing a standard music video treatment.

 

And again Chris acts it well.

Yeah, absolutely. And all those years of yoga were paying off, because that outfit was pretty brutal to have on and then do all these tricks, like spinning around!

 

Ah yes, how does that spinning trick work?!

Well, I shouldn’t tell. It’s another magical trick!

Did you have a choreographer for this video?

Yes, we actually had one of the best choreographers in the world! Her name is Blanca Li. She’s a fantastic ballet choreographer out of Paris. And once again we were so lucky, because a few months ago Coldplay did one Paris show and I spoke to Blanca – who really is one of the best in the business – and I asked her on the phone if she’d like to go and see the show, and she was like, “Yes!”. So she went and she met Chris and they hit it off. And she then came to Los Angeles and helped us figure it out with these outfits.

 

And how did Jessica Lucas come to be cast for the female role?

Well, we knew we were going to be shooting in Los Angeles, and we wanted to cast someone from there. We actually did it like you would on a movie: we had a list of great actors and then me and Chris sat down and discussed it. And we got stuck on Jessica, because we’re both big fans of her movie Cloverfield. So I managed to get her to come down to have lunch with me and Chris. He put on his best charm and we got her!

 

Did you tell her about the body suits before she agreed?

Er, yes! Literally about halfway through the lunch I got out my computer to show her a photo. And we thought she was going to stand up and leave!

 

But she carries it off really well. You almost forget they’re in suits by the end. Yes, absolutely. That’s a good effect.

 

How many of the suits did you make?

It’s actually less than you think. Three for him and three for her. He’s got his skateboard outfit, his janitor outfit and his tuxedo at the end.

The skateboard scene did seem like a dream come true for Chris as a big Back To The Future fan.

Yes! Exactly. We did it really early in the morning because we didn’t want any paparazzi to take pictures of it. That would’ve ruined it. We didn’t want any pictures of the suits to come out and people having opinions about it before the video was done.

Keeping videos under wraps must be a lot harder these days, with cameraphones and social media.

Well, for me, because I work so much in Los Angeles, I have the same crew, so I don’t get so much problem. But if you’re on location, there’s always paparazzi. There’s more paparazzi now in LA than anywhere else! So, yes, that can be a problem. But we got away with it for this one.

 

Before you go, we always ask Coldplay.com interviewees about their favourite Coldplay song. What’s yours?

I’d have to say – because of a long story – the Scientist. That’s probably a lot of people’s answer, but all I can say is that it was sent to me to possibly do the video and I had never heard it before. I was in a car in Sweden and just popped in a CD. That song was amazing from the first time I heard it. It just stuck with me. It became the theme song for me and my wife.

iHeartRadio Festival

Photo credit: Ryan Seacrest

 

Last year as of September 2014 was the wonderful year for Coldplay. The band had performed back in 2011 and returned to play again after three years. Although they did not play as the usual setlist like they always play at most gigs, the band played 5 songs at the festival. The huge spirit they brought to the audience was absolutely demanding. Also thanks to Captain Crieff for citing the info.

 

Coldplay performed on Friday, September 19th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The two-day event hosted by Ryan Seacrest has brought the biggest names from the music industry. The artist lineups were such as:

 

Taylor Swift

Coldplay

Usher

Ariana Grande

Nicki Minaj

Motley Crue

Zac Brown Band

One Direction

Ed Sheeran

Paramore

Train

Iggy Azalea

Eric Church

Lorde

Calvin Harris

Bastille

Steve Aoki

 

 

Here are the setlists they played during the show:

 

Havent seen the full show yet? Watch it now here:

[video=youtube;CRr0JKxFRCQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRr0JKxFRCQ"][video=youtube;CRr0JKxFRCQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRr0JKxFRCQ

 

Los Angeles concert at the Ace Hotel

 

Presented by Beats Music and CBS radio, Coldplay announced the special evening to perform at the Ace Hotel, Los Angeles. The concert was mainly a private affair and there were only a few public tickets available. The whole show was brought to be intimate with an opening song ‘Always In My Head’ and followed by the uplifting ‘Charlie Brown’. The duration of the gig was slightly shorter compared to the show at the Royal Albert Hall, London back in July along with the same setlist except ‘Don’t Panic’ and ‘Everything’s Not Lost’ from Parachutes album. Thanks to gai for posting the thread on the forum.

 

At the same time, KROQ was also associated with the band to let fans for winning tickets. The tickets were available for US residents only. From KROQ website:

“KROQ and Beats Music present a special evening with Coldplay, September 17th at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Downtown LA!

Listen to KROQ all this week every-hour, on-the-hour between 9am and 6pm for your chance to score tickets. Be caller 20 at 800-520-1067 when you hear the cue and the tickets are yours!”

 

Here are the complete setlist from the show:

 

Chris also covered a song ‘Madness’ by Muse while rocking out to ‘Clocks’ which the songs was dedicated to the Muse frontman. ‘Madness’ of course helped inspire ‘Magic’ and the similarities are apparent.

 

On the way to True Love song, Coldplay made the highlight of the night once again. Thanks to one of the best guitarist on the 21st century, Jonny Buckland, who has made a beautiful rhythm onto a wonderful song. True Love was also wowed by the Muse frontman, Matt Bellamy.

