EAST TROY- Authorities from the Walworth County Drug Unit arrested 34 people for possession of marijuana at the Coldplay concert Aug. 13 at Alpine Valley Music Theater.

One individual was confined on state charges for possession of the drug and resisting arrest. Another was confined for possession of both marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms, according to the Walworth County Sheriff's Department.

Approximately 44 grams of marijuana and 10 grams of psilocybin were seized by the drug unit. The sheriff's department patrol division also ticketed 23 for speeding, 15 for underage possession or consumption of alcohol, five for possession of marijuana, three for trespassing and one for possession of a false identification. One individual was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of causing injury by the intoxicated use of a motor vehicle.

The Coldplay concert was the last major event scheduled at Alpine Valley this summer.

Coldplay and 50 Cent are the latest acts set to appear at this year’s MTV Music Video Awards.

They join a star-studded list of performers already confirmed for the event including Green Day, The Killers, Ludacris, Kanye West and Shakira.

Coldplay are up for four gongs at the industry back-patting event, including Video of the Year for ‘Speed of Sound’. 50 Cent is up for two awards.

Joss Stone, Ashlee Simpson, Snoop Dogg, Orlando Bloom and Usher are amongst those handing out awards at the event. P Diddy will host the awards which take place in Miami on August 28.

Chris Martin is disappointed his marriage to movie actress Gwyneth Paltrow has ruined the novelty of meeting Hollywood superstars.

He blames his Oscar-winning wife for making his once showbiz idols seem boring and ordinary.

He says, "After being with Gwyn I've realised everyone is human. We really build people up as if they are from Mars. Hollywood seems as accessible as Mars. When I started meeting celebrities it was depressing because you can't believe in the mythology of people any more."

Source: ContactMusic

Artists from Coldplay to Ludacris will have to change their ways if they want to continue sampling other musicians' tracks, because new rules mean they have to credit all performances featured on their songs.

While artists protest sampling music allows them to pay homage to their heroes, affected artists insist it amounts to thievery and infringement on their copyright.

New regulations from the sampling office state that bands have a moral obligation to credit the artist before they feature extracts on their own tracks.

The rules will come into force early next year (06) and give artists the right to be credited as the performer on any records where their work has been sampled as well as being able to reject modifications to their performances, which could be considered "prejudicial to the performer's reputation".

Copyright laws currently state that using a "substantial" part of a work without permission is infringement but the word "substantial" is too subjective to indicate any hard line.

Karl Whitfield of the Patent Office says, "Copyright is an economic right but moral rights are to do with integrity. If I give a performance and you do something with it that is detrimental to my reputation, I should be able to complain about it."

Source: ContactMusic

Ever wonder what Coldplay order for their dressing room before and after gigs? Well you can wonder no more. Find out here

[Thanks Dejan]

Chris Martin has snubbed British Prime Minister Tony Blair's invitation to meet him at his London residence - because the he feared it would damage his image.

A galaxy of stars, including rockers Oasis and Sir Elton John, have accepted invitations to Blair's Downing Street home.

And Chris Martin respects the British premier, but does not want to be seen publicly socialising with the leader of the Labour party, for fear of offending his fans who may disagree with Blair's political goals and stance over the war in Iraq.

He says, "I'm not going to go. I really like Tony Blair. He's interested in the same things as I am - he plays the guitar and he always gives the impression of doing what he can to help. But I don't particularly want to be photographed with him at the moment."

Source: World Entertainment News Network

Could Coldplay be the next U2?

Both bands have lobbed a steady barrage of megahits at America from across the pond. A charismatic, socially conscious frontman leads each group. And they share a penchant for rock with an expansive scope and an emotive core.

When Coldplay performed last night (Tuesday) at Riverbend Music Center, the British group demonstrated its most striking similarity to its Irish predecessors: The ability to forge an intimate connection with individual members of a thousands-strong arena crowd.

