Chris Martin grew up hearing a lot of hymns, and it's a musical influence that shows through particularly clearly when his band Coldplay performs in concert.

Like the church songs of Martin's devout upbringing, Coldplay's music is often stately and solemn, with an uplifting undercurrent meant to inspire. It's grown more pronounced with each of the band's four albums, and it was evident in the soaring sing-alongs throughout the English quartet's performance Saturday at XL Center in Hartford.

That's not all that was evident: Coldplay has evolved into a fully capable arena-rock band, in the very best sense. Songs that sound insipid or even pretentious on the band's albums became epic on stage: the stinging guitar riff that elevated "Fix You" into an anthem, for example, or the grinding organ underpinning "Lost!"

The four musicians have grown as performers, too, exchanging the slightly mopey, if intense, air that accompanied the band's early shows for an energetic, commanding stage presence.

Read the full review here

Setlist:

-Life in Technicolor

-Violet Hill

-Clocks

-In My Place

-Viva la Vida

-Yes

-42

-Fix You

-Strawberry Swing

-Chinese Sleep Chant

-God Put a Smile Upon Your Face (Techno version)

-Square One

-The Hardest Part (Partial)

-Yellow

-Lost!

-The Scientist (Acoustic)

-Death Will Never Conquer (Will Champion on vocals)

encore

-Politik

-Lovers in Japan

-Death and All His Friends

-The Escapist (Exit music)

They played a techno version of God Put a Smile Upon Your Face...and about the first half of The Hardest Part before stopping it because, as Martin put it, "it's not a big enough hit". Awesome show, the energy from the band and the crowd was great. I wish they came out for an acoustic encore like they did a couple times so far...but Death and All His Friends is a more than capable closer.

Best song by far was Politik...they blasted right into it after a video montage of Bill O'Reilly calling Martin a "coward" and of various politicians dancing...great night, it was

More reviews, videos and pictures from this show here onwards [thanks tcaporale]

Yesterday was one of the busiest days in the Coldplay 2008 calendar so far, with three interviews and the release of the new Viva La Vida video. Here is a reminder of all the interviews and useful links:

eTalk [pictures] [discussion] [watch video] [download video]

Tanya Kim and Ben Mulroney of eTalk sat down with Chris Martin and Johnny Buckland of Coldplay at the eTalk studios in downtown Toronto yesterday. At first they joked about Ben Mulroney's hair, which set the tone for a wickedly fun interview. After Chris Martin gave Ben hassle for not allowing TK (Tanya Kim) to sit down during the interview, nothing was off limits.

They chatted about everything from their worst habits to already working on an upcoming album. Chris explained that the tracks haven't been "perfected" yet and when they are, be sure to watch out! They also explained that it was drummer, Will Champion's birthday on Thursday night's show and that it would be a sentimental concert for him. What better way to celebrate a birthday in a great city like Toronto!

Much Music [pictures] [discussion] [watch video] [download video]

Chris Martin & Jonny Buckland dropped by MuchMusic’s MuchOnDemand on Thursday before they stepped on stage at the Air Canada Centre for the second night of their sold out shows in Toronto.

102.1 The Edge [pictures] [discussion] [watch video] [download audio]

Jonny Buckland & Guy Berryman visited the 102.1 The Edge studios, during which Jonny Buckland confirmed that the new video for the single Viva La Vida was just around the corner - possibly as early as next week. However, later that day, both new versions of the video appeared on the official website.

The Viva La Vida music video is now available via the official Coldplay site. There appears to be 2 versions:

Version 1 (directed by Hype Williams, bottom left) [youtube!]

Version 2 (cover version, made out of love for Depeche Mode and the genius of Anton Corbijn, bottom right) [youtube!]

