R#42 blog

Half an hour until the Oxfam volunteers arrive for campaigning at tonight’s Coldplay show. I’m sitting outside catching (possibly) some of the last rays of summer, in sunny Zurich. It’s important to catch your vitamin D from the sunshine you know.. especially when you work in the dim light of these indoor arenas all day. I have to admit (as I squint at the glare of the screen), the weather is making me wish we had an outdoor stadium show today!   If I stand up and peer over the fence, I can see

Zurich, Hallenstadion, Switzerland (or one of the above, depending on where you are from). Just the one show in this land-locked land. There are four official languages here. A fairly popular brand of chocolate, and one very good tennis player.   Oxfam is here, as ever, at the latest concert of the European Coldplay tour. The 18th, out of 23. It’s going to be a busy week. 6 shows in 7 days, in 4 different countries. Yesterday was a day off. A chance to prepare for the long haul. I went for a ru

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 shows you his bunker   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks Larry & Chris²]   Sitting in the van outside the hotel in Budapest today reminds me that we're slipping gently into tour madness now. I'm not talking about hotel-trashing ad hell-raising, but the slightly punch drunk, hazy-minded feeling that tells you it'd be really nice to have some time off. It's slightly similar to sleep deprivation, in that everything begins to seem mildl

Oxfam had an incredible show in Vienna. Thanks to the amazing work of our volunteers, we managed to give 1587 people the chance to pledge their support for Health and Education For All. That’s incredible. Over 10% of a huge audience. The numbers are growing fast. More pressure for action from governments to give people what they need to survive. Thanks to our ’Clean Clothes Campaign’ volunteers!   It also looked like another great Coldplay show!   Read other blog entries at the Oxfam Blog websit

On the bus, on the way to the venue. The crew are all ‘fresh’ from a day off yesterday. The tram cables of Munich are strung up over the road. This is a one-off show today. The last show in Germany. It’s right next door to the Olympic Stadium, home of the 1972 Olympic Games. A little bit of history for you..   Yesterday, I took a chance to have a stroll around Munich. It’s Oktoberfest at the moment (despite still being September…), so the city was buzzing. After checking out the main tourist sig

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the Budapest backline panic   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks melanieau]   There were photographers and video cameras when we landed in Prague yesterday. Quite a pack of them, actually. Today, here in Budapest, there is a lone photographer and a couple of guys with a video camera and a microphone.   Chris and security chief Kelly Samuels have quite the double act worked out when it comes to pap evasion. They've slid by un-noticed

I’m a little blurry-eyed, sitting here inside the depths of the Stadhalle, Wien (Vienna). Maybe due to the combination of dim underground walls, and the bright glow of a laptop screen. Outside, the lunch time catering is in full flow. Everyone refuelling after load-in, getting ready for the bands’ imminent arrival. We made it to Austria in great time. Apparently arriving at 5am.. I didn’t surface on arrtival..   I awoke to the sound of heavy rain drops on the roof of the bus. I sleep in a top bu

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 is your Czech mate   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks Carlaatje]   One of the nice things about touring Europe is how different things are from day to day. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't like touring the USA - nothing could be further from the truth. What I'm saying is that if touring the States is like an economy sized box of your favourite breakfast cereal, Europe is like filling your cupboard with those variety packs

Motors are reversing. Lorries are bleeping backwards. Latches are fastening. Cases are rolling. Crew are running about shouting instructions at each other. It’s load-out time. The day is nearly done. Coldplay have left the stage and the Oxfam volunteers have gone home. My road case is packed and waiting in line for it’s truck. Time to reflect on another day (even though we are here less than 24 hours..)   1085 more Coldplay fans have pledged support for quality Health and Education, clean water

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the curious incident of the bubble wrapped office   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks mimixxx]   It's another round of cover versions in soundcheck today. As well as a now alarmingly regular Oasis tune, somebody stumbles upon the riff to Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream. Somewhat inevitably, it morphs into a rocked up version of the A-Team theme tune. Signs of a mis-spent youth indeed...   The covers theme continues into Albert Hammo

Coldplay have just come off stage in the O2 Arena, Prague. I am sitting in the crew office, hearing the scurry of feet and the sounds of a thousand cases being loaded and wheeled off to the trucks (which still sit breathing heavily after their mammoth trip from Oslo over the weekend). Even on a day off, the tour does not stand still, as buses, trucks and crew make their way to the next city.   Prague is a beautiful city. A sight for sore (sleep deprived) eyes. Such a great place to recharge batt

Late arrival today. Some of the trucks got held up en route from Prague last night. Everyone is here safe now, so the show can get back on track. One thing is that it will make it a shorter day.   The arena is on the outskirts of Budapest. We are here for less than 24 hours, and won’t get to explore. I hope I will get another chance to follow the Oxfam volunteers advice, and check out this amazing city.. It’s strange to think we were in Oslo a few days ago, and will be in Vienna tomorrow. Tourin

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 has a Swede sensation   Discuss this blog entry here [thanks coldplay12]   As befits a building called The Globe, the venue in Stockholm bears a striking resemblance to a very large football. We have two shows here, which is always nice. The first goes well and is a 'walk away', which means the entire crew get to do a runner. Much letting down of hair ensues.   The following morning was to have been a full-on "Band vs Crew" football match. However

