Coldplay have published some pics from last month's Wembley show. Here's what they said:

We thought you might like to see some pictures from the warm-up show at Wembley Arena which we played for friends and family on June 17th.

(Thanks to Penny Howle for the pics)

New scans have been uploaded from Italian magazines Rockstar and XL Repubblica here and here (the latter being a translation of the recent English Q Magazine article from June). In case you missed them, a reminder that the Spin Magazine Coldplay scans are here.

Nearly 1000 photos have been uploaded to the Coldplaying gallery so far from Coldplay's set (and soundcheck) at the Today Show last Friday in New York (thanks to all the VIP Coldplayers who took some fantastic shots). Coldplay have updated the official website with videos from the same Today Show performance. The official line: It was early, but it was great.

Meanwhile, remember we asked you recently if you wanted to add anyone to Coldplay's public enemy list? Well the list is in, and it's time to vote for your no.1!

And finally, 'The Church Of Chris Martin' has declared holy war (should that be a capital h?) on Coldplaying.com, calling our members heritics, unbelievers, blasphemers and "a bunch of real shits". Where's that lamb and a twig of mint, it's sacrifice time!

[Thanks Iriden, alejaluvscp, Dr. Norway, mimixxx, all the VIP Coldplayers and... The Church of Chris Martin]

The Kooks performed at Maida Vale in the Live Lounge minus drummer Paul who hurt his arm.

Hear the Kooks perform a live lullaby version of their single Shine On and a cover of one of Hugh's favourite singles by Coldplay, Violet Hill.

The group have a busy festival schedule lined up for the Summer including V Festival, T in the Park and Oxygen. The group explain why they enjoyed making their second studio album, The Konk, as they had the freedom to be as creative as they wanted even though former bassist Max Rafferty left during the making of the album. Hugh revealed that Max is still making music and is forming a new band.

What do you think of the cover? Discuss it here [thanks mimixxx]

We reported two days ago that Andy on the Road blog posted about the small print within Capitol Records' contest to select openers for Coldplay’s latest tour for shows in San Jose, Philadelphia, Chicago, Hartford, DC, and Boston. They, along with many other blogs, reported unfavourably on Capitol's marketing arrangements for this competition, calling them the very worst contest rules and conditions ever seen.

This morning the terms and conditions page for the contest appear to have changed. Read the new rules at coldplayontour.com. Not sure whether this is due to the ever-growing fan blog backlash, or pressure from Coldplay, or the sudden wakeup from Capitol, but some are calling this a victory.

Read the full story on the support acts thread here

Coldplay holds at #1 on Billboard's album chart for the second week with Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends. But the big news is that, in just two weeks, Viva La Vida has sold more downloads than any album in digital history.

The old record was held by John Mayer's Continuum. Viva La Vida sold 66,000 downloads this week, bringing its two-week total to 354,000. Continuum has sold 353,000 downloads since its release in September 2006.

The rest of the all-time top five albums with the most paid digital downloads consists of Amy Winehouse's Back To Black (329,000), Daughtry's Daughtry (323,000) and Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds (301,000).

More on this here [thanks BostonSportsTD]

As expected, Coldplay's new album 'Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends' has topped the US Album charts for a second week running.

The band's fourth album sold 249,000 copies in its second week, according to new chart figures. The album has now sold nearly 1million copies in the US alone. The rest of the top-three in this weeks chart also remains unchanged, with Lil' Wayne's 'Tha Carter III' and the Jonas Brothers-featuring Disney soundtrack 'Camp Rock' holding the second and third spots respectively.

Motley Crue are a new entry tin the top-ten, taking the forth spot with their new album 'Saints of Los Angeles'. Coldplay's success in America comes shortly before the start of their US tour, which gets under way in Los Angeles later this month. 'Viva La Vida' became one of the fastest selling albums in UK chart history when it was released last month.

More on this here [thanks fran.182 & ColdplayJoe]

A reminder that Coldplay are seeking unknown acts to join the bill on their upcoming "Viva La Vida" tour of North America.

The band have announced details of a contest for six summer concerts, appealing for aspiring groups to submit video performances. Support roles are required for concerts in Chicago, San Jose, Philadelphia, DC, Boston and Hartford. Interested acts should visit coldplayontour.com and can apply using YouTube clips of their band at work. Coldplay's US tour opens next month in Los Angeles.