Just like U2’s Bono, Chris Martin exudes an enigmatic yet approachable confidence. He gripped the crowd in his thrall from the minute he strode onstage to the final notes of the show’s finale, the current hit “Fix You.” At various points during the concert, Martin hopped on one foot, slowly pinwheeled across the stage and stood transfixed by his own pixilated image on the gigantic video screens that were the sparse set’s main ornamentation.

The screens, which flashed grainy images of the quartet as it performed, echoed the intentions of the countless fans snapping shots with their camera-equipped cell phones. Near the end of “The Scientist,” the four musicians aimed their own disposable cameras at the crowd, then tossed them out to fans.

The entire set flowed seamlessly from one skillfully orchestrated number to another. Standout numbers “Clocks” and “Everything’s Not Lost” soared into musical and emotional crescendoes, lifted by Martin’s pure vocals and pristine piano riffs.

Moments of subtlety interspersed the capital-R rock songs. The band members clustered near the stage’s edge for the acoustic “Til Kingdom Come,” a heartfelt ballad they wrote with hopes of performing it with Johnny Cash before he died. The gorgeous “Swallowed in the Sea” rang with a lullaby lilt.

Martin, who takes his well-crafted music just as seriously as Bono does, also possesses a wry sense of humor that keeps him from becoming a caricature of rock earnestness. During the group’s first U.S. hit, “Yellow,” a bevy of bright balloons bounced down onto the crowd.

“OK, the song isn’t going to finish until all those balloons are gone,” Martin said, then held tight to one sustained note. The resulting pop of bursting balloons mingled with the crowd’s laughter.

Source: http://news.enquirer.com

1066 days, 20006 topics, 14178 users and nearly a million posts later, the Coldplaying messageboard is counting down to the 1,000,000th post later today.

After its conception in 2002, the messageboard has undergone some changes, some of you will have followed its history since its first day.

Join in the countdown here and maybe you will make the 1,000,000th post.

Throughout July, XFM asked listeners to vote for their top 3 tracks of all time in this year's X List 2005 mega-poll. They have collated the thousands of votes and can now reveal this year's shortlist made up of the most popular 104 tracks.

Coldplay are in the list with the following - 'Clocks' & 'Yellow'. It's now up to you to get behind Coldplay and vote for your favourite tracks in order to get them to the coveted number 1 spot.

Each vote sent goes into a prize draw to win a colour iPod and iTunes vouchers. Courtesy of XFM we'll reveal which track has won on August Bank Holiday Monday (August 29).

For more info and to vote, click here

Coldplay overcame first night nerves at the opening of their US tour last week - when Chris Martin forgot his lines onstage.

The singer stumbled while singing Til' Kindgom Come - a hidden track on their new album X&Y - in Hartford, Connecticut, on Thursday night.

Martin joked to fans afterwards, "Oh, now you'll get us voted off American Idol."

The singer also struggled with the heat onstage and had to make a number of costume changes, which prompted the comment, "We're getting close to a Celine Dion concert. If you want a refund for all the sweat you've seen tonight, you get 50 cents for each litre that comes off us."

BRUSSELS: The tickets for the Coldplay concert in the Sportpaleis in Antwerp on 26 October were sold out in just under an hour on Saturday.

Ticket sales started at 9am on Saturday and a maximum of four tickets per person could be ordered over the internet or via telephone with Go For Music. Online sales unit Tele Ticket Service handled the internet sales and said a purchase every second was recorded, but its servers were never overloaded.

In total, 11,525 tickets were reserved in one hour. The average number of tickets per customer was 3.2, newspaper 'De Standaard' reported.

Registered fans of the popular British rock group could order one or two tickets last Thursday. Some 3,000 tickets were reserved within an hour.

Chris Martin recently announced that four songs acted as the cornerstones for the band's recently released third album, X&Y, and one of those tunes was the band's new single, "Fix You."

Chris says that all four of the tracks made him feel like Coldplay were breaking new musical ground.

