Chris Martin will be on BBC Radio 4 extra this coming Thursday (7th July) at around 4pm (BST) onwards, according to the BBC schedule found at the radio's website. The DJ will be Mel Giedroyc on her 'The 4 O'Clock Show'. More discussion ahead of this interview can be found at the Coldplay forum here now [thanks 42rock89]

Last time Chris Martin was on BBC Radio 4 back in 2008, he walked out of the interview while promoting the band's new album. Nine minutes into the pre-recorded interview for Radio 4 arts show Front Row,Chris asked to leave the studio as he was not enjoying himself. Will Champion, was left to answer questions from presenter John Wilson until Chris returned for one final question. When asked about a speech he made at a music awards ceremony in 2005 where he said the band would be away "for a very long time", Chris said: "I always say stupid things and I think Radio 4 is the place that will most remind me of that."

Presenter John Wilson questioned whether the new album - full title, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends - was a morbid reflection of the band's lyrical obsession with death. "I wouldn't agree with you there at all, no," said Chris. "I'd say you're journalistically twisting me into saying something I don't really mean."

A few minutes later, Martin said he was "not really enjoying this" and that he did not really like "having to talk about things". Will answered the remaining questions before Chris returned to answer a final question, about finding new musical territory, with the response: "Um....yes...yes, yes....exactly..."

New photos of Coldplay (well, Chris Martin) - Rock Werchter Festival, Belgium (2nd July, 2011):

[Photos by Proximus Go @ Flickr]

Coldplay headlined the Main Square Festival in Arras, France last night (3rd July 2011) in a show that wasn't without it's mishaps. Technical problems with Will's drums/sound led to In My Place being played twice. However, this didn't detract from the overall show - which was another energetic performance. A slight change to the setlist - Shiver was removed and replaced with Cemeteries Of London. The same new tracks from the previous festival performances were also played - MX/Hurts Like Heaven, Major Minus, Us Against The World, Charlie Brown and Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall.

Frech websites tv.geourdu.com and gratuit-tv.com both had streaming rights of the TV broadcast of the performance - the show will appear soon no doubt on filesharing sites if you missed it or just want to relive it again - keep an eye on the Multimedia forum for updates. More live discussion on this show is at the Coldplay Live forum. Thanks to everyone who has contributed on the forums, Youtube and twitters. We'll have more on this show over the next few hours/days!

Setlist (confirmed):

MX/Hurts Like Heaven

Yellow

In My Place

Major Minus

Lost!

The Scientist

Cemeteries Of London

Violet Hill

God Put A Smile Upon Your Face

Everything's Not Lost

Us Against The World

Politik

Viva la Vida

Charlie Brown

Life Is For Living

-------

Clocks

Fix You

Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

The band really enjoyed this show. But the audience was really cold in some songs. Then came The Scientist. A wonderful sing-along! Jonny's guitar part in GPASUYF were amazing, as always. That's probably the highlight of the show. Unfortunately, there was a mistake in In My Place, but the band fixed that immediately. That's why I like them, they never give up and they love communicating with the audience. Chris is really funny when he speaks french! They finished the show as they started: full of energy! The audience really loved ETIAW. A brilliant show. [thanks Alien Radio]

i'm disappointed with tonights setlist. I was really enjoying it until i realised they took out shiver and then went and replaced it with cemeteries of london (of all songs to replace it with). They should've kept shiver!!! Really hope that was a one of tonight :/ [thanks squibby92]

I thought the show was absolutely amazing! The boys were so full of energy and seemed so happy to be there. Was sad to see that Shiver was not in the setlist, but really hope that they continue to play it at other shows(especially when I see them in Chicago next month!) I really enjoyed watching it. [thanks l0wxo2]

It was an unusual Coldplay performance. Unusual because it included lots of epic song versions and on the other hand lots of musical and technical errs. They began with "Hurts Like Heaven", which they performed it wonderfully, I think it was the best version so far! Then they got to Yellow, which was a great version and gave a sign that the audience was alive... until the Tech-Errs ghost appeared... The beggining of "In My Place" began with Will playing the drums looking backwards... he was talking to some roadie, as if something was wrong, the song went on until the moment the drums were like muted and you could hear only the backing synthetiser and Jonny's guitar. Then you could hear them stopping playing and the Booes and claps from the frenchies! Chris laughing and asking What happened!? maybe Will's earphone communication was unsync with the song? They managed to rock on, that's Coldplay, a band that performs LIVE, and thats a festival, with technical difficulties. So they started the song again having Will and Jonny unsync with the chorus of the song... which ended up in a new version of "In My Place" lol. It was a relief when you could hear Chris saying " we made it to the end of the song!". They knew how to balance the BIG mistake... an epic version of Major Minues was performed with no mistakes but with a quiet audience. The concert also included the best versions so far of "Charlie Brown" and "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face", where you could hear a more mature and rehearsed live version. They performed "Cemeteries Of London" instead of "Shiver", and Chris got lost with the lyrics. It reminded me of the "Violet Hill" performance at Glastonbury loL!. There was no from the audience during "Viva La Vida" and the "Encore" and another mistake in the beggining of Clocks. I must add for all the Fix You lovers and pianists out there that Chris changed some chords during the song which really adds to the song feeling!. The concert included lots of mistakes, lots of wrong lyrics, a muted crowd that did not even sing during Viva La Vida, a nervous Chris during Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall, lots of technical failures from the launch of the fireworks (during Fix You) to the wires and cables that connect instruments (during In My Place), no Princess Of China, no Moving To Mars, just a slightly change in the setlist with the return of Cemeteries Of London replacing Shiver. It was a surprising concert still. Full of new sounds. A Concert that demostrates that Coldplay are professionals, synchronised between them and that laugh and rocks on after a mistake, cause they know they won't make it never again! For many of us, Coldplay still ROCKED the Main Square. [thanks Coldplero]

What's wrong with you, guys? I came all the way from Croatia to see them (their first concert I've been to) and I loved it! I think that the errors made the concert even funnier and more realistic. Why would you look for perfection? It was a really wonderful concert to me, best 90 minutes of my life. And the new versions of songs they sang were wonderful. One more thing. When they played Charlie Brown I started to sing along and few people from the crowd started looking at me like I was I don't know what… The crowd was really dead at some songs. You should have given them more support. And I loved how Chris joked about the errors. Why do you all take it so seriously? After all, they did correct them and played In My Place twice. [thanks Matej]

I really think that the group like play for the crowd tonight, it's been almost 2 years that Coldplay did not go through France, then in my opinion it was a great concert, despite the technical problems, and the French public always true to itself, the return of cemeteries of london really made me happy because it's a great song in live and the rest of the songs nothing to say, it was just magical to see chris so happy, and we felt in his voice and the live. and the encore with fix you always moving, and ETIAWF it has transformed the citadelle into a huge disco. [thanks coldplay12]

Just on the bus from Arras. Disappointed. They totally phoned it in. No engery at all. They just banged it out as fast as they could and left. If you guys enjoyed what you saw on the stream then great! But in my (and everyone I was with, I might add) opinion this wasn't up to their usual standard. For the record, the crowd were great. And I would know since I was actually in it! People had been queing for 16 hours to see them, people had balloons, banners, there were Viva chants before the show started, chanting of "Coldplay Coldplay" before the gig and before the encore. The singing was great and loud... I'm afraid blaming it on the crowd isn't gonna change my opinion of it, I've seen them many, many times and this was the first time I've ever left not feeling euphoric. To me they were tired, they were disconnected, just going through the motions. And yes Coldplay on a bad day are still miles better than alot of bands on their best day but I was disappointed, as were most of the people I was with, I know they can do better. Sorry if you don't like it, but that's my opinion I'm afraid... On a more positive note Chris did a great job of calming down a very angry Will after he accidentally carried on playing during Jonny's solo in IMP. Charlie Brown was as always amazing as was Life is for Living. It was painful them being on at 11.30pm when the doors opened at noon though...my feet will never be the same!! I had SOOOOOO much fun with my Coldplaying friends too. Also I hadn't noticed before but Jonny is so skinny, he looks ill. [thanks mimixxx]

Great show. I could tell the guys were enjoying themselves despite the technical difficulties. One of their better performances this year--I'm glad that they squeezed Cemeteries back into the setlist (CoL is better than Shiver, imho *ducks oncoming blows*) although I wish they had incorporated Princess of China into the performance. It wasn't meant to be I guess. Excellent performance, disappointing crowd. [thanks ColdplayingfromKansas]

The gig last night reminded me slightly of Hannover 2009. They also had to deal with technical errors then and lost a good deal of their magic because of that. It made them nervous. Last night when I was watching the live stream I had the feeling they wanted to get the gig done as fast as possible, to me it didn't seem as if they were enjoying themselves that much. Which can of course happen, since no band is perfect. [thanks *Sarah*]

To give my opinion about yesterday's show, I wouldn't say it was a bad show, I saw it on the stream and compared to Werchter where I was the day before, I would say that they were less into it, I don't know if it was due to the technical problems on IMP but after that the band (and especially Chris) seemed nervous and kinda struggling to achieve each song.... Now difficult to say about the crowd, not easy to judge from the stream so I trust the people who were there to tell us.... but reading you guys, I'm happy I did Werchter instead of Arras (Shiveeeeeeeeeeer ), I had already done a Arras festival in 2008 and already didn't like the crowd at that time .... [thanks chopotte]

I had the impression everything went SO FAST! As if they wanted to play the setlist as fast as they could. No pause between the songs. No time to breathe, relax, interact with the crowd. It felt like it was a marathon for them. Only a few jokes and "thank you for coming on a Sunday night" and "sorry for the technical problems" and the usual "désolé mon français est merde". No interaction with the first row, which was a first (for me). They didn't even look at the amazing banner the girls made. Which was quite surprising. If I remember correctly, they used to pay attention to banners, didn't they? BUT, regardless of all of that, it was an AMAZING concert. I had such a great time! Especially since I hadn't seen them in 2 years. Which felt like...forever. I was second row and was screaming and jumping all around for an hour and a half. The new songs are AMAZING live. Really loved all of them. Stopped breathing during Us Against The World and Life Is For Living, which are extremely powerful live songs. Same thing concerning Everything's Not Lost (one word: WOW!) and GPASUYF. GOOSEBUMPS for all of them! First time I saw Will stop playing in the middle of a song. I don't know what problem they had at the beginning of IMP but it must have been pretty serious. Was quite funny actually........for us. Probably not for them. BIG congrats to Chris who's so talented at improvising in difficult moments like this one.....! No Chris & Jonny action during IMP. That was a first! (at least for me) Amazing night after such an exhausting day. Especially since the other bands were such a disappointment. Except for Bruno Mars (who I didn't know) who was quite entertaining and Elbow who were amazing. PJ Harvey and Portishead looked so......bored. Which was really disappointing, since they're so talented. But not great live acts, IMO.... Can't wait to see the boys again soon! I hope they'll REST after finishing the album and before starting their next tour! Many thanks to Louise, Aurélie and her boyfriend, Camille, Chavi, Natascha,.... SO GREAT to meet you and share this special night with all of you! [thanks Noémie]

The concert was amazing. Indeed, as Noemie said it seemed they hurried to give the concert. I enjoyed it though. I was not far from the stage but a tall guy was before me and I had to move my head constantly and remain on my toes to see the guys. It took 2 hours to leave Arras because of the huge traffic and got home at 4h45 am! [thanks FixYougirl]

My impression when I watched the streaming was that the guys were full of energy, Chris proved again to be a great performer and to be really into what he was doing (just think of all the energy he put into Violet Hill, all those jumps and such, his face while playing The Scientist, and Politik, and...). I can't say much about the crowd from the streaming, but wasn't there a good singalong for The Scientist and didn't Chris say they sounded fantastic? Anyway, just a thought: this time the guys were great and the crowd maybe not. At the festival in Sweden, the guys didn't seem at their best (to me) but the crowd was quite good. And I did prefer yesterday's show. [thanks Steph589]

We (Stefan, Laura, Anna, Mich, Tash and I) arrived at the queue (there were two entrances and we were at one of them) at around 8.30-ish and were later joined by Perrine, Chavi, Phil etc. We had loooads of fun spray painting the banner (thanks again for bringing the paint, Phil!) I somehow got in charge of doing the lettering so that's my work right there. Then we waited and waited and waited for the gates to open (as one does). Bag-search, wristband check etc (skipping all the boring bits ). After being forced to stand and wait between some barriers (like cattle) for 30 minutes in blazing sun we were told it was time to move (well, I didn't understand, I had to ask someone, my French is very limited, haha). THE RUN WAS AWFUL. I swear it was probably a mile of sprinting (I might be exaggerating a bit there - still bad enough to make us all cough for hours after, though!) I have to give the biggest props to the finest barrier runners in the world, Mich and Stefan! Without them we wouldn't have made front row. Loved, loved, loved Bruno Mars (Anna, Mich and I had a dance party and the band were totally into us ) so that was a nice surprise 'cause I thought it was going to be shit! Elbow were amazing as well. Then after a lukewarm performance from PJ Harvey (disappointed!) and a slightly sleep inducing one from Portishead (might have been the +12 hour queueing, though) it was time for the boys to go on! (Big thanks to the head of security who told us it was okay for us to hang our banner on the barrier! ) Some Jay-Z always gets the crowd going and we were rocking out in the front. Then Back to the Future theme. Hurts Like Heaven was great fun but after that it... Kind of went downhill. No one in the band smiled (except a few ones from Chris). No contact with the front row whatsoever. I was so utterly BORED during Viva that I didn't know what to do with myself. The boys looked tired and angry (which I guess comes from the numerous festivals they are doing and the mess up in the beginning) and didn't seem to enjoy themselves at all. The set was done on routine. Poor Jonny is INCREDIBLY skinny and he looked ill, to be honest. He certainly needs a good rest. I know a lot of you at home enjoyed it and that's great but I can honestly say with the exception of Charlie Brown and Hurts Like Heaven this concert was a huge disappointment for me (and that's not counting the huge amount of time and money I spent on getting there ). This was "only" my 5th time seeing them (I can't believe it's five already ) but I know with my entire being that they can do so, so much better than this. That being said, I had a fabulous few day with all my friends from far away, I miss you already! Hope to see you soon (maybe at a gig when the boys are actually "present"). [thanks AnnaElisabeth]

So suprising for me to hear all the reviews... I really enjoyed the show, for me one of the best Coldplay-gigs of all time. Especially the new songs (Major Minus, Hurts Like Heaven, Us against the world) were better then any time before. Great improvment! The boys seemed to be full of energy in my point of view, they had lot of fun. For me, the only thing which wasn't so good was the crowd. And btw I really love Coldplay that they play most of the time. I was in Berlin to see U2 and it was so boring that Bono talk to the crowd after every song for minutes about god, the bad things in the world and so on... However, they guys play often the songs in row and this is what I love, because I'm there to hear the music and to see the guys playing. Yesterday I had not the feeling that they hurried. But thats only my impression. [thanks Major_Love]

That I've read about the crowd makes me angry, because some criticize without being there ! The crowd was better than in MSF 2009! But I agree on a point, the crowd didn't sing on the new songs, but it's because they only discovered them during the gig. And the TV show simply turn off the crowd singing and clapping in their hands. But I'm a bit disappointed by the gig. As some Coldplayers, I had the feeling that the band wanted to play as fast as possible, and there were only a few interaction with the crowd, unlike the other gigs. Otherwise, the new songs are great, as new versions of GPASUYF and VLV. And I really enjoy to see them for the third time, after this unending wait. [thanks shini]

Streamed images of Coldplay - Main Square Festival, Arras, France (3rd July, 2011):

Last night, Coldplay played at the Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium for the fourth time (2nd July 2011). The setlist was exactly the same as the previous performances at the Open'er Festival in Poland, the 'Where The Action Is' festival in Sweden and Glastonbury before that, which means they once again played live favourites Shiver and Everything's Not Lost from the first album Parachutes. The same new tracks from the previous festival performances were also played, minus of course Princess Of China, which hasn't been seen since Rock im Park.