However, some blogs have looked into the small print and are reporting unfavourably on Capitol's marketing arrangements for this competition, calling them the very worst contest rules and conditions ever seen. Read one such insight here which details what they're alleging you give up in exchange for opening for Coldplay.

Viva La Vida collaborator to support US tour shows in Los Angeles

From Jon Hopkin's blog:

I’ve been asked to support Coldplay for the first two shows of the Viva La Vida tour, on the 14th and 15th of July at the Forum, Los Angeles. I will also be joining them for the rest of their US tour as DJ, with more live support slots to be added along the way. Sadly this means I have had to cancel my scheduled DJ appearance at Camp Bestival, sorry about this.

You may remember Coldplaying also reported that Jon Hopkins (one of the principal musical collaborators on the new album) supported the Brixton/Barcelona/MSG Free shows.

Sydney, AU. (Top40 Charts/ EMI MUSIC Australia) - If you like good stats and Coldplay, they're going hand in hand this week.

Coldplay continue to break records by putting an end to their Australian chart curse and holding the No.1 spot on the national ARIA album chart for the second week in a row. Their previous two No.1 albums 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' (2002) and 'X&Y' (2005) both only spent one week in the top spot before being dethroned.

On the singles front, this week also marks Coldplay's highest ever Australian singles chart result with title track 'Viva La Vida' moving to No.2. Their previous highest single chart was 'Yellow' which peaked at No 5 in February 2001. 'Viva La Vida' is also the No.1 most added song at radio.'Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends' is only the fifth of 15 albums to hit No 1 in '08 to have held on to the top spot for over a week - Timbaland (5 weeks), Jack Johnson (6 weeks), Andre Rieu (2 weeks) and Usher (2 weeks) were the other acts with multiple weeks at the top.

We're not the only country lapping up the new Coldplay album. 'Viva La Vida' has reached No 1 in 33 countries including the UK, US and Japan. It's also the biggest album pre-order in iTunes history, with 'Viva La Vida' also setting the record for highest first-week album sales ever on the iTunes Store worldwide.

Further to that, Coldplay have 4 singles in the Top 100 this week along with all 4 of their studio albums in the Top 100.

Source: http://top40-charts.com

Motley Crue's much-anticipated 'Saints of Los Angeles' will have a decent debut in the US later this week, but not enough to dethrone Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida'.

According to Hits Daily Double, the Crue album will debut at number 4 with sales of around 90,000. Coldplay will do another 200,000+ in the US this week, bringing total sales in America to around 1 million.

'Saints of Los Angeles' doesn't have enough momentum to beat Disney's 'Camp Rock' soundtrack or Lil Wayne's 'Tha Carter III' but it is looking like equally the debut position of the last album from the original line-up, 'Generation Swine' from 1997.

Other debuts on the US chart this week will be Three 6 Mafia 'Last 2 Walk' and Shinedown 'Sound of Madness', both in the Top 10. Other Top 40 debuts will be Amos Lee 'Last Days At The Lodge', Cute Is What We Aim For 'Rotation', Metro Station 'Metro Station' and Sigur Ros 'Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endla'.

Source: http://undercover.com.au

Vince Neil of Motley Crue

Poor Chris Martin. He's been sitting pretty at the top of album and singles charts the world over in recent weeks, and yet he's still suffering accusations from inventive YouTubers suggesting his best-selling songs are rip-offs.

First came a fine piece of self-publicity by Brooklyn indie band Creaky Boards, who suggested Martin had come to see them and copied their song The Songs I Didn't Write for Coldplay's Number 1 single Viva La Vida. No one quite believed Creaky Boards, as it soon emerged that Coldplay had demo'd Viva La Vida by the time Martin went to the Creaky Boards gig.

But now things get stranger. Now some wag is suggesting Coldplay's real source of inspiration might be shaven-headed rock guitar instrumentalist Joe Satriani, and that Viva La Vida copies Satriani track If I Could Fly. At least this track was released in 2004, way before Martin and co would have written Viva La Vida. But does anyone really believe Chris Martin even listens to Joe Satriani? Or maybe it's Creaky Boards who are the closet Satriani fans, and they're the culprits?