Let us know what you think of the videos here and don't forget to vote for your favourite in the video poll! [thanks DGrzechu, Arazmire, Ekmi & Lore]

Check out coldplay.com for a new newsreel entry: NPR radio inteview

Good evening. On July 25th, in the fine city of Philadelphia, National Public Radio's David Dye interviewed all four members of Coldplay for his World Cafe programme. We have learned that this interview will be broadcast on Friday, August 8th on almost 200 radio stations worldwide. Click here to find out which station local to you will be broadcasting it. Alternatively, you'll be able to listen online between 2pm and 4pm Eastern Standard Time. Anchorman

You can discuss this entry here [thanks mimixxx]

Coldplay's Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland appeared yesterday on Canadian TV programme eTalk and confirmed that as of yesterday the band have finished working on some songs that will be released in EP format sometime in March next year.

The full interview is now available via the Much Music website - view all the videos here. More on this news here [thanks Space Cadet]

Meanwhile, during Coldplay's interview on 102.1FM The Edge, Jonny Buckland [pictured] confirmed that the new video for the single Viva La Vida is just around the corner - possibly as early as next week.

You can listen to him yourself by downloading the full interview via megaupload here or watching the videos online courtesy of The Edge Youtube Channel [thanks Fixed & mimixxx]

Setlist:

Life In Technicolor

Violet Hill

Clocks

In My Place

Viva La Vida

Yes

42

Fix You

Strawberry Swing

Chinese Sleep Chant (B stage)

God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (B stage)

Speed Of Sound

The Hardest Part (Part)

Yellow

Lost!

The Scientist (Acoustic)

Death Will Never Conquer (Will on vocals)

-----

Politik

The Hardest Part (Piano Version)

Lovers In Japan

Happy Birthday (to Will Champion)

Death And All His Friends

And Chris played "The Hardest Part" twice...one somewhere near the beginning but stopped after having messed up...and then continued the second half later on in the show. This was done on purpose I assume?

Great show tonight, but why so stingy? No encore! I've never in my life been to a concert where there was no encore. We all waited a good 10 minutes after Death and All of His Friends, screaming and chanting for them to come back out. I wonder what happened? Just before the last song, Chris announced it was Will's birthday so he made us all sing Happy Birthday and brought out a small cake. But all that didn't take more then 3 minutes or so....

More reviews and pictures from this show here onwards [thanks sunshyne0]

Coldplay dropped by MuchMusic’s MuchOnDemand on Thursday before they stepped on stage at the Air Canada Centre for the second night of their sold out shows in Toronto. The band is currently touring in support of their fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, which was released earlier this year.

After tonight’s show, Coldplay heads to the United States for three shows before embarking on a number of International dates. The Viva la Vida tour is set to wrap up in Munich on September 26. This just in from the MOD blog:

The boys of Coldplay were spotted today visiting Much Music as well as taking time away from their busy schedule to do some shopping in Yorkville… Anyone lookin’ to stalk the boys, go wait outside The Hazelton Hotel - That’s where they are staying!! We’ll have the whole interview up tomorrow for you, check out some snaps in the meantime!

More from this appearance here. All the pictures are in the Coldplaying gallery here [thanks mimixxx & fakeplastic1988]

Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" (Parlophone/EMI) starts a sixth week atop European Top 100 Albums, while Kid Rock moves into a third week at No. 1 on Eurochart Hot 100 Singles with "All Summer Long" (Topdog/Atlantic/Warner Music).

The Coldplay album moves back to No. 1 in the United Kingdom, France and the Belgian region of Wallony, as U.K. sales to last weekend climb to 768,000.

"Viva" falls 1-2 in Germany, Switzerland and Finland and 1-4 in Greece, but is still No. 1 in Holland and Ireland. It's not the U.K.'s bestselling album of the week, which appears instead on the separate compilations chart. "Now That's What I Call Music! 70" (EMI/Virgin/UMTV) sells 383,000 in its first week, 243 units ahead of "Now 69" in March. Official U.K. Charts Company figures put total U.K sales for the entire "Now" series, over 25 years, at more than 75 million.