"When I hear them or play them, I can remember the feeling of, like, 'Oh, we haven't done this before,' you know what I mean? Whenever we get that feeling it's very exciting, and we normally write two or three songs like it. So I remember when we did 'Fix You,' I thought, 'This sounds like nothing we've done before,' and that's how I felt about all those four songs."

The other three "cornerstone" songs were "Square One," "Talk" and "Swallowed In The Sea."Coldplay's North American tour, which started on Tuesday (August 2nd) in Toronto, Canada, arrived in the US on Thursday, August 4th with a show in Hartford, Connecticut. Aside from a handful of gigs this past spring, this is the band's first major tour in North America in support of X&Y.

As if the anticipation of seeing Coldplay live wasn’t reason enough to head to the concert venue early, now X&Y concert-goers across America will rock out to Filter TV during the 90-minute pre-show and 30-minute interval between the opening act and Coldplay. Filter TV kicks off at the New England Dodge Music Center in Hartford, CT, on August 4.

The first ever presentation of its kind features videos by Filter-approved bands, from established artists like Rilo Kiley, Supergrass, Hot Hot Heat and Sigur Ros to emerging acts like The Sights, The Sun, The Coral and OKGo. Filter TV will be shown and heard on the side stage video screens of each concert venue.

Catch Filter TV and Coldplay at a corporate-sponsored amphitheatre or arena near you:

August

4 - Hartford, CT - New England Dodge Music Center*

6 - Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center*

7 - Camden, NJ - Tweeter Center At The Waterfront*

9 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center*

11 - Burgettstown, PA - Post-Gazette Pavilion @ Star Lake*

12 - Noblesville, IN - Verizon Wireless Music Center*

13 - East Troy, WI - Alpine Valley Music Theatre*

16 - Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre*

17 - Ridgefield, WA - Amphitheater At Clark County*

19 - Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre*

20/21 - Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre*

24 - Albuquerque, NM - Journal Pavilion*

25 - Phoenix, AZ - Cricket Pavilion*

26 - Chula Vista, CA - Coors Amphitheatre*

30 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre

31 - Columbus, OH - Germain Amphitheater

September

1 - Darien Center, NY - Darien Lake Six Flags P.A.C.

3 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center

6/7 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden

9 - Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

10 - Raleigh, NC - Alltel Pavilion @ Walnut Creek

13 - West Palm Beach, FL - Sound Advice Amphitheatre

14 - Tampa, FL - Ford Amphitheatre @ State Fairgrounds

16 - Pelham, AL - Werizon Wireless Music Center

17 - Maryland Heights, MO - UMB Bank Pavilion

18 - Antioch, TN - Starwood Amphitheatre

20 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center

21 - Bonner Springs, KS - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

23 - Dallas, TX - Smirnoff Music Centre

24 - The Woodlands, TX - C.W. Mitchell Pavilion

28 - Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena

29 - Virginia Beach, VA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

30 - Bristow, VA - Nissan Pavilion

* with Black Mountain as opener

ALL OTHER DATES with Rilo Kiley as opener

Mobile marketing, applications and content agency Filter UK’s outdoor BlueCasting™ campaign to promote Coldplay’s X&Y album has proved a huge hit with London’s commuters.

13,000 fans flocked to download free pre-release video clips, never-before seen interviews, audio samples and exclusive images onto their mobile, via Bluetooth technology from giant Transvision screens at mainline train stations.

Over 87,000 unique handsets were “discovered” and 13,000 people then opted-in to receive the material, delivering a massive response rate, close to 15%. The busiest day was Saturday June 4th - two days before the official album launch date - when over 8,000 handsets were discovered and over 1,100 users opted in to receive a video file. The BlueCast systems are smart enough to deliver time-sensitive content, so, for example, in the morning the user would get an audio clip of the tracks "Fix You" and prompted to tune in to Radio One but in the afternoon the clip would be the same but the user would be prompted to watch Jonathan Ross on BBC1.Alasdair Scott, chief creative officer at Filter, which developed BlueCasting, said: “Having Coldplay content was a dream to show how BlueCasting can work. This is the biggest BlueTooth-based marketing exercise so far, both in terms of unique devices discovered and consumers who opted-in for communications. But what BlueCasting can deliver is at the very early stages, but within the coming months the BlueCasting service will be able to deliver free, personalised broadband-quality content to user's mobile phones, PDAs and portable computers. Since the BlueCasting system is proximity-based we can be sure of delivering timely and appropriate content to an ever growing range of Bluetooth-enabled devices".