Belgian website Skynet.be streamed the first 3 songs of the setlist only online, but payview channel Belgacom showed the entire performance on their Belgacom Zoom channel. Already, someone has recorded the WHOLE SHOW and uploaded it to YouTube - if you're going to watch it then don't delay, as they say! The show will appear soon no doubt on filesharing sites if you missed it or just want to relive it again - keep an eye on the Multimedia forum for updates. Some excellent photos were also taken and uploaded by ProximusGo via Flickr which you can view in their galleries, and also some more pictures here at the messageboard [thanks juanif94 & zzz]

Setlist (confirmed):

MX/Hurts Like Heaven

Yellow

In My Place

Major Minus

Lost!

The Scientist

Shiver

Violet Hill

God Put A Smile Upon Your Face

Everything's Not Lost

Us Against The World

Politik

Viva la Vida

Charlie Brown

Life Is For Living

-------

Clocks

Fix You

Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

Photo by Photocero @ Flickr

More live discussion on this show is at the Coldplay Live forum. Thanks to everyone who has contributed on the forums, Youtube and twitters. We'll have more on this show over the next few hours/days!

Only just woke up a few hours ago. I freaking loved it. I was front row, left side of the stage all the way to the right, so almost the center of the stage. Waited all day and it was totally worth the wait if you ask me. they blew everyone away from beginning to finish. They were having loads of fun and the crowd loved it as well. Festival shows are soooo much different from their regular arena shows. More energetic, less routine. It was a lot of fun. [thanks doritji]

Back from two days Werchter, and I oddly feel like I have to give a review of the Coldplay show that nobody will read. It was great, but since it's Coldplay and we're used to nothing less, I'm going to be a bit severe. This was the second time I saw the band, also the second gig at Werchter after the one in 2009. Coldplay only compares to Coldplay, so a comparison between the two concerts is inevitably made. I can't help thinking that they were better this time. Why would this be the case? Because Chris finally had a haircut? Possibly. Because I can't remember too much about their previous Werchter gig and because I was even closer to the stage this time (10th row)? Probably. Because they played their songs in a more concentrated, mature way? Definitely. Two years ago they gave us an incredible show with Chris jumping around and exploring every corner of the Werchter meadow, a show including acoustic intermezzos and fuckloads of confetti. Unfortunately this meant that the quality of the music, although I didn't realise at the moment, was lacking. This seemed to be caused by Chris' carelessness, I may be wrong. Now they're back the way I like it most, playing the songs like they mean it. Confettis, light effects and lasers added a bunch (way too much actually) to the show, but everything was centered around the music. Politik is a good example to show the difference between this Coldplay and the one of the Viva era: not as good as in the Live 2003 DVD, but at least capable of inducing goosebumps. I wish I hadn't watched the previous shows of this tour too much. I knew what was coming and it all felt oddly familiar and they didn't blow me away like they did in 2009 when I wasn't too prepared. Nevertheless, it was evidently (one of) the absolute top gig(s) of the festival and a perfect festival closer for me. The greatest moment for me was Shiver. Performed brilliantly, and I sang along from beginning to end. I hope my weak singing skills didn't disturb anyone.

The Scientist was an amazing singalong experience, but it wasn't nearly as unforgettable as it was two years ago, when it was in the encore. Although one of the best songs in the set, I also expected more from Everything's Not Lost, possibly because the rest of the crowd wasn't too much into it, compared to Viva La Vida for example. The latter, along with Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall, seemed an unavoidable cause for a cheap festival party, although the show would've been great even without those. Out of all the new songs, even though I like Major Minus most, this time I was more impressed by Charlie Brown. It was loud, it was awesome, it rocked. My opinion: *** (out of 5, Coldplay scale, the standards are ridiculously high. Five stars would be Live 2003 and/or Glastonbury 2002). Meanwhile, the band and their show is being torn apart by Belgian media. I can even understand their point at some level: maybe too arty-farty, and 1,2 million euros is a price so high that it makes their fair trade activism almost seem like Bono-esque hypocracy. That being said, I still love most of what Coldplay do and the media are there to break down everything that is too popular anyway. [thanks Tryptophan]

It was amazing ! I really liked the setlist, although I really hoped that they were going to play PoC but it was still incredible ! All those lights, people... oosebumps ! The crowd was amazing too. During the performance of Portishead (they were on stage before Coldplay) some people already started to sing Viva La Vida. Chris Martin also tried to say some words in Dutch like: goedendag (good day) [thanks lukaveer]

Nice review Tryptophan, thanks! You said a few things about which I felt the exact same way. So last night I saw my favourite band for the second time in three weeks (I know, lucky...) and it was way better than the one at Pinkpop. It was now dark when they started, so the light show was amazing. And the crowd was a thousand times better, just awesome. Everyone was so loud and even the new songs were sang along word for word. I was in the right front section as well and it was completely packed. Or in Chris' words, we were fucking squashed. The sound was much better as well. Great that they're playing so many from Parachutes. I do miss Cemeteries though, man I love that song. Basically hey did a fantastic show, great singalongs, lots of dancing. Chris wasn't the only one sweating this time. But personally, just like Tryptophan, I wasn't overwhelmed like I have been in the past. I was surprised when The Scientist somehow didn't make me cry like it usually does. Don't know what happened there. Next time I'm not gonna watch any of their shows before I see them live. Or at least I'll try... Still I loved Clocks, Hurts Like Heaven, Yellow, Shiver, Violet Hill, Politik (including minor funny screw up)... oh fuck I loved everything. But next time I will love everything more. Nice that they bowed and took their (huge) applause at the end, did they start doing that at Glasto? Because at Pinkpop it was ETIAW drum solo and boom, gone. Felt a a little shitty. Elbow kind of blew me away a few hours before. Guy Garvey is so charming and the reverse Mexican wave made me tear up. I also quite enjoyed PJ Harvey, especially the second half of her set. We saw Chris watching her from the left side of the stage. Touching to see huge artists showing their respect to each other. And poor Portishead, I felt really bad for them. It was just so crowded and we weren't allowed to sit down, so it was just another band we had to get through before finally seeing Coldplay. I'm sure I would have loved them at any other moment. That's it I guess. Looking forward to the other reviews! Oh and Tryptophan, the Dutch media also tore Coldplay apart after Pinkpop. Sucks. But at least us fans have each other. So in the end there's only love. [thanks Blue Nails]

New photos of Coldplay - Rock Werchter Festival, Belgium (2nd July, 2011):

[Photos by Proximus Go @ Flickr]

More questions answered by The Oracle... (over 2000 questions now answered - submit yours now!)

June 30, 2011 - submitted by Angel, Mexico

Q. Helo! I am following the Coldplay line-up in Glastonbury, and I saw this picture and I got confused... There is a soccer ball right bellow Chris' name, and I dont know if the guys play soccer right before the band performance... what you think about this?

The Oracle replies:

There's always a football in the wardrobe flight cases. The band don't always play football before a show but it's there just in case (no pun intended) they fancy a kick about.

June 30, 2011 - submitted by Marit, Netherlands

Q. Dear Oracle, I realize that I'm probably too late with my question, but I thought I'll ask it nevertheless, who knows you're a fast responder ;) (sorry for my English..) Anyways, I wondered if at festivals (in fact I'm asking this for the Rock Werchter festival, to which I'm going) there will be Coldplay merchandise. Because if there is, then I'll have to keep in mind that I have to save some money for that :D It's kind of important for me to know, so I hope you will answer :) Thank you! xx Marit

The Oracle replies:

Yeah, you'll be able to buy Coldplay merchandise at the festivals over the summer.

June 29, 2011 - submitted by Joseph, Australia

Q. Hello Oracle! I was just wondering, on the new track Moving To Mars, who does the backing vocals/harmonies? I know Chris does some, but in the bit where it goes, "and I heard it on a TV show..." I'm sure I can hear other voices in there. Sometimes I think it could be Will but other times I think I can hear a woman too? Thankyou!

The Oracle replies:

Ha ha we won't tell Will you think he sounds like a woman as it is indeed him.

He's sounding pretty sublime isn't he?

June 29, 2011 - submitted by Oliver, Hungary

Q. Dear Oracle! Why Bono "hates" the Coldplay?

The Oracle replies:

I don't know where you heard that but Bono doesn't hate Coldplay at all; quite the opposite in fact. On Friday night after their Glastonbury headlining gig, Jo Whiley interviewed U2 and they talked about Coldplay fondly. Bono said how they really liked the boys and complimented them in fact

June 28, 2011 - submitted by billschwenly, Zambia

Q. Ok so... Was that Jay-Z at the Glastonbury concert in the NY Yankees cap? If so, why did he not perform his verse on Lost with the band?

The Oracle replies:

Yes it was Jay. He was there to watch his friend (and wife the following night) play. I guess it's the same as he didn't get up and sing on Crazy In Love when B was performing on Sunday. What I'm saying is he's not going to join the band every time he's at a Coldplay show, Jay was just chilling at Glastonbury and was spotted wandering around enjoying the festival. He was also in the crowd at Wimbledon's centre court yesterday watching Rafael Nadal defeat Juan Martin Del Potro.

June 28, 2011 - submitted by Mariona, Spain

Q. Dear Oracle, I was checking Coldplay in iTunes and I came across a record called Buddha Bar. Can you tell me about it? Is it a Coldplay record or a record that contains a Coldplay song? Thank you so much Oracle!

The Oracle replies:

It's got absolutely nothing to do with us. Buddha Bar have called one of their songs Coldplay. It's basically Viva la Vida. Weird if you ask me...

June 27, 2011 - submitted by Kiarash, United Kingdom

Q. Dear Oracle, I missed Coldplay at Glastonbury on TV, and was wondering if there is anyway to view all the songs they performed online?! THANKS! :D

The Oracle replies:

Anchorman has provided us with a link to the BBC site where we can catch their Glasto performance.

June 27, 2011 - submitted by Leah, Australia

Q. Is the new song with the lyrics 'You use your heart as a weapon / and it hurts like heaven' titled MX or Hurts Like Heaven? Hurts Like Heaven was mentioned as a song title by Chris in an interview, but on broadcasts of the song live, the title has been given as MX. So, which is it? Or is MX the intro to the song?

The Oracle replies:

It's kinda the final thing you said; Hurts Like Heaven with the intro MX.

New photos of Coldplay - Open'er Festival, Gdynia, Poland (28th June, 2011):

Coldplay played in Poland for the first time in their history as they headlined the Open'er Festival in Gdynia last night (30th June 2011). The setlist was exactly the same as the previous performance at 'Where The Action Is' festival in Sweden and Glastonbury before that, which means they once again played live favourites Shiver and Everything's Not Lost from the first album Parachutes. The same new tracks from the previous festival performances were also played, minus of course Princess Of China, which hasn't been seen since Rock im Park.

Coldplay.com published some photos online today instead of live blogging (their internet connection was crap which meant a live blog wasn't feasible). Some excellent photos were taken by Polish website onet.pl which you can view in their galleries. Loads of videos have now been uploaded to YouTube which you can watch at the Coldplay Live forum, where you can also read all the other comments on this show. Thanks to everyone who has contributed on the forums, Youtube and twitters. We'll have more on this show over the next few hours/days!

Setlist (confirmed):

MX/Hurts Like Heaven

Yellow

In My Place

Major Minus

Lost!

The Scientist

Shiver

Violet Hill

God Put A Smile Upon Your Face

Everything's Not Lost

Us Against The World

Politik

Viva la Vida

Charlie Brown

Life Is For Living

-------

Clocks

Fix You

Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

It was mind blowing. Definitely the best live performance I have ever seen and the crowd was truly awesome! Their performance confirmed their title for the best band in the world! Looking forward to their own tour. [thanks Radzhins]

It was just... INCREDIBLE. Best experience in my life! I was in the second row and saw (almost) everything. Almost, because of Jonny I didn't see Will much of the time ;p I have to say that the crowd was amazing! Chris sometimes looked like he was surprised that we know words to every single song! He also said that he doesn't know why their menager kept them out of Poland for so long. He mentioned that they would be back in our country next year! I'm thinking, maybe they are planning a new tour in 2012? They played Shiver, my favourite <3 One of best parts of the concert I almost cried when it started. One terrible thing was that during three first songs about 30 people from rows in the front fainted and security guys had to pull them out. But luckily no one was serious injured. I didn't take any photos or record videos because I just wanted to have the time of my life, sing along and jump and didn't care about my camera anymore! ;p [thanks Carmen_]

What a night, what a show! Well it has been the 1st Coldplay show in Poland, but it wasn't for me and my wife. We have seen them at top of their game in Germany (Leipzig 2005 - my wife claims it has been the best show of her life and Berlin 2008) average show in Hamburg 2008 (crowd!) and lowest of lows - Barcelona 2009 with many technical issues, too long breaks between songs etc.... this was something completely different. We wanted to be at the front, so we managed to get to the 5th-7th row, but during National set it became obvious the we won't last there... there was no point standing in the crowd where you couldn't even raise your hand to clap - so crowded it was! We found a little more comfortable space just on the edge of 1st mojo ring, and though we couldn't see that clearly at last we had space to jump and joy. The roar was amazing when the light went off, then it was ride! With the fireworks explosions we started what has be one of the best shows in Poland we witnessed (and I've seen a few bands). They played a Glastonbury set, so most people were unfamiliar with new songs (but still Major Minus and Charlie recived a deserved applaud!). I guess Live is for living and Everything not lost were also the lower points in terms of crowd reception, they should have swapped it for Trouble, it would have worked better with Polish audience. Still, I am surprised to how well people sang, and obviously Chris was too, asking why the manager kept them from such a great crowd for so long. Viva La Vida was an absolute highlight, the whole field was jumping up and down and singing wooo ooo ooo! Scientist singalong also was amazing. I could write and write. Clocks and Fix You with fans lighting everything possible and singing were amazing too. I must say that Every-tear drop wasn't the best closer... Chris was barely heard where we stood and something was missing... we you can't have everything, apart from that.... It was a hell of a show, though I still can't figure out why they play so short sets (1h25m), I hope they gonna come back to Poland on their proper tour. I must say that from the great arena's band they finally turned to stadium pleasers... since after Barcelona I had a great reservation about them handling such a great crowds... at least Gdynia proved me wrong. Well done boys, amazing job - festival people. [thanks ZBYCH]

New photos of Coldplay - Open'er Festival, Gdynia, Poland (28th June, 2011):

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: Roadie #42 on Glastonbury and the video shoot

Discuss this blog entry in the Coldplay forum here onwards [thanks jeremyy]

When I went away to university, slightly more moons ago than I care to admit here, I promised family and friends that I’d write regularly. Most of the letters that I actually sent, began with “Sorry I haven’t written for a while, but I’ve been dead busy”. If you’d told me then, that there would be weeks in my future like the couple I’ve just had, my 18-year-old self would have had to concede that, really, he’d just been drinking a lot and not getting up ’til the afternoon. (Thinking back though, that was probably better grounding for touring life than a thorough understanding of convolution theory. But I digress…)

Since Pinkpop then, there’s been more work on nailing down the record, a video shoot, a bunch of very intense rehearsals, a tiny gig to nobody in an empty theatre - oh and an absolutely storming set at the mother of all festivals. Now we’re all back together heading off to another festival somewhere in Europe it all feels a little like it never really happened. The weary bodies and far-away looks though, mean that we haven’t quite shaken the feeling that we’ve crammed at least a couple months into the last dozen days.

