Music group EMI has said it is not considering selling London's Abbey Road studios, according to various media outlets today. EMI released a statement saying the studios, made famous by a Beatles album, should stay under its ownership. EMI, which counts Robbie Williams and Coldplay among its artists, posted a £1.75bn loss for the year to March 2009 in accounts earlier this month.

EMI had been courting bidders for the property in St John's Wood, which it bought in 1929 for £100,000 and turned into one of the world's first custom-built recording studios, but have gone back on the decision. A sale could have raised tens of millions of pounds for the music group, which is looking to reduce the burden of debt following the 2007 buy-out by Terra Firma.

The firm added it had rejected a offer for the historic building last year and was working with "third parties" about funding a "revitalisation project" instead. It ends days of speculation after it was reported that struggling EMI would sell Abbey Road to ease debts. The reports led to Facebook campaigns to try to save it, the National Trust said it would look into buying the property and even composer Andrew Lloyd Webber expressed an interest in owning the studio.

However, on Sunday EMI said that while it was looking for an investor in the site, based at 3 Abbey Road in St John's Wood, it was not looking for a buyer. "In response to recent press speculation, EMI confirms that it is holding preliminary discussions for the revitalisation of Abbey Road with interested and appropriate third parties," the company said. "Abbey Road studios had, for a number of years, been losing money and we have developed plans to revitalise the studios. These plans would involve a substantial injection of new capital."

The company said it also welcomed reports that English Heritage was accelerating plans to list the site, and said it had been holding discussions over the regeneration plans since November. It added: "In mid-2009, we did receive an offer to buy Abbey Road for in excess of £30m but this was rejected since we believe that Abbey Road should remain in EMI's ownership."

The Beatles used Abbey Road for 90% of their recordings, naming an album after the studios in 1969. EMI bought the property for £100,000 in 1929, transforming it into the world-famous studios that have hosted artists as diverse as composer Sir Edward Elgar in 1931, to Pink Floyd and Blur.

Back in 2006, Abbey Road studios were threatened with prosecution over a Coldplay gig it hosted for the BBC. The recording studio was threatened with prosecution four years ago under new licensing laws because it hosted an "illegal" gig organised by the broadcasting corporation. Lawyers from Westminster Council claimed the Coldplay concert, which was aired on Radio 2 in April 2006, was the first live music event to break the law since it came into force in November 2005.

Abbey Road Studios in London

Chris Martin attends the London Evening Standard British Film Awards (9th February 2010):

Ahead of the release later this year of a new Coldplay book entitled 'Roadie: My Life on the Road with Coldplay', written by roadie Matt McGinn, there are a couple of reviews written online by the likes of Waterstones and Amazon. The reviews are below and after the jump. You can also see the full page on Roadie by Matt mcGinn at WikiColdplay now, which includes the full cover image, publication details and the pre-publication teaser released by the official Coldplay site last year.

WATERSTONES: If it's true that behind every great man there is a great woman, then behind every great band, there's a similarly skilled road crew... this book is the backstage 'on the road' account of Matt McGinn's life as a roadie touring with a band at the pinnacle of their success. The book charts the life and duties of a rock and roll roadie for the band Coldplay, who has been with them right from the start of their career (as well as his).

"Roadie" will be the first, and only, biography and book of the band approved by Coldplay. It is an authoritative, engaging account of a roadie's life and duty to the biggest band in the world. It is an insightful and entertaining look at the rock and roll touring industry. This the first and only book blessed by Coldplay. It includes a foreword by Chris Martin (Coldplay), along with exclusive photography.

"Roadie" is stuffed with insightful and authoritative rock 'n' roll tour stories about daily roadie duties; the job; the road; the gigs, the band; the relationships; the fame; the failing equipment and the cold beers after a great show - as well as humorous and engaging anecdotes about Matt's relationship with Coldplay as they travel the world and become the biggest band on it. The book will have mass appeal to young musicians and bands as well as the upcoming technical staff who want to read about the duties and life of a roadie for one of the biggest bands in the world. The book also promises a foreword by Chris Martin as well exclusive never-before-seen photography of the band.

AMAZON: Stuffed with insightful and authoritative rock 'n' roll tour stories about daily roadie duties; the job; the road; the gigs, the band; the relationships; the fame; the failing equipment and the cold beers after a great show as well as humorous and engaging anecdotes about Matt's relationship with the band as they travel the world and become the biggest band on it. An authoritative, engaging account of a roadie's life one of the biggest bands in the world, and an entertaining look behind the scenes of the touring and recording experience.

Matt is the only full time backline technician employed by the band and the key member of its touring force. He was present during the recording of the last two albums, has circled the globe over a dozen times, and during the last six years, Matt has risen to the top of the roadie ranks. This is his first book.

Chris Martin attends the London Evening Standard British Film Awards (9th February 2010):

Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman spoke with La W Radio Colombia on the work of the band and the show that will bring Coldplay to Colombia. Below is the roughly translated article of the Colombian article found online. You can hear the full audio interview in the Multimedia forum here [thanks SueDeNimes]

Guy Berryman told The W that in terms of spectators in the world, Europe is a major public North America is a little louder, but definitely in Latin America are the most lively and noisy audience, so look forward to playing in our country. On his tour of Latin America and the show they bring to Colombia, the bassist of the British group said that our country will bring everything they have, all the songs, costumes and surprises of her world tour.

He said bringing the setlist for presentation in Colombia includes songs from all their albums 'Parachutes' to 'Viva la Vida'. Berryman said about his experience in the band, explained the relationship between its members, which is based on friendship, "before the band musicians were friends" and this has helped maintain a good relationship. Believed that the key to its success is that the four together they create something special, "individually are only average musicians, but when they play together something magical happens, there is a strong chemical and it is something that comes from friendship.

He also talked about the aspects they most enjoy, said that when they are in the studio are looking forward to tour, and when they are on tour yearn to return to the study, said that the good of his job is waiting for the next stage, which always want to change.

Berryman commented on the incident with Joe Satriani and allegations of plagiarism and stated that the case was dismissed and forgotten. About his new job with Brian Eno, said it was very inspiring and a few hours ago they began work in a London studio. He said that they have many new songs they are working and are very excited and happy to work on a new album and hope to do as well as possible.

Pictures of the original Coldplay Parachutes globe by winning auctioneer, NumbersGirl:

EMI is the latest in a long line of businesses bought with junk-rated debt where the owners face pressure to surrender much or all of their investment to banks and other debt holders, according to private equity experts, reports the Guardian this week.

Terra Firma, the buyout owner behind the troubled music group home to Coldplay and Kylie Minogue, is asking fund investors to stump up an additional £105m to shore up this ill-fated business. Without this so-called "equity cure", buyout bosses will find themselves at the mercy of EMI's lending bank Citigroup — with whom they are already locked in bitter legal dispute.

Even if investors prove supportive, the cash injection is expected to buy EMI a grace period of about 12-months before tough decisions on restructuring the balance sheet have to be addressed.

High-profile woes for EMI come just weeks after another famous name, Manchester United, managed to refinance much of its debt through a £500m bond issue. Nigel Reynolds, a partner at Price­waterhouseCoopers and the author of a recent report on private equity-backed companies, said an increasing number of highly leveraged buyouts – typically deals done in 2006 and 2007 – will face debt repayment problems.

"With cheap, easy credit no longer available, the private equity model, based on high leverage and financial engineering, is no longer viable," said Reynolds. When deals were done in the boom years of 2006-2007, the funding agreements usually stipulated that the first major repayment – called a bullet repayment – would be made after five years. While private equity professionals were targeting a 3-5 year exit, that repayment was not a problem, but finding an exit is no longer straightforward, and hefty bullet repayments are looming.

"They now have to repay or ramp up their debt", said Reynolds, "and that depends on the banking market and on the success of IPOs [stock exchange flotations]. A lot of companies need to refinance, and that's why there is now a pipeline of possible IPOs: [companies] need to repay debt before it comes due." But bringing debt-laden companies to the stock market, he warned, will not be straightforward: "No-one wants to put up money to repay debt."

Fashion chain New Look – controlled by Apax Partners and Permira – could run into just such problems. The retailer, which plans a £1.7bn float, intends to raise £650m to pay down some of its £1bn debt. But New Look will still have a big debt – compared with none at rival fashion business Next.

PwC interviewed 12 private equity backed companies which had been bought out at the height of the boom in highly-leveraged deals. Most of them, it reports, "say the burden of the debt they are operating under has seriously restricted their ability to carry out their strategy" – but debt restructuring is not a realistic option. The companies said they had to grow their bottom line, even in the recession – because if they didn't they would breach their banking covenants.

One senior figure at a major buyout firm, who asked not to be named, echoed Reynolds findings suggesting many private equity owners would still have to hand over some or all of their investments eventually. Three private equity owners of gambling group Gala Coral – Permira, Candover and Cinven – are expected to formally lose control of the business next week, surrendering ownership to the companies mezzanine debt holders, including Apollo Management and Cerberus.

Other debt-financed buyouts to have seen their private equity-owners lose out include Countrywide, Britain's biggest residential estate agent, and house builder Crest Nicholson. Part of the reason why debt financing for private equity deals became so plentiful was because many banks found they could package up and sell on buyout loans within poorly understood financial packages known as collateralised debt obligations (CDOs). According to Bank of England ­figures about a third of loans used to finance private equity style deals in Europe are ultimately held though such packages. Optimists in the private equity world point to a substantial rally in the price of LBO debt. According to credit data firm Markit, senior five-year loans at Gala Coral, ­Manchester United, ­Formula One, New Look, and Alliance Boots was variously trading in the secondary market at between 50p and 65p in the pound a year ago. Today confidence has returned and this debt is trading between 92p and 100.5p.

When influential music website Pitchfork listed its 100 greatest albums of the 1970s – which in certain other lists is calculated to be the greatest decade for rock music – the modestly immodest, driven, musical non-musician Brian Eno was directly and indirectly involved in at least a quarter of them. He spoke to The Observer, in which he mentions his work with Coldplay on several occasions. Here is the excerpts from the interview, below...

He's worked with U2, and more recently, as if relishing the snobbish horror of those who dismiss U2 as pompous irritants, he's attended to another ambitious four-piece male rock group with delusions of splendour, Coldplay, producing their last multi-million selling album Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends and now, at the age of 61, finishing their next...

A mischievous ghost of the glammed up art pop star Eno that was first noticed as part of the theatre of Roxy Music now haunts the sound and image of the two biggest rock bands in the world who would claim to be, in fact, post-Eno as much as post-punk. Coldplay didn't really belong anywhere before Eno apart from inside their own success. Now they have attached themselves via Eno to a very particular history of avant pop practice. Eno himself is prone to chuckle good naturedly when faced with bemusement at his connection to Coldplay...

On working with U2 and Coldplay at the same time: "It was fine. A few jokes. I felt like a ­philanderer who was with another woman and might make a slip and call her by the wrong name in bed. I had one computer that had all of the Coldplay stuff and all the U2 stuff. I had to very carefully label each folder because I was paranoid that I might end up with the same basic track for each group and I wouldn't notice until it was too late. There was a chance the same track might have appeared on both albums."

Read the full interview courtesy of The Observer at the culture section of their website now. [thanks Luke]

Music plagiarism is a big deal. It can ruin reputations and end careers. No one has learned the potential damages of such charges better over the last few months than Coldplay — the likes of Joe Satriani, Cat Stevens, a random singer-songwriter, an animator, and some relatively unknown indie band have all accused the group of ripping them off in one way or another. And now there’s another person throwing their hat in the "sue the pants off Coldplay" club.

As TMZ reports (via Rolling Stone), a man named Sammie Lee Smith has recorded 4,000 songs on some 100 tapes since 1976. Of those songs, he claims that “Yellow”, “Clocks”, and “Trouble” were ripped off from his plentiful back catalog. No one seems sure how the band 'came into contact' with Smith, but the lawsuit demands that the band cease playing these songs and that Mr. Smith receives an undisclosed but undoubtedly exuberant amount of money. So, there. Sammie does not say if any of his other 3,997 songs were ever stolen by anyone.