 

The exclusive photos can be found here.

 

Have you missed the whole show last time? Don’t worry, you can still be the part of the show now!(Thanks to sweetbliss8)

 

Coldplay’s secret show for Target employees

 

Another chance of rareness once again, exclusively presented by Coldplay. Target had contributed to sell Ghost Stories album for deluxe version only. Unfortunately, there were only snippets from this show, thanks to a few videos on Instagram. Apart from that also thanks to SteveNikks on the forum who shared the summary of the show:

 

I was there, been to many of these events. When artists have exclusive deals with Target, often times part of the deal is to perform at a company event. And yes, 90% of the time at these events, the majority of the audience is just standing around...these are not Coldplay super fans. But I'm sure the artists expect that reaction...even so the band got a good response and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

 

This is not a real show and should not have any effect on other tour plans or anything. Looking at their upcoming schedule, I would say this was just an easy warmup for them ahead of the iTunes festival on the 19th. I doubt they would agree to perform if it had any serious effect on the rest of their plans.

 

I'm not a huge fan of Coldplay, but I wanted to pop in here and give some information since I know I would appreciate it on the band forums I frequent. I forget the order of the setlist, but Yellow was first, ASFOS was last.

 

Chris' voice sounded great. He came out wearing a black shirt and jeans (? or other dark pants) and proceeded to take off his shirt to put on a Red Target polo. Underneath his jeans he had on a pair of Khakis (Target store dress code is Red and Khaki). This isn't a "show" I expected the band would take too seriously, but it was entertaining and I enjoyed it. It beats the alternative of sitting in the office for the afternoon.

 

There were a couple funny moments - while on the piano at the end of one of the songs (Clocks? reminder - i'm not a huge fan so I don't remember if he was on piano for any other songs), he was just like "Oh Shit" and stopped cause he messed something up. They started back up again though and finished it off. Also, during ASFOS, he was talking to the crowd and then for a second forgot the words cause he said he was distracted. For a novice fan, it was a fine performance, but as they said they hadn't played for a while and they were just having a good time.

 

Taylor swift was on before them and commented how she was so happy to work with Target which helped sell 1 million copies of her "Red" album. During Coldplay's set, Chris commented how they have sold a whole "7 or 8" copies of their album.

 

I can understand the frustration...if I heard that Jack White had performed at some exclusive event like this and saw less than deserving fans got to see him, I would be pissed. But this is the way of corporate/music deals.

 

Also thanks to Captain Crieff for the photos

 

Because there is no full show available, the snippets are uploaded via instagram (thanks again to Captain Crieff).

 

Coldplay’s nominations for MTV EMA and Q

Despite of losing the award for the best rock category against Linkin Park, Coldplay had made a great stepping stone to another nominations for MTV EMA. The awards ceremony took place on November 9th. The band also were nominated for the best video for Q but unfortunately, Jamie xx won the game. The Q awards was announced on 22nd October in London. Check all the winners here.

 

Chris Martin on a featuring song ‘Iris’ by U2

 

Have you heard of U2’s album that was pop into your iTunes without any advance notice? Yep, Chris was featured on a song ‘Iris’, the fifth track on the band’s latest album, after the iPhone 6 conference at Apple HQ. The album was automatically added to the iTunes library, for free!

 

Give it a listen below:

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[video=youtube;_MGMFXdtiJ8]

 

Chris Martin on co-host at 104.1 2dayFM studio in Sydney, Australia

 

 

At the end of the month, Chris Martin visited DJ’s Dan and Maz at the 104.1 2dayFM studios in Sydney, Australia. On one special day, Coldplay’s frontman had an opportunity to co-host an hour special on this radio station. During the time, Coldplay were in the middle of recording the seventh album (AHFoD) and the radio session was entertaining and enjoyable by Chris’s sense of humor that brought listeners to a grateful joy.

 

Listen to the full part here and full review here.

 

‘A Sky Full Of Stars’ alternate music video

 

Although the band has not officially announced about ASFOS alternate video, it was finally revealed last September and firstly uploaded on sohu (the link now has been removed but available on Youtube). Download now for your own Coldplay video collections, thanks to RevolutionDude.

 

Or watch it now on Youtube:

 

[video=youtube;byNp_QOcQ-Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byNp_QOcQ-Y

 

Coldplay’s on Dynamo Magic show

 

Have you seen the band on a non-music TV show? Dynamo, the magician based in the UK who had visited the band almost 10 years ago, appeared again and visited The Bakery. Unfortunately, Guy did not present but only Jonny, Will and Chris during the time. The show went on a 6-minute clip, with massive thanks to Coldplay Atlas for the video.

Havent seen it yet? Watch the clip now:

[video=dailymotion;x267ygk_coldplay-on-dynamo_webcam]

[Sparky]

Great, i'll read through this shortly :D

[Christa42]

Wow! Awesome!

[lesley.cartledge]

Some really great stuff here! Loving the videos

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[midnightmagic]

This is great,, thanks for posting :D

[grids]

Hah I mentioned True Love twice from the previous July too, sorry lol

 

Just wait for other months to come.