The British invasion is set to take place on Saturday Night, live on NBC tonight/Saturday at 11.30PM Eastern Time US, that would be 4.30am or more for UK or European Coldplayers! Will you stay up or wake up for it? that is the question. An interview and at least one track, possibly A Sky Full of Stars is due to be performed on the night.

In the meantime, here is a very funny preview for the show and you will understand the title of this article better!

Last night, an extended version of the Jools Holland show aired featuring more live tracks from the bands featured. This was a repeat of tracks we already saw on Tuesday night which was Magic and A Sky Full of Stars for Coldplay. The extra track played was an absolutely beautiful version of Oceans. Probably the best performance of Oceans we have seen so far as Chris got the vocals spot on and the atmosphere on the song really took hold.

You can watch Oceans by viewing the Coldplaying multimedia forum (remember to register if you haven't!)

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There is only 16 more days now until the release of Coldplay's new album for 2014, Ghost Stories! So close!

Listen to the amazing and incredibly hyped new Coldplay song, A Sky Full of Stars below. It was given its first play by Zane Lowe at 7PM UK time, 30 minutes earlier than expected and was then uploaded shortly after to the official Coldplay Youtube channel.

Click here to discuss the track with other fans and let us know your opinion!

Coldplay have also confirmed they will play A Sky Full of Stars on Jools Holland tonight (click here for more info)

You can also vote in the new poll on the right side of the website (on the homepage)!

Ghost Stories (pre-order) :

We started the week with a bang when clips of "Ghost Stories" tracks were aired on Radio 1 during possibly the best and most personal Chris Martin interview we have ever had on Monday..

There are rumours sparked by the tweet from George Ergatoudis (which you can see below), the head of music at Radio 1. The source is very reliable and we will be keeping our ears on the Zane Lowe show if the 2nd single off Ghost Stories does get its first play!

Later tonight (Tuesday 29th April), we have a live TV performance from Coldplay on Jools Holland via BBC2 in the UK coming up. http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/bbctwo/live. It starts at 10PM UK time. For non UK Coldplayers, there may be various online streams posted by Coldplayers on this discussion thread when as it happens

There are no events currently planned for Wednesday 30th April but with all the news that came out last Wednesday when nothing was expected, anything is possible!

Tuesday 1st May, the start of the month in which Coldplay will release their new album of 2014, Ghost Stories, will see Chris Martin attend the IHeartRadio music awards on NBC as a presenter. More on this below (thanks to LiquidSky on the forums for compiling the information!)

Friday 2nd May : Again nothing planned but always room for a surprise!

Saturday 3rd May will see Chris and the boys perform on Saturday Night Live which will be shown on NBC in the US at 11:30pm Eastern time Coldplay are due to perform at least 2 songs during their set for the show. You can find links and more info when it happens on this discussion thread.

A day of rest may occur on Sunday 4th May with possible time to reflect on the past weeks events and new song exclusives. You can make a trip over to our multimedia forum if you haven't already!

On Monday 5th May, Coldplay will take to the stage at the Beacon Theatre in New York, USA and will perform their 2nd show of the "Ghost Stories" promo tour Well done to the Coldplayers who managed to snap up tickets to the very in demand show. A meet up thread will be up on the forums soon and in the meantime, you can discuss the show here on our forum.

Now, to recap the past week in news in case your mind is flabbergasted from the barrage of events occurring lately, we have this brilliant and convenient news podcast on Youtube to show you.

Remember to subscribe to our new channel here and you can look back through our old archives at Coldplayingvideo.

This brilliant news round up is brought to you by amazing internet vlogger, Petey/PeriahDark with the cover of "Always in My Head" provided by Ciaran/ciaA26 who is a BBC Radio 2 award winning musician. Subscribe now for weekly updates!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Z8oyINiPk

Finally, Coldplay have given us an exciting treasure hunt this week which has gone down a treat with Coldplay fans across the world. View the image below directly from the official Coldplay Facebook page :

The lyrics have so far been found in Mexico, Singapore and Finland, you can view the retweeted lyric pages of Magic, Another's Arms and Always in My Head on our twitter page. Keep your eyes peeled to the official Coldplay Twitter and Facebook page for more clues and to take part, visit this forum thread to discuss and find locations with other fans!

On Friday night, Coldplay arrived on stage at E-Werk, Cologne, Germany to a rapturous applause as they started to perform an outstanding setlist in a very warm atmosphere (literally!), sweat already started trickling down Chris' forehead as the band started off with the ridiculously beautiful Always in My Head which has been re-worked since their performance at the ITunes festival in March and is now more similar to the studio version which has not been heard in full but a clip played on the Zane Lowe interview preview for Monday. Another's Arms made an appearance too, again, sounding a little different from before and Oceans which was played in concert for the first time after the Radio 1 Live lounge surprised performance on Wednesday. The setlist for the show in Cologne can be viewed below (thanks to Setlist.fm)

You can listen to the performance below via the Youtube video, thanks to John Pham on Youtube and our forums!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yw2pnI9WdE

And a new video version self made by Michael Trams on Facebook, good quality and filmed until the encore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vUfb6paAvU

Many of us who were listening to the audio stream online were eagerly awaiting a possible first play of A Sky Full of Stars. Good news was 'ASFOS' was the last song of the night and it sent the crowd of fans absolutely wild! The bad news was the radio broadcast had ended before the encore because Live1, the German radio station only had an hour of broadcasting time. Chris Martin asked the audience multiple times not to record A Sky Full of Stars and I hope all fans respected that so we will have to wait still to hear A Sky Full of Stars! All over the Coldplay forums and on Facebook/Twitter, we have been asking fans who saw Coldplay in Germany last night for their reaction to 'ASFOS' and again, it was overwhelmingly positive with a few new descriptions this time, the most interesting one was being compared to Rihanna and 30 Seconds to Mars, quite a strange mixture! I am guessing based on other descriptions of being able to dance to, upbeat and similar to Charlie Brown, Every Teardrop is a Waterfall and Don't Let It Break Your Heart that the Rihanna song in question is We Found Love and rockier side of it is similar to Do or Die or Closer to the Edge by 30 Seconds to Mars. One more comparison on Facebook from Louwe-Jan van der Velde was to Snow Patrol's If there is a Rocket Tie Me to it which is more of the intriguing side of it rather than the laid back aspect of the song.