We’ll keep you updated on the outcome of the case and if the hordes continue to descend upon our beloved Coldplay, but rest assured that music fans around the world are firmly on Coldplay's side here, below is just a selection of the many thousands of messages left on blogs, messageboards... if Coldplaying finds any more excellent comments on this 'lawsuit case' we will publish them here. In the meantime you can discuss this ongoing saga at the Coldplay forum here onwards [thanks Caroline_Was_Here]

What a load of bollocks. I wrote “The Scientist” in my sleep but Coldplay do it much better than me and I don’t need the money anyhow, so I’m saying nothing. [Tony Hardy]

This seems like a law suit that will quickly be dismissed. The artist filing the suit is unknown, so how did Coldplay hear his music? Besides, when you write 4,000 songs, you have a good shot at someone coming close to composing one that is somewhat similar. Likewise, you very well may write something that resembles a previous work. And were these songs under copyright? If the only copies exist on the songwriters audio tapes, how does he hope to prove their date of creation? [J SReich]

Being one of the biggest bands in the world has its downsides. Yes, there are perks — money, fame, beautiful women — but the drawback is that everyone tries to claim a piece of your legacy. British megastars Coldplay are learning this the hard way. They've already been sued for copyright infringement by Joe Satriani, the virtuoso guitarist who claimed that Coldplay’s hit "Viva la Vida" was lifted from his "If I Could Fly." And similar claims came from Cat Stevens and Brooklyn indie rockers Creaky Boards, as well as British singer-songwriter Andy J Gallagher. Now, TMZ reports that some musician named Sammie Lee Smith has filed a lawsuit against the band in L.A. County Superior Court, claiming that they stole the hits "Yellow," "Clocks" and "Trouble" from him. In the lawsuit, the self-described "well-talented" but "unknown" songwriter stated that he has made over 4,000 tapes in his lifetime, but did not explain how three of them supposedly made their way into Coldplay's hands. He also didn't explain why it took him so long to come forward. After all, it has been a decade since "Yellow" and "Trouble" were first released. Smith is seeking financial compensation and has requested that the band stop playing the songs. For some reason, this lawsuit reminds of that time Depeche Mode's Martin Gore was subpoenaed in that crazy World of Warcraft lawsuit. [exclaim.ca]

I'm sooo tired of people wanting credit where it doesnt belong. those songs are years old so why is this guy looking for money NOW? Yellow and Trouble are really old, why is he waiting until now to file it instead of 9-10 years ago?! [Anjirocks]

Such a pile of cr*p it's almost funny. Just another loser looking for 5 minutes of fame and some case. Bet it gets thrown out of court by next week. No wonder they haven't commented - it's too dumb to even bother! [Anna100]

I echo the many of the comments posted here. why would anyone wait a decade to sue. surely if you had a legit case you wouldnt need stacks of cash to sue the band as kateedid so eloquently put. Another person wanting their 5 minutes on the back of coldplay. perez why do continue ur crusade against coldplay. [bigjok]

Whoever wrote this article is an idiot... as mentioned previously the songs have been out for an eternity. Coldplay responding to this nonsense only validates the claims. Why don't you attack some illegitimate bands / acts and leave truly brilliant musicians like Coldplay to reap the acclaim they deserve. [nova_blue]

I just wanna go ahead and get my hat into the ring for all the other coldplay songs which they stole from me too. PLEEZ SEND ME MAH MILLIONZ. Kthxbai. [paulnunn]

People sue each other way too much nowadays. This is getting out of hand. No one stole your songs, idiot. You did not create any melodies that had never been heard before, nor since. Just admit that this is a money grab, and be done with it. [joe5566]

One could argue that this third one is a lawsuit that wouldn't have happened if the first two hadn't, because now since it's the third time perception is immediately towards Coldplay being guilty. Hopefully with all these lawsuits to deal with, they won't have time to record any more terrible stolen songs. I think the best way to resolve this situation is by extermiating everyone involved. Imagine a world with no Coldplay. You know you want it to happen. Seriously though? WHO THE HELL CARES ABOUT THIS WANNA BE GUY? Boo-hoo you still have 3997 songs left. And Im not even a fan of Coldplay I jus hate nobodys tryin to make a dollar anyway they can, wastin the courts time is what this really is, of course he wont have to pay for it so why should he care.? [KGNine]

So this guy comes out NOW after 10 years that these songs were written? The song Was Viva La Vida, not Rule the World, and the case was dismissed with Satch! The thing is people who don't follow Coldplay will glance at this and think "Oh another lawsuit" they just suck, but until anyone see's them in concert and see's what they give people for their money and the lengths they go to put on the best show for the people will never get this band. Come on Harvey, say some positive stuff about them on your show!! [Tracey Keith]

Satriani did not win anything. The case was dismissed in the California court. You know.. there are millions of songs out there and people need to realize that everyone once in awhile one section of a song might sound familiar. It doesn't mean they copied anything !! The guys in Coldplay are honest & hardworking. I can't help but wonder if Coldplay didn't have the success, if people would even bother to file a claim ?? It's so ridiculous I can hardly stand hearing about it anymore.. move on [Carla]

As a songwriter myself, here's what I have to say: does anybody realize in Western popular music we are all just using the same 12 notes to write songs. Sure you can combine those notes to form various chord and scale structures, but eventually some things will sound alike. most non-composers won't understand, but it can be difficult to make a pop song one can hold up against all others and find no significant similarity. the real problem is supposing one has property rights in note sequences. he doesn't. [Charlie Hardman]

Why did he take so long to claim that?He waited 5 years or more to "sue" over old songs,from Coldplay's older albums.This guy is a loser.If he's telling the truth,took so long to sue,now he may not have a valid case.Many songs can look alike,but it doesn't mean the artists stole parts of the songs from others artists,if that "unknown" can be called an artist. This guy is a nobody, nobody knows him and i doubt Colplay members know him too,like he says,he's an unknown,but i doubt he's talented.If he was that talented,he would be very famous by now.He's just another loser full of debts asking for easy money,another money-hungry.So he sues whoever he wants to get money. Sincerelly,this case looks like another case of a nobody who wants attention and fame by lying about something to get money.Typical. Poor Coldplay, everybody wants their money. But are these songs hits...really?Are good songs,i admit,but i don't think they are hits. But if this nobody thinks they are hits...lol Btw,Satriani didn't win.The case was dismissed by the judge of the case. [Jessica L]

Chris Martin attends premiere of Mat Whitecross film 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll' (6th January 2010):

Gary Lightbody has said that he wants to become as successful as Coldplay and U2 in the coming year. According to Contactmusic, the Snow Patrol frontman wants to build on the band's current popularity and take a step up to the next level in 2010. He said: "I see U2 in a class of their own, Coldplay in the next tier down and us and a ton of bands in the tier below them."

Although the group received an encouraging crowd response as last-minute headliners at this year's V Festival in Chelmsford after Oasis pulled out unexpectedly, Lightbody insisted that they still have a way to go before they can match the country's top-billing acts. He added: "I don't see them as equals. We need 10 or 15 more songs in the national consciousness for that to happen."

Meanwhile, if you missed the exclusive interview Snow Patrol gave Coldplay.com earlier this year while on tour with Coldplay, read on...

With heartfelt rockers Snow Patrol now on the road with Coldplay as their latest support act, the official site asked frontman Gary Lightbody how it's going...

Hello Gary, how are you?

Hey there, am grand thanks.

Where are you?

On our way from Texas to the show in Des Moines, Ohio tonight.

How have the first few days of the tour with Coldplay been?

They've been great. We've been treated really well and they have a lovely crew that are being great with our crew. Also they are kicking ass each night. Their show is spectacular. Shaping up as a perfect tour really.

Do you approach support slots differently to headline shows?

You have to really. It's not our crowd and we want to win them over for sure, but also we are the warm-up act and we want to do just that. We try our best to get the crowd as energised as possible, so they're well warm by the time Coldplay come on. You leave your ego at the door for support slots. Best that way.

Have the Coldplay crowds been receptive?

Yes they have. They've been great. There have even been a few singalongs. Hard to know what to expect when you're the support act, but they've been really warm and lovely to us.

You go straight from Coldplay to U2 stadium shows. Are you looking forward to those?

Yes definitely. We toured with U2 in 2005 and we're delighted to be asked again.

For any Coldplay fans who aren't familiar with your music (though lots will be), please could you tell us a bit about Snow Patrol and what you sound like.

The hardest question of them all!! For any band. Two things really first and foremost: melody and honesty. Although live we are a hell of a lot more rock than people might expect. We've been going 15 years so we've been about a bit, but the fire is still there. You'll see that if you get there early and catch us.

Last.fm's auto-recommendation software suggests that Coldplay fans might well like Snow Patrol and vice versa. Would you tend to agree?

Yes I think we write from similar places (as above) although I don't think we sound particularly alike. Essentially we both write big, beautiful music from the heart that, yes, I'm sure would appeal to both sets of fans.

How did you come to be on the tour?

They asked us. Coldplay are one of the few bands that have been around as long as us that we haven't played with til now so it's great to finally get to play together.

Had you met them before?

A few times but only briefly really. Didn't know them very well but they are gentlemen for sure.

Have you been enjoying their shows?

Yes, very much. The stage show is spectacular and their playing is awesome. Chris's voice is exceptional live. Also they are playing my favourite song, Glass Of Water, so that's a bonus too.

Have you had chance to hang out with the band yet?

Yes, we hung out yesterday as two of their lovely crew were having a birthday party and we were invited. A very great day in the texas sunshine. Til the tornado hit that is. Seriously. Exciting though.

Is there any time for any sightseeing on this tour?

You have to make time or life becomes a scooby-doo backdrop (tourbus, gig, tourbus, gig, hotel, tourbus, gig, etc). We're good at getting out into a city and exploring.

What's the best on tour sightseeing you've done?

In my life? Well, I jumped off the southern hemisphere's tallest building a few years back in New Zealand. That was fun. Also we did some boat-surfing (?! it was new to me too) yesterday, which I'd never done before and am now maybe addicted to. I may need to talk to someone. Not sure a sharkophobic surf junkie is appropriate. Only in land locked water for me!

Are you travelling around on a tourbus? If so, what's the best way to pass the time on the journies? (apart from sleeping!)

Reading (at the moment I'm on David Mitchell's debut 'Ghostwritten' and David Niven's autobiography 'The Moon's A Balloon', both of which I recommend) listening to music (anything by James Blackwell, Mstrcrft, The Maccabees, The Lowly Knights, Foy Vance, too much to mention) and watching some films and TV (30 rock, Earl, etc, funny stuff is best for the bus I find)

Pete Yorn spoke highly of Coldplay's catering - what do you think?

Yes, it's been great each night.

What have Snow Patrol got planned for the rest of the year?

We're going to be on tour, with U2 and by ourselves until December. Christmas off methinks.

Our final question is always "what's your favourite Coldplay song?". But you've already answered it.

Yes, I'll stick with Glass Of Water, though there are many greats. It's just a thrilling piece of music isn't it. Live especially. Look close enough each night and you'll see my ever-growing haystack hair, shaking joyfully to it in the wings.

For more information on Snow Patrol, head over to snowpatrol.com.

Millions of music fans face higher concert prices after watchdogs yesterday cleared a £500million merger between booking agency Ticketmaster and promoter Live Nation, as we predicted back in October

The Competition Commission's decision comes two months after it warned the mega-deal would harm customers. The U-turn caps an embarrassing 48 hours for the quango after BAA won an appeal against an order to sell three of its airports.

In October, the Commission warned a marriage between Ticketmaster and Live Nation "could lead to higher prices and lower service quality". But, making its final decision, it said it had a change of heart following "significant new evidence and arguments". Ticketmaster and Live Nation - who have promoted concerts by Madonna (left), Coldplay and U2 - announced the planned merger in February.

The Commission's inquiry focused on concerns that the deal would stop the world's second largest ticketing firm, CTS Eventim, from gaining a foothold in the UK market. In truth, it was powerless to block the deal as both businesses are based in the US. But it could have forced bosses to split or sell UK arms - or make them sell tickets through rival companies.

Coldplay at Mencap's Big Noise Sessions, Exeter Castle, Exeter, UK (19 December 2009):

More photos are available to view here [thanks sar74]

You have to be in awe of the way Coldplay has been embracing social media, writes Bit Rebels. First they announced they were giving away their album, LeftRightLeftRightLeft via a free download. The next step was to give the album away to everyone who purchased a ticket and arrived at the show. A bonus to fans, since most had already downloaded the album, but who doesn’t like free CDs?

But their newest social media masterpiece is quite unique. It’s called the Exhibition Room and it proves to be a powerful social media tool for fans to get a chance to be noticed for their creativity by other fans.