Video shoots are always a strange proposition. Gig days bring with them an urgency and a definite set of times when the show must go on - ready or not. Videos, being a more permanent and lasting piece or art than a 90 minute show, involve a lot more painstaking “we’re not quite ready yet” in the pursuit of the perfect result.

Added to the normal video-shoot treacle, was the fact that the video in question was being shot using a technique called stop motion animation. For the first day, it has to be said, there was a great deal more stop than motion - and generally, the animation came only when the tea trolley made an appearance… As you can all see for yourselves though, Matt Whitecross and his army of collaborators pulled something truly wonderful out of the bag.

Always lovely as well to see Paris, the band’s Graffiti artist in residence. Paris is both extremely talented and genuinely one of the most lovely people I’ve met along the way. I’m hoping we see a lot more of him over the next year or so.

Also, we had to get ready for Glasto. To say that the band were keen for things to go well might be understating things a touch. Glastonbury, as I’ve discussed before, is no place to phone it in. Rehearsals passed in a blur of trying out different ways of doing things and a hundred tiny alterations to the set. Finally, in order to give our tweaked up machine a proper street test, there was a show booked at the Shepherd's Bush Empire.

There had been talk of making it another “Friends and Family” show, like the Forum, but as it turned out, it was just going to be one last closed rehearsal, complete with smoke, lights and a resolute promise that once the intro tape ran, they wouldn’t stop until the last song was done - no matter what. So there they were, in a tiny empty theatre in west London - preparing for possibly the hugest show of their careers by playing to a few roadies and Phil Harvey up in the balcony.

The simple awareness of G-Day approaching was enough to get the nerves right up. These situations can be an interesting chance to watch and learn how the band relationships work. There’s a nervy moment during Yellow. It’s unclear whether someone’s instrument has cut out, or whether they’ve decided that it just feels wrong, but the musician in question is pulling it over their head and reaching for the spare. This leaves a pretty big hole in the sound.

Will shouts into his vocal mic, “Drum solo!” laughing and pulling out a couple of ridiculously over the top fills. When the spare instrument is back on, it transpires that it’s tuned for another song, making the re-joining band-member sound some way out. “Key Change!” yells Mr Champion.

It’s over in a flash, but illustrates another side to Will that people might not always see. He sometimes gets seen as rather stern or even intimidating, but that’s completely unfair. He’s always the most solid, the handbrake that will prevent the band from sliding back downhill. He’s simply not going to allow the stress to put a black cloud over things today. His irrepressibly upbeat vibe today is a huge show of the strength in the face of mounting stress.

And then, yes - G-day was upon us.

Despite having received a mass email entitled “Glastonbury set list - Final” almost a week prior, the show day conversations were all about the uncertainties and rumours of setlist alterations. Is Jay joining us? Are they adding that song? Have they sped this up? Are we doing that bit between these songs, or going straight into that? It’s mainly tiny details, but all stuff that needs programming and prep for the different departments involved.

There’s a crew meeting at 7 to put the final word on every detail of the show. Somewhat fittingly, this meeting (to put an end to all the last minute changes) is rescheduled for 7.15 and then 7.45 and finally happens around 8pm. Afterwards, I go out to watch Elbow from my rig at stage left.

The sound of this many people singing together just cannot fail to affect you emotionally. The nerves are staring to be eroded by a sense that it’s a very glorious event that we’re a part of. It’s dangerous of course, to focus on any other feeling than “don’t fuck this up” because after all, that’s the most important sentiment for the crew right now. Somehow though, I can’t help but realise quite how special this is.

You folks probably had a better view of the gig than us, thanks to the glorious BBC coverage, so a blow-by-blow account is unneccesary. Mention must be made though, of the video department, who played an absolute blinder, painting the pyramid with light in a genuine Glastonbury first. They were on site for days beforehand building projector towers, lining things up and generally going the extra mile. I haven’t spoken to a single person who doesn’t think it spectacularly worthwhile.

My own highlight though, was something that came about completely without forethought or planning. During Everything’s Not Lost, the stage was bathed in a purple-y ultra-violet look. I looked out across the crowd for the massed singalong and every hand was in the air. Each of these pairs hands carried a security wristband that had allowed people onsite. These happened to be luminous meaning that the UV lights turned the audience into a huge purple field of waving phosphorescent limbs.

And I wasn’t even hammered…

There were highlights and special moments galore. The endearing fuck-up in Us Against The World, the sound of the massed voices in Fix You - complete with the view of the campfires leading way off up to the horizon. For me, watching the fellas bow at the close of the set to the deafening sound of the Viva chant (from what must be its biggest ever choir), confirmed an unequivocal sense of Mission Accomplished.

Backstage following the gig felt like a family Christmas. Even people who had spoken to each other moments before the show started, are greeting each other with hugs and back rubs as though they’ve not seen each other for years and they’re overjoyed to find each other still alive.

Elbow are clinking bottles with broad grins, Jay-Z and B are casually sat on a flightcase by the dressing room, Tim Wheeler from Ash is all smiles. The crew arrive in waves as they finish their trucks, grinning their way through the crowd in search of cold beers.

Inevitably, the mood is huge relief and not a little “what happens now?”. Some folks collapse in a heap, some are clearly in for a long night. All are overjoyed that’s it’s gone so remarkably well.

The following morning, I nip to the train station alone to join the great unwashed for the trip home. Next to me on the platform is a gang of mudsoaked folks who’ve come to the festival to celebrate finishing their exams. I realise that for me, having got through the one show that’s been hanging over us all for months makes today feel like the end of my finals.

We’ve still got a huge amount of work ahead of us, obviously; the tour is very much only beginning. The huge sense of pressure and expectation though, has passed - or at the very least temporarily dissipated. I’d almost forgotten how it felt to not be preparing for this.

Sorry it’s been a while since I wrote. I really have been pretty busy though…

R42

Chris Martin has been speaking to Ryan Seacrest from 102.7 KIIS FM (Los Angeles radio station) about various things, including the new Coldplay album. He made the call to the DJ shortly after landing in London after the festival performance at 'Where The Action Is' in Sweden.

During the interview, Chris said: "The [fifth] album is not finished - it's been hard to finish, like getting to the final of American Idol. We have thought about the album name, and it is 'hard to spell' and we will reveal it in about six weeks. I think it [the album itself] will be finished in two weeks time. We've tried as hard as we possibly can on this [record]. It's got a lot of guitar on it - Jonny is finally as good as we knew he could be, and now he's become our hero."

Also during the seven minute interview, Chris wasn't sure whether Coldplay were performing at the 2012 Olympic Games in London as had previously been mooted in the media several months ago. You can download the interview now at the Multimedia forum and discuss the interview and latest LP5 information here now [thanks wolstenfierce, zzz & _Tash]

Latest photos of Coldplay at the Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival, UK (25th June 2011):

Photo source: Metro

UPDATE: Coldplay played the Open'er Festival in Poland last night (30th June) - however no reviews are available, and only one photo has surfaced. The setlist was the same as Glastonbury and Where The Action Is festivals. For more on this concert visit the Coldplay Live forum. Next stop: BELGIUM!

Coldplay were due to headline the RXP TaKLIBERTY Festival in New Jersey on 18th September, that is until the radio station WRXP scrapped the event, according to various reports tonight. No reason was given beyond the dreaded 'unforeseen circumstances.' The news of the TaKLIBERTY cancellation comes on the heels of news of WRXP's sale to Merlin Media, a group headed by radio entrepreneur Randy Michaels. You can read and discuss more on this breaking story at the Coldplay Live forum now [thanks xmonstermaggie]

Meanwhile, better news on two other festival fronts. Splendour in the Grass playing times for 2011 have been revealed. Sunday 31st July is UK invasion day, with the Amphitheatre stage having Elbow followed by Kaiser Chiefs, Pulp and Coldplay to close the thing out. Coldplay's set is due to start at 10.45pm and finish around midnight. Click here to download a pdf of the schedule, and continue discussing the festival at the Coldplay Live forum here onwards, where news of one Coldplayer winning VIP upgrade passes is sure to bring back excellent reviews from the side of the stage.

And as the official site told us earlier, don't forget that the Coldplay show at the Main Square Festival on Sunday night (July 3) is being broadcast live on France's Virgin Radio - and you can listen online, wherever you are, at VirginRadio.fr. The performance will also be shown live on the Direct Star channel. If you're in France, you'll be able to watch it at www.directstar.fr/livetweet. The show is due to begin at 11.30pm French time (10.30pm BST).

Latest photos of Coldplay at the Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival, UK (25th June 2011):

Photo source: Metro

The video for Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall has been out now for over 24 hours and it has been a big hit with the majority of Coldplay fans. So far 56% of Coldplayers have given the video a perfect 10/10 score. If you haven't yet voted, you can do so now. We have a large collection of screen captures to download if you wish to make use of the images for avatars, signatures or other artwork.

More has been discovered about the location of the videoshoot. It was filmed at Millennium Mills, close to London City Airport. Millennium Mills is a derelict turn of the century flour mill in West Silvertown on the south side of the Royal Victoria Dock in London. The mills also appear as the setting for a number of other music videos, including "Ask" by The Smiths (1986) filmed by Derek Jarman on the north side of Royal Victoria Dock, "Fluorescent Adolescent" by the Arctic Monkeys (2007) and "Take Back the City" by Snow Patrol (2008). As of 2011, the building remains derelict and is a destination for Urban Explorers who enter the site at high risk. Read more about Millennium Mills at Wikipedia now. You can see some excellent pictures of the building (both inside and out) here and here [thanks SueDeNimes]

Thanks for all your comments so far on the video - if you haven't commented on it yet you can do so at the ETIAW sub-forum now. Read on for more of your mini-reviews...

It actually improves the song, which is a pretty remarkable feat in this case. ETIAW has always seemed like LP5's LiJ to me, and this video is in many ways similar to that one. Edit: And dropping this without an announcement was a pretty cool surprise. thanks MasoKnight]

I LOVED the video! I seriously did. I loved the grafitti stuff, and the stopmotion thing was fancy and the glow-in-the-dark-stuff blew me away. And it did remind me of a few viva era vids, but I don't mind that, I love the style of all those videos and they're very Coldplay to me. And I guess what makes them similar is that they had a viva-revolutionary feel to it with the viva-outfits. And this also has a kind of theme and graffiti-thing with outfits. I really like that they pay attention to the whole band and not only Chris. [thanks 2GreenEyes]

Woo I really love this video, the camera makes me a little dizzy though(the same with Lovers In Japan) and it also reminds me a lot of Strawberry Swing. This is my favourite song and my favourite music video!!! [thanks 42JTR]

The video is okay, very Coldplayish. Seems like they're ripping off the Strawberry Swing video a bit. And I'm sorry, but Strawberry Swing had one of the best videos of ALL TIME. But then again, I don't really care for music videos, it's for "MTV people". The music is the only thing that should be good here and it's not in the case of ETIAW. [thanks Tryptophan]

first impressions after watching it 2 times. colours moving remind me of fanvid of david fonseca's dreams in colour when they are in the darker room and chris's teeth seem to shine? remind me of rammstein's ich tu dir weh -censored in germany- (just when at near the end till's cries when he says something of the captain of a boat, remind coldplay's i don't want to be the captain of this sinking ship ), when chris walks slow motion reminds of green day's jesus of suburbia, if the room grafitties were just black it'll feel like killing loneliness' him version 2 or even a similar moby video, other thoughs reminds me of hard-fi new video, good for nothing. (i'm talking visually). definitelly or i had followed much 'rock/metal' latelly or indeed i don't find it logical for coldplay to appear in a blacky room. anyways was good, yet don't like the dark room with shinny green and red graffiti, but was catchy beach video and music. now time to find clues and hidden messages. [thanks Darlene_Ihnfsa]

One word: PERFECT! The most important thing about this video, for me, is thaa way that it fits perfectly with the song. It has the upbeat aand the joy that is the essence of ETIAW. And, of course, I´m very happy that this one is not all about Chris, coz this is a band of 4 members after all... AND LOOK HOW HAPPY THEY ARE IN THE THING. Its clear that they are very proud of what they´ve done for the new era, I´m looking foward for the things to come.... [thanks SarahSchimidt]

I like the video, especially the ending with Will which is the best part of it I think. It's a good video but in comparison I like Strawberry Swing's video a lot more. And even if the video makes it better, I still can't stand ETIAW. [thanks Lauriane]

Huh nice surprise with the video release! Anyway, I like the video really much! Especially the blacklight parts, the colours are shining so bright there and everything looks so cool! And the video fits PERFECTLY to the song me thinks. *goes rewatching it again*[thanks Twisted mind]

ASDFJKL That's a lot of paint. Also, loving the stop-motion photography used throughout – makes me think of the music videos for "The Scientist" and "Lovers In Japan" for some reason. It's so pretty. And I'm madly in love with the room with the flickering strobe light and black light paint – but I'm also slightly scared that Weeping Angels would have a FIELD DAY in that room.... [thanks Coldplaying@Hogwarts]