Read the full story and watch the Satriana/Coldplay mash-up here [thanks mimixxx]

Coldplay have held onto the number one spot on the UK album charts with 'Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends'.

The band's fourth album, already one of the fastest selling in chart history, is spending its second week at the chart summit. Elsewhere on the album countdown, Duffy and Neil Diamond stayed at number two and three respectively with 'Rockferry' and 'Home After Dark'.

Sigur Ros, meanwhile, debuted at number five with their new album 'With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly’. In the singles chart, US R&B star Ne-Yo replaced Coldplay at number one with his new single 'Closer'.

There was also a new entry for Glasvegas, who charted at number sixteen with 'Geraldine'.

Rapper Jay-Z triumphs in headline spot, but Eavis says risk too great to repeat

Glastonbury festival will "revisit its musical roots" next year with guitar-based bands returning to the headline slots. The move comes after the controversial decision to select the US rapper Jay-Z as the main headline act at this year's event. Organisers are now considering Coldplay and Radiohead for next summer, bands that have delivered renowned festival performances.

The decision to abandon the experiment with more diverse headliners is likely to confound the music press, widely believed to have been won over by the rapper's show at the event. The hip-hop artist was warmly received by fans and sceptics alike yesterday.

Read the full article here

Ne-Yo's Closer has climbed one place to knock Coldplay off the top spot in the singles chart, but Vida La Vida remains Britain's number one album.

The title track stormed to number one last week from downloads alone, denying Ne-Yo a chart-topper in his sixth week in the charts. This week, however, Closer outstripped sales of Vida La Vida, giving the singer-songwriter his second UK number one. Jordin Sparks took the highest new entry with No Air, while Chris Brown climbed one place with Forever at four. Rihanna rounded off the top five singles with her Take A Bow track.

In the album charts the top three remained frozen with non-movers. Coldplay, Duffy and Neil Diamond stuck to their slots with Darren Styles' Skydivin' the highest new entry at four.

Sigur Ros' Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust entered at five while Exclusive by Chris Brown completed the rash of new entries at six.

The other new entry in the album top ten was the Jonas Brothers' eponymous record, in at number nine.

Michael Eavis praises rapper’s headline festival appearance

Glastonbury boss Michael Eavis has claimed that he’s not worried Noel Gallagher will be offended after being dissed in Jay-Z’s intro tape. However, the organiser warned that last night’s (June 28) hip-hop set could be a one-off, as there is only one Jay-Z.

With the show beginning with a video montage that sent up the Oasis guitarist’s quote that Jay-Z would have “no fucking chance” at Glastonbury, Eavis said he was not worried the former headliner would be upset because he can take care of himself.

“He put so much into it, but he was thrilled how it went and his wife Beyonce, she was dancing around. She wasn’t tempted to get up onstage? We didn’t need it, Jay-Z held it together really well. We got a text from [Coldplay's] Chris Martin saying he watched it all on the website in America, he was really thrilled, he said it was ‘absolutely brilliant’.”

“Jay-Z’s intro tape was great, wasn’t it?” said Eavis. “Noel can take it, they’re tough fellas, aren’t they? They used to work on a building site, didn’t they? They can handle it. They’re good friends of ours though, they’ve helped us a lot in the past the Gallagher brothers, I’m not going to slag them off. It’s up to Noel if he wants to criticise the Jay-Z thing. Jay-Z triumphed in the end. Everyone knew all the words, as far back as I could see they knew them, it’s incredible. Absolutely amazing.”

When asked if Oasis could follow next year as headliners, Eavis joked: “If they like, all sins are forgiven Noel!

“Jay-Z was a good trick this year, wasn’t it? It worked really well, it was an unusual thing to do, bring hip hop from the streets of New York to Glastonbury and it be so successful, it was a real triumph,” he said.

Eavis added he had been pleased how well the festival goers had taken to the slightly different headline act, after all the speculation that Jay-Z might not go down well with the traditional crowd.

“Jay-Z just worked for us, it could have gone the other way, but the crowd were into it,” said Eavis. “They knew all the words, that amazed me, it’s very fast street New York poetry, isn’t it? It amazed me people knew all the words, and two of those were my grandchildren!