Exhibits have been shown off on the front page of the Coldplay website, and will be displayed in the studio for band members to see. Now, due to its unprecedented success, the Exhibit Room is opening its doors to new exhibits seven days a week...

Coldplay.com suggest submitting anything that can be uploaded: illustrations, paintings, animations, photography, music videos, etc. In their words, 'anything that can be uploaded is fair game' as long as it violates no copyrights. Here's Anchorman with the new 'exhibition opening times'...

We're pleased to announce that the Exhibition Room will now be posting a new Exhibit seven days a week (rather than just Monday to Friday). We've decided to increase the number because we've been so blown away by the number and quality of the Exhibits that you folks have been uploading - and we want you to see more of them. Quite a few of you have been in touch asking how each day's Exhibit is selected. Well, the Curator looks at every single creation which is submitted (more than 3,000 so far) and then decides which ones to display in the Exhibition Room. Impress the Curator and you stand a good chance of seeing your work on the site.

So, what will impress the Curator? Not, we are are told, pictures of the band or footage from their shows (including the butterflies). Nor is the Curator looking for videos of you folks covering a Coldplay song - though they don't mind if you use a Coldplay tune to soundtrack your own original short film. Essentially, as today's exhibit proves, your best bet is to just let your imagination, ideas and creativity flow. Which is exactly what so many of you have done already. Keep up the good work - and thanks to all of you for making the Exhibition Room such a success. Anchorman

Each day of the week they will be choosing a new submission to display on the homepage of their website and to be stored in the exhibition archives. So far there are several paintings and illustrations featured on the site as well as a few video creations.

The latest portrait exhibits at the Exhibition Room (at Coldplay.com):

Chris Martin should be a comedy star, according to Ash frontman Tim Wheeler. The Coldplay singer has been urged by 'Goldfinger' rockers Ash to widen his career and seek acting roles after impressing them with his appearance in their unreleased horror movie 'Slashed'.

Ash singer Tim Wheeler said: "He was the best thing in it. He's a really, really good actor. He could be really strong in comedy."

Ash's 2001 movie also starred Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl, 'Play' hitmaker Moby and actor James Nesbitt, with Chris appearing as Sherbert Bones, an FBI investigator hired to track down a supernatural serial killer alongside fellow agent Datsun Ford, played by his bandmate, guitarist Jonny Buckland.

The 2001 film also starred songwriter Moby, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Cold Feet actor James Nesbitt. Although the film has remained unreleased, Tim hasn't ruled out airing the movie in future. He added: "We're still talking about using that footage. A lot of people will want to see Chris Martin getting axed to death."

More pictures of Chris Martin at the Kids Company Charity Auction (12th November 2009):

Coldplayzone recently published an interview online with Nikki Rosetti, the producer of Coldplay's first releases - Safety EP and The Blue Room EP. Artist, musician and painter, Nikki, told them about her history with the band with delight and a touch of nostalgia: "I told everyone, 'watch out for this band, they're going to be huge", she said. Here is the interview article below:

You’ve been the producer of the two Coldplay opening musical publications, that is Safety EP and The Blue Room EP. That was the moment of the band birth and baptism. And you were there. How did you meet Chris, Jon, Guy and Will?

We were recommended to the band by friends of theirs. Most of the bands who came to us, did so by word of mouth or from record labels developing bands.

So you set to work at once. Was it hard? Was there enough material to work on or was everything under definition?

The songs were all written, although I recall all the band members trying out keyboard parts or harmonies and so forth. We recorded the basic tracks pretty much live, then overdubs that worked, were added, but very few. Some keyboard parts, vocals and harmonies, maybe some guitar. Getting Jonny's guitar effects set up right took some time...

Just out of curiosity: who had the idea of placing microphones on the wet road in front of the recording studios to record “Easy to please”?

That I can't answer as I was not involved in that track!

Which is the best song you produced for Coldplay, according to you?

Difficult. If you listen to 'Safety', which is what most people are familiar with from our sessions, I would have to say 'Such A Rush'. However, as many people are aware, I was not happy with the amount of reverb swamping everything and subsequently re-mixed all the session tracks. They now sound like completely different songs, the sound is fatter, warmer and more intimate and Chris's voice sounds twenty times better than the original, having taken the reverb off (and it was was pretty good already!). From the re-mixes, I'd have to say my favourite is 'Panic', bits of which went on to become 'Don't Panic'.

Could you say something about Ken Nelson and Chris Allison, the other two producers at that time?

All the tracks we produced were in isolation at different studios, so I never met tKen and Chris. The two sessions we recorded, were done at our own studios, Sync City.

Is there any funny anecdote, any particular event or remarkable quote that characterized and distinguished the moments of the two produced-by-you EPs creation?

Well, the thing that always sticks out in my mind is Chris and his 'sorries'. Chris was a genuinely nice, well mannered, inoffensive guy as well as being a perfectionist. If he felt he hadn't sung a phrase particularly well, he would keep saying saying 'Sorry Nikki', and we'd stop take it again. After some hours I had to stop and tell Chris to stop apologising all the time. The tape is littered with 'sorry Nikki'. Perhaps that should have been the name of the e.p!

We think the material which you worked on was not huge, but anyway conspicuous. We know that certain tracks were discarded and that Chris wanted to record everything with the reverb effect. Shall we, one day, listen to those “whimpers” seen by many Coldplay fans as a “Holy Grail”?

I think this has been documented elsewhere, but here's the official track listing from our sessions:

Safety EP

1. High Speed

2. * Such A Rush

3. Ode To Deodorant

4. If All Else Fails

5. * Bigger Stronger

6. Panic

7. * No More Keeping My Feet On The Ground

There is one futher track, I believe completely unknown, so maybe a first for you. Right at the end of the session when we were winding down, Chris got me to do one more recording with just him, his acoustic guitar and vocal, called' Vitamins'. A very intimate recording and a great song, never heard by anyone I believe. I'm not so sure that even the band had a copy.The second session saw the whole time devoted to just two tracks, 'Brothers And Sisters' and another version of 'Ode To Deodorant' with a much harsher guitar part. 'Brothers and Sisters' opens with an Indian instrument with metal prongs like a music box, but played with the fingers. I forget the name of it, but I remember Chris not being amused when I kept referring to it as it a 'banjo'. Of course the three 'safety' tracks were included on subsequent releases, up to 'Yellow' which also has 'No More Keeping My Feet on The Ground' on it.

Now we ask you to answer sincerely: did you expect, after launching their music, that the “Fab 4” would become applauded, later famous and now among the most appreciated musicians in the whole world? How much of this prestige and charisma do you feel like belonging to you?

Well, if you were to ask anyone around the studios at the time, I never shut up about the band. I told everyone, 'watch out for this band, they're going to be huge'. I knew they were to be the band they are as soon as Chris started to sing and Jon started to play. How much can be attributed to me? Well, I think it would have been difficult for anyone to not come up with a good recording of this band, they were that good. Having said that, Phil Harvey the manager rang me during the recording of the 'Parachutes' album for EMI to say that they were almost out of time and could not get the sound they wanted. We seemed to have captured the sound of the band that they had in their heads. Phil asked if we could fit them in to finish the album in our studios. Well, they must have sorted out the problems because they completed the album where they were.

Do you have any regret about associated to that period?

None at all. That period saw us fortunate enough to record bands such as Coldplay and Keane and you can't ask for a better work day than that. We were one of the first fully digital studios from 1996 and bands loved it. it was all pretty new stuff this copy and paste, nudging the odd bass note or kick drum into place. And I have my own personal mixes of all the tracks to listen to!

Have you ever seen again the band in the last years? They must see you like a second “mum”…

Well, Jonny came back in with a band he was working with called 'The Betina Motive'. We recorded two sessions with them. I think he jammed in the studio with my partner Ron Niblett, a bass player. Outside of that, the band have move on to bigger and better things.Their second mum? Well I think I must be. They never write, they never phone...........!!

Let’s talk about you, now. You didn’t leave the music world, on the contrary you integrated it with the Art one, another great passion of yours. Thinking about everything now, at this time of you existence, are you completely in love with you artist life?

I do love painting and the creative process, whatever it may be. I will always be a musician first and although we are no longer active in the professional music world (we sold Sync City Studios in 2005 and move out of London) our house becomes more like a studio every week and we enjoy jamming with local musicians and I have been writing and recording some acoustic material. Even where we are living, there are some great musicians and young talent who I like to promote such as Gracie Neal (here comes the plug) www.myspace.com/gracieneal, who is apparently very popular with the Italian men!

Your surname sounds familiar to Italian people. Any descent from our country?

Not in the recent past, but it surely has Italian origins.

You birthday has just passed. Happy birthday from Coldplayzone! How did you celebrate?

Thank you. On the same note, supporting local talent, we went to watch the local drama group put on their cabaret and stayed for the after show party, much wine drunk. I have never seen anyone snort Sambuca before!

Finally, we ask you to say something to all Coldplay Italian fans and to all the users and friends of Coldplayzone. Here in Italy many of us miss that period of the band which is over (by now), and thinking that you took us back for few seconds to it make us feel very glad…

Well, thanks for remembering that far back!. Of course for me, that was the definitive Coldplay sound and I hope it has given some pleasure to you. If you keep it alive here, maybe it will be remembered fondly in the future.

More discussion on Nikki Rosetti and the interview is at the Coldplay forum here now [thanks coldpatrix & Coldplayzone.it]

Photos of Coldplay at LCCC, Old Trafford, Manchester (12 September 2009):

Pictures by busybeeburns

Forget the Rock Band video game, software is being developed that not only recreates Beatles performances, it allows the Fab Four to play other artists' music in their own style... which means you could be hearing a Beatles version of Coldplay songs in the near future!

Fancy some tickets to a live performance by the Beatles – with Jimi Hendrix on guitar? This could become a reality thanks to Zenph Studios, a North Carolina company that is developing software which not only recreates famous musicians' performances, it also learns the "DNA" of their style, letting them perform music that they never played before.

Zenph is best known for their "re-performances" of works by Glenn Gould, Art Tatum and Rachmaninov. On those albums, the company's software memorised the original musicians' performances and then recreated them on computerised pianos, in state-of-the-art recording studios...

Thanks to technology, Lennon and McCartney give Coldplay's Fix You that classic Beatles touch

"We know what makes an artist sound like them," Jeff McIntyre, Zenph's director of sales and marketing, told the Pocket-Lint technology website. By studying the musical "algorithm" of a given artist, Zenph hopes to recreate performances that never actually happened. "Everything you've known to be frozen will be free," McIntyre said. "It will be a sea change."

Not only does Zenph hope to release a CD of, say, "Oscar Peterson" playing Moon River with "Keith Moon" and "John Lennon", but the company's audio fingerprinting lets them tweak tiny aspects of the performance. "You will be able to change key, tone, make it sadder, happier as well as change the point of view or the location," McIntyre said. "Imagine if you wanted to hear the songs Norah Jones played as if you were Norah Jones. We could re-record her performance with the microphone where her head is as she doesn't have to be sitting at the piano. Or how about if you want to hear what the song would sound like in the audience at a certain concert hall or venue. All is possible."

Then again, it's also technically "possible" that Lady Gaga will win the Nobel prize for literature. Zenph admits that the technology is still a long way off. So far, they have only captured the performance "essence" of four artists: Gould, Rachmaninov, Tatum and Oscar Peterson – all pianists. But McIntyre says that work on the bass guitar is 90% complete, and they hope to create "fantasy" performances – like Eric Clapton with the Byrds – within five years.

However, even if the technology is there, and Zenph finds the funds ("When we started it would cost us $14 a note to capture the musical DNA," McIntyre said, "now we are down to $2"), there is an unresolved copyright issue. "We are breaking new ground here," McIntyre said. "There is nothing in the law about bringing back artists from the dead to play to a concert hall or stadium."

This week, New Yorkers will have the chance to judge Zenph's high-tech player piano for themselves – Rachmaninov plays Rachmaninov at Carnegie Hall on Friday.

Last week, BBC America launched their own music section, Tunes From the Thames, and they've included several top 10 lists featuring the best of British pop music.

First thing they go and do? Launch a scathing attack on BBC's fellow coutrymen, Coldplay, whilst boringly comparing them with UK compatriots Radiohead. Never been done before, we're sure. Anyway, below is the article that will infuriate many Coldplay fans. Way to go, BBC America! You can discuss this at the Coldplay forum now.