As much as I dislike ETIAW, I have to concede that I really do like the video. It makes ETIAW a whole heap better in my mind at least. It's all a really lovely colourful, visual experience. Using the song lyrics to create a video could be annoying in some cases, but this works. And I love the fact that the frames are all disjointed on it-- makes for a really nice effect. My favourite part is definitely the glow in the dark scene though, just because. Nice video redeems a frankly pitiful song. [thanks Nattatouille]

I think the video is pretty much what everyone of us was expecting after hearing the song. I am going to say that I like the song better than the video, just because it is too repetitive of what Coldplay has already done in the past. The four guys and a bunch of effects. The finale with Will playing drums is amazing, I concur. I really liked the Strawberry Swing video from the VLV era, but the VLV video was no good. LiT ii video was also good. From previous albums, I really think their best video is the one for The Scientist and maybe Don't Panic. I really hope they go back to creating real stories for each video. [thanks the_escapist]

It's weird but every time I hear this song in a new format (on the radio, live, now the video) I like it more and more.. I have to admit I had my doubts at first with this song, but it's steadily climbing up my list of favorites. Love the video! Those awesome paint effects in the background almost overpowered the band!! [thanks toddbluezoo]

Cool! This video is released not on July 7th, but today...which is my 9 year wedding anniversary! We plan on celebrating our 10th anniversary next year hopefully seeing Coldplay live again. That's how we spent our 7 year wedding anniversary. I liked the video! It actually makes the song much more tolerable. I liked the colors and the stop motion....so, yeah. It worked for me! [thanks neonhorn22]

What a delightful surprise! The video is just awesome! It captures perfectly the exuberance of the song. The way those old abandoned buildings are set alight with colors, celebration and hope is just endearing ! You got to be callous something fierce not to at least be slightly touched by the spirit of this video. For me it´s just perfect: I like ETIAW even more now! Well done boys! [thanks valypan]

The video for Every Teardrop is a Waterfall is an indulgence for the eyes and ears! I’ve only watched the video once, but upon a first viewing, I’m wicked impressed and I feel I respect the song even more now. The stop motion photography combined with the flow of black light emphasizing all the color and street art gives this video a pumped up energy that combined with the lyrics makes one want to jump and twirl about. I like the abandoned setting and watching the surroundings change as the band appears in and out of various scenes. I think if a person were to see this video the first time they heard the song, they would have a great first impression of ETIAW. The scene with the painted heart beating on the wall while Chris sings beating his chest was a perfect visual treat. I absolutely adore Will and his drumming at the end – a very nice touch indeed. I will watch this video again and again. As someone who doesn’t “do” a lot of color, I feel inspired to wear splashy bits of color and feel like grabbing a can of spray paint to graffiti my desk at work singing “From underneath the rubble sing a rebel song!” [thanks Lani]

Well I definitely prefer the video to the song, the editing is fantastic. I love the stop motion style of it similar to Strawberry Swing. I think the video actually complements the song really well and every time I listen to the song from now on I'll be be thinking of paint being splashed everywhere. The song makes a bit more sense when being played over the video and I think I sort of 'get' the song a bit more now. [thanks Cleggy]

Just woke up and saw the new video! first thoughts... Los Angeles or Chicago skyline? I can't tell. Strawberry Swing, and color.. omg the color... Will's drumming at the end = awesome. Can't wait to see you guys break down all the graffiti art looking for album clues haha. Maybe it's their point to start the song kind of jerky with the stop motion, and make it more smooth flowing towards the end. And I've really grown to love this song. [thanks LVI56]

Took a sec (or two ) adjusting to the choppy, stop-and-go shooting style. But LOVED the splashes of summer-y, graffiti colours popping out against the grey concrete...very fitting to the bright, uplifting nature of the song. Had a playful, artsy, animated feel...a combo of the Viva La Vida, Lovers in Japan and Strawberry Swing videos (which feels true to me for the vibe of the song in itself )....with glowing lyrics and slow-mo shots. It's simple and stripped back yet bleeding with life and energy through all the colours. [thanks Lovers in NYC]

It gave me the impression of a musical firework it's the cutest most fun and creative video I've seen in a while, the background is pretty gloomy without the color but it becomes beautiful with the artwork and it's just painting so it's also simple and basic, I think it's pure Poetry. [thanks Malaika]

Awesome videoclip!!!! Reminded me of the Strawberry Swing's videoclip. Although this was a great video, the quick photos parts were a bit disturbing to some viewers. But not to me! The graffiti and artwork in all of the video were astonishingly great, and matched perfectly with the band's new outlook. In fact, the videoclip made the music itself a lot better. At first I would rate the song a 8 at best, now I'm not sure whether it should be a 9.5 or a 10. All in all, great work Coldplay!!!! [thanks At High Speed]

I first heard this song debut on my local radio station, and thought, "Hmmm", not quite sure of this. I listened a few more times, then heard them sing it live, and fell in love with this song. The new Video fits the song perfectly, I am really pleased with it, and enjoyed the multi colors, and neon black light effect in the dark room part of the video!!!! [thanks MartinFan]

Coldplay and Mat Whitecross = EPIC WIN! Whenever the band and Whitecross get together they are just able to make some pretty incredible videos. I think Whitecross is a real talent and is brilliant at being able to convert what we hear from Coldplay's music into something that is so perfect visually. It sounds like a real wanky thing to say but YOU CAN SEE THE MUSIC when both Coldplay and Whitecross get together! [thanks howyousawtheworld]

Once again Coldplay surprised us. Not only with an unannounced release (you can imagine how I felt finding about it on Twitter at the end of a workday -- can you say RACE TO A COMPUTER?) but with an imaginative video that captures the feel of a song. I liked ETIAW immediately upon hearing it (I know, I know) and love the way the video brings the song's concept to life. The urban setting and rave lighting underscores the new look the band has adopted and makes me eager to see more of what's coming. At the point where Will lost his drums, got them back, lost them, etc. I thought "Huh?" but on repeated viewings enjoyed this more. As others have said, it was great to see all members of the band featured and the little smile on Will's face at the end is perfect punctuation. Bravo, boys. Thanks for the surprise! [thanks JillyBlue]

The first time I heard the song I was a little disappointed, but, you know: we were talking about Coldplay and of course, though, their musical approach is a little different, the band still has that sound, the Coldplay sound. When you hear Jonny's guitar and Will's drums you know that's Coldplay. So the more I listened to the song the more I liked it and when I finally saw the video my astonishment was tremendous! An impressive art work, the guys outfit and the stop-motion thing that fits so well with the rhythm of the song, the powerful art work behind them on the walls, I think they've got it: everything fit perfectly!! Great song and great video. So, I just can tip my hat and make them a bow. Great job. [thanks rousi]

Screenshots of the Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall video (shot on 14/15 June 2011):

Coldplay have today unveiled the video for their new single 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall'. The video, which you can watch either on Coldplay.com or via their YouTube videos channel,

Rolling Stone said of the video: "Chris Martin has said that the graffiti of the early hip-hop movement in New York City in the Eighties was one of the chief inspirations for the songs on his band's forthcoming fifth album. In the video for "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall," the first video from the still-untitled record, the band fully embraces that influence with animated tags and drawings that mark the walls and ground around them as they rock out in a bombed-out industrial zone. The vibrant, colorful clip is well-suited to the song, which has a shaky, excited energy and the sort of optimistic, romantic lyrics that have made Coldplay one of the world's most crowd-pleasing rock bands."

Equally complimentary were the New York Post, writing: "I already gushed over Coldplay's newest song -- "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" -- when it premiered on June 3 and now I have just as many complimentary things to say about the accompanying music video. Shot using a combination of black light & stop-motion photography (why it's so herky-jerky), the clip proves that the boys are just as interested in pushing boundaries with their videos as they are with their music."

AOL Music's review was as colourful as the video. They wrote: "Imagine how it would look if Rolf Harris drank too many Fosters one night and decided to turn his hand to Banksy-style street art, pulling on a hoody and running amok across an urban landscape with his pot of primary colours. And imagine if, for no good reason at all, the members of British rock-lite mega group Coldplay turned up later to judder about the dusty debris like they'd swallowed a strobe light. You've just envisioned the new video to their latest single 'Every Teardrop is a Waterfall'."

We think online magazine PopDust like it: "Let it be known: pop stars love neon, especially in the summertime. Following Nicki Minaj and the New Boyz, Coldplay is the latest group to embrace these quirky shades and a black lighting in their new video “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall.” The group literally paints the town in the clip below—a quick stop-motion camera follows Martin’s frantic dancing, while splatters of paint in every hue narrate (and illustrate) the scene around him. Who knew Gwyneth’s husband had such a knack for fist pumping? The single has been getting lots of play on the televised Wimbledon coverage this week, yet somehow we don’t think the All England Club would approve of all that color in the video."

And how about this from the Arjan Writes website: "The video stays true to the song's escapist lyrics, bright melody and uplifting message with an abundance of splashing color, glow in the dark scribbles and fast-moving stop motion animation. The video's (seemingly) simple production neatly contrasts with the song's grand, atmospheric sonic stylings with universal and blissful lyrics about hope despite adversity that will turn every sad summer day into a soaring one. "Turn the music up, I got my records on," lead man Chris Martin sings. "Maybe I'm in the black, maybe I'm on my knees, but my heart is beating and my pulses start. Don't want to see another generation drop, I'd rather be a comma than a full stop.""

However, Prefix Mag were not 100% convinced. They said: "The folks behind Coldplay have slowly been drip-feeding us tracks from the new "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" single, and now it’s time for the official video to make an appearance. There’s no flash here—this is simply a high-energy performance clip, with the band deposited amid graffiti strewn walls on an abandoned housing complex. The jerky editing suits the manic feel of the song, and Chris Martin gets a chance to show off his awful new haircut and jump up and down a lot. Seriously, the dude must have been exhausted after making this clip."

And We Got This Covered were impressed. They gave us their thoughts online: "It’s a very cool video and suits the band and their music very well. Sampling the 90′s classic Ritmo de la Noche, the single serves to remind us that Coldplay isn’t gone and that their fifth studio album will be dropping come the fall. The street graffiti theme here is great and on a visual level, the video is very creative. Highly-colorful images mixed with the stop motion make for an exciting visual experience and truthfully, this is one of the best music videos I’ve seen in a while. You can tell that a lot of work went into it and the artistic aspect of it is just wonderful. As for the song itself, how can you not like it? It’s an uplifting Coldplay track with some catchy guitar riffs and Chris Martin‘s signature vocals carrying the whole thing. Personally, I love it."

Then The Sun newspaper chipped in with their review: "Coldplay's comeback video is a colourful affair. Paint plasters floors, walls and ceilings as the quartet rock out in an abandoned warehouse. The promo to Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall is shot using a stop motion technique which lends an animated air to the film. The anthemic offering's lyrics appear behind frontman Martin in bright primary colours as he sings the words. Abstract patterns and designs also plaster surfaces in the derelict building. The band are also shown thrashing away in a darkened room under ultra violet light which makes some of the artwork glow. The band's frontman has spoken of his admiration for spray can art recently. Talking of what has been inspiring him, he said: "The ideas come from graffiti art of the 70s in New York, where people were expressing themselves with paint. I've spent a lot of my life playing it a bit safe or conforming to something, even though I didn't agree with it. So I have respect and admiration for people who don't.""

We'll have your comments shortly...!

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

Coldplay gave a flawless performance at the 'Where The Action Is' festival in Gothenburg, Sweden tonight (28th June 2011), their first in concert in Sweden since 2008. The setlist was exactly the same as the previous performance at Glastonbury on Saturday, minus the rendition of Wonderful World, which means they once again played live favourites Shiver and Everything's Not Lost from the first album Parachutes. The same new tracks from the previous festival performances were also played, minus of course Princess Of China, which hasn't been seen since Rock im Park.

During the concert several banners were seen, including "See You Soon" and "Chris are your underpants Fair Trade?" and Chris Martin also dedicated Us Against The World to the the person furthest at the back, '200 metres in the trees'. The concert was streamed live on the Swedish media website, Aftonbladet and the stream was excellent, so the show will appear soon no doubt on filesharing sites if you missed it or just want to relive it again. Keep an eye on the Multimedia forum for updates.

More live discussion on this show is at the Coldplay Live forum. Thanks to everyone who has contributed on the forums, Youtube and twitters. We'll have more on this show over the next few hours/days!

Setlist (confirmed):

MX/Hurts Like Heaven

Yellow

In My Place

Major Minus

Lost!

The Scientist

Shiver

Violet Hill

God Put A Smile Upon Your Face

Everything's Not Lost

Us Against The World

Politik

Viva la Vida

Charlie Brown

Life Is For Living

-------

Clocks

Fix You

Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

I thought the gig tonight was fantastic. The setlist gives me goosebumps for Oxegen next week and I can't wait to see the close-out to Parachutes being played like 11 years later with Everything's Not Lost and Life is for Living. The crowd were really really good in parts but the band didn't seem so pumped tonight, I guess anything is a huge comedown from Glaso though. But, the band were still really great and they played an immense set, to an immense crowd, in an immense way. Roll on Dublin!!! [thanks Craigie-J]

Coldplay was superb tonight at Where The Action Is and here's my review! I watched the concert from livestream and the setlist was as great as Glastonbury's! They performed in the daylight so you could see all the big audience joining the band while playing, as jumping, dancing, clapping or shouting the lyrics to the band! They really improved the version of "Everything's Not Lost", mainly the piano riff and the guitar (...it seems that the boys have been rehearsing it!). I also noticed outerspace new sounds for "Charlie Brown" and a more rockin' guitar sound for "Fix You" and "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face"! During "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall" the things turned out much better because it got a bit dark, so the lasers and lightshow was pretty amazing. I guess that encouraged the crowd to jump together, it was impressive! I'd like to add the fact that the band seemed very confident on stage, Chris on the piano in special... he's a real pianist! [thanks Coldplero]

A fantastic gig musically, and an absolutely unbelievable crowd, but I felt the band didn't play to it they could and should have. Little or no room for the crowd participation after Viva, ENL, The Scientist, and so the set also had little room to 'breathe'. Without those breaks, and the band themselves taking it all in, it felt (to me) like a mad rush through the Glastonbury set. Without those more expansive moments, and What a Wonderful World as well, this set needs an extra song or two. The front-loading of many of the favourites only makes sense to me if the mid-to-late set is given all the loving it deserves, to really wring every last drop of crowd pleasure out of, and it wasn't here. It was a set designed for Glastonbury, imported wholesale to Sweden for major (but far from maximum) effect. The Swedish fans deserved more I felt. But I hope each and every one had an incredible night. It was brilliant, and I'd have given almost anything to be there myself, because despite it not being all it had the almost-tangible potential to be, it was still a magnificent occasion, even through a choppy window on a PC screen. /critics' hat off. Thanks a lot everyone, it's been fun [thanks Tonsu]

