Glastonbury headliners Coldplay hailed the Somerset festival as the most important-ever show in their busy touring schedule. Drummer Will Champion told James Cabooter from the Daily Star: "You know how important it is in the British psyche. Because Glasto comes early in the festival calendar, and it’s the biggest one for us, everything is focused on getting it right."
The band have played Glasto five times now and have many fond memories. Will continued: "We’ve come a long way. The first year we played we got dropped off at a gate furthest away from the stage so we had to walk with all our equipment across the site, which took 20 minutes. I went as a punter in 1995 with friends and it was amazing – blinding weather and we watched The Saw Doctors, Boo Radleys and Pulp."
After Saturday’s storming performance Coldplay's focus is now on more European festivals and a new album. Will added: "Everything is happening at once so it’s all about juggling a lot of things. We are all in agreement as to most of the album. We don’t want it to be too long so the plan is 'concise and powerful'."
We have several polls running at the moment at the Coldplay forum - decide which of Coldplay's headline performances was the best - 2002, 2005 or 2011. You can also vote for your standout track in Coldplay's performance on Saturday. Please click the following links to vote and add your comments:
Your favourite song out of Coldplay's Glastonbury 2011 performance? [thanks Zeya]
2002, 2005 or 2011: Which was Coldplay's best Glastonbury headlining set? [thanks howyousawtheworld]
2002, 2005 or 2011: Which was Coldplay's best Glastonbury headlining set? The results so far...
Some more of your Coldplay @ Glastonbury 2011 comments: (thanks to everyone for their reviews!):
That crowd was outstanding! The performance was NOT flawless as someone said earlier - especially the beginning was shaky and unfocused. It seemed to me like the boys aren't comfortable with Hurts Like Heaven yet - that opener did not work at all. But from there it only got better and more awesome and undescribably fantastic - a firework of highlights in almost every song. Nice setlist, although I would've loved one more song from the VLV era - like LiTii or Yes... Loved to hear Shiver again and GPASUYF in that great version! And I actually do like ETIAW now after first I was a little pessimistic. But that live version was a kicker and a powerful ending of an unforgettable performance. Oh, which Glasto was best? I'd say 2011>2002>2005 but only because 2002 was sooo special and important for the development of the band! [thanks CHB]
I think it was a really good performance but the crowd was shitty at some moments (Everything's Not Lost deserved WAY MUCH singalong that it had), so based on that and the fact that they closed with a, in my opinion, weak song, I choosed the 2005 show. Still, one of my favorite Coldplay show's ever. And we finally got an old stuff/new stuff balanced setlist! [thanks JM-SP2]
Not only was it their best Glasto in my opinion, but one of their best live performances ever. A truly fantastic setlist of old and new, a flawless execution, and a happiness and energy that was awesome. They were just on top of their game from start to finish. [thanks Jayzo]
Watch on TV and I thought it was a stellar performance. I know some think that Chris seemed stiff & nervous but I thought he was just toning down the goofiness. I don't need him rattling on about some craziness (as entertaining as that can sometimes be, I think it feeds the haters). He kept the jumping and trashing around at a respectable pace so that his voice didn't suffer. He only asked how everyone was doing 10 times instead of his usual 50. All in all, I think this venue is really important to them and they treated it as such. To me, they looked like a band that knew the world was watching and they had something to prove. [thanks Pink]
Not to be overly critical, but I was jugely dissapointed by the performance. The setlist was choppy, and not well thought out. I hate that they played nothing from X&Y except fix you. They were really uncomfortable and visibly so throughout the entire performence. In essence, there were enough bad vibes to run a hoodoo factory, which completely ruined the whole experience for me. [thanks cp13]
I was excited all day to watch this online. I was planning as far back as last year to go to Glasto, but money interfered and prevented me from making the trek. So I figured watching with my sound system cranked was the next best thing. Yes, they did look nervous. However from Politik on they killed it. Today I fell back in love with Coldplay. I was enjoying it, then my favourite song Politik came on, and the notes Jonny added to the solo were, AMAZING. They woke the crowd up with Viva La Vida, and Charlie Brown has already become a classic. Watching this I acted like I was there, dancing and singing my lungs out. It brought back so many good memories of the Coldplay shows I've been to. Festivals are notorious for being plagued with technical problems, its to be expected with so many different bands setting up into the same sound board in such short a time, as well as no real soundchecks. Coldplay has asserted themselves as the big band of our time, and with U2 fading off into irrelevance, they are poised to become the biggest band in the world, this show, the new album and tour will either cement that, or keep Coldplay on the top of tier two in the music world. Much can be made of them not including a U2 cover, Im sure they mulled over it for quite awhile. They are huge fans, but they decided to do what they knew and not what was expected. I did think Jay-Z would come out for his verse in Lost! but they likely wanted it to be about them and their show. Jay would have been freaking cool but would have taken away from the overall specialness of the night! U2 covering Coldplay shows that they acknowledge that they are huge and the new kids in town. It was Bono showing mutual respect, we all already know Chris respects them, no need to pet their egos. [thanks Malcolm-Edge]
I watched it on HD last night and I must say it was like being there! I only wish I had some Coldplayers around to sing and dance with GPASUYF gave me chills, they rocked that song hard, and Mr. Champion has never hit those drums as hard before IMO. Personally, I didn't think they looked nervous, they had this show in the back of their pockets, pulling 19 songs out, 1 by 1, and giving it 100%. This show was pure to the core!!!! [thanks MartinFan]
Just finished watching the concert on Palladia.And I got to say that watching it in hd I felt like I was there!!Amazing concert!!I watched the stream earlier and it just wasnt the same as watching it in hd.They were full of energy and the setlist was perfect!!I liked that Jay-Z,Beyonce,Gwyn,and Simon all looked like they were enjoying like they were just fans dancing around.The boys were great!!Love me some Coldplay!! [thanks IneedYou23]
2011 was the better performance. they have never been better, never been brigther, never been bigger than they were saturday night. it announced the band as the biggest in the world, but many already were aware of that. i think 2002 was a bigger for the band's career. to headline glastonbury and to play a majority of your, to that point, unreleased 2nd album is amazing. think of where they were at that point. think of how nervous they must have been before that show. and think of how they had the crowd won over before the bridge of politik, the show's opener. truly incredible. it changed the trajectory of the band, or rather, announced to the world exactly where this band was headed. suffice it to say, both shows were massive. these boys are special. [thanks glking]
Latest photos of Coldplay at the Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival, UK (25th June 2011):
Photo source: The Sun
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