Above : a photo from the live blog on coldplay.com

Click here to see the full blog as it happened on Friday

Our selected review for Friday's show at E-Werk, Cologne comes from Batman on our forums

. She has written a brilliant and completely different review of the whole journey to see Coldplay perform from applying for the tickets and the gig itself. Her enthusiasm is remarkable and this is a truly good read!

This is a very long review, its worth the long read too but however, if you can't read this right now, scroll down past the quoted grey text or press crtl+f and type 'Baden-Baden' which is the next part of this article for today's performance.

Now today on Saturday 26th April, Coldplay have already played live at Baden-Baden in Germany at 5 PM local time which saw classics such as Don't Panic and Til Kingdom Come return to the setlist! This show at Baden-Baden was an intimate show with radio stations giving out tickets to fans who won their competitions and were not placed on sale. You can see the setlist for this show below (thanks to setlist.fm)

Always in My Head was the first tune played which is their staple opener for the Ghost Stories era which really captures the intimate feel of the venue it was played in! Coldplay seem to be making minor changes for each time they perform song of the new songs, an example being a harmony in the middle of Always in My Head was present for the Cologne performance but not for the Baden-Baden show. I say the more Will harmonizing, the better! As mentioned, Don't Panic returned with a slightly different riff sound, for the first time since 2011 and Til Kingdom Come which was out of this world! A few mistakes and stops halfway through but with Chris Martin and Will Champion singing, it delighted many Coldplay fan's with 'Til Kingdom Come' trending worldwide on twitter during the radio broadcast. Another's Arms and Oceans were played in the middle of the setlist in order, just as they are on the upcoming album, Ghost Stories. The boys finished with Midnight as the encore and their time in Germany had come to a successful finish.

We have no reviews at the moment other than the ones like most of us who listened to the online audio stream or the various radio broadcasts. The Youtube video is below thanks yet again to John Pham on Youtube and our forums!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyK4gmhXCgA

You can view the gallery of Chris and the whole band below thanks to SWR3 (German radio station) and jeremyy on our forums for finding them!

[soliloquy id=22686]

Coldplay have just released an extended trailer on ITunes for the upcoming "Ghost Stories" TV special in May. This spectacular trailer features the live performance of Midnight and scenes from others songs played at the 3 secret shows in March such as Always in My Head where Chris is flying, strapped to a harness and the magical A Sky Full of Stars with star shaped confetti falling from the sky!

The watch the video now, click on the following link for ITunes http://t.co/HQ4yJYbBvY

Or log in to our multimedia forum where some kind members have alternative links available!

(Thanks to RevolutiondDude on the forums for the above image)

Earlier today, as planned in this week's events, Coldplay played live for Le Grand Journal on Canal+ on French television. Watch the performance of Magic, the only track the band played on the TV show below.

Tomorrow (Friday 25th April) is the day of the first date in the Ghost Stories tour at Cologne in Germany.

Fans wishing to meet up with other Coldplayers are on the day can do so from around 9am local time! Simply visit our Facebook page (I will make a post in the morning) and/or see this meet up thread on our forums. Its a community hosted event so chat between yourselves to keep your location updated and to keep meeting up during the day and evening.

For those watching at home, links to listen are provided by hps on our forums. Please use the same thread for discussion on the day. Its going to be a good one folks!

I mentioned yesterday, nothing is really expected to happen today with major live dates happening at the end of the week, oh how that proved to be wrong! Coldplay made a surprise visit to the BBC Radio 1 studios just after mid-day in London where they performed Magic and Oceans which was heard for the first time to those who did not attend the secret shows (which is pretty much all of us!). The band revealed they will be headlining Radio 1's big weekend in Glasgow with the delighted Will Champion stating :

(Courtesy of Radio 1's Newsbeat)

(thanks to rafaelchampion for the image above)

Firstly, the brilliant Magic was cool and laid back as ever.

Then the dark and mysterious Oceans with the the submarine sonar effect from Will captured the hearts of many Coldplayers!

The first general reaction on the forums was that Oceans was so alike to material off Parachutes which went down very well. I expected before hearing Oceans for the first time, based on the description of fans who saw the band play it live at the secret shows that it would be a slow song (which it is), the track would have a feel similar to Atlas which was not too far off but the 'old school Coldplay' feel about it was outstanding and at the same time, it wasn't exactly what were expecting to hear in a positive way.

Here is what some of our fans had to say about Oceans on the forums

howyousawtheworld:

Squibby92 :

and finally, another mini review by Laura42 :

Next piece of today's news involves and upcoming interview featuring Chris Martin and Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 in the UK on Monday 28th April, 8PM GMT/UK time.

Watch the interview preview below that features the studio version of "Always in My Head"

And now breathe......for a few seconds but get ready for the next piece of big news....

That NBC special that has been talked about for around a month will be airing around the release of Ghost Stories. This will not be an NBC exclusive show but a TV airing across the world! which will include the UK. Some of the dates are listed below with UK and other countries dates on the way! More about that when Coldplay announce the full screenings.

