When Coldplay took the stage at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom on October 22nd to film a performance for Nissan Live Sets on Yahoo! Music, the 200 fans in attendance found themselves in the midst of an unusually intimate set — the Ballroom usually holds 2,000 or more people, and Chris Martin and Co. were in the midst of an arena tour, report Rolling Stone.

The performance and two-part question and answer session premiere online today in 13 countries, but not everything made the final cut, so here’s a rundown of what Rock Daily saw behind the scenes:

• Frontman Chris Martin was riding the wave of the Presidential election at the late October shoot, joking about Joe the Plumber and quipping that he was “sweating more than a John McCain adviser” as he took off his overshirt midway through the performance.

• While Coldplay buddy Jay-Z watched the entire set from a seat in the venue’s opera boxes (it was easy to spot his head enthusiastically bopping during the entire set), he didn’t join the band on stage to turn “Lost!” into “Lost+”.

• Beyoncé arrived midway through the taping, taking her seat next to Jay-Z during the band’s performance of “Yellow.”

• Coldplay released their butterfly confetti shower at the end of “Lovers in Japan” (a staple for their arena tour) — but probably didn’t anticipate having to restart the song because of a keyboard missing from the stage.

Long before he took to selling it on the TV, John Lydon used to take delight in smearing butter on his face to aid the growth of any emerging spots. On the first night of Coldplay’s British tour, Chris Martin had skincare issues of a different nature. Sitting at an upright piano while his band took a breather, the singer bemoaned the luck that brought “a spot the size of the Isle of Wight” in time for their grand homecoming.

Veterans of the punk wars – indeed, anyone who feels that pop music has long since lost its edge – would no doubt have invested significance in Martin’s facial cleansing crisis. But if you saw the way events unfolded at Sheffield, you wouldn’t need to be told that the truth is more complicated.

In spite of, or perhaps because of, its containing their most adventurous music to date, the group’s fourth album – Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends – has yielded a rapturous response from American audiences.

Read the full review article here

Fog and freezing temperatures proved no deterrent to the Coldplay legions, who were equally indifferent to the fact that Sheffield Arena is a feat of grim anti-design that makes your local Ikea look like York Minster. The band's three-year absence from British stages had made hearts grow fonder, and the crowd's enthusiastic singalongs were often stirring. "Holy s---, that was good," boggled Chris Martin, after the audience had displayed noteworthy zeal in Fix You.

Martin doesn't look quite right as the frontman of one of the world's biggest bands, scampering eagerly around the stage and apologising for making everybody miss The X-Factor on TV as though he's leading a giant school outing, but Coldplay's secret may be the way the quartet project a sense of quiet confidence and inner strength. All flashiness has been expunged, with Jonny Buckland fitting his guitar parts carefully into the overall plan without ever straying into ego-massaging excess, while bassist Guy Berryman stays locked tight to drummer Will Champion's powerful, unswerving beat. The songs, with their messages of doubt, struggle and quest, seem like personal confessions, but are vague enough to apply to almost anybody, like horoscopes.

Read the full review article here

First night of their first UK tour in two years and Chris Martin had one thing on his mind. Well, it was actually more on his face. "I've got a spot the size of the Isle Of Wight," chirped the amiable singer at his piano on a stage extension. Appropriate then that he should tinkle into early gem Trouble.

Like said blemish, the quartet spread themselves well about the place at this sold out encounter – including strolling to the back of the venue to play an acoustic stint on a stairwell. Chasing the success of fourth album Viva La Vida this was a rare Sheffield incursion for a band who previously played The Leadmill with a then little known band called Muse in support.

"This is the song that first brought us to Sheffield," said CM, introducing Yellow as an encore offering. Oh how things have changed since; as piped hip hop gave way to the classical Blue Danube the band first appeared in instrumental mode behind a dark veil before chugging into the single Violet Hill.

Read the full review article here

Despite the global fame of Chris Martin’s group, Liam Gallagher insists Oasis is still the best band on the planet! “I think their fans are boring and ugly and they don’t look like they’re having a good time,” he told Times Online.

Liam doesn’t like any ‘modern’ bands. Not interested. “I play the Beatles, the Stones, the Kinks, Neil Young, and the Pistols. Maybe a bit of the Roses. Don’t like modern bands.”

Liam, in a recent interview on Loaded Magazine said they aren’t as big as they could be in America because of their attitudes. “I don’t give a s**t about Coldplay. We are the coolest band and we are the best f***ing band. We are the most important band. We may not be the biggest band in America but who would want that?”

