Madonna, Goldfrapp, Pet Shop Boys and the Buick Project will be preparing speeches for the Grammy Awards early next year.

The Grammys have three categories related to dance music. Best Dance Recording was first awarded in 1998, though early winners seemed a bit wobbly with Cher (‘Believe’) and the Baha Men (‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’) marching up to the stage to collect their trophies. It wasn’t until 2003 when a separate dance category was created that the Grammy’s seemed more comfortable with the genre: in recent years Britney Spears (‘Toxic’) and The Chemical Brothers (‘Galvanize’) have gone home with the gramophone. This year's nominees are also pretty worthy: Depeche Mode, Justin Timberlake & Timbaland and Madonna are all in contention.

The Best Remix category has been around since 2002, with previous winners including Jacques Lu Cont (for No Doubt’s ‘In My Life’) and Roger Sanchez (for No Doubt’s ‘Hella Good’). No sign of No Doubt this year, though, with Nic Fanciulli in to win under his Buick Project guise, while Lu Cont tries for another gold gramophone to add to his stash with a remix of Coldplay.

The Best Electronic/Dance Album category is only a couple of years old, with previous winners being The Chemical Brothers for 'Push The Button' and Basement Jaxx for 'Kish Kash'. Among the contenders this year, perhaps the smart money is on Madonna’s ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor’ to take the trophy – it narrowly missed the cutoff date last year, causing a major label kerfuffle, and it’s marriage of dance cred and pop appeal looks like a likely Grammy contender.

Best Dance Recording

Depeche Mode – Suffer Well

Goldfrapp – Ooh La La

Madonna – Get Together

Pet Shop Boys – I’m With Stupid

Justin Timberlake & Timbaland – Sexy Back

Best Remix

Mary J. Blige – Be Without You (Moto Blanco Vocal Mix)

Tiefschwarz & Tracey Thorn – Damage (Buick Project Remix)

Beyoncé – Deja Vu (Freemasons Club Mix - No Rap)

Coldplay – Talk (Thin White Duke Mix)

Bob Sinclar – World Hold On (E-Smoove Remix)

Best Electronic/Dance Album

Goldfrapp – Supernature

Madonna – Confessions on a Dance Floor

Oakenfold – A Lively Mind

Pet Shop Boys – Fundamental

Zero 7 – The Garden

The Grammy Awards will be held on February 11, 2007 at the Staples Center, Los Angeles.

As reported earlier Chris Martin will be presenting Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show on 18th January 2007.

We want you to post your questions for him on the Coldplaying messageboard and we'll endeavor to get him to answer as many as possible on the show. You can also video yourself asking a question on your mobile phone and send it to 81199.

To post a question or for more information click here [thanks BBC Radio 1]

Beeb bosses have enlisted the stars to help cover Zane Lowe's 7-9pm show while the DJ is on leave.

Ricky and Nick from the Kaiser Chiefs will kick-start the special series by fronting the radio programme on January 2. They will be followed on consecutive days by the Editors, the Young Knives, Mike Skinner from The Streets, and The Automatic. Snow Patrol will take control on January 10, followed by Kelly O, Jamie T, and The View. The final shows will belong to The Zutons and Chris Martin on January 17 and 18.

They have been on their tour weaving their musical graces through longitude and latitude in support of their Capitol Records release.

Their efforts on the road will prove to be a milestone as they share the stage with record breaking artists Incubus, Foo Fighters, AFI, and My Chemical Romance for this year’s annual dosage of KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas. Before the Saosin-eers had a chance to kick off their tour, we at Crave Online learned to “love with caution” and take in some words from Saosin bassist, Chris Sorenson. Open up your hearts and pay attention!

CraveOnlline: Who do you think fall into the top five best bands in music right now?

CS: Coldplay, Muse, Dillinger Escape Plan, Elliot, AFI.

Source: http://www.craveonline.com/music/articles/04647193/crave_talks_to_saosin.html

Virgin Radio are compiling their Top 500 songs list for 2006. Click here to vote.