Let me explain that title. I don’t want you to think that the tiredness and cool Scandinavian air has made me start to hallucinate. Coldplay are on stage now, playing ‘Strawberry Swing’, in Globen (The Globe), Stockholm, Sweden, which happens to look like a giant golf ball. See.. I wasn’t making it up. It’s been a while since I wrote. So let me just say… ‘Wow!’   1426 more Coldplay fans, like you and I, have made Oxfam’s Health and Education For All pledge. That’s just tonight.. and the night is

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: The curious incident of the camera and the foot   Discuss this blog entry here [thanks jenjie]   Days off tend to be anticipated with a mass of good intentions and disappear before your very eyes before you've had a chance to do anything with them. Plans are made to explore the world's great cities, catch up with friends or any number of things that mean you've actually achieved something. Inevitably, either hangovers, travel, or general exhaustion en

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the rise of the eBayer   There appears to be a new breed, a strange distant cousin to the paparazzi. They're eBayers. Like paps, they hang around in groups outside hotels and gigs, at airports and radio stations.   They are armed not with camera, but with signing pens. They usually have half a dozen copies of the same CD cover for the band to sign. They also usually look as unlike Coldplay fans as it's possible to get - which, given the broad

No not me.. i’m in Hamburg, just like Coldplay. They are about 30 meters away from me, just finishing the end of ‘Lost!’, from their new album ‘Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends’.   Now I can hear the crowd screaming.. which might mean they are about to play a special acoustic section, somewhere in the arena. The show is sold out again. These guys seem pretty popular you know.. Oxfam has again played it’s part in the evening. People stopping to ask who we are, ask about the shops, ask ab

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 sends word from the autobahn   Well, we're halfway to Berlin as I write this, with a show in Hamburg fading off in the rear view mirror. Temperature-wise it's been one extreme to another. The Paris venue seemed to have no ventilation whatsoever, making for a sauna-like gig experience.   In Hamburg, there was ice beneath the boards that covered the floor. This caused enough confusion to throw Chris off at the start of Death and All His Friends. He

So here we are in Hamburg. The Color Line Arena. The rigging is going up. The morning is growing old. The Coldplay tour has rolled into town. ‘Oxfam’ (as some of the crew call me), is here too.   The show in Cologne, was another triumph for both the band, and Oxfam. 1472 was the number of Coldplay fans who gave their voice to our petition. Showing the German government that they care about unfair agricultural policies, which further marginalise small-scale farmers. Those people all pushing in th

So here we are. The Koln Arena, Cologne, Deutschland. I’m taking advantage of the internet connection in the tour management office, before they arrive with the band later on.   We had a travel day/day off yesterday after the French finale in Paris. I went for a run by the Rhine to explore Cologne. The tour is flying by. Hard to believe that we are done in Spain and France already. It was great to work with Oxfam France Agir-ici. The volunteers worked their socks off getting over 5000 signatures

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: An amazing little film from #42   Now, I know the last blog had a clip of the crowd doing the Viva chant,but I couldn't not show you this. I stuck a camera up on the drum riserlast night, looking out past the piano. As the fellas come back fromdoing the acoustic section at the back of the arena, soundman Dan Greennow puts on a Viva remix. So whilst the chaps were out in the loadingdock having a drink and a breather before the encore, here's theParisia

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 reports from the first European shows   Discuss the latest blog entry here [thanks melanieau]   Well then dear reader, that's the first week of European touring done. After the US leg finally beginning to feel as though it was settling into a groove, the less experienced (or slightly more optimistic) roadie might be forgiven for expecting this run to be simply a case of coasting along on auto-pilot from where we left off. Obviously though, this be

This is a stunning city. Very picturesque (i’m afraid I had to look up the spelling of that).. Iconic landmarks wherever you look, Musee du Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Bastille, and of course, Tour Eiffel. I didn’t have long to look around, so I made the most of it!   Just got back to my hotel room from a long walk around Paris (in case you hadn’t guessed). Our 5 ‘BeatTheStreet’ tour buses rolled into the city at about 6:15pm this evening. Quite a journey. We started out from Madrid at

The stage goes dark. The crowd starts to sing. The lights go up. The noise really starts. Amazing show tonight. A Spanish-speaking crowd singing every word to songs released less than 2 months ago. When there were no words, they were singing the melodies. The atmosphere in Spain has been something I will remember all my life. The arenas seem to hold in the sound. Either that, or these crowds are just crazy. In a good way.   Chris, Will, Guy and Jonny will probably remember that for a long time t

Palacio de Deportes, Madrid, Spain. Block 12, Room 8, Seat no. 3. 12:10pm.   The venue is a building site. There are hard hats, reflective jackets and hand signals across the floor. Stage trucks reversing in. Confetti cannons, lasers, fans, speaker stacks, motors, inflatable spheres, more lights and more speakers, all ready to be lifted above the stage when the rigging goes up. When a show gets this big, it’s a long time before you see any instruments! I can now see one of the catwalks being ass