More comment on this f***ing article here

Coldplay's frontman has rediscovered his passion - he may even be enjoying himself. He talks about coming to terms with celebrity, and being just a little bit ‘gangsta'

Two hours before showtime in Denver, a crack team of feng shui masters have been working around the clock to make Coldplay's “family area” a haven of zen security. Or that's how it seems. Low pastel lights, fine wines and wooden bowls with artfully scattered fruit adorn the place. If it weren't all being dismantled and recreated for tomorrow's show in Salt Lake City, you would want to stay here forever. Amid the impeccable serenity, Coldplay's “other three” - guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion - are a triumvirate of calm. The only thing out of place here is the manic energy of Chris Martin.

Could it be that Coldplay's frontman is nervous? Martin's last two British interviews were notable for the fact that he walked out of both without warning. And even though further inquiries concerning his marriage to Gwyneth Paltrow or their children Apple, 4, and Moses, 2, would almost certainly make it three in a row, Martin seems more interested in exploring the semantics of what constitutes a walk-out. “Hey man, isn't it a bit harsh to say I walked out?” he says, before looking to Buckland for back-up. “If you come back two minutes later [as he did when The Observer asked him about Paltrow] is that a walk-out? Strictly speaking?” But Martin's desired response doesn't materialise. “I think it sort of is,” says the guitarist - to which a chastened Martin says, “OK. Fine. I'll take it.”

Read the full article here and discuss this article here [thanks Aprophet]

Looking back at 2008’s major releases, it is safe to say that British rockers Coldplay had one of the biggest albums of the year with “Viva La Vida.” The album has the most paid download sales of all time, and it generally received favorable reviews. They had one of the most memorable iPod commercials in recent memory that got everyone back aboard the Coldplay bandwagon once again. Coldplay were never strangers to success, but with “Viva La Vida” it became cool to like Coldplay once again. Well, as long as you haven’t seen the 40 Year Old Virgin!

After the great success of their 4th studio album “Viva La Vida” they decided to release an EP entitled “Prospekt’s March.” The release comes directly off the success of Viva La Vida, with the band hoping to carry the momentum just a little bit further.

The EP is a combination of leftovers from the “Viva La Vida” recording sessions, and remixes of other tracks. First off is “Life in Technicolor II” a sequel in sorts of Viva La Vida’s atmospheric album opener. Chris Martin and company added lyrics and a big Coldplay chorus to give another spin to the already pleasurable song. It isn’t anything spectacular, but at least now our curiosity of what the song would song like with lyrics is over. There is a simple but pleasant piano piece called “Postcards from Far Away” that didn’t seem to have any point but to fill up the track listing and provide some leeway into the EP’s best track: “Glass of Water.” It is a song that would fill up any arena with its powerful soaring guitars. “Rainy Day” features beautiful string arrangements that would make Vampire Weekend proud, along with sliding guitars and other world-influences that provide an engaging listen.

“Prospekts March/Poppyfields” and “Now My Feet Won’t Touch the Ground” are both ballads with acoustic guitars that could have been beautiful songs but they have no real build up. While listening you can’t help but think that the tracks are missing something extra. This is a familiar trend throughout the second half of the EP. Things like the “Lovers in Japan (Osaka Sun Mix)” did nothing for me. I honestly did not notice a significant difference from the original version that made it worth my time.

However, the Lost remix featuring Jay-Z is a breath of fresh air. “Lost” is one of “Viva La Vida’s” shining moments, it would be hard to mess a track this good up. Jay-Z gives it an extra boost with some hip-hop flavor that combines the best of both worlds. It is amazing to see a rapper like Jay-Z collaborate with a band like Coldplay so effortlessly.

The reason Viva La Vida was a special Coldplay album is because they added something new to their sound. The acoustic tracks were nothing different for the band, and quite frankly they were a let down. It was too safe. That seems to be the problem that people find with Coldplay. They have huge ambitions and are clearly great musicians with a fantastic sense of melody. Yet they stick to a similar formula even when their style changes.

In today’s music world it is pretty hard to have a successful selling album. It is no surprise that they are trying to keep their popularity running with another release. The EP is not a complete letdown with a few keepers here and there making the release worth a purchase if you are a diehard fan. The rest of the tracks are not bad by any means, but it is clear as to why they were left out of the album and instead are seen on this EP.

Source: http://prettymuchamazing.com/

The band's uplifting Honda Center show was the stuff of legend

"Dad. Dad. Dad!"

The kid behind me, who couldn't have been much more than 10, just wasn't getting his pop's attention Tuesday night, a half-hour or so before Coldplay took the stage at Honda Center for the first time in close to three years. His father, who would later holler out a fist-pumping "yes!" every time another smash started, was busy chatting in the aisle. So the kid kept firing, machine-gun-style: "Dad. Dad! DAAAAD!!!"

