Coldplay weren't giving away much yesterday about their performance at the Sound Relief bushfire and floods benefit concert scheduled for Saturday but do know John Farnham's hit You're the Voice all the way through, however, and has been having secret rehearsals with an unknown artist during its Australian tour, report The Australian.
The band played a snippet of the song at one of its Melbourne shows on their Australia tour. "Even doing a snippet of that song ... everyone goes with it," Chris Martin said prior to Coldplay's first Sydney show last night. Coldplay is the opening act at the Sydney arm of Sound Relief. A similar concert will play simultaneously at Melbourne's MCG. Farnham will join the band on stage.
Martin said he was delighted the band could take part in the concert for such a worthy cause. "Before we got here, we didn't really understand the extent of the fires," he said. "It was only when we arrived in Perth that we realised, and from then we wanted to do it 150 per cent. We're just thrilled to be asked."
Martin and his colleagues Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Guy Berryman are in good spirits for this tour to promote their album Viva La Vida, which earned them three awards at the Grammys last month. Their mood is in sharp contrast with the tension that existed between them before they made the album after a lengthy, exhausting world tour.
"We play soccer a lot and table tennis," Martin said. "Our backstage area is like a fitness club. It's important not to become too fat on your fourth album."
The singer would not be drawn into a slanging match with Bono, who described the Coldplay frontman as a wanker on BBC Radio One two weeks ago. Martin preferred to sing the praises of Bono's outfit, U2. "They are the Manchester United of rock, so they must be doing something right," he said.
Coldplay was enjoying a less frenetic touring schedule and it would not be rushing into releasing a follow-up to Viva La Vida. "To me, a big band is like a relation at Christmas," Martin said. "You're pleased to see them for a bit, but then you really want them to f..k off. We are really grateful for what has happened to us for the last year or so, and we're going to keep touring for a bit, but to make people buy records we should probably disappear for awhile."
More on Coldplay at the Sound Relief concert in the Coldplay Live forum here
Coldplay in Sydney - 10th March 2009
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