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    Round-up of latest reviews of Matt McGinn's new book - 'Roadie: My Life on the Road with Coldplay'

    roadiemcginn.jpgThe first full reviews of Coldplay roadie Matt McGinn's forthcoming book are now available online. Many thanks to the publishers for allowing Coldplaying to review the full book ahead of its release next month. Here is the review from Coldplaying's admin, Jenjie :

     

    As a Coldplay fan and an avid reader who'll try most genres, there was always a strong chance I was going to like 'Roadie'. Having said that, I have also read some pretty dreary autobiographies, which had promised to be interesting, so there was a chance I may hate it.

     

    I knew from the moment I read the introduction that I was going to enjoy this book, and I wasn't disappointed. After all, a man who quotes one of my favourite scenes from 'Pretty Woman' can't be bad! Its not often a book makes me laugh out loud, but I did on more than one occasion. Matt's telling of a disagreement between Guy & Chris had me chuckling, and I could picture the scene in my head...

    Matt briefly fills us in on life before Coldplay & how he came to be a roadie, but he concentrates most of the book to working for Jonny Buckland & with Coldplay. There is plenty of material to keep you going: from the first time at Glastonbury; the transition from smaller venues to stadiums; life as a roadie and plenty more. For those avid fans (stalkers?), there's plenty of roadie name-dropping. With appearances from Dan Green, Bash, Hoppy & 42, and a great story about Jackie's crowd control techniques. There's plenty of inside stories about how the show works from the stage & what the venue looks like when you're the roadie on the stage pre-band. For those of us who are missing the Viva tour, there's plenty to bring the memories rushing back.

     

    I loved it and recommend that its one book that no Coldplay library should be without.

     

    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. There is also the first media review of the book, courtesy of The Guardian . This was published last week and Coldplayers have had the opportunity to digest this review and post their comments on it at the Coldplay forum. Whilst it is not the most favourable review possible, it does provide some excellent outline to sections you will find in the book. Here is The Guardian's review:

     

    A Coldplay roadie's diary of excess... You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll yawn. A Coldplay roadie reveals all in a no-holds-barred account of life on tour...

     

    The Dirt, the story of Mötley Crüe's descent into druggy, boozy mania might be packed with stories of death, orgies with porn stars and car crashes, while Led Zep chronicle Hammer Of The Gods has underage groupie sex, backstage assaults and guitarists dressed as Nazis. But next up in the canon of tell-all rock tour memoirs is guitar tech Matt McGinn's Roadie: My Life On The Road With Coldplay with its tales of cheese butties, meeting Gwyneth, and telling Jay-Z move out of the way. Rescued from the Observer New Review's charity shop pile (shame on you, New Review!), here are some of its other highlights ...

     

    On Rock Debauchery - "Coldplay crew members, like the band themselves, don't just wheel out the bloody Horlicks and the board games post-show; we all like a good knees-up with a pint and a pie after work, same as anyone else."

     

    On Inventive Nicknames - "All Jon [buckland]'s guitars have names ending in "y" – Blacky, Sunny, Browny etc". This is followed by a three-page list of different guitar pedals and units.

     

    On Meeting The Stars - " ... Another time I held the door open for Paul Weller at the BBC when I was doing Jools Holland's Later show with Kenickie."

     

    On Live 8 - "I'm not getting into the politics ... frankly you'd do better to listen to some other people, like maybe Bob Geldof. Say what you like, this is a man who deserves respect."

     

    On Snow Patrol - "I didn't even like them that much until they showed up and politely knocked us sideways with their niceness and generally relaxed, professional attitude."

     

    On Seeing America - "Chicago is an amazing town. It's right on a massive lake for a start."

     

    On Disastrous Errors - "Not content with handing Jonny a wrongly tuned guitar for his performance of Clocks, I later managed to drop a blob of superglue into one of its vital moving parts. Nice work, roadie!"

     

    On Glastonbury 2002 - "I do remember some daft things about the aftermath, like my triumphant post-show cheese, pickle and crisp sarnie."

     

    On The Roadie's Plight - "In his otherwise sharp and funny personal memoir Cider With Roadies, ex NME-hack, writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie arguably does his book's fantastic title a disservice by hardly talking about roadies at all."

     

    On Fame - "Imagine my excitement – after years of adoring Ash from afar – of being asked to stand in on guitar for their leader at a soundcheck."

     

    On Drummers' Names - "Will Champion, eh? What a great name."

     

    On Dishing The Dirt - "Other stars can be a big disappointment, and almost put you off their terrific music just by being twats ... but we'll name no names here."

     

    Continues for 240 pages. Roadie: My Life On The Road With Coldplay (Portico) is out 17 May.

     

    Full press release for 'Roadie: My Life on the Road with Coldplay':

     

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