There. That worked. "Look, look! Next to the upright piano! Remember on the American Music Awards, when they had that next to a TV?" He pointed to the old-school monitor at the right of drummer Will Champion. "Well, look!"

Dad couldn't have cared less, just humored him. But oh the wide-eyed wonder on that kid's face and in his voice. Oh, to be a young lad getting hypnotized, maybe for the first time, by rock 'n' roll's powerful spell.

If that seems a rather quaint anecdote to share in a follow-up review of one of the world's most popular groups as it plays what Chris Martin says will be "the last concert we do in California for some time," well, you must not have been inside the Anaheim arena when the clouds finally burst Tuesday and it started to pour. If you were, you would have noticed the preponderance of families, of so many people from 8 to 18 that the hymnlike singalong at the end of "Fix You" made it seem like Coldplay were accompanied by a children's choir on loan from "The Glory of Christmas" at the Crystal Cathedral.

What that speaks to is a cross-generational pull like few bands have anymore, yet which Coldplay achieves almost effortlessly. And to increasingly thrilling effect: When Martin and his mates break into a heart-thumping "Clocks" or the roof-raising stomp of "Politik" (one of several set list additions/changes since this tour opened on Bastille Day at the Forum), or when the syncopated strings of "Viva la Vida" (single of the year, if you ask me) start surging forth, the electricity in the room is so palpable, it's as if you can see it ripple from one fan to the next. (The ecstatic response when the lights went out at the end of Strauss' "The Blue Danube," as prelude, only grew more thunderous as this laser-enhanced, visually arresting show wore on.)

Apart from U2, a beyond-obvious comparison that may never go away – and also, to a lesser degree, Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters and Green Day – no other rock act this decade has been as successful at inspiring and making memories for every kinda people of every kinda age. Rounded out by bassist Guy Berryman and guitarist Jonny Buckland, the latter of whom now regularly dips into distinctively Allmans-esque shading, notably on "In My Place," the quartet isn't so much a band now as a force, its mutation into the futuristic anthem-spewing machine it attempted to be on 2005's "X&Y" already complete.

Ever since finding its footing with 2000's "Parachutes" and its happy-happy-joy-joy declaration "Yellow," Coldplay has dared to be the sort of passionate, let's-change-the-world outfit that can get laughed out of existence if the message isn't backed by moving music (I'm talking about you, Angels & Airwaves). Following up the somewhat chillier "X&Y" with a warmer (and yet arguably moodier) assortment of songs, the band couldn't have put out a better album – easily one of the best of the year – for our distressed times.

The sense of measured optimism amid the loss and regret of "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends," the way its sadness is tempered by hope, wistfully conveyed yet infectiously appealing from the get-go – really, no other new music this year has so adeptly captured the roller-coaster mood of the world as it grapples with America undergoing sea change. If it doesn't receive a barrel full of Grammy nominations next week, including a nod for album of the year, there's something horribly, horribly wrong with voters.

Just as "American Idiot" four years ago represented the convergence of ticked-off band and fed-up fans, so does "Viva la Vida" find a rejuvenated Coldplay giving voice to the aspirations of its audience in uplifting ways Bono and Bruce Springsteen have patented. That it resonates with such a wide variety of people isn't surprising, but it's heartening, and reflective of all that we've become; amid the standard-issue Newport Beach types this night I could spot a Matisyahu-looking Jew in beach wear, an African American in a New Order T-shirt – and scores of kids of every creed sucked into the moment, rather than staying entranced by their iPhones.

All of these admirers got through many months of growing anticipation for this return, eager to see a fresh-faced Martin leaping and posing in his "Synchronicity"-meets-the-French-Revolution garb, to chant along with hit after hit (many of them stuffed at the start of the set) and to hear one of the heartiest bands in action. That said, these guys still aren't as tight as they could be, and I kindly blame Martin. He gets so caught up in the fervency sometimes that he too easily flubs vocal entrances – especially on "Yellow" here – or sloppily crushes chord changes. It's endearing, but it's also becoming less forgivable.

Still, so much of this show was wondrous: "Speed of Sound," played almost in darkness, the band engulfed in a deep-purple glow while acid-blotter balls overhead illuminated the arena … "Viva la Vida" cranked to a rapturous pitch, with Martin subtly tossing in the chorus of the Killers' "Human" just before the "oh-whoa-oh" portion … an acoustic version of "The Scientist," delivered among the crowd in section 207 (or thereabouts), sweetly dappled by mandolin and harmonica … the what's-it-all-about solo-piano somberness of "The Hardest Part," which Martin half-joked was about "the problem a band faces when they turn 30 years old and meet the Jonas Brothers for the first time," as Coldplay apparently did at the AMAs Sunday. ("Never before in my life have I felt more like an old man.")