The most potentially controversial list is the Top 10 Current British Artists in the U.S. After much hand-wringing, Coldplay and Radiohead were selected as our top two biggest UK artists. In that order. But that begs the question: should the imitator (Coldplay) really triumph over the originator (Radiohead)?

An argument could be made for Radiohead as No. 1: their longevity, their continued critical success, their hugely popular U.S. tours, and their innovation both musically and economically. Who else could launch an album as a name-your-own-price download online - and still hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 for their full-price, in-stores release?

Coldplay, on the other hand, has built a career re-writing Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" as sappy indie ballads. Creatively, Coldplay completely fails to measure up to Radiohead. However, commercially, Chris Martin and the boys could be the most successful UK rock group since Duran Duran.

What do you think of this article and the constant Coldplay/Radiohead comparisons? All opinions welcome at the Coldplay forum here onwards...

Photos of Coldplay at Wembley stadium, London, UK (19th September 2009):

Pictures by busybeeburns

Posted on the forums a few days ago, here is a strange article from Hollywood Today focussing on alleged quotes by Chris Martin with respect to dying early and his Jim Morrisson comparisons. A morbid article, just in time for Halloween 2009!

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 10/25/09 — "I think I’ll die at 42", Chris Martin says about what he calls his number. Chris would sign his name ‘Jim Morrison‘ on his mails to me. Jim Morrison being the epitome of rock god, excess, mystic poetry as well as my favorite male rock star, who passed away at 27. I like him the way my imagination divies, tho he was a drunk, lewd and weird with his woman, I can overlook it as I didn’t have to really know him.

There’s no real comparsion between Chris and Jim beyond they are both very good at what they do. Chris signing his name Jim Morrison, was just one of his charms...

Chris Martin is a king amongst men, playing what he describes as “very heavy soft rock” with his group Coldplay. After touring the world 30 times over, getting married and becoming a father of two, selling some amazing million number of albums, whilst living whats commonly known as “life” in between, he has maintained his integrity, energy and enthusiasm with all them same stars in his eyes. In fact, I am not just impressed with his down to earth, I’m proud of him. I’m proud he has done so well and being that he is apart of MY generation. I’m proud. Sure,rock n roll hearts like a bit of Jim Morrison leather trouser wearers who are on a mystical path of rebel rousing but lets face it, no body can pull that off anymore and we’re done sick of it anyway. We can’t keep birthing and deathing Jim Morrisons. Nope, Chris Martin is our new bred. He’s environmentally conscious, does yoga, and meditates. He’s cool without being addicted to drugs, or being a womanizer, or throwing tv sets out windows. Why you ask? Because he keeps it real and true, sadly that is a lot to ask of the poor soul put on the rock n roll pedistal.

“(My life) feels like it’s just starting” Chris said at 33 years old. My speculation on his disposition is the combination that he was raised well and also born with a deepened soul. I don’t know about ‘old’ soul because he’s energy is of such as a daydreaming boy, I’d say age 9. He eludes childish excitement. When engaged in conversation his eyes twinkle as if its been the best day of his life. He has always been this way since I first met him in 2001. He seems to know that nothing is exclusive, he knows you can go for it all. I’d say he’d play a mean hand of let’s-be-the-coolest-mother-f*ckers-on-earth. You can have it all without all the cliches of rock n rollers becoming you a narcissist. Its hard not to let it go to your head when it feels so good, just letting the ego ooze like lava. If he had his time with it, he got a harness on it real quick. The only trace of his experience is deep in his eyes when he’s listening, somewhere between his forehead lines and the hint of tired in his brow shows he’s gone far and experienced much.

Its easy to expose yourself on stage as Morrison once did, its easy to drink yourself to death, to let Coke numb your heart, its a form of check out. Chris isn’t checking out. He is very present. He’s very positive. He’s just starting. In a world of facade and cut throat folks, he’s very, very cool.

Jim Morrison had came up with the anagram “Mr. Mojo Risin” from the letters of his own name scrambled up. An anagram for Chris Martin’s name is “Smart in Rich”. We hadn’t seen each other in three and a half years until this past July. But sure enough, he sent me a text after wards, signed– Jim Morrisson. Yup, he spelled the name wrong.

New pictures of Chris Martin at the 2009 Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, CA (25th October 2009):

Pictures by Caroline_Was_Here

An interesting article on the subject of peer envy has been published today in the Daily Mail, from a college cohort of Coldplay's, way back when at University College London:

The Coldplay concert is what pushed me over the edge - standing in the middle of a 70,000-strong crowd who were all singing Yellow while giant sun-coloured balloons bounced on their heads. It was at that point I had something of a life crisis. If there's one thing that annoys me about Coldplay, it's not their dodgy lyrics, their maddening worthiness, or their homemade clothes - it's their success.

Their bona fide hanging out with world leaders and marrying Hollywood starlets success. You see, it could have been me. Well, not the whole musical genius, rock god stuff, but the high-achieving, general greatness. For once upon a time Coldplay and I were at college together. We started our adult lives knowing the same people, hanging out in the same grim Camden pubs and stalking the same library corridors...

We were never friends, but we had friends in common and I have half a memory of Chris Martin fancying my flatmate. We were the same. Fast-forward 13 years, however, and things couldn't be more different. Chris is in one of the biggest bands in the world, married to Gwyny and building mansions, while I'm, well, more overdrawn than I was as a student and looking for yet another flatshare at the age of 32.

As for my movie-star lover, well, he's been awfully slow to turn up. I know I should be pleased for Coldplay, they were and still seem to be such nice guys, but the truth is their success has put my own achievements - or lack of - into sharp focus.

It's hard to kid yourself that you're doing well when your peer's success slaps you in the face every time you pick up a newspaper or switch on the TV. But at least I'm not alone. Peer envy has become so rife in today's 'Anything's possible' society that it's even got a name: Failed Potential Syndrome. This syndrome gets more acute with age, can be disastrous for your mental health and is everywhere. It's that feeling that somehow life has not quite blossomed for you in the way you thought it would, while your peers (usually the seemingly unambitious ones) soar to great heights.

Read the full article Daily Mail at the Daily Mail website now, and discuss the article at the Coldplay forum here [thanks mimixxx]

New pictures of Chris Martin at the 2009 Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, CA (25th October 2009):

Pictures by Caroline_Was_Here

Think about this for a moment: The iPod is only eight years old. In less than a decade, Apple's portable music and media device has become an absolutely necessary part of modern life, writes MTV newsroom.

The first iPods hit the market on this day back in 2001, with five and 10 gigabyte versions available. The first iPods were hilarious looking, especially compared to current models. They used a clunky mechanical scroll wheel and weighed about ten pounds. They were so solid you could use them for masonry. But like all technology, the iPod evolved quickly.

The iPod (and by extension the iPhone) is now not only a music device but also a video player, gaming system, personal organizer, Web browser, messaging system, navigational tool and on and on. Last month, Apple introduced an iPod that has a capacity of 160 gigabytes, enough space to store over 53,000 songs.

Consider that in 2000, the best option for carrying around music you liked was to burn a mix CD, which meant that you had 20 or so tunes at your disposal. Not that it really needed it, but the iPod was also supported by a tremendous marketing campaign, and to this day, getting your song in an Apple TV spot tends to do great things for a band's business. The first batch of iPod commercials featured a track from '90s big beat enthusiasts the Propellerheads, and a number of bands have used iPod commercials as jumping off points to launch new albums (U2, Coldplay) or their entire careers (Chairlift, the Ting Tings).

The first group that catapulted to superstardom care of an iPod ad was the Black Eyed Peas, whose song "Hey Mama" propelled their 2003 album Elephunk up the charts. Along the way, iPod commercials have helped give a jolt to the careers of the Caesars, the Fratellis and Chairlift and helped extend the lives of hit songs by Feist and Jack Johnson. Check out the video playlist below that takes a look back at the songs that helped make the iPod into a part of everyday life.

Article: MTV Newsroom

Pictures of Chris Martin at the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City (15th October 2009):

More pictures of the event can be found at life.com now.

Coldplaying Christmas 2009: Secret Santa - add your name to the list!

Flavorwire recently caught up with the Flaming Lips’ vocalist and master of ceremonies, Wayne Coyne, who amongst other things talked about touring with Coldplay.

The punk-rock born, experimentally-evolved band The Flaming Lips have created a new pinnacle in their psychedelic rock endeavors this week with the release of their twelfth studio album Embryonic. With a strong cult following after albums such as The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, the hard-core followers (not me, by the way) felt the band was on a course for pop-alternative sounds and a routine stage performance with their 2006 release of At War with the Mystics...

However, those assumptions have been turned upside down with the most experimental release by the "fearless freaks" since their four-disk Zaireeka album which was meant to be played on four stereos simultaneously.

Flaming Lips on touring with Coldplay:

Flavorwire: You seem to have a special relationship with the audience, and it is a collaborative effort when you perform. You can’t imagine yourself just getting up onstage and singing your songs, right?

Wayne Coyne: You know, we played some shows opening up for Coldplay. They were these giant stadium shows in Paris and Barcelona and around Europe and stuff. And you’d think that if you were playing to 60,000 people, they’re bound to respond. Well, they don’t at all. And we kind of knew that. We’ve opened up for big groups before, and these things that our audience is ready to do, these other audiences don’t know what it is. And we would go up in front of the Coldplay audience and we would just simply play. But we do that often enough that we know it still has to be a performance. It still has to be about music. It still has to be about something other than this familiarity that our audience has with our personas and stuff. Actually, I kind of like it. Me and the fellas all sort of remarked after those Coldplay shows of how you really do play for yourselves sometimes. We’re playing sometimes just to interact with each other up there.

Discuss the full article at the World Of Music forum here in the Flaming Lips thread.

Coldplaying Christmas 2009: Secret Santa - add your name to the list!

Official photos of Coldplay at Wembley stadium, London, UK (18th & 19th September 2009):

Photos by Penny Howle (courtesy of Coldplay.com)

Last week at the UK Music Video Awards Strawberry Swing gained an impressive three category wins, including the coveted Video of the Year, writes Animation Blog. Downloaded already by nearly one million YouTube browsers, the fact that it is the latest official video for Coldplay helps of course. Here is Animation Blog's online article, from the perspective of the unjaundiced eye reviewing the best of world animation:

But we focus on the movies here. A mix of stop motion and live action, the video features the lead singer cast in the role as super hero intent on saving a drowning lady. Off he leaps into the air in a desperate attempt to save the day, beating biplane, hitch-hiking clouds, using his umbrella both to fend off missiles from a dastardly giant squirrel as well as elude the attentions of an equally massive catfish...

Add a spot of leaping off high buildings as any self-respecting superhero should and you have the idea. Strawberry Swing was produced by Shynola a London based studio formed by four graduates from The Kent Institute of Art and Design. Chris Harding, Richard Kenworthy and Jason Groves spent three months making the piece, a long time for a music video when time is of the essence.

Chris Martin in the role of caped rescuer enters into the spirit of the piece, twisting like an acrobat. The star however is the technique, chalk drawings painstakingly animated as backdrop or accompanying character, like squirrel or distressed damsel. The directors inventively fill the four minutes or so with wit and incident. The chalk girl and superstar singer make a fine pair as they fly, James Bond style, from the bushy tailed rodent having given him an explosive present.

A final sad note. The directors made this only months after the sudden death almost exactly a year ago of their co-director, Gideon Baws, the fourth founding member of the team. He was only 33 and loved by those who worked with him.

Shynola were awarded video of the year, best animation in a video and best rock video, while the ceremony at the Odeon West End cinema in Leicester Square, London, also saw veteran video director Kevin Godley present Martin De Thurah from Academy Films with the award for best director.

Strawberry Swing is your favourite Coldplay video from the Viva Era!

We've had a good response to our latest poll - over 3200 votes have been cast in just a few weeks. We asked you what your favourite video from Viva la Vida era was - and interestingly the last three videos that Coldplay put out are so far the most popular. Shynola's hard work on the Strawberry Swing is recognised as it gets the highest number of votes, followed by the creativity of the Life In Technicolor ii stage-show in second and the fast-paced Lovers In Japan follows closely in third.

You can add to the vote here - look out for more polls soon. The results so far in this poll are as follows:

Here are some stills from the Strawberry Swing video...