Claire O’Brien, senior marketing manager at Parlophone Records, said: “BlueCasting really appealed to me as part of the launch of X&Y. It's the perfect medium to push different types of (Coldplay) teaser content to a potentially receptive yet broad audience, who could then click through to the WAP site for purchase. The ease of use and ability to change copy/content daily ensured that messages were timely and exciting for consumers to receive. The response rate was higher than we'd expected purchases from the WAP site increased throughout the time the BlueCasting was running and the data gathered is being used in the ongoing X&Y album campaign.”

It was dubbed the greatest show on earth, but superstar Sir Elton John has criticised Live 8 for lacking a "sense of occasion".

The singer said there were not enough musical highlights, despite Madonna, Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd, The Who, Sir Paul McCartney and Coldplay taking to the Hyde Park stage.

Sir Elton, who is known for getting into trouble over his frank views, told The Daily Telegraph: "I thought it was a bit of an anti-climax, to be honest.

WITH two ground-breaking and multi-million selling albums, Gorillaz' creative controllers Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have unequivocally established they are cultural messiahs.

They are also very naughty boys.

One would expect they would have exhausted their own supply of irreverence and braggadocio, having bestowed huge quantities of both on the Gorillaz virtual bandmates, Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russel.

In the middle of the only two days of publicity they claim they are doing for their second album Demon Days, the Gorillaz puppet masters are making it fun for themselves by not only touting their own genius but slagging off superstar labelmates, including The Rolling Stones and Coldplay.Albarn, of course, is well aware of the profile-boosting points of a public slagfest - remember Oasis versus Blur, circa 1995.

His former flatmate and Tank Girl creator Hewlett proves to be equally adept at dishing it out during a 20-minute conference call.

Although it's a bit hard to tell who's who sometimes over the speaker phone.

"Every generation is going to love Gorillaz," Albarn states emphatically. "You just have to look at cartoons like Scooby Doo which are still hugely popular."

Hewlett adds: "But you won't have 2D on stage when he's 62 with his catheter swinging between his legs. He'll always be a charming little cherub.

"We'll be in wheelchairs but it won't matter because the Gorillaz will exist as long as we're still into doing it."

With more than six million copies sold of the debut album and Demon Days already clocking up two million since it was released a few months ago, the Gorillaz virtual band concept has transcended novelty to become a phenomenally successful reality. New collaborators were sought for Demon Days, with Danger Mouse - who created the controversial Grey album from mashing The Beatles' White Album with Jay-Z's Black album - brought on as producer.

Other guests include Neneh Cherry, Martina Topley-Bird, De La Soul, Ike Turner, Roots Manuva, the Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder and Dennis Hopper giving it his best spoken word freakiness on Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head.

Propelled by the irresistible Feel Good Inc, the album is sitting pretty in the top 10 in the US and Australia.

But it's not just about the music. The multimedia behemoth which accompanies the album and singles has inspired plenty of aural and visual trainspotting from fans.

"Obviously there's a lot of stuff in the album, videos and website, lots of little, discreet references and it amazes us how many of them are getting picked up," Hewlett says.

"Fans on the forum seem to know where everything comes from and we're happy they are getting it.

"There have been 32 million rooms on the website visited.

"That's amazing feedback because this is not like being in a band, playing in front of 10,000 people who are going, 'I love you, I love you'."