I read a few pages back that some people thought the crowd wasn't any good, I think the stream most people followed didn't do the crowd justice. For me it was one of the best audiences I've been in We had some great peaks, especially in the beginning with Yellow & In My Place. You could really tell it by Chris's reaction. This gig also changed my view on ETIAW. I thought it worked great in the end with the lasers and everyone around you going nuts. Too "poppy" or not, it makes you happy! [thanks nedllob]

i'm guessing the 'problem' was that not everyone was there ONLY for Coldplay, but for other bands though it was a festival. Where I stood (at the fence to the left) many people didn't even know the oldest and the newest songs, kinda sad to see them wrinkle their eyebrows when they started playing the sooo beautiful song everyhing's not lost or the newest ones like charlie brown. Not the same feeling as at their 'private' concerts, so the 'problem' might be LAZY and QUIET audience - at least where i stood (ofc except from someones). although - a lot of tears and love and happiness and chris really seems to be better looking now than ever before. [thanks LINNEAH]

i must say that i was rather, well i wouldnt call it dissapointed, but.. i dunno, it wasn't as good as i expected. it was GREAT ofc, but.. yeah you know what i mean. anyway, might be that anna has been hyping coldplay gigs for the last years so my expactations was too high. i think the setlist was amazing, would have prefered 42 or strawberry swing though. and uhm yeah speed of sound but guess thats not happening. well the entire day was amazing, thanks to anna, frida, fridas-friend-whoms-name-i-cant-remember, olivia and olivias-friend-whoms-name-i-cant-remember. summary of the day: amazing crowd, amazing band, amazing setlist. (though i missed that little "extra"). [thanks thinner]

I don't know, it's hard to tell watching from a streaming who kept skipping once in a while but I would have rather been there than in my own hometwon considering the show they got, far far better (I mean Shiver+ENL>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>x100000000>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Cemeteries of London) [thanks iriden]

Captures from the live Aftonbladet online stream (Thanks Jayzo):

Glastonbury headliners Coldplay hailed the Somerset festival as the most important-ever show in their busy touring schedule. Drummer Will Champion told James Cabooter from the Daily Star: "You know how important it is in the British psyche. Because Glasto comes early in the festival calendar, and it’s the biggest one for us, everything is focused on getting it right."

The band have played Glasto five times now and have many fond memories. Will continued: "We’ve come a long way. The first year we played we got dropped off at a gate furthest away from the stage so we had to walk with all our equipment across the site, which took 20 minutes. I went as a punter in 1995 with friends and it was amazing – blinding weather and we watched The Saw Doctors, Boo Radleys and Pulp."

After Saturday’s storming performance Coldplay's focus is now on more European festivals and a new album. Will added: "Everything is happening at once so it’s all about juggling a lot of things. We are all in agreement as to most of the album. We don’t want it to be too long so the plan is 'concise and powerful'."

We have several polls running at the moment at the Coldplay forum - decide which of Coldplay's headline performances was the best - 2002, 2005 or 2011. You can also vote for your standout track in Coldplay's performance on Saturday. Please click the following links to vote and add your comments:

Your favourite song out of Coldplay's Glastonbury 2011 performance? [thanks Zeya]

2002, 2005 or 2011: Which was Coldplay's best Glastonbury headlining set? [thanks howyousawtheworld]

2002, 2005 or 2011: Which was Coldplay's best Glastonbury headlining set? The results so far...

Some more of your Coldplay @ Glastonbury 2011 comments: (thanks to everyone for their reviews!):

That crowd was outstanding! The performance was NOT flawless as someone said earlier - especially the beginning was shaky and unfocused. It seemed to me like the boys aren't comfortable with Hurts Like Heaven yet - that opener did not work at all. But from there it only got better and more awesome and undescribably fantastic - a firework of highlights in almost every song. Nice setlist, although I would've loved one more song from the VLV era - like LiTii or Yes... Loved to hear Shiver again and GPASUYF in that great version! And I actually do like ETIAW now after first I was a little pessimistic. But that live version was a kicker and a powerful ending of an unforgettable performance. Oh, which Glasto was best? I'd say 2011>2002>2005 but only because 2002 was sooo special and important for the development of the band! [thanks CHB]

I think it was a really good performance but the crowd was shitty at some moments (Everything's Not Lost deserved WAY MUCH singalong that it had), so based on that and the fact that they closed with a, in my opinion, weak song, I choosed the 2005 show. Still, one of my favorite Coldplay show's ever. And we finally got an old stuff/new stuff balanced setlist! [thanks JM-SP2]

Not only was it their best Glasto in my opinion, but one of their best live performances ever. A truly fantastic setlist of old and new, a flawless execution, and a happiness and energy that was awesome. They were just on top of their game from start to finish. [thanks Jayzo]

Watch on TV and I thought it was a stellar performance. I know some think that Chris seemed stiff & nervous but I thought he was just toning down the goofiness. I don't need him rattling on about some craziness (as entertaining as that can sometimes be, I think it feeds the haters). He kept the jumping and trashing around at a respectable pace so that his voice didn't suffer. He only asked how everyone was doing 10 times instead of his usual 50. All in all, I think this venue is really important to them and they treated it as such. To me, they looked like a band that knew the world was watching and they had something to prove. [thanks Pink]

Not to be overly critical, but I was jugely dissapointed by the performance. The setlist was choppy, and not well thought out. I hate that they played nothing from X&Y except fix you. They were really uncomfortable and visibly so throughout the entire performence. In essence, there were enough bad vibes to run a hoodoo factory, which completely ruined the whole experience for me. [thanks cp13]

I was excited all day to watch this online. I was planning as far back as last year to go to Glasto, but money interfered and prevented me from making the trek. So I figured watching with my sound system cranked was the next best thing. Yes, they did look nervous. However from Politik on they killed it. Today I fell back in love with Coldplay. I was enjoying it, then my favourite song Politik came on, and the notes Jonny added to the solo were, AMAZING. They woke the crowd up with Viva La Vida, and Charlie Brown has already become a classic. Watching this I acted like I was there, dancing and singing my lungs out. It brought back so many good memories of the Coldplay shows I've been to. Festivals are notorious for being plagued with technical problems, its to be expected with so many different bands setting up into the same sound board in such short a time, as well as no real soundchecks. Coldplay has asserted themselves as the big band of our time, and with U2 fading off into irrelevance, they are poised to become the biggest band in the world, this show, the new album and tour will either cement that, or keep Coldplay on the top of tier two in the music world. Much can be made of them not including a U2 cover, Im sure they mulled over it for quite awhile. They are huge fans, but they decided to do what they knew and not what was expected. I did think Jay-Z would come out for his verse in Lost! but they likely wanted it to be about them and their show. Jay would have been freaking cool but would have taken away from the overall specialness of the night! U2 covering Coldplay shows that they acknowledge that they are huge and the new kids in town. It was Bono showing mutual respect, we all already know Chris respects them, no need to pet their egos. [thanks Malcolm-Edge]

I watched it on HD last night and I must say it was like being there! I only wish I had some Coldplayers around to sing and dance with GPASUYF gave me chills, they rocked that song hard, and Mr. Champion has never hit those drums as hard before IMO. Personally, I didn't think they looked nervous, they had this show in the back of their pockets, pulling 19 songs out, 1 by 1, and giving it 100%. This show was pure to the core!!!! [thanks MartinFan]

Just finished watching the concert on Palladia.And I got to say that watching it in hd I felt like I was there!!Amazing concert!!I watched the stream earlier and it just wasnt the same as watching it in hd.They were full of energy and the setlist was perfect!!I liked that Jay-Z,Beyonce,Gwyn,and Simon all looked like they were enjoying like they were just fans dancing around.The boys were great!!Love me some Coldplay!! [thanks IneedYou23]

2011 was the better performance. they have never been better, never been brigther, never been bigger than they were saturday night. it announced the band as the biggest in the world, but many already were aware of that. i think 2002 was a bigger for the band's career. to headline glastonbury and to play a majority of your, to that point, unreleased 2nd album is amazing. think of where they were at that point. think of how nervous they must have been before that show. and think of how they had the crowd won over before the bridge of politik, the show's opener. truly incredible. it changed the trajectory of the band, or rather, announced to the world exactly where this band was headed. suffice it to say, both shows were massive. these boys are special. [thanks glking]

Latest photos of Coldplay at the Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival, UK (25th June 2011):

Photo source: The Sun

The reviews are starting to flood in after Coldplay's headline performance at Glastonbury last night, and early indications are that the consensus is outstanding...

Playing the new material from their forthcoming fifth studio album, including 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall', Coldplay's third go as headliners at Worthy Farm seemed to be a test for Chris Martin and co, writes the NME with a review of 9/10. With a set that included the big guns 'Yellow' and 'In My Place', as well as most fans' first chance to hear the new tracks live, they pulled off a great Saturday night headline set. And it was done without too much Chris Martin cheese.

Best bit: 'Yellow'. At Glastonbury. Just brilliant. Low point: The lager-spilling, cigarette-burn-enducing, loud-mouthing idiots that we were stood next to for most of it. Banter: Chris Martin: "Beautiful, wonderful Glastonbury, thank you for having us, we're glad the sun came out for you and you stuck around to see us." Verdict: Emily Eavis said that Chris Martin would "do anything for Glastonbury" after he convinced Beyonce to play Worthy Farm this year - and you could see how much the festival means to the band during their live show. A great set of the classics and some of the new tracks, and not too many Chris Martin cheese moments/air punching/odd marching band outfits. Even the doubters seemed to enjoy it.

It's not easy being the boy band U2 when the real thing played the night before, writes the Guardian (who gave 4/5 stars for last night's performance). Guitarist Jonny Buckland got his apologies in early, telling the NME last week: "We hope U2 do a B-sides set with no lights". Before they walked onto the Pyramid stage, Coldplay were Glastonbury 2011's forgotten headliners. U2's mere presence on Friday generated intense debate and booking Beyoncé for Sunday night induced squeaks of delight. Yet a band whose last album, Viva La Vida, sold almost 7 million copies in 2008 somehow slipped into the background.

But that level of success is no fluke. Coldplay are a light, bright pop act, specialists in the kind of non-specific, one size fits all emotion that plays well in front of the Pyramid stage. Crucially, they're also on home turf, this being their third headline appearance in nine years. It doesn't hold the same fear for them that it did for four men from Dublin.

So after the symphonic intro music and fireworks, no one cares that the opener, new track Hurts Like Heaven, is basically a Walt Disney version of Arcade Fire's Keep the Car Running. Besides, it's only there to kill time until the audience have made it through the bog. What follows sets the mood properly, with shameless crowd-pleaser Yellow followed by In my Place and not long after, Scientist. It works, too. In the end they needn't have been quite so modest. Sure, they benefited from facing an audience who'd spent an afternoon in the sun, and who were still on a high from a spectacular Elbow performance, but they're also a kinder, more welcoming proposition than U2. So it didn't matter that they needed two shots at new song Us Against the World, or that it was a bit sappy. As with their earlier European festival performances, the whirling Charlie Brown was the standout new song, a definite advance on the still forgettable Every Teardrop is a Waterfall, even if the lyrics were guff about "running wild" and "glowing in the dark."

And despite front-loading the set, they kept plenty in reserve, Viva La Vida winning the prize for most joyous sing-a-long, at least until Clocks kicked off the encore. A victory that few predicted. Who knew a band this big could sneak up on people?

In this year's battle of the Glastonbury headliners, the old guard vs newcomers roles were reversed, writes Spinner on the third headline performance. U2 may be the elder statesmen of communal stadium rock, but they were wet behind the ears new boys when it came to headlining Worthy Farm. Coldplay, one of many bands in U2s stadium wake were the band to be contended with here. On Saturday night they took to the Pyramid Stage as headliners for the third time. Chris Martin and co.'s strong relationship with the festival started in 1999 -- they only headlined in 2002 after they agreed to play the local village fete the year before to help festival organiser Michael Eavis out of a tight spot. So you could have been forgiven for thinking headlining wouldn't have given them too many butterflies in the stomach, but then there was the spectre of U2's bloody-minded debut the night before; fierce, and with something to prove.

With fireworks wrupting at their entrance, Coldplay alunched into new song 'MX,' a song that bears more than a little of the urgent DNA of Arcade Fire. The start was a mix of old and new, with 'Yellow' rubbing shoulders with another new cut, 'Major Minor' and 'Lost!' and 'The Scientist' leading to a particularly grungey but splendid 'Shiver,' with Martin saying at the end, "That was the first song we ever played at Glastonbury." Maybe Coldplay had been taking some notes from U2 in how to suff up their back catalogue. 'Politik', too, was particularly loose-limbed and lusty. The question everyone was asking beforehand was would Martin's mate Jay-Z make it to the stage. After all, his missus Beyoncé is playing Sunday. TV footage showed them singing along to 'Viva La Vida' in the pit. That's one thing U2 didn't seem to have...

Coldplay are sometime half-jokingly referred to as the Pyramid Stage House Band. After a night which cemented their special place around the Glastonbury table, expect another Eavis invite soon.

Coldplay are to festivals what Michael Eavis is to beards, says The Sun reviewing a red hot performance. The cynics can say what they like - Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Guy Berryman belong at the top of the bill on the Pyramid Stage. They know how to do it - a nod to Jay-Z before they come on with 99 Problems blaring out, some fireworks, a new song then BANG... Yellow. The band have rehearsed like demons to be ready for the gig. And it showed. They are always tight live, but this was special. The paper butterflies blew into the crowd during In My Place - with over 100k in tthe audience in full voice. It was beautiful. Chris said: "Forgive us for playing some new songs. One day they will be your favourites."

The new songs fiitted in seamlessly, but the big hits sent Worthy Farm into orbit. U2 might have 30 years experience - but there is no doubt their natural suitor is already in place. Chris said: "Thank you for giving us the best job in the world." Not a problem.

Latest photos of Coldplay at the Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival, UK (25th June 2011):

Photo source: BBC

Coldplay gave a fantastic performance on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury festival tonight (25th June 2011). This was their fifth appearance at the festival, and the third as headliners. During the concert both 'Major Minus' and 'Violet Hill' trended worldwide on Twitter. There were no Jay-Z appearances or U2 covers as was widely mooted before the show.

Coldplay again played five new songs as they did in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands recently, which were Hurts Like Heaven (opening song), Major Minus, Us Against The World, Charlie Brown and the new single Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall (closing song). Sadly we didn't get to see Princess of China tonight... BUT... they did add old Glastonbury favourites Shiver and Everything's Not Lost to the setlist! A rendition of What A Wonderful World also appeared after the encore. During the show Chris Martin said, "Thank you for having us and thanks for coming to see us. Hope we exceed your expectations and sorry for playing some new songs - some day they will be your favourites."