Remember to listen to Virgin Radio to hear the live countdown between Wednesday 27 to Saturday 30 December 2006. Last year they counted down the Top 500 songs of all time between Christmas and New Year's Eve 2005. Coldplay were featured 9 times as follows:

25. Coldplay: Yellow

150. Coldplay: Trouble

188. Coldplay: Clocks

226. Coldplay: In My Place

249. Coldplay: Fix You

270. Coldplay: The Scientist

323. Coldplay: Don’t Panic

343. Coldplay: Speed Of Sound

361. Coldplay: Shiver

Full list is at http://www.virginradio.co.uk/music/charts/top_500/2005.html

A pair of autographed boots belonging to David Bowie has sold for £1,320 ($2,595) at an auction to raise funds for a landmines charity.

Bowie beat Phil Collins, whose shoes sold for £642 ($1,262), and Coldplay's Chris Martin, whose trainers went for £510 (£995) to fetch the highest bid at the 10 day internet auction, which saw 69 celebrities donate footwear to the cause.

British actress Dame Judi Dench's shoes and former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson were also auctioned off for the landmines clearance charity, Mines Advisory Group (MAG), which raised £9,467 ($18,616) in total. The Coldplay MAG auction can be seen on eBay at ebay.co.uk

More on this here [thanks Zu]

Back in March, Coldplay's Toronto Performance was filmed for a potential DVD release. In August it was announced this footage would be televised; As previously reported, Spain is the first country to air the concert on Canal, Friday 8th December, at 1205-1305h.

There will be further territories showing the 58 minute programme. Dates and details to follow here at Coldplaying.com.

More on this here [thanks mandymcnabb]

Transmission setlist [thanks Cris_Santos]:

1- Square One

2- Politik

3- Yellow

4- Speed of sound

5- What if

6- Til kingdom come

7- Clocks

8- Talk

9- In my place

10- Fix you

As you may know Chris Martin will be presenting Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show on 18th January 2007.

We want you to post your questions for him on the Coldplaying messageboard and we'll endeavor to get him to answer as many as possible on the show. You can also video yourself asking a question on your mobile phone and send it to 81199.

To post a question or for more information click here [thanks BBC Radio 1]

Category 16

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal

(For duo, group or collaborative performances, with vocals. Singles or Tracks only.)

* Talk

Coldplay

Track from: X&Y

[Capitol]

* How To Save A Life

The Fray

Track from: How To Save A Life

[Epic]

* Steady, As She Goes

The Raconteurs

Track from: Broken Boy Soldiers

[V2/Third Man Records]

* Dani California

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Track from: Stadium Arcadium

[Warner Bros.]

* The Saints Are Coming

U2 & Green Day

[interscope Records/Warner Bros.]

More on this here [thanks Ondes Martenot]

Yet another ‘unofficial’ DVD biography of the band.

If anyone buys it, please let Coldplaying know the content!

The final Toronto gig from 23rd March 2006 that didn't make it to DVD was aired on Spanish television yesterday.

You can read all the details about when, why, how, where and what (including the setlist that made it to air) here

[Thanks oasispain]

All tickets for all 3 shows in Argentina are now sold out.

There's a limited number still available for Chile & Brazil but these are expected to sell out soon.

Tickets for Mexico go onsale today (Wednesday) and due to already high demand, an extra night has been added for 4th March.

The most popular track played in war-torn Iraq last week was Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire, according to a music website.

While Nirvana’s hit Come As You Are topped polls in Afghanistan, claimed last.fm in The Sun. But troubled Lebanon’s favourite song was Pink Floyd’s Coming Back To Life. The website uses member’s profiles, including home addresses, to compile listening figures across the world, the newspaper said.

Last.fm’s polls showed Coldplay’s Clocks was the most listened to track in China.

The Beatles were the most popular online in Japan. The Fab Four also came first in Argentina with Strawberry Fields Forever. Radiohead came top in France, while Germans favoured the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

America went for Jesus Christ by Brand New but Australia preferred Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars. More people in Britain listened to The Killers through their PCs last week than any other band.

Source: http://news.sky.com

WikiColdplay has compiled a comprehensive and up-to-date database of Coldplay’s setlists for previous tours.

You can find the setlists of all their gigs, tv appareances and radio broadcasts performed during their career (from 1998 to 2008).

For all the setlists here [thanks Jenjie]

There is still time to order from the official Coldplay shop in time for Christmas.

There is a huge range of exclusive and fantastic items that are sure to make any fan’s Christmas, including limited edition artwork lithographs, clothes, CDs, DVDs, tour merch and more.

