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JERSEY CITY, New Jersey — If you didn't mind the (near constant) rain, the resultant mud, the trench foot or the indescribable odor of 10,000 soaking-wet Tool fans, well, then the second All Points West festival was genuinely great.   Actually, it was pretty great regardless of those things, a testament to the organizers who assembled a lineup that managed to outshine the deluges that flooded New Jersey's Liberty State Park all weekend. The brainchild of Goldenvoice, the same folks who bring yo

It’s terribly fashionable to criticize Coldplay but unless trenchfoot is the latest hipster accessory, there wasn’t anyone being fashionable on the third day of All Points West, writes Rolling Stone.   With the rain and sludge double-whammy demoralizing the thousands of fans in Liberty State Park, the sound of the London-four piece spinning out a decade’s worth of stadium anthems and a few other party favors was just the unpretentious tonic that Sunday night needed.   Dressed in their now famili

After a soggy Friday and sunny Saturday, the thunderstorms returned for the third and last day of All Points West, this time resulting in major delays and canceled sets for the festival held at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. But after the rain cleared and mercifully stayed away, organizers hustled to get the schedule back on track, culminating in a dazzler of a headlining set by Coldplay, writes Billboard.   Sunday's line-up, scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. in the comedy tent and 2 p.m.

Thus spoke Coldplay frontman Chris Martin Sunday night as he looked over the soaking crowd on the final evening of the second edition of All Points West Music and Arts Festival in Jersey City, "This has to be the strangest-smelling but best concert we've ever played," writes New Jersey News.   Martin was referring to the odorous mixture of mud, rain water, mulch and swampland into which Liberty State Park was transformed over the past three days, and the audience roared in acknowledgement, as if

So… not so bad being the world’s biggest pop-rock band after all. Not on the perfect 2009 Montreal night – the only one. Not when even La Ronde’s fireworks display were perfectly timed to open one of your ballad-anthems. And not when 30,000 people jammed Parc jean Drapeau and Osheaga for its biggest-ever single act, writes the Montreal Gazette.   So we’ll drop any debates about the significance of Coldplay, or the critical resistance to their ambitions claiming a status deeper than the one they

With the music industry losing loads of cash and smaller acts getting more attention, many people think the era of huge record sales and big stadium shows is over. One problem with that theory: Coldplay, writes Metro News (Canada).   It seems that no one told the British foursome, which is arguably the biggest band in the world right now, that the days of epic, over-the-top concerts are a thing of the past. The band has been traversing the world playing for thousands of fans in both packed arena

It was a rare alchemy that made last night's concert at the mammoth Rogers Centre a ticket to good to pass up as Elbow, the Mercury Prize-winning British critical darlings, and Coldplay, the Grammy-winning heir to the title of "world biggest band" joined forces in Toronto, writes The National Post.   Before the big bands, the night was begun by the young British rockabilly trio Kitty Daisy & Lewis, who were hand selected by Coldplay's Chris Martin for the tour. Playing on the massive stage,

On a particularly humid evening, Coldplay touched down at the Rogers Centre for an energetic, uplifting and momentarily off kilter set. Working off of their vast catalogue of current and past hits, the British four-piece launched into "Life In Technicolour," the lead instrumental off of their latest offering Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, writes Exclaim.   After a strong rendition of "Violet Hill," lead singer Chris Martin took a moment to stare out into the sea of writhing bodies an

In many ways, the world of pop music is akin to the world of professional sports. One invariably starts at the bottom (the minors) and works one's way slowly to the Big Leagues (the exceptions jump the queue via shows such as American Idol ). Thursday night's triptych at the Rogers Centre offered a classic example of three bands at different levels on the ladder, bottom to top, writes The Globe and Mail.   I purposely arrived early to catch the relatively unknown rookies Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

More excellent reviews of Coldplay's concert at the Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON (30th July 2009) have been posted at the Coldplay Live forum, that didn't quite make the main review article in time this morning. Here is part one, of just some of the many:   Okay I had the craziest day ever yesterday. Got up early, drove to Toronto, shopped, got ready, and then we went to the venue... Well we were staying at the hotel there but we had to get our VIP ticket things... at first they wouldn't give them

It's been over a year since Coldplay released Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends. They've toured it endlessly and tirelessly since, and returned to Toronto for the second time in a year (they played Toronto's Air Canada Centre on the same day last year) on Thursday night at the Rogers Centre to play one more time before they take a break and begin thinking about their next record, writes Chart Attack.   First, the crowd were treated to the sounds of Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, an R&B tr

If they aren’t officially the “biggest band on the planet,” Coldplay are undoubtedly the most eager to please. This hyper-earnest shtick is at once Coldplay’s greatest blessing and curse. Chris Martin and company are the victims of endless snide remarks by elitist critics, but they never fail when it comes to their prime objective: keeping their massive fan base satisfied, writes EyeWeekly.   This has been the mission statement ever since this quartet of once desperately shy English boys hit it

TORONTO - Exactly a year after Coldplay played the first of two sold-out shows at the Air Canada Centre, the Brit pop-rock outfit returned to Toronto for a show at Rogers Centre on Thursday night in front of over 45,000 fans, writes Jam! Showbiz.   On a stage dominated by glowing orb lights, the band - frontman Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion - appeared in shadows initially as they kicked off the concert with the stirring instrumental, Life