Millions of music fans may face dearer concert tickets if a mega-merger is allowed, watchdogs warned yesterday. The Competition Commission wants to scupper a £500million tie-up between booking agency Ticketmaster and promoter Live Nation.

It is powerless to block the deal as both businesses are based in the US. But, fearing the move may get the go-ahead from American authorities, it yesterday revealed ways to limit its power in the UK. Options include forcing bosses to split or sell UK arms or make them flog tickets through rivals. World No.1 Ticketmaster has 50% of the UK market, with nearest rival See Tickets about 20%. Last year Germany's CTS, the global No.2, announced it wanted to expand in the UK. But that is unlikely if the Ticketmaster deal goes ahead, with the Commission saying: "It could lead to higher prices and lower service quality."

Live Nation is the world's largest concert promoter, with Madonna, Coldplay and U2 among stars on its books. Singing legend Bruce Springsteen opposed the deal. But Ticketmaster and Live Nation stated yesterday they "remain optimistic that it will ultimately be approved".

Antitrust experts said the ruling makes it more likely that U.K. and U.S. authorities will coordinate a response. That could mean Ticketmaster and Live Nation will be forced to sell off assets, or forced to sell some concert tickets through a competitor.

Ticketmaster, based in West Hollywood, is the largest seller of tickets to live concerts and other entertainment events in the United States. It also owns an artist management company, Front Line Management, and ticket-reselling company TicketsNow. Live Nation, based in Los Angeles, is the world's largest concert promoter. It also owns more than 140 entertainment venues.

Ticketmaster shares slid 56 cents, or 4.5 percent, to close at $11.90, while Live Nation shares fell 48 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $8.14.

Coldplaying Christmas 2009: Secret Santa - add your name to the list!

More photos of Coldplay at Wembley stadium, London, UK (19th September 2009):

Photos by Kimgan

We are now on to part TEN (knew you guys had it in you!) of the Wembley fan reviews, this time with stories from Coldplay's first concert on Friday 18th September. Some great reviews of the two Wembley shows have so far been published at the Coldplay Live forum with still more being added. Thanks to all the Coldplayers who have contributed with tweets, pictures, videos, reviews and of course masses of discussion so far. You can browse the 18th Wembley thread at this thread (all 118 pages of it!) Please add your comments if you have something to say about the show. So, here is the promised TENTH edition, and to celebrate double figures all the photos will feature the Coldplayers!

Ok, so I know it's almost a week late and maybe the wiki page is full of insightful reviews, but well, you cant' stop my fingers from typing! For this show I chose to sit and be able to relax before the show (the "chicken&chips" though pricey were yummy) and be able to have a beer. And thank God I could go and hide in the bathroom for most of Girls Aloud. I'd never heard or seen White Lies before this, but they were great; I came home and bought the album! So CP gets the points they lost by having GA open by introducing me to WL. JayZ..... I'm not a hiphop fan AT ALL, but by the end I was bouncing along with the rest of the crowd...he really has a gift for getting everyone into it. GA was terrible terrible, as you could tell from my tweets. The only reason I can come up with why they were chosen is that when it came time to set up this gig, the guys had been on tour for a while and were horny as heck, so first girls they saw, Chris was like--BOOK 'EM'!

So, the main act. I all of a sudden started getting super nervous/anxious in the minutes leading up to Cp coming on. It was finally here---the moment I'd been waiting 10months for!!! For the whole show I was very emotional realizing that one of my dreams/goals was actually coming true. It's very surreal to say "one day I will go to London, and will go watch my favorite band in their "hometown," and then for it to actually come true!!! Fanfuckingtastic. (I broke down hysterically during The Scientist, like gagging/coughing I was crying so hard, and then didn't sing a beep, just soaked it allll in--I'll never forget that moment) Another crazy/great thing was hanging with Ian(well for a bit, until he DITCHED me&Joe for C-stage) If it weren't for this site, the past year of my life would've been so different in so many ways; because of coldplaying I've made wonderful friendships and met so many lovely people, and hell I'd never just gone to London on my own, if the cpers meet up hadn't been happening. So Bossman...you rock!!!! The show as always was so much fun, and seeing the fireworks was amazing. Those big screens were awesome! I was able to get good vids (well better than I normally do!) just shooting them directly. My pics would've been better if I'd have a steady hand but I think I managed some decent shots... Ok, that's it. I'm spent! The Wembley/cpers virus has got me good, I need to go rest after posting this! [thanks cookymnstr]

well, I was there from 12 or so onwards but I had a book and music so it was alright. the fact that I was waiting to see Coldplay made it all fade away and the concert itself.... it's always cool if there are people you know to enjoy it with but honestly? I can't imagine having a better time than I already had.... since it was PERFECT!!! Jay-Z was amazing. I also liked White Lies..... I knew some of their songs so it was so cool I got to see them life! Girls Aloud was not that great for me.... had to endure it to get what I want^^the funny and absurd thing was that this one girl next to me said to her boyfriend after White Lies [she had never heard of them before] "well, they're not very original are they?" but she went mental when Girls Aloud played! it seems like quite a few people were there for Girls Aloud rather than Coldplay can't wrap my head around that anyways..... Girls Aloud are SO original, yes, indeed. I'll stop here.... don't wanna offend anybody but that made me laugh so hard when I heard her say that^^. Coldplay shouldn't make a shorter setlist because of Girls freaking Aloud! wtf?! that doesn't even SOUND right!! loool yeah there were several SCREAMERS when Girls Aloud was on stage..... I was standing there, like frozen in place, enduring my fate, telling myself "it's over soon. it has to be. then Coldplay will come on stage. focus. zen-place. zen-place". Needless to say the concert was absolutely amazing..... this was my first Coldplay concert and I spent the whole weekend in my head, pretending I was still there Friday was the worst actually 'cos I was looking at the time thinking "I got there at that time yesterday...... this is when I got in..... this is when I reached my perfect place in 2nd row...... they're probably on stage right now *aaaaah*..." [thanks maccassidy]

I liked White Lies too! I know most of their songs pretty well and they were also in Nijmegen (supporting CP). They played a shorter set in Wembley, which was a little disappointing... especially because they had to make it shorter because of Girls Aloud. And yeah, there were lots of (too many) Girls Aloud fans. There was also this (I assume, gay) guy who went completely mental when GA came on and sang along with every song. Amsterdam is a great city, lots of tourists, lots of shops, lots of water, lots of drugs! [thanks Stefan-C8]

OK finally home and rested and have uploaded my pics and videos. Friday was just amazing. I think I was almost as excited about Wembley Stadium as I was about Coldplay. I so wanted some grass off the pitch but the flooring was locked down. squeeeee it's Wembley. Anyway. We got there early. I had bought the tickets for the first night so I went to queue at the box office while everyone else went and got in the different queues so we could have someone in each line til we found out which line we had to be in. Ian soon joined me at the box office. The ticket companies really screwed the pooch on these shows. Turns out it was all for nothing as it didn't matter how early you lined up as much as which line you were in or rather which crew was running your queue because although we were right at the front of our queue, our gate wasn't let in as quickly as others, so we ended up 6 rows back. White Lies were good. I have heard some of their stuff but didn't know that much about them. Their singer turned out to wayyyyyyyyyy prettier than I expected. Girls Aloud. I see why no one in the US has heard of them. What a pile of kack! I didn't think anything could be worse than the pussy cat dolls, but I was so very wrong. The ginger one is a man, I am almost sure of it. I think the fact they kept talking shit about how everyone came out to see them was the worse part. NO ONE CAME TO SEE YOU ****S, GET OFF THE FUCKING STAGE!. The colors...it was like an Easter Egg exploded. None of them can sing. None of them can dance. WTF! How could William Champion allow this to happen?

Jay Z was just out of this world fucking awesome! He had the crowd in an instant and really worked the crowd. Just brilliant. Coldplay was their usual brilliant selves. I was a bit worried that Chris would still be sick especially since he came out with the scarf on, but I thought he sounded great. Down sides: The security on this night was lame. People smoking all around us. We had to beg and plead for some water. Someone pissed in a cup. But the worse part was the guy next to me smelled like a dead fish. Not a little smelly, but the most putrid thing imaginable. Finally I couldn't take it any more and had to move back because it was making me sick. I had to wash the inside of my nose with toothpaste back at the hotel to get the smell out. I didn't shoot my usual amount of pics and videos because I just wanted to enjoy these last two shows. [thanks TheAngie]

After a wonderful night spent along with a lot of Coldplaying and Coldplayzone users, i woke up at 6.30 with a sentence in my head: 'TODAY WE DO THE HISTORY'. So, i tried to organize everything to be in the very first line. In five minutes i'm in a store to buy cookies and water for the queue waiting moment. And then in the Tube, trying to reach Wembley as soon as possible. I was feeling excited! Due to some technical problems, i had to go out of my tube line 1 km far from the stadium. Doesn't matter: 'TODAY WE DO THE HISTORY'. The group is Gabriele (Coldplayzone's webmaster), his great friend Giovanni, Simone (.:Fix You:. on this board) and me. The best fellowship i could ask for. At 10 am i'm in the queue, entrances B or C. I'm the 15th, more or less. There there's someone from Coldplaying yet: airieslady from Orlando (i took a photo with her to demonstrate how a passion is strong to every italian on Twitter), a nice girl from Alaska (i don't remember the nickname, sorry, but she was with her mom) and Jiamin and her friend. And obviously Denise Iriden, the most important roadie for Coldplayzone (12 gigs attended during this tour).

Thanks to Barbara and Jiamin, we started to give the yellow glowsticks to anyone in the queue. The majority of the people don't know how it works, probably they didn't read anything on Coldplaying or Coldplayzone. Shit! By the way, at 3.50 we started to reach Wembley GA. Excitement in all the ways! At the end, i'm in the second line along with my fellowship proud men and a lot of italians. Chris is in the very first line. Happy to see him there! White Lies moment: absolutely great! The drummer is awesome, but in general they will be the best opening act of the night. Girls Aloud moment: only a question: Why Girls Aloud had the chance to perform in Wembley? They're only four top models and one singer, stop! Jay-Z moment: for R&B and hip-hop lovers, i think he's a god! Very good singer indeed, i have to say the truth. But i want Coldplay there, 'cause TODAY WE DO THE HISTORY! And, after Blue Danube (a lot of arms thru the sky), they are there! Life in Technicolor guitar startet to be played, and 80.000 were in the seventh heaven! Best moments: In My Place chorus, too big! - Glass Of Water, great performance and great images on the big screen - Simon Pegg - Politik, absolutely the best live song in the best gig - Jay-Z recognize myself during the final credits thanks to my paper crown! - Viva La Vida first note after Postcards, i think that if someone has to die, it's much better to die on that note! Worst moments: mistakes during The Hardest Part (as always happened) - GPASUYF/Talk section, a shit for every Coldplay gig IMHO - too far from Coldplaying users - Jay-Z featuring on Lost! [thanks coldpatrix]

Rap superstar JAY-Z stunned his pal CHRIS MARTIN on Friday (18Sep09) when he joined the rocker and his band COLDPLAY onstage during their London concert and began wrestling him to the ground. The Run This Town hitmaker, real name Shawn Carter, has been entertaining fans as the support act on Coldplay’s current U.K. tour - but he had a surprise in store for Martin when the Violet Hill stars performed at Wembley Stadium. According to reports, Jay-Z appeared on stage as Martin was playing a song on the piano and embraced him in a bear hug before playfully tackling him to the floor. The friends rolled around on stage before Martin managed to climb to his feet and resume his set. A source tells OK.co.uk, “It was a strange moment, Everyone went wild when Jay-Z joined the boys on stage but seeing him grab Chris away from the piano and on to the floor was a bit weird to say the least.” But that wasn’t the audience’s only surprise - Star Trek actor Simon Pegg also joined Coldplay at their London gig and showed off his skills on the harmonica during the band’s rendition of Trouble. Jay-Z and Martin have been close friends since collaborating in the studio together in 2006 and the pair is regularly spotted out on dinner dates with their respective wives Beyonce and Gwyneth Paltrow. [via: http://blog.taragana.com]

I just can’t believe that exactly a week ago I heard the “Ladies and Gentlemen, the turnstiles are now open” announcement!! It’s another world… a great one!!! I think I'm addicted to concerts now... Friday morning I picked up Perrine at the train station and we made our way to the Bakery as it was Perrine’s only possible “time slot” to go there. Guess who we met? Maria and her husband! London appeared so tiny already after accidentally bumping into 3 coldplayers on Thursday! We had a lovely time walking to the tube station together and talking in about 3 languages at once. We went back to the hotel, dropped Perrine’s bag in my tiny (but hey, it was clean!!) hotel room and waited for Carol and her friend to arrive. Just minutes after checking in the 4 of us were on our way to Wembley! I had bought Frank’s spare pit ticket on Thursday and gave my other ticket to Perrine. This way she could see the concert and we didn’t have to make plans for her what to do during the concert! Once arrived we briefly said Hi to all the lovely people in yellow shirts and Noelia and me sat down on my yellow blanket in the queue. Perrine, Carol and her friend stayed with us, which was nice as they had seats and had to go to a different entrance later. There was music being played through the speakers outside and I started dancing there already. Josh from Australia approached us and spent some time in the queue with us.