US: 18 May, 7pm ET/PT - NBC

Canada: 18 May, 7pm ET/PT - NBC

Italy: 19 May, 9.10pm - Sky Uno

Spain: 19 May, 7.15pm - Canal+1

France: 22 May, 11.15pm – France 2

And to save one of the best videos for last, watch this spine tingling trailer below!

All live performances are available on our multimedia forum. Remember to sign up first!

A big thanks to everyone on the Coldplaying forums for your contributions to this, you have all been fantastic!

Coldplay's week started off with a bang as they released the album version of Midnight and the official remix by Giorgio Moroder. It was proceeded by a chart explosion which was aided by the instant grat downloads from those who had pre-ordered Ghost Stories that resulted in Midnight topping the ITunes charts of over 53 countries.

The Ghost Stories campaign is pretty much underway and it is expected to blow full steam ahead from Friday where it is likely we will hear new songs off the album in public for the first time.

This week we have 3 live appearances in a row to tell you about!

Wednesday 23rd April - There is nothing of note, keep yourself entertained on our messageboards or Facebook page (ColdplayingHQ) or water the garden, you have your last bit of non Coldplay free time available to you before the ball starts rolling!

Thursday 24th April - Coldplay perform on French TV, Le Grand Journal (Canal+) at 7:10pm GMT+1

To find out which time this will be in your country, click here!

You can watch the performance on a live video stream here

Please bear in mind the show itself starts at the listed time, live acts usually play around 50 minutes after the show starts airing.

Friday 25th April - Coldplay will play the first date of their 6 planned performances for the Ghost Stories promo tour at E-Werk in Cologne, Germany.

To find the time in your country click here Coldplay are expected to arrive on stage at 9pm GMT+1

You can find the links to the audio streams of this show (no video shown until a later date) including all phone apps and web streamsin this forum thread with a big thanks to hps on our forum (post #277 on page 19)

Saturday 26th April - There will be a secret intimate show alike the one in Los Angeles which will be taking place in Baden-Baden, Germany! Coldplay fans who hold these tickets will have won the majority on German Radio stations!

You can stream the audio from this show (again, no video) using this forum thread (Thanks again hps)

The time is believed to be the same as the Cologne gig but on the Saturday instead.

Finally, we can now reveal the full track lengths of the Ghost Stories album which totals up to 42 minutes (spooky!). This makes Ghost Stories longer than Parachutes but shorter than Mylo Xyloto. Thank you to the_escapist on our forums for finding the information below!

Excitement is building. Only 27 days until the release of Coldplay's new album of 2014, Ghost Stories.

Coldplay have released Midnight to the UK ITunes store just after err...midnight! with US ITunes set to follow shortly. An official single has also been released (through Parlophone records - confirmed) for the remix of the track by Giorgio Moroder. The remix is 8 minutes and 38 seconds long! And its brilliant, up there with the

UK ITunes:

US ITunes :

And to give everyone a chart update, at 1pm UK time, Midnight is now #4 on the ITunes charts and has hit #1 in multiple countries like Brazil and Columbia! Impressive!

You can discuss and rate the new remix single here

Happy Easter to every Coldplay fan! The band have given the fans an Easter Egg today by providing us with this special treat of the behind the scenes video shoot for the outstanding "Magic" music video. Without further ado, you can watch Chris Martin and actress Zhang Ziyi filming their roles in this video below.

Let us know what you think on our forums too!

Coldplay have posted 6 new dates for intimate shows around the world on their website this morning.

Taken from www.coldplay.com :

Competition for tickets will be fierce, that's for sure!

Click here to talk about the short intimate shows, which will one will you try to get tickets for?

Coldplay fans are very observant, any sort of developments are quickly picked up on. Jonny could have slightly heavier stubble than normal, Phil Harvey could of been spotted buying Easter eggs in Tesco but it was none of those (today anyway!). BiggerStronger on our forums was doing the usual check up on the ITunes tracklist (as you do!) for Ghost Stories and spotted the new track lengths for Midnight, Another's Arms and A Sky Full of Stars.

Firstly, it immediately came to mind that Midnight is longer than 5 minutes (5:08 to exact upon checking) but a source from Warner Music (thanks to fellow fan site Coldplayzone.it) revealed the promo version was not the final edit of the track which made sense of the 4:54 track length of the album version.

The track length of Another's Arms is pretty much the same as the ITunes festival live version and it brings back the speculation that was fueled by Amazon revealing apparent promo release dates of Another's Arms and A Sky Full of Stars, as shown in this article. If that is to be believed still which seems more likely given the track length was revealed for Another's Arms, we will get to hear the studio version of Another's arms before the release of A Sky Full of Stars, exciting times indeed!

A Sky Full of Stars has been suggested by a few lucky fan's who attended the Sony Studios secret live show on 21st March that the length was standard and just over the 4 minute mark. There will be further previews of the potentially defining A Sky Full of Stars on the way!

Only 33 days to go now until the new Coldplay album of 2014, “Ghost Stories” is out!

At 3pm UK time, the official video for 'Magic' was released by Coldplay as predicted by Warned Bros Poland on Twitter a day before. The video for 'Magic' is in black and white with a classic silent film theme.

The video features 3 main characters :

Cecile, a beautiful young magicienne.

Claude, her moustachioed husband, the famous but drunk magician

Christophe, her assistant (the name sounds quite familiar!)

Click below to watch the official video now!

Thank you to the_escapist on our forums for the following pic. Looks like Chris possibly played more than one part in the video!