Over the years, [i've] realized that any review of a Coldplay show I do boils down to this: I head in not wanting to like the band, and then nearly everything the band does makes me like it, writes the Toronto Star.   So, for expediency's sake, at the Rogers Centre Thursday night - where the de facto "biggest band in the world" of the moment played its biggest Toronto show to date before upwards of 40,000 people - I only took notes whenever Chris Martin and the rest of the lads did something to

A comprehensive review of Coldplay's concert at SPAC, Saratoga Springs, NY (27th July 2009) has emerged online, courtesy of Killing Myself To Live @ Blogspot. Here is the review:   “Uhm, so we’re two months late,” Chris Martin said last night. “Sorry we had to cancel before. We’re fuckers.” It's okay Chris. I forgive you. Coldplay was supposed to play on May 27 in Saratoga but it got postponed due to a “band emergency.” I was heartbroken at the time, but after FINALLY seeing the show last night,

World tours tend to have a way of draining even the most vivacious of bands. Between buses, airplanes, groupies, booze and constant ass-kissing, the energy can dissipate—leaving us with robotic, by-the-numbers performances, writes Time Out Chicago.   Entering Saturday’s show at Alpine Valley, Coldplay, known for its anthemic arena rock and distinct falsetto tones courtesy of lead singer Chris Martin, had played 137 shows on its Viva La Vida world tour. With a show practically every other day sin

SARATOGA SPRINGS — How did Coldplay make up for being two months late for its performance at Saratoga Performing Arts Center Monday night? Well, for starters, the British adult pop band apologized profusely throughout the evening — it was the first thing frontman Chris Martin mentioned from the stage, shortly after burning through “Life in Technicolor,” writes the Daily Gazette.   But perhaps more to the point, the band simply rocked the packed audience into submission, with one of the more ela

East Troy — A rock show in an arena setting can be a depersonalizing experience only a few levels below that of taking off one's shoes before passing through an airport security checkpoint. The beer costs too much in both cases. Saturday night at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, Coldplay tried to re-personalize the experience, writes JS Online.   The quartet drew more than 30,000 people, and its music had the grandeur-embracing sincerity of early U2. Lead singer and pianist Chris Martin exhibited th

Before the encore to Coldplay's two-hour show at Alpine Valley on Saturday night, lead singer Chris Martin came out onstage with a clipboard and announced officiously that he was holding the results from the band's audience ranking. Of the 138 shows so far in Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" tour, the Alpine crowd ranked "in the top one," writes 77 Square.   Even if he tells that to all the other girls, Saturday night's show did buzz with an electricity that probably only comes a few times on a good to

Coldplay.com have interviewed the makers of the new Strawberry Swing video explain how they worked their magic. They asked Kenny, one of the Shynola team, to tell us how they made it. Here is the interview...   Hello Kenny, how are you? Great, thank you. I'm eating a yogurt.   How did you come to be involved with the Strawberry Swing video? We were approached one day, with what was an unusual, but rather intriguing brief - namely, make a video for a song that wasn't really going to be released,

Coldplay made their anticipated video return this month and unveil the ground-breaking new video to blissful summer lament, ‘Strawberry Swing’, exclusively on Babelgum. The Shynola-directed video sees Chris Martin play an animated superhero in a larger-than-life world drawn entirely in chalk.   Fans had the opportunity to see the video for the first time ever on Babelgum and on the iPhone application (featuring this video plus Coldplay’s video back catalogue, a news feed and game), on July 20th.

Midway through a roaring take on the song "Viva la Vida" on Sunday, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin looked up at the packed amphitheater in Irvine and urged the crowd to give just a little bit more, writes US Official Tabloid Gossip blog.   "For the last time in California for a few years, so let's turn it up!" Martin shouted as he invited, or actually demanded, that we all sing along with just as much passion and power as the band itself delivered all night at Verizon Wireless. And of course, th

More excellent reviews of Coldplay's concert at the Home Depot Center, Carson, CA (18th July 2009) have been posted at the Coldplay Live forum, that didn't quite make the main review article in time this morning. Here are just some of the many:   Okay the show last night was incredible. It beat my experience at the Honda Center last year. I couldn't see sometimes because i'm only 5'5 but when I started looking around heads i could(plus the Bigscreens). Anyways it was so much fun, Chris was his u

A comprehensive review of Coldplay's concert at the Home Depot Center, Carson, CA (18th July 2009) has emerged online at the Coldplay Live forum, courtesy of DaveLev:   Getting to the event was a snap. Left our home at 5:30, got some fast food, pulled up to Home Depot Center at 6 PM, paid $20 to park, and was only one of about 100 cars in the whole place. Walked up to Northeast gate, and waited another 20 minutes or so. The gates did NOT open at 6 PM due to 'production' issues. I later found out

British alt-pop band Coldplay thrilled a packed house at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre Thursday night, performing their decreasingly-unique brand of melancholic piano jams to the thousands in attendance, writes the San Diego News Network.   Playing mostly cuts off of their 2008 release “Viva La Vida,” frontman Chris Martin and Co., used an array of dazzling lights and lasers and clever camera angles to enhance the visual experience.   In addition, in typical Coldplay fashion, they had fan intera