One senses Albarn, in particular, is enjoying the anonymity of the Gorillaz project, enjoying creative success without having to traipse around the world's stages to validate his existence. They love the fact Keith Richards allegedly said, "who the f... is Gorillaz?" when they sought his permission to use his name in an advert.

No doubt many artists will benefit from the trails the Gorillaz are blazing in terms of changing the way record companies release and promote music.

Their label can only release a single every three months or so because that is how long it takes Hewlett to create the animated videos. As far as interviews with the "band" go, 2D, Murdoc, Russel and Noodles only correspond via email.

And while they are planning a five-night stand in Manchester featuring all of the human contributors to Demon Days, a conventional world tour is not on the cards. They are however in the early stages of planning an animated show which could play in venues around the globe without Albarn, Hewlett or the others on stage.

Hewett says: "The record company knows they have to think differently about this band. We have broken the formulas they use to market a band and I think the people who work with us find it refreshing."

Albarn adds mischievously: "Anyone who had a hard day working on this project can go home and listen to Coldplay. Sorry, but they are such an easy target. Coldplay really is unacceptable."

His problem with his labelmates is their huge fanbase snap up a new album the second it is released, thus turning the charts into the film box office.

"We could sell as many albums as Coldplay in the long run - Feel Good Inc is a single that just won't go away," Albarn says. "But albums are like movies now. When it doesn't sell massively in the first week, it is considered a flop, which has created massive insecurity. Most great albums find their audience over time. It will take a lot more acts than us for it to change."

Source: http://entertainment.news.com.au

Coldplay have launched the brand spanking new video for ‘Fix You’ through their official website.

Gigwise has had a sneak look at the vid and despite the understated beginnings it soon progresses into a bit of a corker.

It features Chris Martin wandering through floodlit streets at night time, and as the song takes off he starts to run until he arrives in Bolton’s Reebok stadium where the full band play the rousing firework-lit finale of the song. The band filmed the video at their two July shows in Bolton. The street scenes were filmed in various locations around London.

The verdict then: not quite as good as the backwards vid for ‘The Scientist’, but bloody decent nonetheless. The video gets its TV premiere on Channel 4 at 10.50pm tonight. ‘Fix You’ is released through Parlophone on September 5.

When you think about it, Coldplay owe a lot to Canada. They were all influenced by Neil Young and love The Arcade Fire, to the point of once singing an excerpt of "Rebellion (Lies)" at a gig. Ron Sexsmith toured with the band when they were supporting A Rush Of Blood To The Head and in turn, Chris Martin contributed to Sexsmith's single, "Gold In Them Hills." The British band's most recent release, X&Y, reached #1 in Canada and a "buzz" gig held in Toronto sold out in one minute.

Further solidifying their reputation as nice guys, Coldplay wrote for and appeared on the cover of Chart's most recent, artist-written issue. Aside from talking about themselves, Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland and Will Champion had some things to say about the land of the north.Like many people who didn't visit Canada until adulthood, bassist Berryman said he found that his childhood thoughts concerning the country conflicted with Canada itself. "The images that I have of Canada in my head really stem from my ideas that I had about Canada when I was a young boy and not the images I have since actually experienced being there," Berryman said. "When I think of Canada, I think of maple leafs, extremely lush forests, lakes and mountains and an incredible sense of outdoor activity. It is strange that I still have this image because I've only spent time in the cities in Canada and haven't actually experienced all of this."

In fact, we may catch sight of Berryman canoeing in the Maritimes, camping out in Algonquin, swatting mosquitoes in Winnipeg or cycling in Stanley Park in a few years' time.

"Canada is definitely a place that when I get older and have some more time I would really like to explore the countryside. I know there are some really beautiful parts of Canada in terms of scenery and stuff like that so I really want to see it some day," Berryman said.

Drummer Champion's memories of Canada have more to do with mobs, police reinforcement and hysteria in downtown Toronto. He spoke about the "crazy reception" when Martin and Buckland appeared at radio station 102.1 The Edge in May. "The fact that this event became so big — involving mounted police, making the newspapers (even in England!) and that the station manager almost got arrested — is incredible," Champion marveled. "We really found out that day about the devotion of our Canadian fans and it is pretty extraordinary!"