Click here to go to your local Coldplay online store.

Please note that the dialling code number for the Brazilian box office was incorrect on the emailout.

It is (55-11) 3089-6999 and not (55-21) 3089-6999

Tickets are on sale from today. Full details are below:

FEBRUARY

26th, 27th, 28th – Via, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Tickets from Showare; https://viafunchal.showare.ch/General/ShoWareFrontEndPortalHome.aspx or (55-11) 3089-6999. Or from Fui Passear; (55-21) 3897-4456. Tickets can also be bought from Via Funchal Box Office, ShowTickets Shopping Iguatemi or Newness (Books & Magazines), Av. Yojiro Takaoka, 4528 - Loja 02 - La Ville Mall - Alphaville - Santana do Parnaíba.

See www.coldplay.com for full coverage of the Latin American tour.

Some of music's biggest stars are to take over the controls at BBC Radio 1.

Musicians including Coldplay's Chris Martin, The Zutons and Kelly Osbourne will host an evening slot in January. Beeb bosses have enlisted the stars to help cover Zane Lowe's 7-9pm show while the DJ is on leave.

Ricky and Nick from the Kaiser Chiefs will kick-start the special series by fronting the radio programme on January 2. They will be followed on consecutive days by the Editors, the Young Knives, Mike Skinner from The Streets, and The Automatic. Snow Patrol will take control on January 10, followed by Kelly O, Jamie T, and The View. The final shows will belong to The Zutons and Chris Martin on January 17 and 18. To post a question for Chris Martin to answer on air click here [thanks BBC Radio 1]

Radio 1 regular Nihal will be the co-host accompanying the celebs in the second and third week of January. New Zealander Zane is known for playing fresh alternative tracks, including rock, punk and British hip hop, on his flagship show. Will Chris Martin, best known for lyrical ballads such as Yellow and Fix You, manage to follow suit?

More on this story here

What are the top 10 albums of all time as voted by the Australian nation? The results were revealed in My Favourite Album, which aired on Australian television on Sunday, December 3, at 7:30pm.

It is truly an unexpected and exciting list. The album is showing no signs of dying at the hands of the iPOD. It's alive and kicking, according to the unprecedented response to the voting.

In the top 10, there are four albums from the 90's, one from the 80's, three from the 70's, and two from the 60's.

1–10

Pink Floyd — Dark Side Of The Moon

Jeff Buckley — Grace

Radiohead — Ok Computer

The Beatles — Abbey Road

The Beatles — Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Nirvana — Nevermind

Led Zeppelin — Led Zeppelin 4

Red Hot Chili Peppers — Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Meat Loaf — Bat Out Of Hell

U2 — The Joshua Tree

11–20

Pink Floyd — Wish You Were Here

The Beatles — The Beatles - White Album

The Beatles — Revolver

Pink Floyd — The Wall

Radiohead — The Bends

Neil Diamond — Hot August Night

Neil Young — Harvest

Carole King — Tapestry

Pearl Jam — Ten

Fleetwood Mac — Rumours

21–30

Tool — Aenima

Bob Dylan — Blood On The Tracks

Midnight Oil — 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Silverchair — Diorama

AC/DC — Back In Black

The Clash — London Calling

The Whitlams — Eternal Nightcap

Queen — A night at the Opera

The Pixies — Doolittle

Missy Higgins — The Sound Of White

31–40

Paul Simon — Graceland

Anthony Callea — Anthony Callea

U2 — Achtung Baby

David Bowie — Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars

Radiohead — Kid A

The Beatles — Rubber Soul

The Stone Roses — Stone Roses

Wolfmother — Wolfmother

Oasis — What's The Story Morning Glory

Tool — Lateralus

41–50

Coldplay — A Rush of Blood to the Head

Bob Dylan — Highway 61

Sex Pistols — Never Mind the Bollocks

Van Morrison — Astral Weeks

The Living End — The Living End

The Strokes — Is this It?