“Jay-Z was probably a one-off, we shall see, we’ve got lots of opportunities for next year. We’ve got back the respect, and everyone wants to do it next year. But you can’t get another Jay-Z, he’s a one off!�

Eavis then gave credit for booking the rapper to his daughter Emily, who co-organises the festival.

“Emily is doing very well, she makes some good decisions,” he explained. “The Jay-Z thing was her decision, but she got me to do the work on it. She said “Daddy, will you phone?” It went on for ages but we pulled it off in the end.”

Keep up with all the action from Glastonbury this weekend (June 27-29) as it happens on NME.COM. For news, pictures and blogs keep checking NME.COM’s Glastonbury Festival page. Plus make sure you get next week’s issue of NME on UK newsstands from July 2 for the ultimate Glastonbury review.

Source: http://www.nme.com/

Watch Coldplay talking about the new album

Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Johnny Buckland discuss the various sounds on their new album, the band’s beginnings, and their approach to making music. Also, don’t miss behind-the-scenes footage of Chris and Johnny visiting KROQ radio in L.A. Visit http://www.attblueroom.com/music now.

For a quick tease to the three-part interview, click here.

From coldplay.com: Check out a four-part filmed interview we recently did with AT&T's blue room (it would've been rude not to after they named their site after our first EP for Parlophone).

I thought that showing up at Rockefeller Plaza at 2 a.m. for Coldplay’s 7 a.m. "Today Show" concert would be early enough to get into the "first-come, first-served" show.

I was wrong.

The line already extended down an entire block. Kids near the front were camped out in sleeping bags, while those a bit further down the line, like me, simply sat on the sidewalk while cockroaches climbed out of the sewers and sent us jumping. Those in the very front told "Today" host Meredith Vieira that they had been there for about 17 hours, which means they were waiting since Thursday afternoon. Now that's dedication.

Read the full review here [thanks mimixxx]

Coldplay invited an injured child onto the stage ahead of their performance on the Today Show in New York this morning (June 27th).

The fan, who was in the front row of the audience outside the Rockefeller Centre, was picked out by frontman Chris Martin because he was wearing a sling. He was then asked up onto the stage so that Martin could ask him all about his injury.

Coldplay performed a string of hits to a packed New York audience during their exclusive performance and at one point had to dodge a bra that was thrown onto stage by one over enthusiastic fan.

More on this story, including a load of fan videos, photos being added here onwards.

Coldplay are planning a free song give-away for their forthcoming UK winter tour.

The four-piece want to offer fans who have purchased tickets the chance to get their hands on an unreleased track. Lead singer Chris Martin said: "We're hoping to do this thing where we give away a song with every ticket."

The band are currently sitting at the top of the singles chart with Viva La Vida, which shot to number one on download sales alone. Speaking on their official site, Martin added: "We have this song called The Goldrush, which (drummer) Will (Champion) sings. We want to play it as part of the show, so we'd like to give it away with the ticket. That way the only people that know that song will be the people coming to the concerts."

The band also revealed their arena tour plans. The dates kick off at Bimingham National Indoor Arena on 1 December, and also includes three shows at the London 02 arena on 14, 15 and 16 December.

"We've got some incredible balls," joked Martin. "And I mean that in the most technological of senses. If you come to our concert, you'll see the most magical balls you've ever seen. And ours is the first concert in the world to feature them. There are lots of surprises, including butterflies and painted drums and lots of colour and probably some things we haven't even thought of yet."

The singer also said the band chose to embark on an arena tour ahead of a stadium jaunt this time around because "we're not a stadium band yet".

"I think we're still trying to figure out how to make a room full of 10,000 people as exciting as possible, let alone a stadium. To me an arena feels like the perfect size canvas, so we're trying to master that," he added.

The band previously played a stadium tour in the summer of 2005, where they recorded the video for single Fix You.

Source: BBC

The Beatles, The Monkees, Simon & Garfunkel, Rod Stewart, Men At Work, Michael Jackson and Beyonce remain the only artists in chart history to score simultaneous number one singles and albums in the UK and the USA, after Coldplay are knocked off the US singles perch.

Coldplay looked to be in with a chance of joining this most exclusive of clubs but lose their leadership of the US singles charts, even as their blockbusting fourth studio album, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends continues at number one in the UK and debuts at number one in America.