This just in:

Unfortunately, Chris Martin will not be coming to the Edge studios today. He is ill and will be replaced by Guy Berryman. Guy and Jonny will visit 228 Yonge to chat with Dave Bookman today at 6pm. This does not effect tonight’s show at the ACC.

More on this here [thanks scruffz & mimixxx]

Setlist

1. Life In Technicolor

2. Violet Hill

3. Clocks

4. In my Place

5. Viva La vida

6. Yes

7. 42

8. Fix You

9. Strawberry Swing

10. Chinese Sleep Chant

11. God Put A Smile On Your Face

12. Speed of Sound

13. Yellow

14. Lost!

15. The Scientist

16. Death Will Never Conquer

17. Talk (Remix)

18. Politik

19. Lovers In Japan

20. Death And All His Friends/ The Escapist

21. Don't Panic

22. The Dubliners

They played WARNING SIGN for us at the Sound Check Party!!! It was absolutly unbelievable!! THEN... My heart sunk as I heard something I never thought I'd hear live... "When I counted up my demons..." unfortunately... it stopped there because Chris kept messing up the song! But we got one line of Everything's Not Lost and that's pretty darn cool! After that... We got to meet the band! And an amazing show followed...

opening act was Santogold (hip/hop with lots of electro sounds)... She started at about 7:45pm and finished about 8:15pm (quick 30min set). Then it was literally crazy waiting until 9pm when Coldplay took the stage. They wrapped up their encore at 10:41pm sharply. Short concert if you ask me but totally awesome nonetheless.

More reviews and pictures here onwards [thanks sarahduffus & green_eyes11]

It took a teen superstar to finally knock reigning champs Coldplay off the top of the Canadian album charts, reports jam.canoe.ca.

15-year-old singer Miley Cyrus's new effort "Breakout" debuted at No. 1, selling 27,000 copies, according to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. In Canada, the "Mamma Mia" soundtrack was held steady at No. 2, while Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" drops from No. 1 down to No. 3, after spending five consecutive weeks at No. 1.

Meanwhile, the teenager, star of Disney's Hannah Montana, has revealed that her ideal man isColdplay frontman Chris Martin. The actress, who recently launched a singing career, said she would like nothing more than a 16-year-old version of the Coldplay star. Although, speaking to the Mirror, she admitted that there was a woman standing in her way, and it isn't Martin's wife, Gwyneth Paltrow. “My mum says I have terrible taste,” she said.

Pendulum earlier today performed their single The Other Side and a cover of Coldplay's Violet Hill - drum 'n bass style.

You can listen to the cover at the radio 1 website here - let us know what you think!

More on this here [thanks squareone13]

Parlophone’s Coldplay, who reclaimed the albums chart crown this past Sunday, are likely to make it a seventh week at the top with Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends.

Polydor’s Abba best of Gold – Greatest Hits, which narrowly missed out on returning to number one last weekend, is the Coldplay album’s closest challenger again, with A&M/Polydor act Duffy’s Rockferry close behind.

The band have now spent six non consecutive weeks at number one with their fourth album, which also topped the charts in the US. They are also #1 for the 5th week in a row on the United World Chart with 279,000 copies sold.

Read all of Coldplay's album and single movement courtesy of colpatrix & coldplayzone here

Setlist:

Life in Technicolor

Violet Hill

Clocks

In My Place

Yes

Viva La Vida

42

Fix You

Chinese Sleep Chant (band playing close together, right side of stage)

God Put a Smile Upon Your Face (techno version, right side of stage)

Speed of Sound

Yellow

Lost! (regular version - not acoustic)

The Scientist (acoustic, b-stage beside sound booth)

Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic, b-stage, Will on vocals)

Talk (remix)

Politik

Lovers in Japan

Death and All His Friends

The Escapist (outro)

------------------------------------------

Green Eyes

New song unfinished (The Dubliners)

Sound was excellent... Chris spoke a lot in french saying that UK people were not shouting enough.