Silverchair — Neon Ballroom

The Eagles — Hotel California

The Smiths — The Queen Is Dead

You Am I — Hourly Daily

51–60

The Cure — Disintegration

Bob Dylan — Blonde On Blonde

Lou Reed — Transformer

Bruce Springsteen — Born To Run

Red Hot Chili Peppers — Californication

Metallica — Master of Puppets

Cat Stevens — Tea for the Tillerman

R.E.M — Automatic For The People

Muse — Absolution

Joni Mitchell — Blue

61–70

Prince — Purple Rain

ABBA — Arrival

Elton John — Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Dire Straits — Brothers In Arms

Miles Davis — Kind of Blue

Cold Chisel — East

The Smashing Pumpkins — Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

The Who — Who's Next

Yes — Close To The Edge

Deep Purple — Machine Head

71–80

Rage Against The Machine — Rage Against The Machine

Green Day — American Idiot

Guns N Roses — Appetite For Destruction

INXS — Kick

David Bowie — Hunky Dory

The Smashing Pumpkins — Siamese Dream

Def Leppard — Hysteria

Foo Fighters — The Colour and The Shape

U2 — Rattle and Hum

Delta Goodrem — Innocent Eyes

81–90

John Farnham — Whispering Jack

You Am I — Hi Fi Way

Darren Hayes — The Tension & The Spark

Crowded House — Woodface

Live — Throwing Copper

Nine Inch Nails — The Downward Spiral

Massive Attack — Blue Lines

Led Zeppelin — Led Zeppelin 2

Mike Oldfield — Tubular Bells

Radio Birdman — Radios Appear

91–100

Ben Folds Five — Whatever and Ever Amen

Crowded House — Crowded House

Powderfinger — Vulture Street

The Killers — Hot Fuss

The Rolling Stones — Sticky Fingers

Silverchair — Frogstomp

Queens Of The Stone Age — Songs For The Deaf

Portishead — Dummy

Soundgarden — Superunknown

The Velvet Underground & Nico — The Velvet Underground & Nico

Source: http://abc.net.au/myfavouritealbum/

At a charity gig on 27th November 2006, Chris Martin performed a four-song set, including two Bob Dylan covers, a song by The Killers and a brand new Coldplay song titled 'Bucket For A Crown'. Chris claimed that he had written the new song just the night before with the help of a violin player who also joined him on stage.

You can find the lyrics to 'Bucket For A Crown' here

LONDON (Reuters) - BT Group is to announce deals with film studio Warner Brothers and record label EMI as part of its BT Vision broadband television service launch on Monday, newspapers reported.

BT confirmed on Sunday it would offer music videos from EMI artists, who include Kylie Minogue, Coldplay and Robbie Williams. A number of British newspapers also said it was set to announce an agreement with film studio Warner on Monday but BT said it would not comment.

The tie ups will allow customers to download and listen to music from EMI's artists and pull down Warner's films and TV from the Internet when they want.

BT is set to announced pricing for the service on Monday. The on-demand content is expected to be offered through a monthly subscription or a pay-per-view basis.

While TV and video over the internet is relatively new in the UK, Italian broadband provider Fastweb has been doing it for years and a number of French and German telecoms firms, as well as Dutch telecoms group KPN , have well-established multi-channel offerings.

"We hope to have something together by January 2007. We're going to make sure with our new album that everyone remembers why Coldplay are one of the best bands in the world." ~ Guy Berryman on Coldplay's 4th studio album

What do we know about the 4th Coldplay studio album so far? The highly anticipated album is set to be released in late 2007, and there is already evidence that material has been written. At a charity gig on Monday, 27th November 2006, Chris Martin performed a four-song set, including two Bob Dylan covers, a song by The Killers and a brand new Coldplay song titled 'Bucket For A Crown'. Chris claimed that he had written the brand new Coldplay song just the night before with the help of a violin player who also joined him on stage.

This is a far cry from the newspaper headlines the day after the Brit Awards 2006 when Chris Martin startled Coldplay fans as he announced: "We won't see you for a long time." COLDPLAY QUIT, the headlines screamed. This was news to the British rock 'n' roll quartet, left scrambling to deny rumors of its demise. "The thing about becoming a bigger band is your statements get made to be bigger than they really are," Martin says.

Bookmark Coldplaying's discography page for the 4th studio album, which you can read here

"And the tears come streaming down on your face, when you lose something you can't replace." Enough said...