It was also full of many humorous moments including Christophe's head been moved about during a show, Christope giving the power of flight to himself and to his foes in an amusing manner. Claude's mustache was also one of the outstanding features of 'Magic' (thanks to Jonny and the cake on our forums for the next image)

Australian breakfast TV show 'Sunrise' have released an exclusive live performance of Magic by Coldplay. It is believed to have been recorded at the same time as Coldplay's recent TV airing for Sports Relief in the UK.

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/watch/22438060/coldplay-performs-for-sunrise

In a handwritten tracklist found via people.com, Coldplay will reveal "All Your Friends," "Ghost Story" and "O (Part 2)" as the three added tracks to the forthcoming album Ghost Stories.Coldplay have teamed up with Target for an exclusive deluxe edition of their sixth studio album. The album hits stores on May 19th and the deluxe edition is available for pre-order at Target.com. New sub-forums for these tracks have been added in the Ghost Stories sub-forum.More on this to follow...

Ghost Stories bonus tracks: All Your Friends, Ghost Story, O (part 2) http://t.co/NvWS9FZc0r T

— Coldplay news (@coldplaying) March 20, 2014

Tickets for the Under 1 Roof charity gig headlined by Coldplay went on sale this morning at 9am (GMT) and sold out, according to official sources, within 3 minutes.The event, taking place on 19th December at the at Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, London, is a benefit concert in support of the charity Kids Company.Success among Coldplayers on the messageboard (here onwards) appear high with many getting tickets shortly after 9am. However, there were a few unlucky ones unfortunately. But we are hosting a 'Want tickets / Have tickets to sell / Swap' process that allows genuine fans to help other genuine fans who have missed out. [thanks Tash]Auction tickets also remain - 30 pairs of Circle Seats tickets are up for bidding via the SeeTickets website. This particular auction opens 14th November 2013 at 12noon and closes 22nd November at 12noon. 30 pairs of Stalls Standing tickets are also being auctioned, starting next week on 22nd November 2013 at 12noon and closes 29th November at 12noon.There is also a raffle to win a pair of VIP tickets for the show. Tickets cost £1 each and can be bought via the Kids Company website until 13th December. The winner will receive 2 VIP Reserve seating tickets for the gig which include early entry, signed memorabilia from Coldplay and entry to the Aftershow Party. The winner will be drawn on 13th December by an online random selector. Entry is open to UK residents only.

The raffle to win VIP tickets to #Under1Roof on Dec 19 is now open (UK only). Tickets cost £1 each. Buy them now at http://t.co/zoWBKhfYB8 A

— Coldplay (@coldplay) November 14, 2013

We've just been told that #Under1Roof tickets for @KidsCompanyUK sold out in three minutes. That's incredible. Thanks everyone. A

— Coldplay (@coldplay) November 14, 2013

The #Under1Roof concert is in aid of @KidsCompanyUK... It's for charity... pic.twitter.com/SpCrkKY5NF

— David Brent Music (@DavidBrentMusic) November 14, 2013

When your album is being produced by Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman, you know you’re going to reach a lot of ears, writes American Songwriter this week. Innovative New York-based rock band Hudson Hank scored Berryman’s help for their debut album DayBreak which has been released this week (17th September). Watch this Hudson Hank and Guy Berryman interview via YouTube below. You can stream the album via Soundcloud now.

Coldplaying's Secret Santa 2013, sign up now! (deadline: 13 October, 11:59 PM CET) http://t.co/SRXn7IdLWv

— Coldplay news (@coldplaying) September 14, 2013

Coldplay will release a track titled Atlas from "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" soundtrack on August 26th, it has been revealed today by Lionsgate, Republic Records, and the official Coldplay site. Full discussion on this latest news is at the Coldplay forum now [thanks Tash]

"Atlas" is scheduled to be available via iTunes and all digital retailers later this month. Republic Records is again teaming up with Lionsgate to release the soundtrack in advance of Lionsgate distributing the film on screens worldwide on 22nd November 2013.

Earlier today, Chris Martin tweeted the new song's lyrics, which can be found at the bottom of this article. This marks the first time Coldplay has ever recorded an original song for a motion picture.

Filmmaker Francis Lawrence said: "I have great respect and admiration for Coldplay, and we are thrilled with how well they have connected to the themes and ideas within the film. Their unwavering passion and excitement for the project elevated the collaboration even further, and we can't wait to share this music with audiences around the world."

Tracy McKnight, Lionsgate's Head of Film Music also added: "We are so honored that Coldplay, one of the iconic rock bands of our generation, will perform the first song out on the new soundtrack. Knowing that Chris Martin is a fan of the books makes this even more meaningful. The Coldplay single underscores the stature of recording artists we've assembled for this powerful soundtrack."

Monte Lipman, Chairman & CEO of Republic Records, stated: "The creative alliance between Coldplay and The Hunger Games franchise will create a level of excitement and anticipation of epic proportions."

The first installment of The Hunger Games was the 13th highest-grossing North American release of all time on its way to grossing nearly $700 million at the worldwide box office. This is the first in a series of highly anticipated announcements of the new artists to be revealed in the coming weeks.

So far, details surrounding the "Catching Fire" soundtrack have been scarce. Bolivian singer-songwriter Santiago Laserna likely recorded the first song from the compilation, according to NME. We also know that Travis Clark, the lead singer of rock band We The Kings, composed a song. The Coldplay announcement is certainly the most high-profile "Catching Fire" music revelation to date. We can surely expect more where that comes from, as the first "Hunger Games" soundtrack, "Songs from District 12 and Beyond," boasted a lineup that included Arcade Fire, Taylor Swift, Kid Cudi, Maroon 5 and The Decemberists. With The Hunger Games the runaway success that it is, we suspect many artist – big or small – will be clamoring to be a part of the film’s soundtrack. By including just one song they are exposing themselves to a big new audience.