Old man, no. Old soul, perhaps – a self-deprecating one only beginning to shift from clever tunesmith to meaningful message-carrier, and enhanced by a band as strong as his vocals can be heartbreaking. Someday, I suspect, this album and this tour will be seen as the start of Coldplay's prolonged peak. Here's hoping they get to bask in the glow of it for a while, but I for one can't wait to hear what life-affirming stuff comes next.

Source: ocregister.com

With this year's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay tried to be cool. They brought in Brian Eno to refine their bombast. They tried Bowie-style funk and shoegaze. They wore military duds that made them look like Arcade Fire, report Pitchfork.

Everything seemed to be in place. But there was a problem: Coldplay's idea of cool and the cultural reality are two different things. This eight-track stopgap EP-- which doubles as a bonus disc on the obligatory Viva fourth-quarter deluxe edition-- allows for an assessment of Coldplay's 2008 "We Are Edgy" campaign. Can one daffy Brit and his personality-averse band bring the notion of cool closer to them?

Ostensibly, Coldplay know cool when they see it. They tapped operatic indie-rockers Shearwater and L.E.S. revivalist Santogold to open their world tour this year. Chris Martin is friends with Kanye West and Jay-Z, who contributes a verse on the Prospekt's March remix, "Lost +". Still, they lack the spontaneity, innovation, and effortlessness that usually accompanies edge-cutting phenomena.

Take their recent performance on "Saturday Night Live": For a guy who's played to millions of fans at shows, festivals, and on TV, Martin came off like a clutzy ham not unlike former "SNL" mainstay Mary Katherine Gallagher. He was startlingly out of breath and made an effort to act out each of his simple couplets, all while yipping and hooting like a man poking fun at Tourette's syndrome. It was awkward, but kinda endearing. (Defamer: Coldplay's 'SNL' Freak-Out: Easy-Listening Performance Art, Awful, Or Both?)

So when calm and collected artists like Jay-Z cite Coldplay as their favorite band, they're subconsciously subverting the same untouchable aura that bolsters their own coolness. It makes little sense, but it's worked for them thus far. On the overall hipness scale, Coldplay isn't close to, say, TV on the Radio, but in a weird way they're bringing a bumbling DIY aesthetic to emotional arena rock. And, just as Viva did an admirable job of troubleshooting the band's lazy weaknesses while expanding their sound, Prospekt's March offers a truncated version of their svelte and marginally progressive new formula. If this is the best Big Rock has to offer this year, we're doing okay.

As far as money-making mini-releases go, Prospekt's March is relatively noble, i.e., no quickie dance remixes, only one "single edit" ("Lovers in Japan") and one piddly 48-second instrumental ("Postcards from Far Away"). All in all, half the EP is made up of completely new material that could've easily made the original Viva. Talking about the EP a couple months ago, Martin quipped that the new songs "might be considered too catchy or too heavy for Coldplay songs." The heavy Coldplay song may seem like an oxymoronic concept, but "Glass of Water" makes a good case for the band turning up the volume more often. Granted, the whole thing centers around one of the very few Meaning of Life clichés Martin has yet to utilize (bet you can't guess exactly how much water is in that glass!), but the hook's brash guitars render his words unintelligible anyway.

With Eno behind the knobs, everything sounds pristine, impeccable. "Prospekt's March/Poppyfields" could pass for a latter-day Radiohead ballad (except Martin replaces Thom Yorke's doom with hopeful pleads of "I don't wanna die"). With its micro-funk verse and symphony chorus, "Rainy Day" feels stiched together, but it's uniquely humble. "I love it when you come over to my house," sings Martin, taking a break from explaining death and all his friends for a moment. Mostly instrumental Viva intro "Life in Technicolor" is morphed into a full-fledged song here-- and it in turn exposes the main obstacle in the way of Coldplay's desire to replicate U2 at their height.

Simply: Chris Martin needs to consider his lyrics more. He's smart; he can do better than "don't you wish your life could be as simple as fish swimmin' 'round in a barrel when you've got the gun." While Bono hasn't written an astounding lyric in ages, there was a time when his universal maxims rang true and felt close. Martin has shown flashes of this type of talent, but his consistency isn't where it needs to be in order for Coldplay to elevate to the supreme stadium-filling, critic-salivating level they so desire. With their revised sound and twitching energy, these sensitive lads are primed for something even bigger than their current little-kid-in-a-big-arena shenanigans. A few elegant, cringe-proof words couldn't hurt.