The album sold more than 721,000 copies on its first week, to become the third number one album by a British act this year and the 100th in US chart history. Viva La Vida’s total was helped considerably by sales of 288,000 downloads – more than any other album has sold in downloads in an entire year, and more than the 248,000 that X&Y has so far sold digitally, from total US sales of 3.18m.

Coldplay were always on track to debut at number one but their margin over former incumbent Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III was much bigger than anticipated, with the rapper’s album experiencing a massive 69% dip in second week sales to 308,500 as it slips 1-2.

The new Disney TV movie soundtrack Camp Rock arrives at number three with first week sales in excess of 188,000. Four songs from the set also sold enough as stand-alone downloads to enter the Top 40 of the Hot 100 singles chart.

Also new to the Top 10 are Kate Perry’s debut album One Of The Boys at number nine on sales of 47,000, while first single I Kissed A Girl dethrones Capitol labelmates Coldplay on the Hot 100; and Offspring’s Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace, which debuts at number 10 on sales of 45,500 copies.

Source: MusicWeek

Coldplay have finished their set for the Today Show at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. The performances are online - you can watch the videos on the MSNBC website here

They played:

Clocks

Lost!

Viva la Vida

In My Place

42

The rehearsal also included Yellow. More on the show including new photos here and here including those returning from the VIP pen!

2008 Concert Volunteer Application - Support Oxfam at Coldplay shows!

A reminder that Oxfam America are still looking for volunteers to help out at Coldplay shows in the US - there are still spots available for most Coldplay US shows. Fill in the form here for your application. If you wish to apply to more than one concert please fill out one application per concert.

An Oxfam America organizer will respond to you as soon as possible and will send more exact schedules along with other instructions to those volunteers who are selected and reconfirmed. Spaces are limited. Volunteers typically arrive 1-2 hours before the concert and stay about an hour after the concert.

There is more information on this here (and an opportunity to read latest information from Oxfam directly posting on the messageboard).

Several little bits of Coldplay information to update you with today here at Coldplaying, starting with the news that Lost! is #94 in US Hot 100 singles but Viva La Vida drops from 1st to 6th on the same Billboard chart. Violet Hill is somewhere in the #60's.

Good news for X&Y though, Coldplay's third album has made it to #1 album on a U.S. pop chart this week with sales of 27,000 worldwide in a week. Parachutes and A Rush Of Blood To The Head are also on that list. As for Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, that has sold 1,585,000 copies worldwide in full week!

If you speak Spanish, you're luck is in as various Chilean scans on Coldplay's Viva La Revolution have been posted here and if you're interested in Coldplay's chart positions for 2008, find out here.

Finally, is there anyone you would like to add to the Coldplay public enemy list?

[thanks fran.182, Dr. Norway, omrimayo, Lore, coldpatrix]

Pearl Jam ended their two night residency in New York in style last night (June 25th) with guest appearances from members of The Ramones and Kiss, and according to Billboard, the band's set was watched by the Olsen twins and Coldplay's Chris Martin.

Like they did on Tuesday, Pearl Jam played a high octane set which included songs from their entire back-catalogue. Here's what BrooklynVegan.com recently posted about the packed MSG itinery this week just gone:

It's all about MSG lately. Love them or hate them, there is/was....Iron Maiden, Tom Petty, R.E.M. (last night), The Cure (TONIGHT), Coldplay (Monday), and Pearl Jam (Tuesday and Wednesday) - all right after one another. And all that coincided with the announcement that My Morning Jacket are playing that venue too which coincided with My Morning Jacket's Radio City show tonight. Radio City is also where where the Cure are playing tomorrow (note: Radio City & MSG are owned by the same company).

Read the full story on Chris Martin and Pearl Jam here

Coldplay, who have hit the top of the charts with their latest album ‘Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends’, have become only the third band to ever perform live on ‘The Daily Show’ with Jon Stewart.

‘Viva’ has sold over a million copies worldwide since it’s release two weeks ago, placing the band firmly on top of the U.S. charts with the title track despite the song not officially being released as a single.

More on Coldplay on ‘The Daily Show’ here, here onwards. You can watch the videos at The Daily Show website here and also here