Some saw the sun

Some saw the smoke

Some heard the gun

Some bent the bow

Sometimes the wire must tense for the note

Caught in the fire say oh

We're about to explode

Carry your world, I'll carry your world

Some far away

Some search for gold

Some dragon to slay

Heaven we hope is just up the road

Show me the way, Lord because I

I'm about to explode

Carry your world

I'll carry your world

Carry your world and all your hurt

The first Hunger Games partnership between Republic Records and Lionsgate yielded the Grammy Award-winning, chart-dominating The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 And Beyond executive produced by T Bone Burnett. The album hit #1 on the Billboard Top 200 on its release with sales over 175,000, making it the first soundtrack to top the chart since November 2009. It was the best-selling soundtrack of 2012, the fastest selling soundtrack ever at iTunes, and was certified gold by the RIAA shortly after its release. The album earned a Golden Globe Award nomination and three Grammy Award nominations, and its first single, Taylor Swift's "Safe & Sound" featuring The Civil Wars, won the 2013 Grammy Award for "Best Song Written for Visual Media".

Chris Martin has revealed being named the best British act by a top music charity means a "huge amount" to the group writes the Belfast Telegraph today. Coldplay will receive the honour from Nordoff Robbins at the 2013 O2 Silver Clef Awards ceremony on June 28th.

"It means a huge amount to us to be named Best British Act by Nordoff Robbins," said Chris. "Nordoff Robbins is an organisation that lies very close to our hearts. They provide life-changing music therapy for thousands of people each year and we're humbled to collect this award in their honour."

Chairman David Munns added: "Coldplay are one of the British music industry's great successes. With over 60 million album sales and five consecutive No 1 albums, I can think of no band better placed to win the Royal Albert Hall Best British Act Award. They have dominated the British music scene for a decade and their music has influenced a generation."

Next month Coldplay will be presented with the award at the official Silver Clef Awards ceremony which takes place at the London Hilton on June 28th. Organisers hope to raise £500,000 from the awards to fund 20,000 life-transforming music therapy sessions for children and adults across the UK. Ten awards will be presented at the ceremony, including the innovation award to singer-songwriter and record producer, Labrinth and the classical award to trumpet soloist Alison Balsom.

Other previously announced winners include Labrinth, who will be awarded with the American Express Innovation Award, and Alison Balsom who will win the PPL Classical Award. Seven other awards will be presented at the event, which will take place at the London Hilton on June 28.

Coldplay to receive 'Best British Band' honour at the 02 Silver Clef Awards 2013 on June 28th

Gywneth Paltrow, has praised her husband, despite revealing that the couple had been through 'terrible times' during their marriage, various sources including Gigwise have reported this week. The actress is currently in the UK promoting superhero blockbuster, Iron Man 3, and has revealed personal details about her marriage to Chris Martin in a new interview with Glamour magazine.

"It’s hard being married. You go through great times, you go through terrible times. We’re the same as any couple," she tells the magazine. "I asked my dad once, 'How did you and Mum stay married for 33 years?' And he said, 'Well, we never wanted to get divorced at the same time'. And I think that’s what happens."

She also describs Chris as 'mad, genius songwriter' and claims he is making a contribution to the world with his music. "I never say, 'Where are you? You should be home by now,'" she adds. "I never place demands on him because I think he’s a really talented man and he’s putting something good into the world."

In other news, Chris Martin was spotted watching Arsenal take on Manchester United alongside Jay-Z last weekend (April 28th). The Premier League game took place at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and ended 1-1 after Robin Van Persie equalised from the penalty spot after Theo Walcott had opened the scoring for the home side. The pair kept a low profile throughout the match with Jay-Z wearing a hood throughout. Chris's son Moses was also at the match but the pair's wives Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyoncé were nowhere to be seen.

In other photos, Chris has recently been spotted working out with trainer Dan and Phil Harvey in Primrose Hill, and out in London in the evening of 29th April... see some of those below.

What do you think of the latest photos of Chris Martin from the past couple of weeks? Let us know via Facebook using the comments section at the bottom!

24 April 2013: Chris Martin and Phil Harvey in Primrose Hill, London:

Says the Daily Mail: Fans of Chris Martin have probably dreamed for the day they get to watch him peel his T-shirt off. But will their pulses still be racing when they see the unsightly cupping marks on his back?

The 36-year old singer showed the tell tale marks left by the alternative therapy - where hot cups are placed against the skin to create a vaccum and increase blood flow - as he worked out in Primrose Hill on Wednesday.

The procedure first made headlines in 2004 when his wife Gwyneth Paltrow, 40, attended the Anchorman premier with the unusual marks clearly visible above her strapless gown. Chris was working out with a trainer on the hottest day of the year so far, and like many men who experienced the unusually hot British spring day, he ended up taking his top off. Prior to this, Chris was seen using a TRX system to work his upper body, which was surprisingly solid and tanned.

But it was as he swung himself over a pair of steel double bars that the cupping marks became visible. A source told The Sun that Chris' love of keeping fit and alternative therapies are definitely thanks to his health-concious wife. 'Chris has always kept himself in shape and he’s not shy about having the odd beauty treatment either. 'That’s Gwyneth’s influence. She’s opened his eyes to pampering methods. 'He’s a yoga fanatic and has been running serious miles too.'