Noelia, Joe, Ian and me wanted to enjoy the concert from the seats… best decision ever. Everything was so relaxed! Most people wanted to stand in the pit anyways which gave us the free choice of where to sit down. Later we were joined by Barbara as well! The time passed so quickly until White Lies came on stage!! I really really liked them the first time already and bought their CD on Sunday before the picnic. Before I went to work today I bought my ticket for next month’s concert near my town to see them again!! And it’s a small venue this time… Can’t wait to go there and sing from the top of my lungs “Let’s grow old together….”. Noelia and me even went down in the pit during their set to dance a little. A visit to Kirsten et al. at the C-stage made Ian and me think... there was still enough space! So before Jay-Z went on Ian and me went to the C-stage!!! That was one great decision. It was funny to get to know some fellow smokers as well. We kept the poor security guys busy… but it was so funny when there was a shot from further back during Jay-Z’s set: Soooo many clouds of smoke. I was hugely surprised about myself just how much I enjoyed Jay-Z. I guess I annoyed some people coughKirstenandIwonacough with my dancing. Sorry girls, I liked it!! Especially “Empire State Of Mind”. During the break I prepared my text message to Chavi, I promised to write when Magnificient comes on… but there wasn’t. So I edited and texted when the Blue Danube was being played… Means it’s time for the boys to come on stage!

To be honest I just started listening to the LRLRL CD to help my brain come up with some more memories. I can only say that I enjoyed myself a lot and to see the animations during Glass of Water from further back was just awesome. I filmed Yellow completely… so funny with the X-Factor bit! Oh and it was a great relief to see that the crowd was into it. Nothing compared to Saturday in my opinion but then I wasn’t at the same spot on Sat! Around VLV it became more and more crowded around the C-stage… so I didn’t get that much of Lost+ as I would have wanted but what was about to come was worth it though! Ian said he’d take pics so I filmed the C-stage. Maybe you’ve seen Iwona’s video of Jackie checking out Kirsten’s banner, this is when I started filming as well. It was so surreal to see them walking up to the stage directly in front of us! But then the big disappointment came: They were barely audible. All the sound came from the front!! Which means that we could hear the actual sound of their instruments but not really what it was intended to sound like. And I won’t upload that video until I found a good video of someone else to replace the sound with.

I know many of you wanted to hear them play Trouble but I just don’t like that C-stage version. Any other song would have been better in my opinion. But that’s the only negative thing I want to say. It was over all too quick! Ian and me said bye to the others and went back to our seats where Noelia and Joe were. You two are the best!!! It was great to see the last part of the concert together with you! What is stuck in my mind the most is Joe saying “OMG I love this song so much” when Lovers in Japan started. During the Scientist I just made way for allowing Noelia and Joe to cry together. After the concert we went outside and it was so funny to see OUR girls handing out the LRLRL CDs!! My friend Patz was working at Wembley on both nights, so funny! She had wristbands which allowed her to walk around in all levels with the date printed on and although she didn't get WHY I wanted to have them... she gave them to me. It's a nice souvenir. She liked the concerts as well btw. It was so funny that you could spot people with VIVA bags or T-shirts all the time, wherever you went in London - there was someone around who had been to a Coldplay concert! [thanks SueDeNimes]

The third trip to Wembley Stadium this year for a gig, and this time for three acts I don't actually own a CD by them. A weird mix granted but we got there in time for Girls Aloud. The High def big screen did them no favours, all members over made up and manky skin. However, they have great pop songs opening up with Sound Of The Undergroud and the great 'Sonething Kinda Ooh!' with a cover of the Pretenders I Stand By You sandwiched between they were good fun. Jay-Z on the other hand has a style of music I just don't get. He wanted the audience to bounce in a triangle shape in each song and therefore I spent most of his set near the bar! (bargain £4 a pint!) Coldplay have some good tunes but Chris Martin, the singer, is just so objectionable. In the audience participation bit at the end of Yellow, a Simon Callow from X-factor clip was shown on the big screen, something that no doubt seemed hilarious in the pub didn't quite work in practice. There was a b stage which we got right down the front at and here they played a cover of Billie Jean with actor Simon Pegg on harmonica. Good but ultimately fairly bland was my overall verdict. Hats off to the chiltern line however meaning we had time for a late beer in Marylebone! [via: faceofcheam.blogspot.com]

We had two bitches trying to aim for the barrier pretending to be GA fans but, once on second row, claimed they were there for Coldplay..everyone started complaining and at the end security told them they should go back or be pulled out, great team work other than that there was no pushing at all, just people jumping and enjoying themselves. [thanks iriden]

Photos of the Coldplayers at Wembley stadium, London, UK (18th September 2009):

^Photos by SueDeNimes

^Photo by coldpatrix

^Photos by cookymnstr

^Photo by busybeeburns

^Photo by TheAngie

Coldplaying Christmas 2009: Secret Santa - add your name to the list!

Our Wembley Coldplaying t-shirts are still on sale - don't miss out! (Click on the banners):

Cartoon character Homer Simpson from the TV show 'The Simpsons' will soon be turned to an icon inspiring the British to fight obesity. The Department of Health has decided to promote the beer-loving, doughnut-munching idler as the new face of healthy eating.

The 'DoH' will be sponsoring episodes of the hit show to make Brits improve their diet. The central characters in the show-Homer, Bart, Marge and the rest of the cartoon family-will apparently be seen sitting on the sofa with junk food placed in front of them, at the start of each episode. Next, the food vanishes and gets replaced by nutritious fruit and vegetables.

As recently announced online Coldplay has been announced as special guests on the 20th anniversary episode of The Simpsons. According to Coldplay.com, the episode will air on January 14th, 2010. An earlier report by RollingStone.com suggested that in the episode, Homer Simpson hires the band to play privately for him and Bart after he wins the lottery -- with the band having to stop their performance while Bart goes to the bathroom.

Previous musical acts that have made guest appearances on the long-running series include U2, three of the Beatles, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Aerosmith, the White Stripes, the Smashing Pumpkins, Blink-182, the Who and the late Michael Jackson, while Green Day was heavily featured in the Simpsons movie a few years back.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, The Government’s Change4Life health campaign has invested 640,000 pounds for the ads to be telecast on Channel 4 till Christmas. "They provide a popular and engaging way to get the message to real-life families," the Sun quoted Public Health Minister Gillian Merron as saying. "It is good that health is associated with something irreverent and fun instead of po-faced and worthy,” said Professor Gerard Hastings, director of the Institute for Social Marketing at Stirling University. It’s not what is said but who says it that matters and the fact that Homer and Bart Simpson are implicitly endorsing this message is really important. We all have a bit of the beer and doughnuts persona in us and, within reason, that’s fine. It’s about balance and moderation,” Hastings added.

More discussion on 'Coldplay featured in the Simpsons' is at the forums here onwards. [thanks Max & clisaj]

More photos of Coldplay at Wembley stadium, London, UK (19th September 2009):

Photos by Kimgan

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Our Wembley Coldplaying t-shirts are still on sale - don't miss out! (Click on the banners):

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We are now on to part nine (we'll reach double figures if it kills us!) of the Wembley fan reviews, continuing with more stories from Coldplay's concert on Saturday 19th September. Some great reviews of the two Wembley shows have so far been published at the Coldplay Live forum with still more being added. Thanks to all the Coldplayers who have contributed with tweets, pictures, videos, reviews and of course masses of discussion so far. Please add your reviews to this thread (now a whopping 390 pages!) if you have something to say about the show. So, here is the promised ninth edition:

Saturday was the better of the two nights IMO. The crowd was up for it! Rain, who cares. Bring it on because everyone was there to party. After breakfast we all stashed our junk in Chris' room at the hotel and went to queue. Can I just say how frickin awesome Chris was this whole weekend. He was running about and doing stuff for us all the time. Such a sweetie. Mich had to get to tickets, so we all split up agian til we could find out our gate. I was worried because our gate ended up being about as far from Jonny as we could get, but the crew running our gate was top notch and we got in really fast, ran....sorry we walked fast ....to the front row in front of Jonny. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. White Lies played a nice set again. He's still pretty...

Girls Aloud..........why me. I developed special ear muffs made from 2 water glasses, but still it could not be blocked out. Jay Z was kick ass! Had the whole place bouncing. Chris is practally part of his possy and got shout outs both nights. Our side had to be "Jigga whos" and everyone knows the jigga whos always suck. Then comes the Coldplay and the rain. I had brought a poncho, so no worries but when Jonny ran out in it with his guitar I was afraid he would get electrocuted! It didn't last too long and cooled down the crowd, so it was kind nice. So many great moments. The multiple chants of "Jonny" we got going. The echo of the crowd singing Trouble. I really hope this comes out as a DVD. Security was much better on second night and we got water when we asked. [thanks TheAngie]

Picture by iriden

...I thought the stadium was so beautiful! As a football fan I really hope to see a game there one day! I loved the arch, tho I didn't see it lit up during the concert, only after it..And I'm only now really starting to realize how fucking huge it was! Aaand hmm..Well it was just beautiful I don't know about how good it is for concerts, because I we were so close so it didn't really matter, it was fine for me (too loud almost I still get that fuzzy sound in my ears when I go to sleep..not a good sign). Anyways, I thought it was brilliant! [thanks johkujii]

Perfect way to refer to Coldplays Viva la Vida tour. I didnt drink and it was a blur of color and sound that is definable by moments, but mostly a beautiful blur. I LOVED your review and wish I'd been you that night!! Their shine will NEVER wear off! [thanks LadyMadia]

A homecoming is often associated with celebration. It is usually special, fulfilling and oozes with optimism. A homecoming finale however, is the icing on the cake and needs something grandiose to completely transform it into a Christmas-esque event. For Coldplay punters, this is their first 'Christmas' of the year and who can argue with that when you got the buzzing White Lies, the -well, fun I suppose, Girls Aloud and the simply storming Jay Z to warm up and open before Coldplay. 9PM and clad in their Adam Ant-esque costumes (lets face it, they raided his wardrobe), Chris Martin and co. take to the stage, accompanied by sparkles and cheers as they open with their instrumental Life In Technicolor from their globally successful Viva La Vida......album. The crunch and march of Violet Hill; guitarist Johnny Buckland's twinkling notes on In My Place; and the hypnotic Clocks are all rattled off in quick succession, demonstrating that both the band and audience are in sync.

Chris Martin is one of the last people you would name as a rock star. Instead of demanding attention from the masses, he pleads for attention as he emotionally runs through X&Y's The Hardest Part. His now ever present catchphrase "everybody doing OK?" sends shock-waves of smiles across Wembley, to a point where he comically stumbles on a piano note. And from there, the show really begins. They summon the strikingly familiar string section of number #1 hit Viva La Vida, which causes a nearly natural reaction from the crowd - everyone ascended to their feet like they've recieved a message from the heavens as Buckland coordinated the 'whoooahs.' It was powerful, spine-tingling and down right intimate.