More live discussion on this show is at the Coldplay Live forum, and all you need to keep the show forever will be in the multimedia forum as well. Some excellent photos have been uploaded at Flickr already courtesy of Al de Perez - more photos links to follow. Thanks to everyone who has contributed on the forums, Youtube and twitters. We'll have more on this show over the next few hours/days!

Setlist (confirmed):

MX/Hurts Like Heaven

Yellow

In My Place

Major Minus

Lost!

The Scientist

Shiver

Violet Hill

God Put A Smile Upon Your Face

Everything's Not Lost

Us Against The World

Politik

Viva la Vida

Charlie Brown

Life Is For Living

-------

Clocks

What A Wonderful World

Fix You

Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

Picture by BBC photostream @ Flickr

I could feel them being soo nervous. I think those "Glasto is so important" thing just put too much pressure on them. They were not at home on this stage and did not feel at all comfortable, trying to win the crowd over again and again. Those mistake during UATW proves that, I think. At Rock am Ring they enjoyed themselves and rocked the place, at Glasto they were kinda stiff. At least I felt that. The show was great, nevertheless. I liked fireworks and lasers, and walking man learned a couple of new moves (or I just didn't notice them earlier?). Clocks, GPASUYF, Viva and Charlie Brown were awesome, loved the whole set. [thanks lafinion]

That was really good. It showed real class and showed them all back at top form in their home turf. Absolutely adore that it was a good mix of all eras (except X&Y because well, that was a figment of our imagination *bitter about it*) and that even the new songs went down with quite a decent crowd and viewer reaction (Charlie Brown was trending after being played with a generally positive reception). Chris was just Chris as per normal. Absolutely adorable and so abashed all the time. Oh and messing up, could that be any more endearing (obviously not)? This definitely brings back out the Coldplayer dominant side in me, and I can't wait for the album and the successive tour. And just because this was such a brilliant performance, even ETIAW didn't grate on me as much as it normally would. [thanks Nattatouille]

What an outstanding, perfect performace. Everything in their live performances that I love they did. The perfect end to Shiver, the "Jonny Boy" before the riff in Major Minus, the crowd and ascension at the end of "Everything's Not Lost". The older songs they played from Parachutes were stunning; the setlist was perfect. The stage itself looked fantastic. It was mind blowing. Epic. Coldplay are back. [thanks Don't Shiver]

[After the concert] Chris looked exhausted as well as having a sore throat. Basically just said they were humbled and thanks to everyone for watching. Talked a bit about the light show at the end and how Glasto is their second home, but in general they just looked knackered. Understandable really - he really throws himself around on stage and bounces into the next track right after the last one finishes. [thanks Hilly_2004]

[After the concert] they were talking about that they have a few gigs left in amazing places , that they were nervous and now celebrating ... chris was drinking a beer ! He said he asked Bono to talk to god about arranging good weather. And that they'll be finishing the album this summer after the gigs! [thanks tom043]

I loved the show so much! I loved that they played Shiver and Everything's not Lost! Very nice touch to play those songs again on Glasto after not having played them for so long, and especially Shiver's been requested so much, and I don't know how long ago it was that they played it in full, with drums etc. So that was great! And I thought this was one of the best performances of Fix You I've seen, Chris just really hit the notes so well! Wow, that was awesome. And the light-show was crazy (and HLH is really so much better when it's dark, because I loved the lasers and fireworks, and at Pinkpop it was light at the start so that took away a lot of the magic unfortunately). And I'm happy they didn't play Trouble, just because it feels more special now that they played it on Pinkpop. [thanks 2GreenEyes]

You know I really liked Every Teardrop for once. Maybe it was the 60,000 strong crowd cheeringi n unison or the multicoloured lit Pyramid Stage but somehow they made it work for me! 10/10. Face palmed when Chris fucked up Us Against The World but looking back it seems very down to earth and human! U2 last night were epic and sub human...almost alien like because they were so out of this world BUT Coldplay were epic but incredibly human and modest. What a wonderful show. [thanks howyousawtheworld]

Photos by Al de Perez @ Flickr

Coldplay were locked in talks about a Glastonbury duet with Jay-Z last night, if you believe reports from The Mirror this morning. Jay-Z will be at the side of the stage when Coldplay headline the main stage tonight (and he will be in support of his wife, Beyonce, when she headlines on Sunday.) Chris was a surprise guest at Jay-Z and Kanye West’s New Year’s Eve gig at Sin City. It may be time to call in the favour.

The Mirror said: "Chris is keeping a spare microphone in case Jay, 41, wants to join them to spit some rhymes. The rapper headlined Glastonbury in 2008 and I’m told: 'There’s so much excitement in the camp that Jay will come on for one song. It’s pretty nostalgic being back there where he headlined a few years ago and he’s ready to help a pal out.'"

Ahead of Coldplay's headline slot, organiser Michael Eavis regards the band as "part of the Eavis family". He spoke to The Sun saying: "They [Coldplay] got a big break on the Saturday afternoon in 2000 when they played Yellow. They then headlined in 2002 and 2005, so we look forward to welcoming them back this year. They're a great bunch.

Last night, U2 played a short rendition of Coldplay anthem Yellow [watch the video!] towards the end of their headline set. At the end of their first encore track, ‘With or Without You’, Bono sang the words to ‘Love Will Tear us Apart’ by Joy Division, before leading an acapella version of ‘Yellow’ along with the crowd, which led into ‘Moment of Surrender’. Will Coldplay cover U2 tonight in reciprocation? Let us know what you think and add to the poll now! [thanks RC34127 & Juanma]

To mark Coldplay's headline appearance at Glastonbury tonight, NME have chosen their pick of the band's 10 best songs - watch the countdown video along with some interesting facts along the way. Tonight's performance will be the fifth time Coldplay have played Glastonbury, with many attributing the festival for aiding in their worldwide success. NME go on to say: "In 1999 and 2000 the band presented their debut album 'Parachutes' before Michael Eavis took a gamble in 2002 by offering the band the Friday night headline slot, as they premièred second album 'A Rush of Blood to the Head'. It proved to be a monumental success, catapulting the band to fame and fortune and sparking a relationship between the band and the festival, which continued with Coldplay returning in 2005 to headline the Saturday night - which is where they'll be again this weekend, sandwiched between U2 and Beyonce."

UPDATE: Dance duo The Chemical Brothers are planning a “laser battle” with Coldplay tonight, according to BBC Newsbeat, as both acts headline stages at Glastonbury tonight. The dance duo, whose real names are Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, play the Other Stage at the same time as Coldplay headline the Pyramid Stage on Saturday. But Rowlands joked that Chris Martin and Coldplay might have a bigger laser budget than them. "There'll be a big run on lasers that weekend," he said. "We're both big lasers bands. I always really like that Coldplay are really keen on lasers. It's one thing they have in common with us," Simons laughed. "I'm sure their laser budget is fairly substantial," Rowlands added.

Don't forget: It has already been confirmed that Coldplay's headline performance at this weekend's Glastonbury festival will be broadcast live around the world. This recently from Coldplay.com: We're pleased to report that you'll be able to experience Coldplay's headline set on Glastonbury's Pyarmid Stage on Saturday (June 25th) wherever in the world you are. In the UK, the show - which begins at 10.15pm UK time - will be broadcast live on TV, on BBC2 and BBC HD. The show will also be shown live on Germany's ZDF Kultur channel and Brazil's Multishow. Meanwhile, in America, the show will make history by becoming the first Glastonbury concert to be broadcast in full on US television, when it airs on VH1 and Palladia, at 10pm ET/PT. A portion of the show will also be broadcast live on the radio - and you can listen online, wherever you are. Head to BBC Radio 2 or BBC 6 Music to hear it. We're very pleased that you'll all be able to be a part of what we hope will be a special evening. Anchorman.

If you are watching please don't forget to press the record button for the rest of us who cannot get to watch the show! You can find more online and TV broadcasting discussion at the Coldplay and Coldplay Live forums here and here and (especially if you are accessing Glastonbury but are NOT in the UK, USA, Brazil or Germany.)

Pictures of Coldplay at Pinkpop Landgraaf festival, Netherlands (11th June 2011) :

More photos from geertvdv at Flickr

Things are moving quickly now... this is another HUGE reminder that new (and as yet unheard) Coldplay track Moving To Mars will be airing today at 11.45am (BST) at the following stations: BBC Radio 1; BBC Radio 2; BBC 6 Music; Absolute Radio; Xfm.. Join the Moving To Mars Listening Party at the Coldplaying messageboard now! We will have another new 1-10 sliding scale poll on what you thought of the song shortly after it airs.

The Coldplaying Toolbar has been updated to include all the stations Moving To Mars will appear on. Not all stations will work for everyone (often due to restrictions) but its a neat way of switching from station to station as you find somehwere to listen to the new song. Download and install the toolbar from: coldplaying.ourtoolbar.com now. (if you are having problems will any aspect of the toolbar let us know in the listening party link above and we will try and help you out).

Major Minus: Please vote out of 10 on how you rate the song in our latest poll. Your reviews have been coming in thick and fast overnight - we appreciate your comments on what you thought of the song at the Major Minus sub-forum. So far we have had some very mixed reviews - mainly centered around the distortion in Chris's voice and how the studio version compares to the good quality versions heard at Rock am Ring and Pinkpop festivals. Here are some of your early thoughts...

Hmmm. I actually like the production on Chris's voice for once. It ain't just a lazy overdubbing like some other Coldplay tracks. It's different I'll give them that and I liked it...a lot! A song that will definitely need to blast through my stereos to wake up the neighbourhood. 8/10. Maybe they're testing us like those food testers they have in some of these lovely food stores! Giving us some samples and wanting our opinions after. The most well received song will go on to the album! Major Minus - Spicy, overpowering but an acquired taste needed perhaps! Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall - tasted sour overpowering and made my eyes water. And I swear there was an olive in there....I hate olives! This one left me spewing over the Coldplay super marketfloor...carrots and all! Mop for aisle 4 please!!! [thanks howyousawtheworld]

Well after SEVERAL listens I'm ready to rate. I gave it a 5/10. Its drastically better than Every tear drop, but its by no means perfect. I'm with most people on the voice distortion thing. Its unnecessary, Chris has an amazing voice and this effect simply adds nothing to the song, resulting in the live version being much more powerful. I enjoy the eerie vibe of the song, but once again heavy handed production gets in the way. And yes Eno's stamp is all over this. Its one thing for a producer to encourage a band to try new things, its another to just flat out make it sound like the producer had a hand in writing the song, and his influence, for me anyway, is getting old. Overall much better than the last song, but really that's not saying too much, so I'm going to have to wait to hear MTM. [thanks majgirl]

Live: 9/10; Studio: 5.5/10. What a disappointment this, they ruined Chris amazing voice and Jonny's guitar skills a bit. I need to listen more and more to get used to it, if I ever will be. I think I will listen the Live version more, which I already did a lot the past weeks. [thanks BobW]

I also preferred the live version but I wouldn't go to the extremes that some people have. I'd say live version 8/10 and studio version 6/10. So about a 7 overall. The vocals don't really bother me that much, but something about the overall production has really sucked the life and energy out of the song. Still a million times better than ETIAW though. [thanks Famous Old Painter]

To be quite frank, I have never found Chris's vocals "stunning" like most of you. In fact, I've always thought his voice was somewhat average (go ahead, lynch me ). That said, the vocal effects/duet on this song are a very nice change. It doesn't sound like anything they've done before, and that's a good thing. As for the instrumental...I would only change two things. In the live version, during the guitar crunches, the rest of the band didn't drop out suddenly like in the studio version. It feels kind of jarring the way they recorded it, I liked it better when Chris did the crunches over the rest of the band's continuous playing. It was far smoother that way. Secondly, during Jonny's solo at the end, I would bring forward his guitar in the mix and put a lot more echo on there. It's a spine-chilling part live, but it gets lost in the mix at the end of the studio version. 7.5 / 10. [thanks Hartroc]

Doesn't really give me the feeling it gives me in the live version, but that's almost always the case with most songs. On the other hand it is once again a superb piece of music and I give them credit for experimenting with their voices and mixing of the sound. I keep looking at it as the artistical freedom they use to explore the borders of their musical abilities and their efforts to keep the music they make interesting (to themselves and the fans). So as far as i am concerned, thumbs up for Coldplay, you did it once again! [thanks PeeJay]

I like the fact that it's, like they say, overproduced. It fits the era, and they're clearly doing something different, something new. And this definitely proves to me that the new era is NOT mainstream music. Whether you like the song or not, you just definitely don't usually hear stuff like this on radio. [thanks Lu'kaa]

I liked the song so much more live to be honest. The sound popped a lot more. The studio version is too muddled. You can barely hear Chris's voice, Johnnys guitar or anything. They also don't give him the same part after the first verses. Maybe they'll do another version of the song (ala Lovers in Japan Osaka Sun Remix) where they add those little bits in. Who knows. Live I'd give the song an 7 or 8. But the studio version is like a 5 or 6 at the highest. It's kind of a boring song...which I haven't felt a Coldplay song was since the X & Y era. [thanks footyfan10]

EPIC Jonnyboy guys.... but if it is the studio version i'm glad to know that it's a b-side..played live, this song was my favourite til now.. but in this version i miss jonny's guitar before the 2nd verse and chris's real voice that is unique...you cant do anything to improve his voice.. is perfect!! (i'm wondering if mr. Eno knows it...) ..i like it but i'm disappointed.. [thanks pipp088]

I like the song more than ETIAW... then again I'd like almost anything more than that. But I really hate that distorted vocals. Also I really don't like the melody of the verses and the lyrics... I find it to be a bit annoying to be honest. I do like the chorus bit somewhat. But to me this song has U2 written all over it. Also his vocals during the bridge is extremely annoying how high up he gets. The song is mediocre. Not a huge fan of it, but it's not horrible. I'd give the song a 4/10. [thanks the_gloaming09]

You know, if this song wasn't about the subject matter it is (always being watched, paranoia, etc), I don't think the filter on Chris' voice throughout most of the song would fit. But, due to what the song's about, I think it fits perfectly within the context of the lyrics. It's a dark song and the muffled voice just contributes to it. Not to mention at least one other person (Will) is singing with him in the verses. So, I think it works and fits (and I like it). But to each his own. I'm just putting perspective on the vocal filter so that it could give you a different angle to think about it from. [thanks Rainy Day]

It was a mess, I love COLDPLAY but when they start messing with the sound of Chris' voice, it changes the whole way I hear them and not in a good way. I am going to have to listen to it a few more times to give a full critique, but on a first listen I can say I am a bit worried of the direction they are going in with this album. When I heard it live, I was really excited to hear the recorded version. I think it's going to make it hard to get excited to hear the rest of the songs if they are all overproduced as much as this one is. [thanks Breakfast_of_CHAMPION]

Well, like I said in the comparison of versions thread: I don't like the production. More Eno trademarks than Coldplay trademarks which is not a producer's job.