Fantastic atmosphere I found (as Chris said, especially for a Tuesday night).I have videos and stuff so I'll see what I can do.I really really enjoyed the show.They were really trying to get close to the audience so at one point they came to the back, not far away from where I was standing.That was probably one the best parts.It was for Scientist and Death will never Conquer.Chris spoke a little bit of French, which was pretty funny I must say.He messed up at one point, some piano stuff They also did Green Eyes at the end after Death and All is Friends.Anyway...I'm a little deaf right now.

More reviews, pictures and videos here onwards and at the see pictures from this show at the Coldplaying gallery [thanks Montreal & marie/pims]

Coldplay is coming to the eTalk studios in Toronto this Thursday afternoon, July 31st, and they're looking for fans to be in the audience.

Anyone interested should email: etalkaudience@ctv.ca or call directly on 1-866-460-4797.

Hosted by Ben Mulroney, the show is Canada's premiere entertainment news source. Covering all fronts of the entertainment world, eTalk delivers the dish on movies, music, TV, DVD, fashion, trends, soaps and gossip. Mulroney, aided by reporters from across the country, will rub elbows and swap stories with the biggest celebs - from your perennial favourites to freshly minted upstarts.

More on this exclusive Coldplaying announcement here [thanks Marisa @ eTalk]

Fresh from topping the album and singles charts, Coldplay will come to Radio 2 to play an intimate gig in the BBC Radio Theatre in London on 30th August 2008.

If you would like to attend this free event, then please call phonelines on 03700 100 200. Lines will be open from 1720h today, and will close at 1900h on Friday 1 August 2008. Tickets are free and will be allocated at random. You can apply for a maximum of one pair of tickets per household, and you must make your own way to and from the event.

More on this exclusive story and full terms and conditions here [thanks mayurshikotra]

Anticipation builds up in the rows and rows of people waiting for the End. As in Coldplay; the group credited with providing the raison d'être for the Pemberton Music Festival.

It's almost 10:20. The re-scheduled start time was 10:10. Every time any movement occurs on stage there is roar. Then: release.

There is almost a sense of relief when the cascading waves of guitar rain down and the band kicks into "Violet Hill." The first single from the group's new album Viva La Vida. The stuttered two-step rhythm of the song gets the foot-stomping up and folks are fuh-reek-in. When the second tune is "Clocks," followed by "In My Place" you know that the band is going for broke. Jay-Z upped the bar a lot. Now it's time to prove they've got what it takes.

Read the full reviews from this show here onwards, and see all the pictures here

Setlist:

Life in Technicolor

Violet Hill

Clocks

In My Place

Viva La Vida

42

Fix You

Chinese Sleep Chant (band playing close together, right side of stage)

God Put a Smile Upon Your Face (techno version, right side of stage)

Speed of Sound

Yellow

Lost! (regular version - not acoustic)

The Scientist (acoustic, b-stage beside sound booth)

Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic, b-stage, Will on vocals)

techno interlude

Politik

Lovers in Japan

Death and All His Friends

The Escapist (outro)

Coldplay have returned to top spot in the UK album charts, after being unseated by Basshunter’s “Now You’re Gone” last week. Meanwhile, R&B singer Ne-Yo is so busy producing mega-hits and touring that he was caught unaware of a significant achievement - usurping Coldplay’s hold at the the top of the single charts. New single Closer unseated Coldplay's single Viva La Vida last month.

Fans who recevied a physical copy of the single Viva La Vida found a little surprise everyone thought the single contained two edited versions of the track (the radio and the album edit) - however they found the first track is Viva la Vida radio edit while the second track is actually Death Will Never Conquer, which fans can download for free from the official website. Here’s the official tracklist:

VIVA LA VIDA (SINGLE)

1. Viva La Vida (Radio Edit) - 3.45

2. Death Will Never Conquer - 1.17

The single can be bought from the German and French Amazon websites along with other minor online music retailers.

'Revista Veja', a Brazilian Magazine, interviewed Chris Martin after Coldplay's soundcheck in San Jose last week - and promptly gave Latin America fans the news they'd been waiting for since early 2007 - a trip to South America around March 2009.