Source: pitchforkmedia.com

Seemingly another unnecessary release by a record label in order to simply cash in; 'Prospekt's March' does little to dissuade from this statement with three of it's eight tracks having featured on the 'Viva La Vida..' album albeit in a slightly different guise, report Altsounds.

Firstly we get 'Life In Technicolor ii' which is simply the lead track on the latest album which was instrumental but this time we get Chris Martin crooning over the top 'I can hear it coming/I can hear the siren sound/now my feet won't touch the ground' I don't quite know what he's on about but then who ever does? It's intriguing, however; to wonder did the music or the lyrics come first because I can't see any reason for this not being on 'Viva La Vida..' in place of the instrumental version... very odd.

Secondly we get 'Lost' but with added Jay-Z because that is clearly what all Coldplay tracks have been missing - someone to rap about Tupac and Biggie over them! And lastly we get the Osaka Sun Mis of 'Lovers In Japan' now this was a highlight of 'Viva La Vida..' for me personally but I just cannot see what is so different here to be honest it's simply just filler.

Read the rest of the review at altsounds.com

Chris Martin and Win Butler’s musical troupes “make me want to do better” says Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers.

Brandon Flowers [pictured] has admitted that the only bands who’ve pushed The Killers to greater heights are Coldplay and Arcade Fire. Speaking to London’s daily free paper Metro, Flowers also revealed that today’s bands are too ego-driven to take tips from their peers. “I think artists of my generation have too big egos to be inspired by each other”, he said. “Although I’m not afraid to say that Arcade Fire and Coldplay’s new stuff makes me want to do better.”

In the same interview, Flowers admitted that his hometown of Las Vegas exerted a huge influence on the band and his fondness for the place continues to grow as he gets older.

“The older I get, the more romance I have with the desert that spawned me. It’s not just about the neon city, Elvis and Frank Sinatra – it’s the fact that being in Vegas excluded us from the ‘indie-ness’ of other places. I didn’t know that what we were doing might be considered uncool. If The Killers had been based in New York or Portland, we would’ve done things ironically… Like I said, I don’t understand why more people don’t wear sequins”

What you don’t want to do, if you’re as big as Coldplay, is to suddenly start writing new material just when you’ve agreed the release date for your album and the world tour has been slotted into everyone’s diary, reports the Sunday Times.

The wheels of big business are rolling and they won’t wait for your new songs. Coldplay’s way of dealing with this is Prospekts March, an EP that rounds up the material that wasn’t finished in time to get onto Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. There are eight tracks here, most of them genuinely new, and while there have been a few hints that this is material too edgy to get onto a Coldplay album, the truth is that these songs are pretty much interchangeable with those on Viva.

So, if you like that album, this will be a welcome bonus.

For one of the largest crowds at EnergySolutions Arena in recent memory, the British rock quartet Coldplay packed as much punch as they could in a surprisingly short set Saturday night.

The show aspired to be one of the biggest spectacles Utah had ever seen, as frontman Chris Martin said himself during the show. While it ultimately fell short of fulfilling Martin's prediction, it was nevertheless a performance with moments that would make even Bono envious.

The 100-minute show, with two encores, certainly showed a band trying hard to become the biggest band in the world. There was an elaborate stage production featuring six revolving globes and two video screens high in the rafters that showed images that were more like artistic concert film footage than the standard visuals of the lead singer singing. And near the end of the set, thousands of flourescent paper butterflies, reflected in the stage's lights, floated onto the crowd that created one of the most dazzling scenes of any concert this year.

Read the full review article here

Number 1 in 36 countries, a punctuation innovator and an incorrigible flirt, Coldplay's Chris Martin is featured in an article in the January 2009 edition of Q Magazine which hit the shelves recently.

How was 2008 for you?

[Confusing the issue already] See we've just been trying to finish this EP, Prospekt's March, so we're completely in the same zone that we were the last time we spoke to you.

You mean, with your head in your hands with worry, mere weeks before you had a Number 1 album in 36 countries?

It's not worry, it's just focus! We're cursed by ambitious hunger. We're always just looking at the next thing, y'know? There's a Jay-Z version of Lost! on the EP [entitled Lost+, as opposed to three other versions on the Lost! single, which are Lost!, Lost? and Lost@]. Say what you like about us, we might not be rock 'n' roll but we do more with punctuation than any other band.

Read the full interview here [thanks David Watts]

At Coldplay’s not-quite-sold-out concert at the Pepsi Center on Friday night, Chris Martin was manic and playful and athletic and weird and animated and, yes, a little bit over-the-top.