Live: 10/10. Studio: don't know yet. 6/10 and that would be one my worst Coldplay ratings. It might grow a little. It's just such a pity because it's such a fantastic song, actually. I think musicians should stick more to what they'd like to do live. They could easily make it sound more like the studio version on their gigs but they don't seem to want to. And I'm glad about it. [thanks r25d01]

I like it . . . . but it sounds really weird. They should NEVER mess with Chris's voice EVER. End of story. But I do like the duet with Will and towards the end there's this cool synth-scream thing. The 'crocodiles' part sounds better live, and Jonny's echoes were flippin' epic at Rock am Ring. So eh, cool song, but I think it's better live. I'm fine with the distortion... as long as they don't use it on every song on LP5 Chris's voice is too beautiful to be messed with, and it's one of the reasons why I love Coldplay so much. To me, distortion just drowns out the emotion that Chris and the others are putting into it. [thanks ColdplayingfromKansas]

This might be one of the only songs in the world where I drastically, drastically prefer the live version. Usually I don't care for live versions much unless I'm physically at the concert, but this live version...God, it saves us from the horrible vocal distortion. Why did they decide to do that? Not even Will's backup vocals can help out. It's so drenched in filters that I actually flinched when the vocals came in on first listen. I'd be a hypocrite if I said I was categorically anti vocal distortion on records, since my other favorite band relied heavily on vocal filters for two straight albums. But I think vocal effects can be used constructively, and this is not one of those times. This just sounds like they were bored so they threw it on, and I can't see where it adds anything. I feel like vocal distortion shouldn't stare you in the face and make you wince, and this definitely did that (and I don't think it was just because I'd heard the clean vocals of the live version before). There's the line on "Life in Technicolor ii," where he sings "every road is a ray of light," which I think is one of the few other times Coldplay's done vocal distortion, and even though that's a very obvious use of a filter, it seems more subtle to me, it seems to fit and add something. Not so with this song. [thanks ApproximatelyInfinite]

Um I like studio... The guitar is the same (except crisper cause it's recorded in a studio...), I love the bass sections that we can hear more clearly now (:40 and such are AWESOME), and I actually don't mind the vocal distortion. It seems to fit the song well. I just really like the studio version, and I wasn't really loving the live version just yet. I think having a studio version helps get a feel for what the song is all about. [thanks icedude2010]

Weak. The live version sounds 1000 times better. What the hell did they do to Chris' voice? Seems like a duet (with Will?), but still, way too reduced and awkwardly distorted. The acoustic guitar in the beginning sounds so weak, live it's way more, well, full. The solo sounds a lot less incredible in this studio version too. Plus the unneeded additional effects at the end make it sound really bad. And do I hear Chris singing out of tune around the falsetto part ("I got my...")? Another disappointment I guess, but unlike ETIAW this is really a good song. The production just kind of ruined it. I don't know what the hell they're playing at. Would the producers know that Coldplay sounds a lot better when they do it the natural way? If they want this to make it to the album, they've still got a lot of work to do. [thanks Tryptophan]

This screams of B-side material. Sounds like the vocals are being played through a crappy clock radio speaker and the instrumentals are being played through a proper speaker. [thanks ysthomas]

I like the studio version for what it is. I was surprised by the sound of his voice like most other people here, but after a few plays I think it works pretty well. Someone in the other thread pointed out that the effect works in context of the subject matter and I agree - makes it sound like Chris is giving out a 'warning' through a megaphone or something, which I think is appropriate. Also I actually really like the atmospheric effects they used in this version, almost sounds like screaming toward the end - gives it a pretty creepy vibe, which I guess is exactly what they were going for. I do like some elements of the live version better, but this is crisp and well produced IMO. Bass sounds awesome, guitar has a nice crunch to it. And the whole song is basically the complete opposite of ETIAW, which is interesting because I thought Coldplay had turned uber-cheesy when that song was revealed! [thanks Zemy101]

Their whole reason for making music is making what THEY want. Not what WE want. I really think this song is great. It's different. It's not Parachutes or A Rush of Blood all over again. And frankly I'm glad because that would be really boring and repetitive and I hate it when bands never change their sound and essentially make the same album 7 times over. Like Creed or AC/DC. People are just closed-minded to change it seems. Then again, that explains why anyone sane would vote for the GOP... But seriously guys c'mon. They can't just keep making the same music. That would get old fast. They're not the same people they were 10 or 5 years ago. They don't listen to only the same music they used to. And they don't have the same ideas they did then. They're broadening their horizons which is a great thing. [thanks Fix42YellowClocks]

I like it, and I like that they don't listen to fans. 'do this and don't do that and I hate you for doing this and you have to make a new parachutes.' They should just make music and make what they want to make and don't limit themselves by what fans think because music can never be good if the artist doesn't believe in it themselves. So I love that they're not afraid to experiment even though a lot of people might not be happy about it. And I really like the song. [thanks 2GreenEyes]

Getting a little pissed off at all these complaints over his voice. Hahaha. But I guess it was the same when Viva la Vida was released, a complaint that I seemed to notice was overproduction. Production can work marvelous wonders. Now, of course, Chris has an excellent voice- one that really doesn't need to be messed with- but I honestly don't believe it ruined the song. At all. I think it's a fantastic track, and if it's a B-side I will have abnormally high expectations for the actual album. Then again, some of my favorite Coldplay songs are B-sides At any rate, I think you need to let the song grow on you. And stop listening to the live version. "Every Teardrop" wasn't very good, I'll admit- and it pains me to admit such things- but this is vastly, totally, completely superior. Sort of a cross between "Cemeteries of London," "Bigger Stronger," and really any song off of X & Y. I personally believe that the fact Coldplay can go from very very organic to colorfully produced is commendable. The vocals, distorted they may be, fit with the music very well. And I'm loving this spacey, quirky, walking-man theme. How do you do something like that without lots of production? [thanks postcardsfromfaraway]

Chris' and Will's vocals were recorded separately and than put together with help of a computer, and I think that what makes this song sound a bit "dead", or not so edgy and epic as it was live. Though it's still cool. Waiting for acoustic version. Just four of them in one room playing this great tune. And no Brian Eno even near. [thanks lafinion]

I do fancy the live version more but the recorded one is cool in its own way too. I miss more of Jonny's guitar scratches?/riffs that we hear in the live version between verses. But I love hearing the other boys sing too!...adds a tint of colour and sprinkle of a different dimension to it all...tho, of course, I adore Chris' singing per usual I agree that it would've been fine or perhaps better without distorting Chris' voice...his natural one sounds absolutely great especially live. The general vibe of the song reminds me of the Parachutes era....i.e. the distortion in Chris' voice. [thanks Lovers in NYC]

I made a graph summarising [your] post... it reflects my own thoughts hahah. I love the song but I don't like what they've done to Chris's voice. His voice is unique and awesome, no effects needed. Don't hide one of your best elements!! I'll stick to the live versions we have. The studio version sounds as if they've forgotten to plug in Chris's microphone properly. If you must use the effect... why so quiet? [thanks SueDeNimes]

Image by SueDeNimes

More questions answered by The Oracle... (over 2000 questions now answered - submit yours now!)

June 23, 2011 - submitted by Charles, United States of America

Q. Hi dear Oracle, iI want to know who is Dominic Leung and what he has to do with Coldplay? Thank you.

The Oracle replies:

Dominic Leung is a director (& editor). His link to Coldplay is that he directed the video for

June 23, 2011 - submitted by Muhammed, Turkey

Q. Why don't Coldplay perform at Eurovision for UK?

The Oracle replies:

Hahahahahahahahahaha! Thanks for that Muhammed, I needed a laugh today. Oh, you're serious? Well, erm, that's just not the done thing really. It's not going to happen. Ever. I'm not even sure that I need to say why. We all know whey don't we? Hands up who's excited about Saturday? (Throws hand up in the air).

June 22, 2011 - submitted by Joseph, United Kingdom

Q. Dear Oracle, As we all know, the BBC coverage of Glastonbury is truly appreciated by all us music fans out there who aren't lucky enough to actually be there, but looking on the programme listing page of the BBC Glastonbury site I get slightly worried. You see for U2 on the Friday night they are showing THE WHOLE of the set from 21.45 to whenever, swapping channels halfway through meaning we get to see everything. However it seems that Coldplay on the Satruday are only getting one scheduled programme "including highlights from the other stages" does this mean that we won't see the whole thing? It's the same story for Beyonce. Just wondering if you can shed some light on this... Regards, Joe.

The Oracle replies:

Blimey Joe, you had me worried there for a minute. I'm watching the band's Glastonbury performance from home (the first time I will miss it ringside) and I'd be as gutted as you if it was highlights. Fear not people, Anchorman has announced various TV and Radio transmissions so we can sit back, relax and enjoy the show away from the mud bath*. (*Word from the field is that it's pretty muddy right now so if you are going, take as much waterproof stuff as you can.)

June 22, 2011 - submitted by Flo, Austria

Q. Dear Oracle, I fell in love with a girl in my school, but she has a boyfriend and I don't think she is interested in me. Should I tell her my feelings anyway? What if she should decide that she doesn't want me there by her side? Regards

The Oracle replies:

No Flo, you should not tell her you have feelings. This girl has a boyfriend and if you don't think she's interested in you, chances are she's not; she's interested in her boyfriend! Leave well alone. She has already decided she doesn't want you by her side as she's with someone else. The lyrics from What If are about being with someone who decides they no longer want to be with you so don't fit your situation at all. You're in more of a Shiver situation mate. Behave yourself, stay away from their relationship and you'll have one of your own in time.

June 21, 2011 - submitted by Stevie, Mexico

Q. Hello, Oracle, Please answer me, this is like my seventh question, and this time I'm sure it's not illogical. I read that Major Minus is gonna be released as a B-side of ETIAW. I think that Major Minus is a beautiful song, and is a track that must be on the album. But I obviously know that B-sides are usually not included on other albums than special editions. Is it going to be included on the album?

The Oracle replies:

You raise a good point. I must admit I thought the same as historically you're correct; b sides haven't appeared on the album. All I can say is that there have been even more changes to how things (and what) are released since the last album so I wouldn't rule it out. That said, I swear I don't know the final track listing of the album and as you already know what I am about to say... even if I did, I couldn't provide the definitive answer to your question.

June 21, 2011 - submitted by Girl, Belgium

Q. Dearest O, I will soon see Coldplay for the first time live! I have been looking forward to see them for a long time, and now I 'm scared that I will faint from the moment they come on stage! Do you have any tips to avoid this? Because I really don't want to wake up and hear that the show is over! Thanks a lot and have a nice day!

The Oracle replies:

I don't want to scare you but that happened to someone in Venice. As the coming on music started and the lights went down, a girl was put on to a stretcher and as the band walked on stage, she was being carried unconsciously past them. My advice is to keep hydrated - have a bottle of water with you. Maybe also carry a water spray to spritz your face if it starts to overheat. Don't drink too much alcohol (if you're of legal age of course). I would also say it's wise not to stand in a cramped crowd for hours on end no matter how close you want to be if you are not strong enough to maintain that position. Sometimes when the show starts, crowds can surge and it's hard if you're short in stature. Stick with friends who will look after you and if at any point you feel faint, ask for help and get yourself out of the crowd. All of that said, you should be fine. It's good you are preparing for it but don't scare yourself into thinking it will happen.

This is a BIG reminder that new Coldplay track Major Minus will be airing tonight at 9pm (BST) at the following stations: BBC Radio 1; BBC Radio 2; BBC 6 Music; Absolute Radio; Xfm. Moving To Mars will follow on the radio tomorrow at 11.45am (also BST). For now, join the Major Minus Listening Party at the Coldplaying messageboard now! We will have a new 1-10 sliding scale poll on what you thought of the song shortly after it airs.

The Coldplaying Toolbar has been updated to include all the stations Major Minus will appear on. Not all stations will work for everyone (often due to restrictions) but its a neat way of switching from station to station as you find somehwere to listen to the new song. Download and install the toolbar from: coldplaying.ourtoolbar.com now. (if you are having problems will any aspect of the toolbar let us know in the listening party link above and we will try and help you out).

More details on the toolbar: It's free, dynamic, with no spyware or viruses, blocks pop-ups, provides RSS feeds and news, a range of search engines, and no personal information is required. Get the latest Coldplay content delivered directly to your browser, no matter where you are on the web. Search the Web, our site, and other useful engines and tap into our RSS feed and stay on top of the latest Coldplay headlines.

Revellers arrive at Worthy Farm in Somerset, UK, ahead of the start of the Glastonbury Festival (22nd June 2011):

The Pierces have been announced as support to Coldplay at the iTunes Festival at The Roundhouse in London on 22nd July, so say Entertainment Focus online. Coldplay’s Guy Berryman co-produced The Pierces hit album You & I, which recently entered the charts at No.4, and which was partly recorded in Coldplay’s studio in north London.

Meanwhile, staying with the iTunes festival, Apple has launched the new, free iTunes Festival London app, which allows iOS users to watch a live stream of the 31 day long music event online, according to ITProPortal. The move will eventually prove beneficial for those who live far away from the capital, yet don’t want to miss the music-feast in offering from the iPhone maker. Apple will also make CDs of all the live performances available during the event. However, this new app people will be able to see the events both live and after each concert has ended. Apple did not disclose how long the footage will remain available. Apple will also provide viewers with the schedules for participating artists and bands and an exclusive photo archive from previous festivals; the iTunes Festival is now in its fifth year.

Has Coldplay's latest announced track, 'Moving To Mars' been inspired by a film of the same name? It's the title of a movie directed by none other than Mat Whitecross, director of a handful of Coldplay's music videos including the recent Christmas Lights. Here's the description of the film: Moving to Mars charts the epic journey made by two Burmese families from a vast refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border to their new homes in the UK. At times hilarious, at times emotional, their travels provide a fascinating and unique insight not only into the effects of migration, but also into one of the most important current political crises - Burma. [thanks jc90 & Guppywarlord]

Coldplay have come out in support of the Kidneybeanz Trust by donating their track "Fix You" to the Kidneybeanz TV and cinema commercial, according to the BizCommunity website today. "The Coldplay soundtrack has been an absolute coup for us," said Annemarie Wagner of the Kidneybeanz Trust. "The trust has only been in existence for four years and the commercial will really help raise awareness of the work we do supporting children with severe kidney disease. The visuals were already totally mesmerising, but now with the Coldplay soundtrack to help drive the message home we have a brand message that is extremely powerful."

