Articles

The very first Pemberton Festival takes place this weekend on a farm near Mount Currie in the beautiful Pemberton Valley.   Presented by Live Nation, the three-day event is billed as a “European-style rock festival.” What exactly does that mean? We’ll tell you.   It means a mainstage boasting headliners such as gargantuan U.K. rock band Coldplay, hip-hop head honcho Jay-Z, classic-rock ruler Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and industrial metal grinders Nine Inch Nails. It means a selection of

One knows it's not a run-of-the-mill, overly serious Britpop show when, 10 minutes before the band goes on, the crowd launches into a terribly giddy version of the wave.   Is that what Coldplay's career come to: playing to American arenas full of people who don't know they're supposed to take this band more "seriously?"   Yes and ... yes, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you aren't one of the music snobs who clung to the band after its first two albums. Coldplay's career arc ha

Video Hits has hit the big time, scooping their music TV rivals - the world over - with an exclusive interview with Coldplay's Chris Martin.   Currently living the life on assignment in Los Angeles, co-host Nathan Sapsford scored the hit of his career with the promo chat for the band's new album Viva La Vida. While Martin is married to one of the world's most desirable women, Gwyneth Paltrow, it was Aussie pop princess Kylie Minogue that he wanted to talk about.   "You could just be on a bus wit

A brilliant article by Bob Lefsetz   So I’m wandering the Forum floor, looking for Lisa and Brooks, and I run into Dave. He’s just upgraded a young couple from the cheap seats to the first five rows. They’re giddy, in a state of disbelief, and I say I want to go on his next mission, into the stratosphere, to rescue some more real fans.   Dave’s eyes light up, we get ready to ascend the stairs, but we can’t lay our hands on any more tickets. They’ve all been given away. All five front rows have b

Coldplay has put itself at the service of one of the world's oldest famine relief organizations, the British-based Oxfam.   The group opened its Viva La Vida World Tour at the Forum in Inglewood on Monday night with Oxfam volunteers busily working the corridors, where they handed out fliers urging action against poverty and social injustice. The Oxfam website (www.oxfam.org/coldplay) was projected onto a large rotating sphere in the middle of the arena after the show.   Coldplay lead singer Chri

An interesting article courtesy of the bloggers at UK's Guardian newspaper:   We knew Coldplay were popular, but did we know they were this popular? Amazingly, their latest album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, has been the number one-selling album in an astonishing 36 countries. Are there any nations left untouched by Chris Martin's gang?   There are some other staggering statistics bubbling away. Viva La Vida set the record for the highest first week sales ever on iTunes around th

Chris Martin knows why you hate his band. For the first time in his career, he couldn’t care less   Blame it on their selling a zillion records—or perhaps it has to do with a singer who shows up in tabloids as much as music mags (thanks to a movie star wife, a daughter named Apple and a son named Moses). Whatever the reason, Coldplay is the most polarizing band this side of U2.   From the dubious homophobic joke heard round the world in Judd Apatow’s “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” (“How do I know you’

Cover: “The revolution according to Coldplay” “The band that everyone likes but doesn’t admit”   Article: “Long live the revolution” “In the eve of their return, Coldplay invited James McMahon to visit their secret headquarters. He found a band insecure about its past, but with a new and dashing musical manifesto (or something). The revolution of Viva la Vida is served hot.”   “Somewhere in the north of London, where Camden ends and Primrose Hill begins, in the middle of a nameless alley, there

When they met during university, in London, Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion simply wanted to make music. Something that, once they became Coldplay, was transformed into a form of full-time job.   It is now almost ten years and thirty million records since then and no album, in 2008, is awaited with more anxiety than 'Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends', the ambitious fourth piece of work of Gwyneth Paltrow's husband and his three companions, produced by Brian

Andy Miller of the Telegraph reviews On Some Faraway Beach, the life and times of Brian Eno, Coldplay's latest music producer   Seek out your copy of the second Roxy Music LP, For Your Pleasure, and turn to Karl Stoecker's portrait of the group. You see the man on the far left posing with a mean guitar, in platform boots, peek-a-boo feather blouson and glamour-model pout? That man is Brian Eno. Last month, he turned 60.   Eno's journey from pop-star androgyne to Liberal Democrat youth affairs ad

They’ve been called everything from “nouveau French revolutionary” to “ragbag military uniforms.” We’re talking, of course, about the at-once-dingy-and-colorful European marching-band getups that Coldplay have been sporting in promo photos and appearances in support of their album, Viva La Vida.   It’s part Michael Jackson paramilitary look, mixed with a dash of the color from the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album cover and a hint of U2’s penchant for donning uniforms that last an entire album/tour c

Echo & the Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch tells Eamon Sweeney why he’s looking forward to Oxegen, why he told Coldplay their songs weren’t good enough and why he just had to be in the ‘best band in the world’   McCulloch was mysteriously credited as an "associate producer" on the second Coldplay album, A Rush of Blood to the Head. "That made me laugh!" he cackles. "Brian Eno just took over my role! I was amazed when I read that. I just came in and did a bit of Bowie dancing and a few impressions.