Speaking of intimacy, they somehow managed to dodge the crowd and run into a small platform located 3/4 of the way of the pitch for their encore. Compared with the Wembley's past performers such as Muse's futuristic Black Holes and Revelations Tour, Take That's The Circus Tour and recently U2 360 Tour, Coldplay's stage set-up lacks that extravaganza. Yet, their charisma and playfulness with their masses regularly made up for it. The showering of beautiful confetti butterflies during indie sparkler Lovers In Japan is one of many examples of the relationship with their audience (unfortunately, my nosebleed seats prevented me from catching some. Or I could have jumped...). What next for Coldplay? 4 albums in and they are already one of the biggest acts on the planet. Final show of the tour and their spirits are up. Too bad I didn't catch their final applause due to me scurrying out of the stadium like a frightened rabbit to avoid being shackled to Wembley along with 70,000+ people trying to get home at the same time. [via: achtungnielsen4.blogspot.com]

Coldplay, Jay zzzzzz and Girls 'should not be' Aloud... After the triumph that was U2 at Wembley stadium a few weeks ago, it was the turn of Coldplay to step up to the plate. We have seen them a couple of times before, so I figured there would be no problem. Before the main event we had to endure Girls Aloud who were delightfully awful. Mrs B had read a couple of reviews of their previous shows which were glowing. I can only assume that the reviewer was trying desperately hard to get into Cheryl's tiny white panties, because in truth they were dreadful (No not the white panties, I didn't actually get to see them so don't feel qualified to say). The ginger one makes me want to hurl every time I see her. What were they thinking when they added her to the group? If they were going for girl next door looks they fell wide of the mark, managing instead to corner the hideously disfigured scary woman from up the road market instead. On the plus side for her, it looks like she is breaking into the film industry. That was her I saw her playing the painting at the end in the recent Dorian Gray movie , wasn't it????. Now the same can't be said of Cheryl. While she may have the looks of an angel, her voice has more of the air of a Tyneside docker, and an out of tune one at that.

This left the choreographed dance routines. Surely they must have been good? You would have thought so, but the reality is that your great Aunt Ethel, the one with the double hip replacement and dodgy knees (not forgetting the flatulence when she eats sprouts) moves better than these girls. Sad but true and remember, Ethal has always been rather generous at Christmas and Birthdays, you can never have too many pairs of white flannel socks in your life plus flatulence is hardly noticeable, unless you happen to be in the first couple of rows..... Jay Zed (It's a long story) or should that be Jay Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz was up next and as I feared he did nothing for me, other than make me hungry (and I don't mean for more). One of his songs had an Indian rift running through it, which left me wanting a curry and with a strange desire to be in a room surrounded by red flock wallpaper. None of my concert companions - Mrs B, Kirsty or Vinnie - were affected in the same way so my curry crush went unsated....

So having survived the ordeal of "The support bands" what could go wrong.....? Hmmmm, 10 minutes before Coldplay were due on stage the heavens opened (Way to go weather men, with your 20% chance of rain. That's most impressive you normally claim 80% chance of rain and get it wrong). Now most people would regard this as a bad thing but not me as it actually resolved a dilemma for our little party:- Mrs B was not enjoying the crush at the front or not being able to see the stage... but... Kirsty had lost her glasses (this is the girl who managed to mistake a field of Llamas for a field of cows. Hey, on the positive side she did recognise it was a field) so anything further than a foot back from the stage was going to mean a big blurry ordeal for her. The rain decided for us and we scurried to the back of the stadium and undercover. That way none of us got to see anything other than some stick insects but at least we stayed dry. The rain also turned out to be a relief for Vinnie as well. It has already been established in a previous BlackLOG that he is not a big fan of being in the car with the roof down, so since one of my rules for topless driving is that it has to be dry (the other being it has to be above freezing, although this rule has often been broken on blue sky winter days. It's not that bad, after the first 10 minutes the numbing sensation takes over from the pain of early onset frost bite) he knew he was going to get a lift home with the roof up.....

As for Coldplay they put on a good show which was ruined by the acoustics echoing around the stadium. I think it might have been due to the roof - for U2 it was fully opened but I notice that for Coldplay it was partly closed and I believe it was this that caused the echo problem. I like Chris Martin and believe he is a genuinely nice guy, but how many times can you ask the audience if they are OK and having a good time? A couple of times is OK, but once you start reaching double figures it gets a little dull. Nice touch with the X-factor sing along competition, although possibly a bit cheesy with the Simon Fuller video interaction bit, but entertaining all the same. The only thing was how could they bring Jay ZZZZZZZ back on stage for a duet? After all I had only just started to get over his rather dreary support set. [via: the-blacklog.blogspot.com

Picture by iriden

Arriving in London

Arriving at Wembley (being quite sad and moody) with my luggages at 3pm on Friday and feeling already better after few seconds with Coldplayers.

- ''- Is that Ian ? - yes that's him - wowww''

- Going to gate H&J with Chavi to film Coldplayers running... oops sorry, I mean, walking quickly

- Stealing some announcement papers concerning the fact the show was filmed

- Going to the hotel with C&C to rest a bit, dancing on Madonna, (throwing up after dancing on Madonna), rolling on the floor, being crazy, coughing together, singing Britney Spears...etc and getting ready to leave to the stadium for an all nighter

Friday evening and night outside the stadium

- the atmosphere when the 3 of us started to queue before the beginning of the first gig

- seeing all those couple arguing before the gig and helping a guy to find his crying wife

- dancing, singing and enjoying the gig from outside the stadium during the first songs

- Policemen making sure ''everything's alright'' : they actually thought we were there only to enjoy a free concert but they ended up making sure we were ready enough for the night, lovely !

- First roadie coming to give each of us a LRLRL

- In my place : we started doing what the guys were doing inside the stadium, Carla was Guy, Chavi was Chris and I played Jonny. Some roadies passed by and I explained I was Jonny, then Chavi ran to jump on my shoulders ahaha... awesomeness !

- Second roadie (Dave) coming to give the 3 of us a second LRLRL

- A guy we helped (showing him where the box office was) coming back to give one of us a FREE ticket for the Friday gig... Brotherhood ? None of us decided go on her own and we just kept the unused ticket

- Hearing the crowd singing Yellow and Fix You

- Woman working at the Wembley box office asking us if we were joking when saying we were queuing for the next gig and then making sure we were at the right gate

- Asking people who were leaving early to give us their tickets (which some of them did !) as souvenirs

- Starting to help Dave giving away some LRLRL just for fun after VLV

- Getting serious and now working for Coldplay for real , having fun trying to give away more CDs than the Wembley crew, enjoying this awesome experience

- Meeting some Coldplayers after the first show

- Being offered a sandwich and some tea around midnight by a Wembley security guy

- Being offered some tea again during the night by Dave

(Can you believe how everyone was SO lovely ?)

- Trying to turn off the street lights by putting some LRLRL cartons in front of them (I know I sometimes have awesome ideas ahaha)

- Coughing the whole night without sleeping

- Being saved by Noelia and Denise at morning, which enabled us to go to the hotel to take a shower and (try to) sleep a bit

Saturday's queue

- Fighting ourselves to go back in the queue at 9am (was hard to leave the comfy hotel)

- Queuing at the box office, discovering we actually spent a whole night outside at the wrong gate, crying stupidly, being saved by Min who so kindly exchanged her tix with ours (btw Mark, thank you for running everywhere for us)

- Going back to the M&N queue, discovering lotsa Coldplayers joined us, trying to rest a bit although the weather was now way too hot for me

- Chavi and Cooky coming back from the hotel with my red rose for Miller <3

Inside Wembley

- Being ultra quick when running down the Wembley stairs (however, as I never pay attention to the direction I'm running in, I ran to the left side whereas we said we would go to the right, I thus had to leave the barrier I reached to join Chavi, Denise and Carla which made me ending up second row with Cooky and Mark)

- Laughing at the crazy GA fan whose body was shaking of excitement before the WL

- Seeing my future husband (R#42) climbing up the stage structure to set up a camera (sad I had no voice to catch his attention though, but Cooky helped me a lot)

- Jumping and enjoying the WL with Cooky, clapping hands together (one of my hand was busy holding my Miller red rose so I was clapping her left hand with my right hand ahah)

- Laughing at the GA (we're so mean girls)

- Anna enjoying GA (shhhhush, don't deny it, I've got a the proof on video)

- Cooky killing my red rose (and me threatening her not to help her obtaining a Will drumstick XD)

- Matt (projectionist, most friendly roadie ever) seeing my ban and letting me know he'll come back to take a pic of it

- not being able to enjoy Jay-Z that much because of my cough

- ROADIE TIME (now people should know that's one of the my fav moments ahah), Miller climbing up again (but I don't think he saw my banner), Min pretending Miller wasn't here (''- come on I saw him climbing up there - that's not him - liar'')

- Matt coming back to take a picture, Brook chatting with us at the same time (promising he'll give my R#42 banner to the man and putting the rose ''IN'' my tee-shirt saying ''he already has a girlfriend'' BUHUHUHU ), Matt coming down to sign the ban I made for him and to give Denise a guitar pick before realising he didn't have any for me

- Thanking Matt for everything when he left us

- Matt looking for me few minutes before the beginning of the gig, asking for more pictures ''cause my friends are NEVER going to believe me'', signing the ban with a better marker (had to throw the ban away at the end of the gig - because of the rain - but I kept the piece he signed ) and giving me 3 guitar picks ! He's so f*cking lovely, I tell ya !

- Miller setting other cameras on the left side of the stage

- Suddenly raining like cats and dogs on Jay-Z's Give it 2 me

- Going crazy under the rain

- Throwing accidentally my camera toward the stage at the begining of LiT

- The guys being all smiley and happy

- Enjoying the show for the last time

- The return of Chris Bra-tin

(- Chris taking off his shirt again)... I didn't write that

- Obtaining Will's drumstick for Cooky (yes, that was a collective work ahah)

- Last eye contacts with Chris

- A roadie (I'm pretty sure it was Dave) throwing butterflies over our heads after Lovers

- Chris saying ''Thank You'' to Anna after reading her ban !

- Last minutes... LiTii, jumping with Carla's hand in mine (sorry I kept on jumping ahah)

- The nice security guy who spent 5 min looking for my flag and signed banner under the thick carpet of butterflies at the end of the gig

- ''Another lovely roadie'' (hehe...) coming to me to gimme a setlist whereas I didn't ask for anything, this man rocks as well !

After the gig

- MEETING COLDPLAYERS, final picture, giving the big boss a guitar pick and some LRLRL

- Crazy McDonald time at 1am (apologies for being ultra tired guys, you know I hadn't slept for quite a long time)

- Meeting Coldplayers

- Meeting Coldplayers

- Meeting Coldplayers

[thanks khalplay]

More photos of Coldplay at Wembley stadium, London, UK (19th September 2009):

More photos at jamesgourleyphotography.co.uk

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The Viva La Vida tour may be over for 2009 but IQ magazine’s December issue is still available in a free PDF format if you haven't already seen it (or lost it on your hard drive!) and contains a world exclusive behind the scene report on the early stages of Coldplay’s World Tour, entitled Life, Death And Butterflies. To save the online magazine, right click then save as here. You can also get the previous versions of the magazine (issues 1-20 also online here). Here's the synopsis of the Coldplay article:

Life, Death & Butterflies is a 16-page feature chronicling the Viva la Vida tour, sanctioned by Coldplay’s management and published by international live music business magazine IQ. Including exclusive interviews with management, key production personnel, booking agents, promoters and suppliers, it tells the inside story of how the tour was put together, what makes it tick and just what makes it such an original and ground-breaking production. This issue of IQ also includes an exclusive interview with Glastonbury festival founder Michael Eavis, as well as a roundup of the live music business in 2008.

You can discuss this exclusive World Tour Coverage article at the Coldplay forum here [thanks Terry]

Here is a nicely written article by Statepress thankful that the whole Coldplay/Satriani plagiarism episode is over...

On Dec. 4, 2008, fusion rocker Joe Satriani filed a lawsuit against the collective members of Coldplay for copyright infringement in the band’s song “Viva la Vida.” Coldplay’s hit allegedly stole “substantial, original portions” from Satriani’s 2004 release, “If I Could Fly,” a musical love letter written for his wife. What Satriani dramatized as a blatant act of musical burglary was little more than a musical coincidence. True, both songs use a similar chord progression, but the melodies in question share little more than an opening motif.

He claimed to have suffered “substantial damage to his professional reputation … as well as losses in an amount not yet ascertained.” A listener of both artists, I was particularly curious to know what of Satriani’s underground fusion compositions made its way onto the radio by way of Coldplay. Once familiarized with both songs, I was disappointed...

In an exclusive interview with Musicradar.com, Satriani recounted the moment he heard Coldplay’s performance: "I felt like a dagger went right through my heart. It hurt so much … I spent so long writing the song, thinking about it, loving it, nursing it … and then somebody comes along and plays the exact same song and calls it their own," Satriani said.

