Coldplay News

Creative covers: Hard-Fi's stark image wins place in album art top 10   A black CCTV camera silhouetted against a bright yellow background has been named one of the best album covers of 2005. Hard-Fi's debut Stars of CCTV is joined by Franz Ferdinand's You Could Have It So Much Better and the Gorillaz' Demon Days in the top ten of album artwork from the past year.   Madonna, Robbie Williams, Coldplay and the Kaiser Chiefs have also been celebrated for their album designs.With CDs dominating the

Shayne Ward, the winner of last week's talent show ratings juggernaut "The X Factor," achieved the coveted Christmas No. 1 single in with "That's My Goal."   Eminem's "Curtain Call" compilation was the Christmas No. 1 album, beginning its fourth week at the top. He also got a new hit single for Christmas, as "When I'm Gone" entered at No. 5.   Ward's instant success prevented underdogs Nizlopi from maintaining the top spot with their novelty ballad "JCB Song," which fell to No. 2 in its second w

Gwyneth Paltrow has competition... Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger [pictured] is in love with her husband Chris Martin.   The sexy singer has a major crush on the singer because she thinks he is a genius. The American star gushed to Star magazine: "You know who I have a crush on? Chris Martin is just hotty patotty! Oh my gosh! His music is genius! We love talented boys."   When asked if she thought Chris was a geek, she added: "I love that though! A man with a brain. I'm down with that!

The hard numbers on bestselling albums hadn't come in by press time, but it looks like the slump continues here, too. On the other hand, IPods and such are all the rage, so we'll have to get the bean-counters working out this one. There's some fat at the top in the record business, too. The top sellers include Mariah Carey, Faith Hill, Nickelback, 50 Cent, Usher, Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson, Black-Eyed Peas and Tim McGraw - none of which made the top 10...   4. X&Y, Coldplay - Comes out on

Most journalists like ending the year on a down note with "factual" retrospectives. As far as I'm concerned, those journalists are whores. Jonathan David Morris is the only one with the guts to compile the year's best stories with a reckless disregard for accuracy.   3. Live 8 gives AIDS to Africans. Oops, I'm sorry. Gives aid to Africans. Aid. Not AIDS. In an unprecedented effort to wipe the scourge of AIDS off the continent of Africa, famous recording artists perform free concerts around the

A new book has the Welsh celebrity-sodden culture frothing with pleasure. Called The Dictionary of National Celebrity, by William Donaldson and Hermione Eyre, it takes a wry look at the famous folk of today. Inspired by this, in a three-part series, Claire Hill has come up with her own A to Z of who's who and what's what in Welsh public life today.   Buckland, Johnny - (September 11, 1977) You may not have realised this, but Coldplay have Welsh credentials. Well, at least the sexy guitarist John

Coldplay performed seven tracks over two sessions at Maida Vale this Christmas, the first on Radio 1 on 22nd December, the second on Radio 2 on 27th December.   You can download them here:   Radio 1 - 22nd December Radio 2 - 27th December

An 'interesting' review has popped up from an REM site. Worth a read, just for its comedy value.   Went to see Coldplay last Monday at the M.E.N. - worst gig i've ever been to, I was gutted . I couldn't get standing tickets, so I ended up sitting in the nosebleed section as far away from the stage as was possible, so I could barely even see the stage. The atmosphere was rubbish, hardly anyone was singing (cept me, lol), and NO-ONE stood up. The band were only on about an hour and 20 minutes. I s

The public may have fallen for James Blunt, the ex-army captain with a penchant for touching love songs, but it was Arcade Fire from Montreal who set the critics alight this year.   While the critics entirely dismissed popular acts including James Blunt, Robbie Williams, Westlife and Katie Melua, other acts beloved by real record-buyers do feature in the top 50. Coldplay, whose album X&Y was one of the best-sellers of the year, makes number 30 in the critics' poll while Kaiser Chiefs are at

Coldplay were guests today on Ken Bruce's radio show on Radio 2 [uK], where they played a live set of Talk, What If and Don't Panic.   They also mentioned more on next year's tour, including shows in South America late next year.   More on the show and to download the audio, click here   [Thanks Alex & stevemah]

One of Liverpool’s cultural landmarks is under threat from the city’s selection as European City of Culture.   Parr Street Studio, a converted 19th-century warehouse that helped to create the Britpop movement and where Coldplay, Pulp, the Stereophonics and the Charlatans recorded, may be converted into flats.   The threat comes from an earlier generation of rock stars, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks of Genesis, who have applied for a conversion to 41 luxury flats worth millions to

It might not mean another British pop invasion, but England is swinging these days more than it has in years with world-beating acts including Coldplay, Gorillaz, Kaiser Chiefs, Girls Aloud, balladeer James Blunt and the hot new band Arctic Monkeys.   Rock elders Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and Oasis still record and tour with enormous success but the vibrant pop scene is embracing a wide range of new acts, even those from across the Atlantic such as Scissor Sisters, the Killers and Arcad