The winter's drawing in, and soon we'll be celebrating the most depressing day of the year. It's time for a good cry, and what induces the tears better than a slow ballad. Coldplay's Fix You is listed among the biggest tearjerker videos in music history.

You can see what other videos make the list, here. Discuss this story here [thanks Fixed]

For those who haven't yet seen the pictures of Chris Martin at the recent Little Noise Sessions in aid of Mencap, you can see them here or here

Little Noise Sessions in aid of Mencap was a huge success!

The series of gigs ran over eight nights, each with its own highlight. The week included KT Tunstall, The Kooks, Paolo Nutini, The Guillemots, The Fratellis, Amy Winehouse, Noel Gallagher and James Morrison – and those were just the headliners.

On the final night, Jo Whiley arranged a surprise appearance by Chris Martin, Coldplay's front man. He was introduced by Jo as Tight White Tights and to the crowd’s amazement Chris walked on stage.

All the money raised from these special gigs goes to the Mencap Arts Awards and Mencap's important work with people with learning disability.

Source: http://mencapmusic.org/

Coldplay are very pleased to announce a Latin American tour for the beginning of 2007. The band will visit Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, playing at much smaller capacity venues than on their recent Twisted Logic world tour, which finished in July.

The band are currently writing material for their fourth album and are keen to play some intimate shows to try out their new songs. Having received such a phenomenal response to their last Latin American trip in September 2003, they personally chose to return to the region.

The tour dates are:

FEBRUARY

14th, 15th, 16th – Espacio Riesco, Santiago, Chile

Tickets from Ticketmaster; www.ticketmaster.cl or (56-2) 690-2000

20th, 21st, 22nd – Gran Rex, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tickets from Ticketek; www.ticketek.com.ar or (54-11) 5237-7200

26th, 27th, 28th – Via, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Tickets from Showare; https://viafunchal.showare.ch/Genera...ortalHome.aspx or (55-21) 3089-6999. Or from Fui Passear; (55-21) 3897-4456. Tickets can also be bought from Via Funchal Box Office, ShowTickets Shopping Iguatemi or Newness (Books & Magazines), Av. Yojiro Takaoka, 4528 - Loja 02 - La Ville Mall - Alphaville - Santana do Parnaíba.

MARCH

3rd – National Auditorium, Mexico City, Mexico

Tickets from Ticketmaster; www.ticketmaster.com.mx or 5-325-9000. Tickets can also be purchased from Auditorio Nacional Box ofice and Ticket Master Outlets (Mixup, Fabricas de francia, Discolandia, Liverpool)

TICKETS GO ONSALE AS FOLLOWS

Santiago (Espacio Riesco), Buenos Aires (Gran Rex Theatre) and Sao Paolo (Via Funchal) will go on sale December 4th.

Mexcio City (National Auditorium) tickets December 6th

More on the Latin American tour here

As reported a short while ago [thanks Belenchus], Coldplay will unveil a batch of new songs during a Latin American tour in February and March. The trek will begin with a Feb. 14-16 stand in Santiago, Chile, and will run through a March 3 show in Mexico City.

"Having received such a phenomenal response to their last Latin American trip in 2003, [the band] personally chose to return to the region," reads a post on Coldplay's website, which also lists details for ticket onsales. The new material is earmarked for Coldplay's fourth studio album, which is tipped for a late 2007 release via Capitol. It will be the follow-up to 2005's "X&Y," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200.

Here are Coldplay's tour dates:

Feb. 14-16: Santiago, Chile (Espacio Riesco)

Feb. 20-22: Buenos Aires (Gran Rex)

Feb. 26-28: Sao Paulo (Via)

March 3: Mexico City (National Auditorium)

More on the Latin American tour here

A website claims that Chris Martin got some help while producing a track with Jay-Z: Jonny Buckland, our lovely Coldplay guitarist, was appearently part of the collaboration as well.

The article says: Changing pace again, the album them drops the incendiary Beach Chair featuring, of all people, Chris Martin and Jon Buckland, of Coldplay. It’s a fine collaboration and possibly one of the boldest on the long-player, given the gulf in musical composition that generally separates these three artists.

At least both Chris and Jonny came along for Jay-Z’s special gig at the Royal Albert Hall in September [all three of them pictured at the aftershow party] As soon as we know more, you’ll find out here!

Thanks Flying Sparks