For his turn, Martin focused on Canada's blossoming musicians. "There's great music out of Canada. It has one of the best bands in the world right now — i.e. Fire… of the Arcade variety. It's also cool that we have a Canadian band Black Mountain opening for us on the first part of our upcoming North American Tour," he said. "Canada is heaven on a stick!"

Three band members, three wildly opposing thoughts. Chatty guitarist Buckland filled in what his bandmates forgot to mention. "I think of Ron Sexsmith and snow," he said.

Canadian Coldplay fans will be the first audiences for the band's upcoming Twisted Logic tour. Here are the dates:

August 2 Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre

August 3 Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre

ACC, TORONTO [2nd August 2005]: Most rock stars eyeing the musical equivalent of world domination would spare fans no expense to do just about anything ... trash the stage, spit blood, talk condescendingly to their devout adorers, inevitably earning reps as ensuers of mayhem.

Not Coldplay, though. The closest indicator of mayhem these affable British pop-rockers dished out last night at the Air Canada Centre was trash-talking to Celine Dion.

And just as the sold-out crowd were about to erupt into deafening applause, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin spent the rest of the 95-minute set apologizing for letting his evil mouth pander to such talk. Gives a whole new meaning to why Coldplay called this North American jaunt the Twisted Logic tour, doesn't it?Frankly, it seems that's just Martin's natural caring self coming to the fore. As guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion tore into the thunderous Politik, the second song of the night, Martin keenly made reference to the Air France plane crash at Pearson International Airport earlier in the day: "Give me a plane crash where everyone survives," Martin ad-libbed before launching into the pounding chorus, "Open up your eyes!"

When he wasn't getting smiles out his cohorts, Martin pandered to crowd-pleasing, helped along by releasing more than a dozen yellow balloons during, what else, Yellow; putting his renowned one-hop dances to use on Square One and God Put A Smile On Your Face; and inviting crowd singalongs during The Scientist, Clocks and In My Place.

It's a shame there weren't more of these, as lulls were setting in during Warning Sign and the coffeehouse-like setup that marked Til Kingdom Come and Don't Panic.

With Coldplay's third album, X&Y, charting well for a sales jackpot in 2005, the band's logic is to have fun first, and forget the nonsense. That nice-guys mentality just may lead Coldplay to becoming the new Biggest Rock Act Of The World.

Source: MetroNews.ca

MANSFIELD, MA [6th August 2005]: The buzz is that England's Coldplay hopes to be -- and just may become -- the next U2. That's a grand goal that may border on hubris, but Coldplay stayed on that course Saturday with a thoroughly magnificent show that pulsed with themes of spiritual hunger and human connectedness -- the two essentials of any great U2 performance.

Coldplay's effort in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,900 (the Tweeter Center manager said it was the hottest show of the summer in terms of ticket requests) went far beyond that of its CD-release party at Avalon in May. This time, the band unveiled all of its bells and whistles, starting with a light show that reached Radiohead/U2 dimensions. They used two levels of panoramic video screens in back of the stage to project live footage and computer graphics, and had spotlights mounted on the pillars at each side of the pavilion. Strobe lights also seemed to be everywhere, and dozens of confetti-filled yellow balloons were set loose during the song ''Yellow."But the focus was on the very likable Chris Martin, a welcoming singer whose upbeat streak was magnified early in ''Politik" (as he sang in Bono-like fashion, ''Give me heart and give me soul") and the spiritually soothing ''God Put a Smile Upon Your Face." He also had his dynamic moments, including running through the pavilion (he took off like a shot and had only one security guard behind him) during an encore and racing around stage, then finishing ''Speed of Sound" while lying on his back. The band's unplugged interludes on ''Til Kingdom Come" (originally written for Johnny Cash) and ''Don't Panic" were also highlights, as was the group's shimmery colors on the hypnotic ''Clocks" and ''Talk." Coldplay's not quite U2 yet, but it's getting competitive.