Oscar winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed that she married Coldplay frontman Chris Martin because he reminded her of her late father Bruce.   The actress realized that she was having difficulty in choosing a partner as she compared all men to her father, until close pal Madonna reminded her of a chat they once had about love and loss. "She (Madonna) said to me that I once told her that I wasn't ready to pick the right person because I wasn't ready to replace my father as the main man in

The new kings of British rock were Coldplay, whose X&Y went to number one in 32 countries (including America), taking them into the realms of stadium superstardom. Mind you, they still suffered the indignity of having their comeback single, Speed of Sound, kept off the top of the charts by Crazy Frog, a jumped-up ringtone. Maybe the brave new digital world isn't going to be so different after all.   There was something for everyone in 2005, from the groundbreaking Arctic Monkeys to the old H

Top of The Pops Christmas Special (Music) Starting: 14:00 on Sunday 25th December. Duration: 1 hour Showing on BBC 1.   Coldplay (Music) Starting: 15:00 on Sunday 25th December. Duration: 1 hour Showing on VH2.   Coldplay (Music) Starting: 11:00 on Monday 26th December. Duration: 1 hour Showing on VH2.   Top Tunes of 2005 (Entertainment) Starting: 23:00 on Monday 26th December. Duration: 1 hour Showing on The Music Factory.   Coldplay Live (Music) Starting: 00:00 on Tuesday 27th December. Durat

Since it's Christmas, Radio 1 decided to invite Coldplay to the Maida Vale studios to perform in front of a specially invited audience.   Jo Whiley also had some festive chat with Chris and the boys, swapped presents, and were treated to a special festive song at the end.   You can watch a video of this very special event here, and you can also see it by pressing the red button on your digital TV.   You can view all the pictures from the day here

Chris Martin [pictured] has revealed his admiration for Arctic Monkeys especially Alex Turner.   Martin says that he loved their debut single ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor’ and added that he is amazed at the quality of Turner’s lyrics.   Martin said according to contactmusic: “Anyone who can write a line like, 'You're not from New York/You're from Rotherham,' is a genius in my book. That guy (Turner) is immensely talented."   Source: http://www.gigwise.com

Embrace frontman Danny McNamara [pictured] has revealed that he persuaded Coldplay to spend more time on recording ‘X & Y’.   McNamara thought his close friends were rushing things and did the honourable thing and lent a hand.   He told the Coldplay website: “I told him to postpone the mastering and take time off over Christmas to live with what they had. I felt they needed a couple more songs and that the mixes could have been better. They’d just re-recorded the whole album in a month and

Chris Martin thanked the Belfast crowd for not forgetting Coldplay since their last gig 'over here' three years ago.   However, from opener Square One - the first track on the four piece's bucketload-selling third album X&Y, it was clear that absence had only made the heart grow fonder. And in this time, the group has meantime acquired the sort of mainstream fame that means one of their albums could well be somebody's sole musical purchase in one year. Put it this way, you don't have to be a

Paolo Maugeri, of MTV Italy, has written a blog about his recent access all areas accompaniment with Coldplay. You can read the blog here   The article is in Italian - if anyone out there can translate the article into English I'd be very grateful!

The December edition of the Coldplay E-Zine is now available online. This month's edition includes an exclusive interview with Embrace’s Danny MacNamara and insight into one of the band’s busiest years yet.   Download the E-Zine here

Coldplay popped in to Jo Whiley's Radio 1 Live Lounge segment (Thursday 22nd December). They perfomed Speed Of Sound, God Put A Smile Upon Your Face, Talk and White Christmas.   You can listen to the show online and hear the boys chat in between songs with Jo - click here   Watch this space for information on a special Christmas video, taken from the Radio 1 Live Lounge session with Jo Whiley. The show was filmed and it will be broadcast on Christmas Eve on Sky ( press the red button to access i

Having watched Oasis return to form with a power packed display on Sunday night, I was intrigued to see how Coldplay would match up. They did not disappoint.   Taking to the stage with a huge roar after Richard Ashcroft had royally entertained the crowd, the foursome launched into a vibrant Square One as Chris Martin bopped about the stage like an excited teenager.   The lead singer's infectious enthusiasm shone out for Politik as he banged the keys to his piano, his entire frame reverberating

It was another year in the iPod driven world of the 'single' and thus another year of slumping album sales. So it came to be that 2005 was The Year of Playing it Safe. Artists weren't as daring as in years past and with pressure from anticipated followups and waning sales, few limbs were ventured onto. And that's OK, at least for my picks for the best albums of 2005. While the majority of artists took their eyes off the prize of innovation, they also ignored the trend of one killer track support

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow will think twice about renting a romantic getaway home for her and husband Chris Martin after a recent dream break turned into a nightmare.   The 33-year-old star decided to treat Chris Martin [pictured with Paltrow, left] to a two-week break in East Hampton, New York, after he completed Coldplay’s North American summer (2005) tour and rented a palatial ocean-side property without checking it out first.   She recalls, “The place was filthy when we got here. I went to use