It was refreshing to see that the once-stiff Martin has evolved as a performer – a performer who plays and dances and jumps on stage when he’s not sitting at his piano stool, rocking back and forth like a possessed idiot savant. Yes, this is the same Martin that has been pegged as a pretentious, sometimes-ridiculous artist who is trying a little too hard to be important.

The funny thing: This silliness is exactly what Martin needed to balance things out. He made his name on a sappy song called “Yellow,” and while his piano-fronted music was tailor-made for middle-of-the-road FM radio, he always spoke in terms that were much bigger than any of his work.

Some of his aspirations are commendable, including the work he and his band have done for Oxfam. But some of his other aspirations – say, to be the next U2 – have been absurd.

Coldplay is Coldplay. They can fill arenas, and they’ll continue to do so as long as they stay prominently on the radio. But it seems like the band got lost in its middle years, obsessed with trying to be something it wasn’t.

(You’ve heard bands trying to sound important. Listen to the last Killers record and most parts of Coldplay’s “X&Y.”)

And yet now the band is finally approaching its initial aspirations. Coldplay is a tremendous live band, and while their catalog of music isn’t as strong as their emotional connection in a live arena, it’s steadily getting better.

An example of Coldplay transcending its recordings in concert: In a late-set “Politik” on Friday, Martin and his bandmates masterminded a maniacal build that started around 150 degrees, jumped to 350 degrees with the quick flip of the dial, dove back to the 150 degree range and then leaped instantly into hazardous self-cleaning territory.

It was a powerful and loud moment, and it was also risky. That song wasn’t the same track that kicks off the 2002 disc “A Rush of Blood to the Head.” It was a brawnier hulk that demanded an arena singalong, dramatic backlighting and earplugs (depending on where you were sitting). The song was a jagged rush, and it invigorated the adoring audience to sing right along with their heroes.

The show didn’t lack big moments. A straightforward “Clocks” came early in the night and jump-started the audience into singalong mode. Martin loves working that piano stool, and while his gyrations aren’t as sensual as, say, Tori Amos, he looks like an excited little boy as he quickly rocks back and forth on the stool.

“Speed of Sound” is one of the band’s biggest hits, but it’s also one of the most uninventive songs in their catalog. It’s big enough to fill an arena, sure, but it lacks the vitality of “Talk,” which was later performed (as an upbeat remix of the original) on one of the stage’s two jutting runways.

“Viva La Vida” was a big moment, but of the new songs played on Friday, the instrumental “Life in Technicolor” and the moody “Lost!” left the most lasting impressions. “Life in Technicolor” was pure whimsy, and the band was obviously having fun with that one. And “Lost!” is a big song that bursts with life, and it hints at potential greatness from this band.

The supposed greatness of “Fix You” is still lost on me. But I will note that I was in the minority who weren’t feverishly singing along with Martin on that track, which came about halfway through the set. The band’s single-song encore of “Yellow” was welcomed by the crowd.

The band’s production this time out was smart and chic. Two runways stretched from each of the stage’s sides into the audience, and the band wasn’t afraid to use them. The lights were decent, but the video screens – and the six, giant video bulbs that went up and down at various points of the night – enhanced the show massively. A glorious late-show shower of butterfly-shaped confetti didn’t hurt.

“The Scientist” got special play as the band walked off the stage and through the crowd and up some stairs, where a second stage was set up in front of one of the VIP boxes. Chris Martin – dressed in a purple shirt, his signature jacket with multicolored armbands, patchwork pants and some ratty black tennis shoes – joked a lot throughout the night. From this sidestage perch, he made a joke about the people in the front row feeling ripped off (given the band’s temporary relocation) and then settled, talking quickly about having to get into the right mood to play the sad song. The performance of “The Scientist” was simple, unremarkable, but the band was rewarded for always sharing the love and occasionally hamming it up for cell phone pictures.

Source: http://blogs.denverpost.com

It was anyone's guess where Coldplay would pop up at the EnergySolutions Arena on Saturday. Sure the band — vocalist/keyboardist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, drummer Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion — cranked it out on the main stage, but they also grouped together on one of the stage extensions and even appeared in the middle of the crowd in the back corner of the arena.

Regardless where the band played, the nearly sold-out audience loved every note and nuance. Not only did the band play the hits "Speed of Sound," a condensed version of "Talk," "Clocks" and the encore-ender "Yellow," but also pumped out "Chinese Sleep Chant," "Lost" and "Strawberry Swing."

Martin danced and jumped around like a frenzied Dionysus as he led the band and the audience through a communal journey of music and energy. His voice, including his smooth falsetto, was in top form as he hit the highs in "Violet Hill," "Fix You" and "The Hardest Part."