A rare signed Coldplay guitar from the A Rush Of Blood To The Head era has been sold on eBay - for just £310. Coldplayer, savillechris, accepted the cash as a quick sale due to relocation. The guitar auction was described as follows: You're looking at a signed Coldplay guitar. This Item was obtained from a reputable dealer in the Orlando, FL area 5 years ago. This item includes the guitar and a rare signed photo of the band. Both are signed in silver by all members of the band. The albums Parachutes and A Rush Of Blood To the Head are displayed also. I'm selling all my memorabilia as I'm relocating from the UK to the USA.

Coldplay have 'dreamed' of headlining Glastonbury music festival since being children, and admit nerves are already mounting for this weekend's performance, Jonny Buckland has revealed, in the latest interview.

Coldplay will headline the festival at Worthy Farm on Saturday and according to ContactMusic, and admitted nerves are already mounting in anticipation of the event, which they believe is 'the mother' of all music events. Guitarist Jonny Buckland said: "It's the ultimate festival, the mother of all festivals, the peak, and the one we dreamed of playing when we were kids. I'm already feeling nervous!"

The band will appear alongside fellow headliners Beyonce Knowles and U2 over the course of the festival and Jonny joked they are hoping the latter play a set which allows them to eclipse them in terms of performance. He added to NME magazine: "We're hoping they'll do a B-sides and rarities set. With no lights. At least we're definitely taller than U2, by about a foot."

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, Will Champion told BBC, the festival's official media partner: "It's one of the few shows that we'll get really nervous about. When we're doing our own stuff there's a very set routine... at a festival it's different."

Chris Martin had already compared receiving the phone call from Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis asking them to perform to being "asked to dance" by 'Twilight star Robert Pattinson. Earlier in the year he joked: "It was like getting asked to dance by Robert Pattinson if you're a young girl."

ALSO: It has been confirmed just now that Coldplay's headline performance at this weekend's Glastonbury festival will be broadcast live around the world. This just in from Coldplay.com: We're pleased to report that you'll be able to experience Coldplay's headline set on Glastonbury's Pyarmid Stage on Saturday (June 25th) wherever in the world you are. In the UK, the show - which begins at 10.15pm UK time - will be broadcast live on TV, on BBC2 and BBC HD. The show will also be shown live on Germany's ZDF Kultur channel and Brazil's Multishow. Meanwhile, in America, the show will make history by becoming the first Glastonbury concert to be broadcast in full on US television, when it airs on VH1 and Palladia, at 10pm ET/PT. A portion of the show will also be broadcast live on the radio - and you can listen online, wherever you are. Head to BBC Radio 2 or BBC 6 Music to hear it. We're very pleased that you'll all be able to be a part of what we hope will be a special evening. Anchorman.

More pictures of Coldplay at Heineken Jammin' Festival, Venice, Italy (9th June 2011) :

Photo by vasiled @ Flickr

A new Coldplay track, entitled Moving To Mars has appeared on the ETIAW pre-order information on iTunes in the last 24 hours. This is likely to be one of the 'additional tracks' that will be available on the iTunes digital bundle that will be available on 27th June.

UPDATE! The following tracks will premiere on UK radio at the times stated: Major Minus - Thursday 23rd June, 9pm; Moving To Mars - Friday 24th June, 11.45am (times are UK - BST). You'll be able to hear them online at the following stations: BBC Radio 1; BBC Radio 2; BBC 6 Music; Absolute Radio; Xfm.

Official announcement has arrived: Dear friends, more new music on its way... Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall EP is arriving in iTunes stores at 00:01 on Sunday 26 June. These are the songs: 1. Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall; 2. Major Minus; 3. Moving To Mars. You can pre-order the EP on iTunes worldwide now, except the US and Japan (where it's coming soon). Love Will.

Roadie #42 earlier this year blogged about Moving To Mars, under the acronym 'MTM'. Here's what he said back in early February: Every room had some kind of writing or recording setup on the go - you even had to time your use of the kettle carefully, as a laptop and speakers had been set up in the kitchen and Jonny was in there working on his epic lead for MTM. So, by comparison, the first few weeks of the year felt like a ghost town.

So far, only 3 tracks from the listing are showing on the iTunes preview - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall, Major Minus and Moving To Mars. You can discuss the latest on this new track at the messageboard now [thanks pipp088]

Some of your early thoughts on 'Moving To Mars' and how it fits in with LP5 and the ETIAW release:

£1.49 for 3 tracks is a cracking deal even when one of them is the same one most of us already have. £1.49 you'd expect for 2 tracks so in effect we're getting ETIAW for relatively nothing... even though a lot of us really don't want it for the second time. Let's just say it ain't one of those 'it's so good I could buy it twice songs'. Far from it! Anyhow Major Minus is a proper fab tune and I'm sure Moving To Mars doesn't need too much effort to be better than ETIAW. [thanks howyousawtheworld]

The website said plus additional tracks - so it kind of should be at least two more songs beside MM and ETIAW. I hope there are more songs in the U.S. Store - not that I'd want to deprive any Coldplay fan of songs. I'm just hoping they haven't given us less. Not that it would matter - two new songs is still great. [thanks footyfan10]

So it s an EP, not a single, conclusion, MM and MTM are NOT b-sides, another conclusion, they can easily be on the album, actually the oracle gave that posibility, and i think that the EP will have like 5 or 6 songs, if at some point the tracklist were 2 songs, now 3 , why not tomorrow 4 ?? and after that 5, i mean , it clearly said aditional trackS , anyway, you might say im crazy but i prefer all the songs on these EP to be out of the album, that way, we will have even more new songs for these era and these new EP + LP5. [thanks Coldplayer1317]

I really hope they add at least one more track. (Still crossing my fingers for Spanish Rain although we pretty much know that ain't happening.) I'm also kinda hoping these tracks aren't on the album. Don't get me wrong, I love these songs (yes, even ETIAW) and I'm sure MTM will be just as great. I'm just really picky about my iTunes collection. I hope these tracks stay on the EP and we get HLH, Charlie Brown, PoC, etc on LP5. [thanks periahdark]

The EMI Group, one of the world's largest music companies representing artists including Coldplay, Katy Perry and Damon Albarn's Gorillaz, has been put up for sale by its owner Citigroup, according to online reports today. EMI has been controlled by Citigroup since February after its previous private equity owner - Guy Hands' Terra Firma - defaulted on a loan.

The British company, which has signed artists including Tinie Tempah and The Beatles - as well as Mrs Russell Brand - was saddled with £3.2bn of debt following the credit crisis and because of the digitisation of the music industry. The EMI group could fetch between £1.5billion to £2.4billion. Possible bidders for the company include Universal Music group, Sony Corp and Warner Music Group, which itself has just been sold off. Warner Music, EMI's US rival, has previously approached the company with takeover bids.

Chris Martin played a role in securing Beyonce's headline appearance at this weekend's Glastonbury Festival, it has been revealed. Bey was wary of performing at the event after her husband Jay-Z experienced a public backlash before his appearance in 2008. Beyonce will top the bill on the final night of the festival, which runs from June 24-26th. Organiser Emily Eavis told the Radio Times Martin, whose band headline on Saturday (June 25), had become a key confidant when they were booking the festival's headliners. "Chris is a bit wary of people knowing he’s been so involved," Eavis said. "I don’t know why because it’s actually cool. Chris is as loyal as they come – he’ll do anything for Glastonbury. He’s really an unlikely frontman. Most people are a bit more all-consumed with their own thing." [thanks mimixxx]

A host of musicians have paid tribute to E Street Band saxophone player Clarence Clemons, who died at the end of last week (June 18th), including Coldplay. The longtime Bruce Springsteen collaborator had been in hospital since suffering a stroke at his Florida home last weekend (June 11-12) and died of complications relating to the illness. Coldplay called Clemons their "favourite saxophone player" in a brief statement in their Hypnofeed on their website, Coldplay.com, where they also posted a YouTube clip of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band track 'Jungleland'.

The bidding has now ended on the Coldplay meet and greet auction on eBay, in aid of the Joplin Tornado Relief efforts. Here's what someone has won for $9800: Two (2) x 3 day passes to Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 5th-7th 2011; Meet and greet for one plus guest with Coldplay at the venue on August 5th, 2011; Two domestic economy class tickets to/from Chicago; One double room for 4 nights (4th - 8th) at the Swissotel Hotel in Chicago. If that was you - well done!

If you're interested in Coldplay memorabilia, then this auction is for you. On eBay right now, is the first ever poster that Coldplay signed as a band. Here is the description: You are bidding for a piece of British Music History. This is the first ever signed poster by Coldplay (full band). All individual members have signed with Chris Martin adding to the poster: "This is our first ever signed poster, well done". I am the only person to have owned this, background to it below. I won a few prizes on Steve Lamacq's Evening Session on Tuesday 11th Jul 2000 (the week of Parachutes release). I received a signed promo cd of Parachutes and Steve sent me an extra gift seeing as I was pretty hooked on the band. This was the signed poster! Not only was it signed by the whole band, it also has a message from Chris saying " This is our first ever signed poster, Well Done!" I put this away about 10 years ago and have decided now it should go to a better home as I am not as passionate for the band as I was before. You will never get any Coldplay item as unique as this. Due to reasons beyond my control and the fact I feel it would have a better home with a bigger Coldplay fan, I am selling this one of a kind Coldplay collectable.

More pictures of Coldplay at Heineken Jammin' Festival, Venice, Italy (9th June 2011) :

Photo by vasiled @ Flickr

More questions answered by The Oracle... (over 2000 questions now answered - submit yours now!)

June 20, 2011 - submitted by Madison, United States of America

Q. Hey Oracle! What's your favorite (new) Coldplay song? (like the ones they play at the festivals?) Just curious... Very excited to see which ones will be released with Major Minus + ETIAW! Give my regards to the boys (and yourself, of course! :D) Madison

The Oracle replies:

I'd have to say Major Minus and Princess of China at this point. It's always subject to change of course...

June 20, 2011 - submitted by Allie, United States of America

Q. Why would Lollapolooza place Muse in the same time slot as Coldplay? Obviously they will be competing for the same fans. Coldplay opened for Muse way back when!

The Oracle replies:

It's a tricky billing and I'm surprised that Lollapolooza didn't try and stagger that particular part of the schedule. I guess you could watch half of each starting with Muse who start slightly earlier but I wouldn't like to be in that predicament. Two amazing live bands and both have come a long way since Coldplay opened for Muse way back in 2000. Maybe just commit to one and hope you see the other on another occasion. Of course, I'd suggest your choice be Coldplay.

June 20, 2011 - submitted by Swinerabbit, Greece

Q. Hello, Can I ask please where is Greece on the map in your official site ? This is not the map of Europe. You've forgotten Greece! This is embarrassing please fix, a.s.a.p. Kind Regards

The Oracle replies:

It's not a perfect map of Europe or even an accurate map in terms of Geographical placings; it's a crude map of where the band have played so people can upload photos. As Coldplay haven't thus far played a gig in Greece, it's not been deliberately omitted or overlooked. It's merely that they haven't visited. If/when they do, there'll be a pink pin added of course to our rough map.

June 16, 2011 - submitted by Amio, United Kingdom

Q. Would you explain a little about ETIAW video? What is the sign that Phil has uploaded about the video?

The Oracle replies:

I love the way fans are hungry to know every single solitary last detail about what the band are doing but all I can tell you is the video - featuring the band - was shot at Docklands on Tuesday/Wednesday this week. I promise once you've seen it, I will tell you more. The photo that appeared was taken at the shoot so gives a hint of the feel.

June 16, 2011 - submitted by Vanessa, United States of America

Q. Hey O! My friend went to an Angels game a little while ago, and she said they were changing the stadium for a concert. She said that they announced it was Coldplay playing there. Now I was a bit skeptical because I have been waiting for a Socal show but I don't really believe her! I just wanna know if there is an Anaheim show or not? PLEASE SAY YES OR NO!! :) Love, Vane

The Oracle replies:

Here's the long answer: A while ago you say. Well, as you probably know they have played Anaheim more than once but not recently and the festival tour is happening just now so there's no show planned there for the near future. I don't know how long you think it takes to turn a stadium/arena into a rock venue but I can tell you it's a day. They don't set up too far in advance, just the day before so I reckon that means the short answer to your question is no.

June 15, 2011 - submitted by Laurens, United Kingdom

Q. Dear Oracle, I heard Charlie Brown on YouTube! It's awesome! But there's an Asian sounding part! It sounds real good but I cant figure what it really is...

The Oracle replies:

In the intro to

June 15, 2011 - submitted by Lotfi, Algeria

Q. Why coldplay has withdrew Princess of China of the setlist... It seems to be a great song.

The Oracle replies:

It IS a great song so don't worry, that's not the issue. Tweaking the set list always happens at the start of touring whether that be festivals or their own live shows. Violet Hill has been added for instance and the order of songs was changed too. It's all very normal to see what feels right an works well.

June 14, 2011 - submitted by Mariano, Venezuela

Q. Dear O, did the same person that painted the instruments during the VLV tour, painted the instruments for the festivals? Thanks!

The Oracle replies:

No, Vicki (who painted the Viva tour instruments) didn't paint the ones for the current live shows. She's been very busy so someone else was brought in.

June 14, 2011 - submitted by Vinzenz, Germany

Q. Hi oracle! I saw the Coldplay concert at Rock am Ring in Germany on TV. At the first song Hurts Like Heaven you can see Chris wearing a blue clock on his left hand. It looks nice;-) What clock is that and from which brand?

The Oracle replies:

We don't call that a clock; it's a watch. The brand of band watch is G-Shock.

Coldplay have today announced yet another festival headline slot of 2011 with the news that they are to play the very first RXP TĀKLIBERTY FESTIVAL at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey on September 18th. Catch all the latest discussion and previews to this new festival date at the Coldplay Live forum now [thanks _Tash]

This brings the total number of 2011 festivals that Coldplay will play thus far to TWENTY (including this, and the earlier iTunes festival announcement). The confirmed festivals are spread four continents and sixteen countries (Germany, Italy, Netherlands, England, Sweden, Poland, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, Japan, Australia, US and Brazil!)

Here's what Anchorman had to say earlier: Good afternoon. We're pleased to announce that Coldplay will headline the new RXP TĀKLIBERTY FESTIVAL, which has just been announced by New York radio station ROCK 101.9 RXP. The one-day, two-stage festival will take place on Sunday September 18th at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holdmel, NJ. Tickets for the general public will go on sale at 10am on Friday, June 24. They will be available at www.livenation.com, charge by phone 800.745.3000, select Ticketmaster locations or the PNC Bank Arts Center box office. A presale for members of the station’s free Rock Republic online program will run from Tuesday, June 21 until Thursday, June 23rd. The festival will also feature performances from Richard Ashcroft, Two Door Cinema Club, The Kooks, Graffiti 6 and The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart.

Latest pictures of Coldplay at Heineken Jammin' Festival, Venice, Italy (9th June 2011) :

Photo by vasiled @ Flickr