28 April 2013: Chris Martin at Emirates Stadium for Arsenal v Man United game:

29 April 2013: Chris Martin in London for evening meal:

Coldplay have been nominated twice in the Billboard Awards 2013 in the Top Duo/Group, Top Rock Artist and Top Touring Artist categories. The awards ceremony takes place on May 19th airing on ABC. More on this news is at the Coldplay forum now [thanks Tash]

Up against Coldplay in the Top Duo/Group are: Fun., Maroon 5, Mumford & Sons and One Direction. In the Top Rock Artist category they compete against Fun., Gotye, Mumford & Sons and Bruce Springsteen. In the Top Touring Artist group Coldplay are hoping to beat Lady Gaga, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters.

Billboard Music Awards finalists were based on key fan interactions with music, including album and digital singles sales, radio airplay, touring, streaming and social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, VEVO, Spotify and other popular online destinations for music. These measurements were tracked year-round by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Entertainment and Next Big Sound.

Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars and Miguel are all set to take the stage at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, which will be hosted by Tracy Morgan and executive produced by Don Mischer. Additionally during the broadcast, Billboard will honor Prince with the coveted Billboard Icon Award, and the ingenuity of this year's hitmakers will be celebrated with the new Milestone Award, presented by Chevrolet. Fans can vote for their favorite finalist now at Billboard.com/milestone.

How Billboard magazine announced the return of Coldplay for the Mylo Xyloto era:

Coldplay have been named the Best British Live Act at the BRIT Awards 2013 in London last night. They won the award ahead of the likes of The Rolling Stones, Muse and Mumford & Sons following their huge sold out Mylo Xyloto tour last year. More discussion and photos of Coldplay's latest Brit Award win is at the Coldplay forum now.

The prize was picked up by Will Champion and Jonny Buckland, while Chris Martin and Guy Berryman were not able to attend. Coldplay performed over 100 shows and released their first live DVD in nine years over the tour and incorporated Xylobands for which Jason Regler was thanked by Will during his acceptance speech. He also thanked all the fans who came to see the band on the road. "Thank you very much," Will said. "This is absolutely extraordinary."

Backstage, Will Champion admitted that "a bit of recognition is wonderful" after collecting their eighth Brit Award. "We're always pleased to come to these things and to win is amazing," said drummer Will Champion when interviewed backstage after the ceremony. "We feel that we've worked very hard at our live shows so to get a bit of recognition is wonderful."

Will felt their latest Brit win also honoured their wider creative team. He said: "It's a great thing because we've been able to use things made by exceptional people - people like Jason Regler who invented the wristbands that we use. He had an idea about five years ago to invent this little thing while he was watching one of our shows on TV. So to bring an idea like that out and then let it do its thing is a brilliant thing."

When asked if any new music was materialising since 2011's Mylo Xyloto, it was an emphatic "no" from lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, although he did concede he was doing "the occasional jam session" with Will Champion. "It's nothing productive though," the drummer was keen to point out. It's absolutely dreadful. Garbage, abstract, avant-garde nonsense. So you shall never hear of it, even if we released it you'd never hear it."

The Brit Awards themselves received heavy criticism, and the Guardian appear to lead the way with the scathing articles. The wrote: 'Lumbered with a script that appeared to have been written by the same person responsible for the quips in an early 70s Miss World contest, host James Corden spent much of the evening apologising for the solitary moment of off-message excitement at last year's Brits, when Adele's acceptance speech was cut short.'

They continued: 'Certainly there were no surprises among the winners, which furthermore rather defy any kind of meaningful analysis. The Brits exist to reward success, thus the winners tell you nothing about the state of British music that anyone with even a glancing knowledge of the charts doesn't know already. You could argue that makes the Brit awards slightly superfluous to requirements, as the winners had been rewarded fairly abundantly for their efforts even before they took delivery of the spotted statuettes Corden described a little confusingly as designed "by the visually British artist Damien Hirst", but it means there's something inarguable about the results.'

The Evening Standard also had a swipe, commenting: 'Pure pop was largely off the menu, so much so that they had to make up a new category, the Global Success Award, to give something to One Direction. That meant some more credible winners including remarkable R&B singer Frank Ocean and spooky chanteuse Lana Del Rey. Despite all the fireworks it still looked a little low-rent at times. The Black Keys couldn’t even be bothered to make a sorry-we-couldn’t-be-bothered-to-come video, Chris Martin sent the drummer to do Coldplay’s speech, and Adele wasn’t coming near the place after last year, preferring to rehearse for the Oscars instead. Sandé, the best we have for now, closed proceedings with a whimper, not a bang.

Photos of Will Champion and Jonny Buckland at the Brit Awards 2013 (20th February):

Coldplay and Oxfam will team up to make a new crowd-sourced video for an acoustic version of the track 'In My Place' that will be part of a campaign to raise land grab awareness, according to NME tonight. More discussion on this is at the Coldplay forum now [thanks Tash]

Land grabbing is the practice of banks, individuals or governments buying huge plots of land in poor countries for profit, which is damaging to those who live there, who can end up without a home or livelihood. The video seeks to highlight this issue by showing the sense of being out of place.

Coldplayers will be asked to submit video or photo footage by March 20th for the chance to be included in the video. Coldplay’s music video and film director Mat Whitecross will stitch the best of the footage together to make the final cut. People are being asked to move something favourite, personal or familiar from their home to somewhere it doesn’t belong. Alternatively, they could do something personal, everyday, familiar that they’d usually do at home, in totally the wrong place.

The video will launch in April when The World Bank has its Annual Spring Meeting and aims to encourage people to take action and try. A reminder of the original In My Place video from 2002...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEoHFzEmld0

The Russian billionaire Len Blavatnik will add Coldplay, Blur and Tinie Tempah to his empire after his Warner Music group emerged victorious in a bidding war to take over the historic Parlophone record label, media sources are reporting Thursday (7th February).