Read the full review article here

Coldplay is such an enormous earner for record label EMI that the company's share price took a beating in the UK when the band delayed the release of its previous album, X&Y. Martin has spoken openly about the pressure that has put on him, but appears to have relaxed about the financial side of the music business, Australia's Herald Sun reports.

"I tried getting wrapped up in it for a while and really thinking about business, but it really didn't fit as a hat to be wearing," he says. "If people are singing along and our record isn't in the bargain bin, then I don't worry about anything. If I stop at a gas station and our record is free with a can of Coke, then I will start to worry."

Viva La Vida has only been out a few months and Martin is working on new material, releasing a special edition of the album with eight new songs. Martin has been a strong critic of outgoing US President George W. Bush and said he had been inspired musically by the political changes in the US. He says he has never felt more political than when Barrack Obama was voted into power. "I just feel much more hopeful about things," he says, adding his election had inspired new songs. "The reason why I find Barrack Obama inspiring, not because of what he says, but he is tireless. I just have so much respect for people who never give up and he, to me, is the definition of that."

Read the full article here

At the risk of echoing past reviews of Coldplay, it's really easy to forget what a good band it is. The songs all over the radio and on the group's four albums are so neatly tailored that it's always a refreshing surprise to see Coldplay live and be rocked, be it the early years at the Fillmore Auditorium or Friday night's show at the Pepsi Center, reports Rocky Mountain News.

Granted, Coldplay salted the set early with hits, including the classic Clocks, which has become more muscular with age - largely because of drummer Will Champion, who happily doubled on guitar and vocals during acoustic songs.

But the crowd was down with everything from the first note, be it album cuts or the single When I Ruled the World. In a moment of time when the news seems to be unrelentingly bleak, there's a lot to be said for a packed auditorium of music fans singing lustily and joyously along with a strong set.

It's also refreshing to see a band using common sense in the staging of a concert. Every high-tech bell and whistle was there - the gigantic big screen, floating picture orbs and enough lasers to make The Who very happy. But it was just used in a smarter way, with ramps extending into the audience near the front, and additional big-screens hung halfway back so the rear of the house felt intimate as well. They headed to the rear of the arena for another mini-set, starting with The Scientist.

"This gives everybody at the front the chance to Blackberry their friends and say 'Gee, man, we overpaid,' " singer Chris Martin joked.

Martin has steadily grown as a frontman, intense but jerky in his early days, relaxed and fun these days. He effortlessly commands the stage, where nothing feels forced or planned. He manages to convey a combination of goofiness and warmth, a far cry from the aloof image that the media has painted of him for his ambitious writing or the person he chose to marry.

The band took the stage a bit later than planned, and at press time, encores still were ahead. If recent shows are any indication, the band's first hit, Yellow, was likely to have made up a big part of that.

Jon Hopkins opened with a hypnotic electronic set, accompanied by animation on a big screen that was at the same time up-to-the-minute but also echoed the days of the old San Francisco psychedelic ballroom scene. He could have used a bigger screen, but fans were still surprisingly receptive to the edgy set.

Source; rockymountainnews.com

DENVER - For those of you just joining us from 1999, allow us to introduce you to Coldplay-one of the biggest bands in the world, reports 9News Colorado.

Their sensitive pop singles are ubiquitous across generational lines, their first three albums sold tens of millions of copies, and the fate of a gigantic record label (Capitol/EMI) is said to pretty much rest in their hands. But what the band really wants, of course, is to be taken seriously as artists.

"Viva La Vida" is their latest album release which fights the good fight for Coldplay, gently nudging them into new territory without taking any turns sharp enough to jolt the bandwagon. They've mostly shirked the maudlin piano ballads in favor of a style more complicated, more crowded and more cinematic (the opening track is even called "Life in Technicolor"). Famed producer Brian Eno (U2/Talking Heads) joins them here on their slightly quixotic quest to become something more than the sum of their parts.

Read the full preview article here which also includes some excellent photos courtesy of Metromix.

They're a punching bag for critics and a punch line for comedians. Pick the put-down, and they've been on the receiving end: insufferable, unoriginal, pompous, arrogant and - worst of all - boring, reports Rocky Mountain News.

And yet they've sold 40 million albums, routinely pack arenas and once even affected a company's stock by changing a record's release date. That's the dichotomy of Coldplay, which has a date at the Pepsi Center, Denver tonight.

At best, their critics have slammed the earnest Brits as "Radiohead Lite," featuring all the wistful atmosphere, but none of the musical innovation. At worst, even the band's fans are slagged. "Music for medium-level dull people." That's how the Washington Post's J. Freedom du Lac described Coldplay's catalog earlier this year.