Stereogum have posted an article entitled 'Chris Rock Was The Only Black Guy At The Coldplay Show' which you can read at WikiColdplay and also discussion here.   The Repubblica article which we mentioned yesterday, has been roughly translated to WikiColdplay (hopefully a neat translation to come soon).   On a different note, we ask: 'Is Jonathan Ross’s lewd wit justified?' With the , does Ross [pictured] push his luck too far? Just the wrong side of sleazy, Ross’s comments risked a Broadcastin

It’s amazing how far Coldplay has come in the past decade: At this time in 1998, they were a college-based band in London. By 2000, with the release of “Parachutes” and their hit “Yellow,” they got big. “A Rush of Blood to the Head” then made Coldplay both a critic and fan favorite, winning the Grammy for Best Alternative Album and selling over 12 million copies worldwide.   By 2005’s “X&Y,” the band was huge: It had released the world’s second best-selling album of 2005 and was the first B

How do you have a hit without releasing a single?   Coldplay's stirring anthem Viva La Vida is number one on both sides of the Atlantic, making them the first British group to achieve this feat since the Spice Girls in 1997. This would be remarkable enough in itself, but, in a sign that the music business is undergoing top-to-tail transformation, they have done it by accident. Coldplay's current single is officially Violet Hill, which, to complicate matters further, they gave away free. It was d

New Coldplay article from Spin Magazine, who talk about the new album and Phil Harvey.   Trampolines, imaginary 16-year-olds, and decisions, decisions, decisions. For the world's biggest band not called U2, there's just no rest for the bleary. An exclusive look behind the scenes of Coldplay's new album.   In a slightly sketchy part of north London, a cockney blonde whom we'll call Myrtle smokes a cigarette in the driveway of the plain white-fronted former bakery that serves as recording studio,

Patrol mazazine have got a Coldplay special edition out this week. Here is an excerpt along with links to the full articles and reviews:   There are a number of ways to mishandle a new Coldplay album. Particularly this Coldplay album, the second to be widely linked to EMI’s financial welfare. In all sectors of society, from business to technology to the arts, Viva la Vida has managed to whip the pre-release frenzy to a pitch even more feverish than three years ago, the last time we spent the mon

Chris Martin has a theory. In two years, his songwriting will dry up.   After penning plenty of big hits, picking up Grammy and Brit Awards and selling 30million albums worldwide, the Coldplay singer says his talents are about to wear thin, so he’s been cramming in as many songs as possible. “I feel like you’ve got to write as many songs as you can between the ages of 28 and 33 because those are your last few years before you get a belly,” he says, bearing his wide-eyed, jokey grin.   Joking as

The Independent Blogs have hit back at the today's article by Andy Gill: Why I Hate Coldplay. Here is the response from within their own camp:   I like Coldplay. I do. I know, I know - very unfashionable, but there it is. I like their music. Always have. In fact, I like them so much that I'm convinced at least half the people who claim not to are lying in order to be cool. And I don't mind Chris Martin either. I mean, I've never met the man, but he's never done anything in public that could expl

Confessions of an anxious rock god: The Coldplay frontman sits down with Rolling Stone for his most in-depth interview yet.   When Chris Martin emerges from a town car on a quiet West Village street one afternoon in May, he's dressed like a stagehand — black khakis, black hooded top. You'd never notice him, which is probably the idea.   But then he starts singing Talking Heads' "Girlfriend Is Better" loud enough to be heard from across the street. The guy can't help it: He's a ham. The paparazzi

Tomorrow's release will be a make or break for Guy Hands' £3.2bn takeover   In an industry well used to hype, for once it was no exaggeration when EMI chief Guy Hands hailed it as "the most anticipated album of the year".   Not only does Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends signify that Coldplay are at a stage in their career where they can get away with pretentious album titles, it could also set the tone for whether Hands' controversial £3.2bn takeover of EMI last year ultimately succeeds

'Chris Martin came across the image and said he wanted it for a Coldplay LP cover'   I did this [image] for the fashion magazine Dazed and Confused in the late 1990s. They wanted something with a technological feel, something all white. As a photographer, you try to do stuff that hasn't been done before, which is virtually impossible, so I suggested taking a shot with a three-dimensional scanning machine.   These devices use technology that was developed for American air force pilots, to get th

The "ethical" brand Fairtrade, backed by A-list celebrities and £2million of taxpayers' cash, leaves Third World farmers worse off, according to a damning new report.   Huge publicity, including a Government-sponsored education campaign in schools, has attempted to persuade the public to pay more for goods such as coffee, chocolate and bananas to ensure a better deal for producers in impoverished nations.   And stars such as Coldplay singer Chris Martin have been queuing up to endorse its prod

In early 2007, EMI was a mess. The U.K.-based music company — the smallest of the four major labels — had lost $500 million in a year, its market share had slipped to nine percent, and marquee artists Radiohead and Paul McCartney had jumped ship.   When private equity firm Terra Firma bought the label for $4.7 billion in May, many speculated that CEO Guy Hands would dismantle the company, retaining the profitable publishing arm and back catalog. Instead, on January 15th, he announced a vast over

Until last week's events, the pair had not been seen together for months - even by the paparazzi photographers who like to haunt their every move. The past few months have been tough for Gwyneth Paltrow. Rumours of her marriage being on the rocks, her comeback film The Good Night taking just £90,000 at the box office, and now a late-night dash to the hospital pushed in a wheelchair by her husband Chris Martin.   When a visibly upset Chris attended the funeral of his beloved uncle Angus on the S