Smoking Section: From Metallica To Coldplay

Coldplaying's friends over at Rolling Stone's the Smoking Section report further on Coldplay in New York...

The Strokes kicked off their U.S. tour in grand style in New York -- you'll dig the new light show and, finally, encores! In the house were friends and family, including the dudes in Coldplay.

CP fans freaked after Chris Martin declared at the Brit Awards, "We won't see you for a long time," fueling speculation that the band might split up. But Martin assures the SS that the end is not near. "Coldhead are having the best tour of our lives," the cheeky mofo tells us. "We're plotting how to change music forever, for the better. Our best stuff is yet to come -- I know it is, 'cause we've written it." Coldplay took off after the show to ring in Martin's twenty-ninth b-day (March 2nd), while the Strokes raged at an East Village pool hall.

Next up for the Strokes is their first gig at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. While in Music City, they told the SS that their squad will face off in a baseball game against the Kings of Leon camp, who just started preproduction on their third album, to be titled Because of the Times. Believe it!