Read the full comprehensive preview article here

In this age of media hype, when it seems as if any doofus willing to embarrass himself or herself on TV can get at least the beginnings of a music career, too many events elicit no reaction stronger than "muh." So it was great Wednesday night at American Airlines Center to actually go to an undeniably Important Rock Show.

The air at the sold-out show was charged with anticipation as fans of Coldplay, perhaps the biggest British band currently touring, milled about and texted each other excitedly. The band didn't disappoint, tearing through a 90-minute set that featured spirited performances and high-tech stagecraft.

Frontman Chris Martin seemed both completely at ease – joking with the audience, grinning – and utterly in control. He bounded from one end of the stage to the other and onto the two wings projecting into the crowd.

Read the full review article here

DALLAS — Coldplay’s ambitions are finally being matched by its sound. While the British quartet has always aimed to be among the top arena-dominating rock acts, its sensitive, occasionally maudlin and delicate ballads hadn’t made the strongest case.

That said, the group’s live shows have been raved about for years. Goopy tunes or not, Coldplay is nothing if not audience-pleasing. Yet Wednesday night at American Airlines Center, there was a different air about the Grammy-winning act, almost as if Chris Martin and his bandmates were making a thrilling declaration: If another band would like to wrest away their crown as one of the most vital acts in music, let’s have at it.

Emboldened by its new album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, with its rich, vivid and muscular songs, Coldplay raced through its set list, attacking staples such as In My Place and Clocks with as much verve as newer tracks Violet Hill or Viva la Vida’s staggering title cut.

Read the full review article here

Pete Lusby is currently touring the world with Coldplay, promoting Oxfam's campaigns to concert-goers. Joined by teams of dedicated volunteers, Oxfam are raising awareness of, and advising of how we can all take action to overcome, poverty. Coldplaying.com caught up with Pete, via email, to find out more about life on tour, volunteering and Oxfam.

Hi Pete! Thanks for sparing some of your time to answer some questions. How did you become involved with Oxfam?

I'd always known about it from the Oxfam shops in Britain. I learnt more through a Development Studies course at university.. and seeing Oxfam at Glastonbury Festival. I started out working for Oxfam as an intern. I volunteered full-time for six months from April 2007. I was working as the assistant coordinator on the Oxfam GB Festivals programme. We were doing a similar thing to what we do on band tours. Volunteer campaigners helped over 101'000 festival-goers sign a Climate Change petition. We also had a chill-out/Fairtrade coffee/dance tent and an Oxfam Campervan, at some of the festivals which was great fun to work on. After that I worked on 'Oxjam', Oxfam's fundraising music festival in UK, another band tour with Klaxons in the UK, and then on fundraising challenge events like the London Marathon and Trailwalker. Then Coldplay came up... and I jumped at the chance.

What’s your favourite thing about working for Oxfam?

I love meeting people who are enthusiastic about Oxfam's work to fight poverty, whether that's our volunteers or music fans who see us out there at the venues. It's good to know that the work we are doing can make a difference to people's lives. I won't lie to you though.. working at festivals and gigs is a great buzz too.

Read the full interview article here [thanks jenjie]

Rather than seeing her husband in concert in Oklahoma, Gwyneth Paltrow journeyed instead to the reopened Fontainebleau hotel, in Miami Beach, where she attended the Victoria's Secret fashion show.

The hotel's owner, Jeff Soffer, a billionaire bachelor, flew her to the event aboard his private jet. The 35-year-old actress did visit Chris Martin in Dallas on Sunday after leaving Miami. Chris's spokesman, for his part, assures the media that the couple's marriage is strong enough to withstand the occasional absence.

More on this news story here onwards [thanks Roberta, melanieau, ApproximatelyInfinite, mimixxx & christa1]

Before last night, Houstonist may have told you, "Eh...they're OK live, but we haven't been blown away" if you'd asked whether or not you should go see the show. But, that was before last night. Although we weren't blown away (think David Bowie at The Woodlands in 2006), we gained a much better appreciation for Coldplay as live entertainers, report the Houstonist.

The crowd was immediately engaged as the band took the stage playing Life in Technicolor. The energy continued to mount sending a tingle through the arena as Clocks followed shortly after. The music may be a bit mellow at times, but frontman Chris Martin could energize a rock with his dancing and flailing around the stage.

Martin and guitarist Jonny Buckland mugged for the photographers on the stage right set extension early in the show. Later, the pair were joined by drummer Will Champion and bassist Guy Berryman on the stage left extension for God Put a Smile on Your Face that evoked images of the group playing Rock Band as Champion banged an electronic drum kit and Martin played a small upright piano with Buckland and Berryman crammed in between like teenagers trying to fit between the TV, coffee table and recliner.

Read the full review article here