Opening act Black Mountain, though, was an inappropriate choice for this show. The Vancouver group's drearily cliched '60s-influenced rock didn't have much life. When Oasis played the Tweeter this summer, it had Jet as an opening act. Coldplay should have had a band of that stature and excitement.

NEW YORK: A little more than a month after its release, Coldplay's X&Y has been certified double-platinum in July by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The trade group verified shipments of 2 million copies of the Capitol set to US retailers.

The feat follows a trend for the UK-based band, whose 2000 debut, Parachutes, is also double-platinum, while 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head has reached the triple-platinum mark.Others reaching new multi-platinum heights in July included a pair of superstar country acts, Brooks & Dunn and Kenny Chesney. The former's 1997 Arista Nashville Greatest Hits set reached quadruple platinum as did the latter's 2004 BNA release When the Sun Goes Down.

Kelly Clarkson's sophomore RCA album "Breakaway" tipped the RIAA's scales at triple platinum last month, while Velvet Revolver's "Contraband" (RCA) and Disney's "The Lizzie McGuire Soundtrack" were each certified for US shipments of 2 million copies.

George Strait notched double-platinum in July with two separate MCA Nashville albums. His latest studio set, Somewhere Down in Texas, released in late June, was certified platinum for US shipments of 1 million copies, even though Nielsen SoundScan reports sales at just 472,000.

In addition, his 2002 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection also reached the same plateau. According to the RIAA, Strait has 30 platinum albums to his credit.

Coldplay have announced the details of their forthcoming single 'Fix You'.

The single will be available in two formats, and will be available from September 5th. An enhanced CD will feature the B-sides 'Poor Me' recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl, 'The World Turned' and the video for 'Fix You'. They will also put out a 7 inch vinyl, which will include 'The World Turned' on the B side.

The band recently announced a European tour, where visits to Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Italy and France are all included. Although there are no dates planned for the UK at this stage, the band are said to be keen on appearing at home before the year is out.

The exclusive UK premiere of the Fix You video will be this Wednesday 3rd August at 22.50h (GMT) on channel 4, after Big Brother.

The US will air the video the day before on MTV. It will also be shown online on the 2nd on Coldplay.com, MTV.com and Channel4.com.

27 today.

Fuji pictures & setlist.

A massive music festival that has been likened to an Asian Woodstock kicked off Friday at Japan's Naeba Ski Resort.

This year's edition of the annual Fuji Rock Festival is being touted as the best yet, with nearly 200 musical acts from around the world set to perform on 10 different stages during the three-day event. The lineup – the most star-studded in the festival's history – includes both international acts as well as Japanese, Chinese and South Korean artists.

Musical styles to be featured range from rock music to electronica, performed by both hot newcomers, like the Kaiser Chiefs, and seasoned veterans, like the Beach Boys. Other leading acts include Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Fatboy Slim, Moby, Simple Plan, the Pogues, the Go! Team, Los Lobos and Ryan Adams.With their most ambitious lineup ever this year, festival organizers are expecting upwards of 100,000 music fans to camp out at the festival site, located at the popular ski resort, which sits at the foot of Mount Naeba, in Yuzawa, Niigata Prefecture.

The 2005 event, which is drawing a portion of its electricity from solar and wind power – is being dedicated to environmental issues and to the memory of the victims of the massive earthquake that hit the northern region of Niigata in October 2004.

Inspired by the U.K.'s famed Glastonbury Festival, event planner Masahiro Hidaka created the Fuji Rock Festival in 1997. With its eclectic lineup, the festival – Japan's biggest – is a favourite among Japanese youth. Past performers have included Eminem, Neil Young, Franz Ferdinand, Lou Reed, the White Stripes, Basement Jaxx and the Blind Boys of Alabama.