Warners, bought by Blavatnik’s Access Industries private equity group for $3.3 billion (£2 bn) in 2011, won the battle to take control of Parlophone and other EMI assets, which were put up for sale following Universal Music’s takeover of the British company. The deal is worth £487 million ($765 million), considerably higher than Parlophone’s £300 million valuation. Parlophone’s stable, which also includes Kate Bush and Kylie Minogue, will now join Warner Music’s star names such as Ed Sheeran, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bruno Mars.

Warners, which owns the Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac back catalogue, will also take control of ground-breaking albums by David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Kraftwerk. EU regulators ordered Universal to sell off 30 per cent of EMI’s assets as a condition for the approval of a £1.2 billion takeover of the record company.

Warner beat a joint bid from Sony Music and BMG rights and a consortium led by Simon Fuller, the American Idol creator, to secure the EMI business. The deal gives Warner Music a market share of 20 per cent, edging closer to Sony Music’s 29 per cent, whilst Universal remains the market leader with just under 40 per cent. Moscow-born Blavatnik, 55, is based in London and worth $12.5 billion. The Russian-American industrialist’s empire extends from oil to a sports entertainment group.

He was rumoured to have paid a record $87 million for a Rothko at Christie’s last year and gifted $115 million for the creation of Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. Blavatnik, Chairman and founder of Access Industries, said: “This is a very important milestone for Warner Music, reflecting our commitment to artist development by strengthening our worldwide roster, global footprint and executive talent.”

Universal retains control of the Beatles catalogue and artists including Emilie Sande under the EU-approved deal. Regulators said Parlophone must be sold to a company with a track record in the music industry, which would retain the brand name. Some Parlophone artists expressed concern over their transfer to a new corporate entity. Stephen Cooper, CEO of Warner Music Group, said: “Having the Parlophone Label Group become part of our family represents a unique opportunity for us to join with legendary record labels and artists that are highly complementary to our existing organization from a creative, geographic and strategic standpoint.

“We are committed to making this a great outcome for Parlophone’s artists and employees, who will find in WMG a similar spirit and culture that is dedicated to providing the most supportive and innovative home for recording artists. The continuation of the Parlophone legacy and brand are central to the future success of this combination, and we are proud to have them join us.”

Lucian Grainge, Chairman & CEO of Universal Music, said: “Following this transaction, we will continue with our global reinvestment program that is rebuilding EMI and ensuring that the company is able to reach its full potential. And we’re satisfied that our agreement with Warner Music will provide a home for PLG artists.”

Warners obtained commitments to finance the transaction through a new term loan facility provided through Credit Suisse, Barclays, UBS, Macquarie and Nomura. The closing of the transaction is expected to occur mid-year 2013, subject to regulatory approvals and a consultation procedure with employee representatives. Job losses at Parlophone are expected as the company integrates with its new owner.

Latest photos: of Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland with Coldplayer yellow***star at the Bakery, London (uploaded 3rd February 2013):

Coldplay's Clocks has been named 6 Music listener's favourite song of the last ten years. The digital radio station's year-long celebration of its tenth birthday culminated in the announcement of the winner of a poll to find which song was the greatest hit of the station's decade of broadcasting. More on this announcement, including the audio to the full Will Champion interview with Steve Lamacq is at the Coldplay forum now [thanks LARD, Tash, Denise]

Coldplay comfortably beat out competition from other big hitters such as Arctic Monkeys, Elbow, the Killers, the White Stripes, Johnny Cash and Radiohead to claim the number one spot, with their signature tune, Clocks. Throughout today there has been a Greatest Hits Chart rundown as the order of the top 100 songs, as voted by over 100,000 listeners based on a list decided by the station's presenters, producers and staff, has been revealed. Steve Lamacq was given the honour of revealing the top 30 during his afternoon show, having launched the poll on 7 January.

More than 100,000 votes were cast in the poll which looks back over the 10 years since the station began in 2002. "It's a good result for Coldplay, who were clearly one of the biggest bands of the decade," said DJ Steve Lamacq.

"But you can see the breadth of 6 Music's tastes in the rest of the top 10, including some bands who we've championed and who've broken through commercially like Elbow, and some brilliant groups who remain out there on the margins of pop like British Sea Power and The National."

Speaking on 6 Music, Coldplay's Will Champion said he was "totally blown away" by topping the poll. "This is extraordinary. We've been listening to 6 Music since it started and I feel like our band's career and this station have grown up in parallel. This top 10 is amazing - what an amazing 10 years of music," he said.

Will said that topping the chart was all the more surprising as 'we all said not bad for a song that hasn't got a chorus'. "When I first heard it, Chris played the riff and I said 'that's a good intro what about the rest of the song?' I was scratching my head trying to find something that would fill a little gap in the record."

He added: "This was a first successful attempt at writing a song where the melodic hook was the key to a song rather than a big chorus. Our manager said it would never be a hit and here we are."

The third single from Coldplay's platinum-selling second album A Rush of Blood to the Head, Clocks reached number nine on the UK singles chart and number 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In 2004 it was voted record of the year at the Grammy Awards. In October 2011, it came number 148 on the NME's list of the 150 best tracks of the past 15 years.

The top 10 tracks voted 6 Music's Greatest hits were:

10: Radiohead – There There

9: British Sea Power – Remember Me

8: Johnny Cash – Hurt

7: The Flaming Lips – Do You Realize??

6: The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army

5: The Killers – Mr Brightside

4: The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio

3: Elbow – One Day like This

2: Arctic Monkeys – I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor

1: Coldplay – Clocks

The full rundown of all 100 tracks can be seen at the 6 Music website bbc.co.uk/6music

Will Champion interview transcript [thanks LARD]:

Steve: Now: It won a Grammy for you, this track... but surely THIS is a bigger award!