I don’t doubt Satriani’s musical intimacy. What I think he is forgetting is that there are only so many ways 12 notes can be arranged — a thought which leads me to the most amusing part of this story. While Satriani may have been the only one to file a lawsuit, he has not been alone in his assertions. Both Cat Stevens and indie-band Creaky Boards also claimed to be the original authors of “Viva la Vida.”

Is there something wrong with this picture? Three musicians, all claiming to have written Coldplay’s hit before they did? That’s not to mention “Francés limón” by Argentine rock band Los Enanitos Verdes, which in my opinion most resembles (and predates) Satriani’s work. Online viewers have pointed out even more similarities in other songs, from a 1940s jazz standard to novelty icon Günther’s “Teeny Weeny String Bikini.”

Pretending for a moment that Satriani really was deliberately plagiarized, what notable “damages” could possibly occur between artists operating in such different musical markets? Based on the fan base and quality of music produced by artist, I hardly think any Satriani fan would stop buying his CDs because they heard “Viva la Vida” on an iPod commercial.

Fortunately — if only for my own sanity — the case was dropped two weeks ago. According to Billboard.com, it seems that a financial settlement between both parties has finally been reached without requiring Coldplay to admit unlawful behavior. While I am relieved to see this whole case come to a close, I wonder how many more trials of “stolen intellectual property” will continue before we appreciate the fact that our judicial system is not in place to coddle our egos. It should be a means of supporting reasonable claims against legitimate offenses that threaten the human welfare. Viva la legal abuse.

Photos of Coldplay at Wembley stadium, London, UK (19th September 2009):

Photos by TheAngie

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We are now on to part eight (still some reviews not yet featured - maybe another two parts to come) of the Wembley fan reviews, continuing with more stories from Coldplay's concert on Saturday 19th September. Some great reviews of the two Wembley shows have so far been published at the Coldplay Live forum with still more being added. Tthanks to all the Coldplayers who have contributed with tweets, pictures, videos, reviews and of course masses of discussion so far, and are continuing to do so. Please add your reviews to this thread (now a whopping 388 pages!) if you have something to say about the show. So, here is the promised eighth edition:

Hello Coldplayers! Excuse me being a bit late to post my thoughts on the gig... it took me two days for the reality to sink in that I was even there, the whole thing was like a really surreal dream!! Sorry if this is a bit long... I got a little carried away! Sat night was my 2nd Coldplay gig ever (having seen them in Dec last year on the UK leg of the Viva Tour) and I have to say out of the two this was definitely the best. It was just incredible... I feel so lucky to have been there on the last gig of the Viva Era. It was the first time I've gone to Wembley, and I have to say, when I first got their and walked down the steps I was overwhelmed by the enormity of it. It really is massive...

Me and my family had general admission tickets and we ended up settling for about the fifth row of Unreserved Level 1 seating. Although I had hoped to get a good position near the main stage or the b-stage but although we were within the first 100 people to get through the J gate it was really too late already so me and my brother gave up. I still had a great view and to be honest you couldn't feel much nearer to the stage if you were in seats. The atmosphere in the stadium was absolutely amazing.. the boys couldn't have asked for more of a heroes welcome. It was like everyone was there to show their appreciation for them, to celebrate the end of the tour. The response from the crowd was just fantastic... I couldn't believe how many people seemed to be singing along to most of the songs, it was every single person was singing their heart out along with you. It was such a feeling. On some of their most well known tracks like Viva La Vida and Trouble I could hardly hear Chris through all the voices.. including mine As we were very near to the right hand screen I could see everything very clearly and I saw the large group of front row Coldplayers on the screen quite a few times.. so very lucky all of you!

Jay-Z worked the crowd up to fever pitch by the end of his set.. I was actually suprised at how positive a response he got from the crowd, everyone was bopping and rocking and throwing their diamonds in the air! Head banging even during 99 problems... such a great moment I enjoyed his set so much, more than I thought I would actually. Call me a convert. By the time the Blue Danube came on I was so excited. When it started to rain I was worried that there would be a delay, or worse if it didn't stop that Chris wouldn't be able to come out on the walkways, the roadies where clearing so much water! I will never forget watching the crowd getting soaked to the skin while Glasses of Water played.... it was amazinggg. I thought the weather really added to the atmosphere, I wished I had been in the pit with everyone, although I was kind of glad my camera couldn't get wet! The whole thing is kind of a complete blur to me, but some things I can remember that I really loved:

1.Billie Jean on the b-stage, sounded fantastic, this song really suits Chris's voice, his MJ-esque added sound effects had be giggling and it was so great hearing the whole stadium singing along... a fitting tribute to Michael Jackson that I thought he would have been very proud of.

2. Lost! with Jay-Z, really hoped he'd come on, loved the man hug at the end of it.

3.Chris trying to put a Viva crown on Guy's head and it slipping off and them both giggling Hehe, was an adorable moment! Couldn't help giggling myself at it, guess I'm a ChrisBerry girl afterall!

4. Chris getting everyone to do the Mexican wave, what a spectacle, never done one before and it was so cool to watch.

5. The Hardest Part, thought Chris's voice sounded especially good (no mean feat considering how much it's been used this last year!), loved the more tender emotional way he sung it, was really from the heart. It was really funny how he forgot the words/lost his place and then made up the lyrics... love him so much. Classic Chris.

6. Jay-Z talking to people in the crowd, especially when he pointed out some of the Coldplayers banners! I thought he was really quite humble for someone with such a well-known ego, he even said thankyou to the crowd

7. When Chris collapsed on the left hand walkway just before he sung Lost!, just knew he was gonna do one of his ultra gymnastic flip up moves which he did just as the drum beat to Lost! started. Feeling of euphoria in the crowd at that moment was soooo good. Everyone had their fists pumping with Chris to "I just got loooost..!"

8. The fireworks coming over the stadium roof during Fix You. Gaaaah.

9. One of the roadies (?) break dancing on the walkway before Jay-Z! He was so entertaining and actually quite good.. everyone gave him a massive applause and laughed.

10. Everyone singing the "Ooo-oh-oh-oh-ah-oh" bit of VLV during the interval play of White Duke remix. And coming out of the stadium with everyone singing it!

A few minor things I was disappointed about was the fact that they didn't change the setlist at all.. I was hoping they'd mix things up a bit, perhaps play a few of the older songs they haven't on this tour. But oh well. At least they played Trouble. Also, I thought the base was definitely too strong some of the time. It seemed to over power everything else and at times I thought it drowned Chris out a long with the crowd noise. That's the big negative about a Stadium gig like Wembley, it's almost impossible to get the sound pitch perfect with such a large audience to cover. Also, I was suprised that Chris didn't say any other words after the encore. I mean, to signal the end of this incredibly long tour and to the fans?? He just said the quick thankyou and goodnight. Hmm. But I think perhaps he was overcome by the moment, I think they all were.. and they whent straight to each other and Phil to share it. That hug was so sweet, made me want to cry I felt so emotional! I loved that beforehand Will, Johnny and Guy all came to each corner side of the stage and looked down at everyone and bowed. All three of them got such a fantastic applause, and they all looked so happy! I think Guy got the most screams and shouts out of all of them.. hehe.

I just didn't want it to end, and I don't think anyone else did either.. I wanted to thank them in person for the best night of my life, because it really was. Afterwards my cheeks hurt from smiling and grinning so much, my throat hurt from singing at the top of my lungs, my feet hurt from standing and dancing around like a maniac and my head hurt from the sheer volume of the noise... but I didn't care one bit, because the feeling this band give me, the feeling you get listening to their music and singing along to these songs that each have your own memories and stories and emotions attached to them with so many other people that share the love for them with you.. it's indescribable. I loved every minute of it and I will never forget the experience. It couldn't have been a better show for the closure of the Viva Era. And now I feel like crying again, darn it! *happy tears* [thanks loveintechnicolor]

Hi people from all over the world! It was a long trip from Orlando to LOndon...I felt like a "flying sardine in a can"... who can actually sleep in that plane? I watched 3 movies and a concert on the flight back, since I knew sleep was not going to happen. The stadium was overwhelmingly hugeeeee!!!!! On Friday, I got up to the front right behind Coldpatrix and was there for a total of 15minutes! It became so packed in such a short time... then I thought about bathroom breaks and decided to find a seat. I spotted a row of yellow shirts... they really stood out in the crowd... glad we decided on that color! So I sat with Ian, Sue and Cookie Monster. It was a great night although I could not hear out of my right ear for a while after Cookie's crazy screaming (LOL)... she was alot of fun! Saturday I sat in the first row in 125 ... great location! It was strange how the rain started at the very beginning of concert and during Glass of Water (Heheh). Then stopped! So many wet people! It just seemed to fit into the concert order. Yellow balloons, Mexican wave, Butterfly confetti, and Fireworks! What more could you ask for? Well, maybe Chris and guys running right in front of your face...YES! He acknowledged our US Love Coldplay banner with a wave and thumbs up... twice! Gotta Love Him!

The whole two nights at Wembley was a surreal experience... I am just now absorbing the whole thing! Nice to meet all the Coldplaying.com people in the queues C and D Friday and M and N Saturday. Didn't get to the meetups although I very much wanted to... the pics looked like alot of fun at the Pub and Park. What an awesome bunch of pics you have put on here! Much love to all of you for making this a truly remarkable and unforgettable once in a lifetime experience!!!! London is beautiful, Wembley is beautiful and Coldplaying.com People are beautiful! Thanks! Let's Do It Again Sometime! [thanks airieslady]

What made this day special wasn't the concert itself I'd say, it was meeting people I only knew from their posts, melting in the sun, taking naps, standing with the people I wanted to see the concert with and countless other tiny bits that I'm too lazy to type out. As bad as Girls Aloud were - we had our fun during their set! We made the same moves than they did on stage (Ok, maybe even a bit more exaggerated ), tried to pretend for about 30 seconds to be really into it and then gave up etc. One of their songs is really catchy though and if your mind plays tricks on you it's stuck in your head for hours! I felt so bad for them... there were many fans on Friday but apart from crazy-girl-who-swapped-places-with-me I couldn't see one near us on Saturday!

Coldplay were next!! For a few seconds I thought it would be just light rain... wow, it wasn't!! We were all soaked even before they came on stage. But like I said above (and I didn't intend to write a long review but obviously this is what it turned into) it just added to the amazing atmosphere. No way we are going to move and protect ourselves from the rain when the boys come, we'll stay here and sing with you! I love the bass... it just makes me happy. Glass of Water was a highlight for me as always and I was soooo happy that the crowd was so into it. Hearing all those people sing to the songs we all love so much was breathtaking. It's impossible to find the right words. I am one of those persons who don't easily cry. Or just don't... But I don't know what happened during THP... I cried. Combination of personal experiences, lack of sleep, awesome people around me and... whatever, it happened. Next was VIVA however! This was the only time that I experienced pushing at a CP concert. There was one wave of people pushing from behind but luckily it was just this one and then afterwards everything was back to normal. I never seem to remember much from Lost! (Lost+ in this case). It was great though. I have these "screencaps" in my mind though! And I remember that there was one guy behind me who knew EVERY word Jay-Z was saying! When the drumstick flew to our little awesome group we all kind of formed a funnel, leaning back to increase the area where it can land! Noelia, I'm so happy for you that you got it!!!!!

What else? Oh right, I can't mention often enough just how awesome it is to be with coldplayers - you are the best people!!! I could go to the front row during The Scientist until the end of the concert to hold up my banner!!! Thank you so much, ladies! Chris even said thank you, so he saw it! LIT ii is one of my many favourites, actually I think it comes second after all-time-favourite IMP and it was so great to hear this song again, my face was just one big smile. Again, words cannot describe it. I took a video while walking outside, a last look at the stadium, then walking outside to gate N were some of us have already arrived. It's a great memory... All those plans about going to a pub together after the concert were cancelled... all you wanted after the gig was a shower and dry clothes!! Ok, so in the end this turned into a long post... I'm sorry! I still didn't mention all those tiny nice moments that happened during the day. Coldplay fans are one big family. I love it. [thanks SueDeNimes]

More photos of Coldplay at Wembley stadium, London, UK (19th September 2009):

More photos at jamesgourleyphotography.co.uk

Our Wembley Coldplaying t-shirts are still on sale - don't miss out! (Click on the banners):

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