Which leaves us all wondering if Coldplay have double-booked Australia and South America by mistake or whether it's part of the same tour leg. Chris Martin spoke to Nova 96.9FM (Sydney radio station) the day before the San Jose show in which Chris said that Coldplay will hopefully tour Australia in February or March next year.

Australia or South America, or both? We'll wait and see. Read more discussion on this interview here [thanks Cris-Santos]

‘As If Nothing Had Happened’, the new album by Carla Bruni, the wife of French president Nicholas Sarkozy, has replaced Coldplay at the top of the French album chart.

Bruni’a much critiqued record outsold Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends’ in its first full week of release. Bruni married president Sarkozy in February just months after they were first spotted together.

The ex-model has been linked to rockers Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton in the past.

Setlist:

Life In Technicolor

Violet Hill

Clocks

In My Place

Viva La Vida

Yes

42

Fix You

Strawberry Swing

--

Chinese Sleep Chant

God Put A Smile Upon Your Face

--

Speed Of Sound

Yellow

Lost!

--

The Scientist

Death Will Never Conquer

--

Talk (Remix Video Interlude)

Politik

Lovers In Japan

Death And All His Friends / The Escapist

--

Green Eyes

The Dubliners

scientist acoustic in the crowd with chris martin refusing beer. great show. he smelled the cup and made a face and gave it back.

We got green eyes in encore plus politik!!!! Which was off the hook. We also got THE DUBLINERS loud and clear to end the night and I think they must have worked on it because it seemed longer. Also got ddahf as encore. For upper seats we got beautiful scientist and will singing dwnc. The confetti rocked my world as did the vids of the guys durung Yes. Oh and we did get this cool piano ending to politik! Chris seemed happy bit he didn't utilize the catwalks much tonight. He also apologized for moving the concert date.

More reviews and pictures from this show here [thanks nobodyseditwaseasy08, ccg & musicman1990]

Tickets for the first confirmed concerts in the revamped Point Depot sold out within ten minutes of going on sale at 9am this morning.

Coldplay sold out two concerts in the new venue renamed The O2, with queues of fans forming outside Ticketmaster outlets around the country in the early hours of the morning. Paudie O'Shea from Caherciveen, Co Kerry was first in the line outside Ticketmaster in Dublin’s St Stephens Green Shopping Centre at 7.30am. “I’ve never seen them live and I really want to see the new O2 arena,” he said.

Maurice Rice from Dublin, who was second in the queue for tickets, said he was dragged to the ‘A Rush of Blood to the Head’ concert back in 2003, and has been a fan ever since. He added “Im a huge Brian Eno fan, so I was excited with the collaboration he did with Coldplay, and it didn’t disappoint”.

Aine Balfe from Co Louth first saw Coldplay live eight years ago. “I like their voices and sound, they’re really funky, and very clever with their music,” she said.

The band will play two concerts in the new venue, which can hold up to 13,000 people, on December 21st and 22nd.

Source: http://www.irishtimes.com

Tickets for Coldplay’s new date on December 21st at the new O2 Arena in Dublin went on sale at 9am this morning - by 9.06am looking for any one isolated ticket was unsuccessful - in layman’s terms, it was sold out.

And just as we predicted, Coldplay (or rather Ticketmaster.ie) immediately added a second date for the next Night, Monday 22nd and that one was gone by 9.10am.

So not one, but two dates sold out in ten minutes; 34,000 tickets quickly snapped up; and at a cost of €61.15 (including handling fee) each, each, MCD and Ticketmaster seem to be earning €12,474,600 an hour. Nice work if you can get it!

Did you get tickets for either (or both) shows? Are you still searching? Let us know here (21st) or here (22nd).

Coldplay.com have published some excellent photos from the first shows of the Viva La Vida tour, at the Forum in LA. Thanks to Gregg Watermann for the amazing snaps. You can view every single one of them here