Will: This is extraordinary, I was totally blown away. We've been listening to 6 Music since it started so our band's career and this station's career have kind of grown up in parallel. Just looking at this top 10, it's extraordinary, so many new and old bands.

Steve: It's a tough competition. Wherever you go in that list there is inventive and incredible music.

Will: Yeah, The Flaming Lips: that band changed everything for us when we first saw them at Glastonbury in 1999, and it was just stunning. They'd be my no.1.

Steve: One of the things you notice having listened throughout the day is how music has diversified and evolved so much. There have always been critics who've said 'we haven't seen much progression in music' ...but look at this list!

Will: An amazing 10 years of music

Steve: Now Clocks is an interesting one: was it the last thing you wrote on A Rush Of Blood To The Head?

Will: It was pretty much the last thing. I was speaking to the guys last night when we heard about this, and we all said 'not bad for a song without a chorus!'. I remember when Chris came in and played the bit on the piano. I said 'OK that's a good intro... now what about the rest of the song?' and he said 'No, it's like a hook, it doesn't have a vocal chorus'.

Steve: At the time there was kind of a feeling that the album maybe wasn't finished, or it was looking for something...

Will: That always happens to us at the end... you get to a point where it's finished and there's always a gap. This was a first successful attempt at writing a song where a melodic hook was the key to the song rather than a big swooping chorus or choral singalong. We've used the same technique on a couple of other songs. Our manager was talking about releasing it as a single and, I'll quote him, he said 'I'll eat my hat if that is a hit'... and here we are!

Steve: It became a very big part of the live set. I remember following you through the States as you played that album and it was a very important song in the set.

Will: Yeah it was. We decided to play Glastonbury 2002 before the album came out, and that was a kind of make or break moment. It was the moment we knew everything was alright when we stated playing Clocks, because the piano riff comes in and we'd spent every penny we had to do the show on this one enormous laser. We'd never seen it in action because you needed to get permission from air traffic control to actually switch it on. The lighting guy said 'yeah, it's going to be amazing', and we thought it was going to be a damp squib. And then we started playing this song and this big green laser came on... it went from being a tiny pin-prick and it just spread out over the whole place; it put a ceiling over the Pyramid stage and it was just stunning. From then on it's become a really important part of the live show.

Steve: As with any important song, there was nothing it wasn't 'on'. You couldn't have a football show for example without hearing it.

Will: It's weird, you tend to switch off... and there are adverts where they know that they won't be able to get the licence for the real song, so they pay someone to make a song that's very similar to it, but changing enough notes to it's not legally too similar.

Steve: So that's what Guy does in his spare time!

Will: Ah, so that's where he gets his money from! But you hear the phrasing [of the piano part] behind it... it's been an iconic thing for us, so you could hear it everywhere.

Steve: Wasn't it used in an episode of Family Guy?

Will: I'm afraid so! It's ubiquitous unfortunately; you can't escape it.

Steve: So when do you get some time off? I doubt any of you can leave Coldplay alone for long.

Will: It normally takes about three weeks off the road. We played our last show of this last tour on New Year's Eve, and by about January 17th I'd phoned up Jonny and said 'do you want to go down to the studio?'. So we're definitely starting to think again, even though we don't have a particularly solid idea, the idea of not playing music for any length of time is not worth thinking about. So we're enjoying playing music and just trying to see what's on the horizon.

Steve: Does it hold good memories for you, this particular song?

Will: Each album seems to have a song which acts like a keystone. It's like a passport for a whole different level of stuff. 'Yellow' was that one for the first record, and Clocks was definitely the song on the second record that allowed us to go to different places. It attracted a different type of person to the music and to the band, and we're so grateful that it turned out to be as successful as it was and I was totally wrong about it.

Steve: [Laughs] Well congratulations to the rest of the guys, I hope they're all well.

Will: Not at all, and thank you for 12 years of looking after us... you've been a very nice man to us.

Singer Emeli Sande has capped a stellar rise over the past 12 months with four nominations for the 2013 Brit Awards. The star, who had the best-selling album in the UK in 2012, is up for best female, best album and has two tracks in the best single category.

There were three nominations each for Mumford and Sons and Mercury Prize winners Alt-J. Amy Winehouse has received a nomination for best British female after posthumous material was released. Adele, who swept the board at last year's ceremony, is in the running for best single for her James Bond theme Skyfall - meaning she has received Oscar and Brit nominations on the same day. Singer Rita Ora also has three nominations, including two in the best single list, while Muse, Paloma Faith, Plan B and Jessie Ware are up for two prizes each.

Some of the Brit Awards nominations so far:

Meanwhile, Artist Damien Hirst has unveiled his original design for this year's Brit Award. It's the third year in a row a famous British artist has put their own stamp on the statue.

Hirst's design has the award, Britannia, covered in his famous spots. It'll be presented to this year's winners during the ceremony at London's O2 Arena on 20 February, which will be hosted by James Corden for the fourth time. Brits Chairman David Joseph said: "Damien is truly one of the most important British artists. "His reimagining of the statue  will make winning a 2013 BRIT an even more special proposition."

Last year's statue was designed by Sir Peter Blake while 2011's was fashioned by Dame Vivienne Westwood. The nominations for this year's awards will be announced on Thursday 10 January at a launch hosted by Radio 1 breakfast host Nick Grimshaw.

Tom Odell has already been chosen as the Brits Critics' Choice winner.

Damien Hirst has designed this year's Brit Award

Watch: Coldplay: Charlie Brown + Best British Group Speech + MX Clip (Brit Awards 2012):

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kmJ9SM_GEM[/embed]