Glastonbury round-up: Coldplay sales boost, more shining reviews, Beyoncé

Coldplay look set for a significant chart boost following their headline performance at Glastonbury last Saturday night, according to MusicWeek online. Their new single Every Teardop Is A Waterfall, which had previously dropped to 42 in the UK Official Charts, is back up to 15 at iTunes.co.uk (albeit in EP form), while the songs itself is at 30. it is now the new chart week’s sixth top seller and leads a number of other titles from the band among the top sellers, including Major Minus (17), Moving To Mars (20) and In My Place (32).

However, an HMV spokesman said that it is likely to be the band’s back catalogue that really benefits: their debut album Parachutes is currently 12 at iTunes.co.uk, with third album X&Y at 14, second album A Rush Of Blood To The Head at 16 and fourth album Viva La Vida at 23. All are available at £3.95 at iTunes.

In fact to be precise, sales of A Rush Of Blood To The Head are up 2,420% on the week, while sales of Parachutes, X&Y and Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends are also up more than 1,500% on seven days ago.

Meanwhile, Beyoncé Knowles has said that she watched Coldplay’s Glastonbury set to help her 'calm down' about appearing at the music festival. The American singer closed the annual event on Sunday evening, with her set going down a storm with the cheering crowd. Although she looked relaxed and happy on stage the R&B star admitted afterwards she’d been petrified about performing. Beyoncé explained watching other groups helped her relax. She was spotted enjoying Coldplay’s set with her husband Jay-Z and singer Chris Martin’s wife Gwyneth Paltrow, and had nothing but praise for the group. “It made me feel a lot better last night, you realise people just want to listen to great music. I just thought, ‘This is just beautiful.’ I just thought, ‘Calm down girl!’” she laughed after her performance.

More reviews of Coldplay's performance are being published online - this one from nearby Bristol Evening Post entitled "You name it, they Coldplayed it", gave a perfect 10/10 for the show: "It is 12 years since a fresh-faced Coldplay first appeared at Glastonbury, with a performance in the New Bands Tent in 1999 only weeks after signing their record deal. But Saturday night's performance was also the third time they have headlined the main stage in a decade – such was their meteoric rise to fame and fortune. They were last here in 2005 following the release of X & Y and this time they were back with songs from their forthcoming, as yet unnamed, release. They boldly showcased Every Teardrop is a Waterfall right at the end of their encore, but it fitted right in and didn't fall flat as so many new songs played by bands do. Other new tracks such as Charlie Brown showed that the new album will be worth a listen.

But for fans of the old stuff – and there were thousands upon thousands there – Chris Martin and chums also reeled through their back catalogue of hits. You name it, they played it. One of their encore songs was, perhaps predictably, the stunning Fix You, which Martin opened by singing altered lyrics from Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World, throwing in mentions of mud-splattered faces. Even without such good music it was a fantastic show – with fireworks, confetti and amazing light displays. The crowd loved every minute of it, as did the celebrities spotted watching the set – including Martin's wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and last night's headliner Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z. It was a spectacular performance and the reason why this band will no doubt be back time and time again to deliver an incredible show to the Glastonbury masses. 10/10

Meanwhile, still at the Glastonbury festival site...

Abandoned tents at Glastonbury