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 the waiting crowds growing outside the arena gates. They are the lucky ones. I have seen fans waiting in heavy rain, icy gales and cracking thunder during this tour.. The band is here in 10 minutes.

Here we go..

Read other blog entries at the Oxfam Blog website here

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 run again, to explore the latest town, that I had never been before. Zurich is a very pretty place. Very popular with tourists.

The centre meets Lake Zurich (Zurichse), which sits at the foot of the Alps. Quite a sight. I probably was too, dodging between the busy streets in my marathon gear!

Read the full blog entry at the Oxfam Blog website here

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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 mildly amusing for no apparent reason.

We're sitting in the van watching Kelly, one of our security chiefs stand at the door of Chris's van scanning each and every passer by to assess their potential trouble. This of course, is his job and he's one of the best. We're laughing not at him (unwise, given his size), we're laughing at his subjects. The hotel is right in the most beautiful part of town and consequently full of tourists. Most of them of retirement age. We begin to amuse ourselves by assigning a story to each passing couple of pensioners. "quick Kelly, grab 'em, they're from the Enquirer", "stop that woman going in the front door there, she's clearly going to go through the band's bins"...

It's all nonsense and only funny in our condition, but then, just as Chris and Jonny slip out of the front door of the hotel, there is a stream of about 40 women, all in their sixties, clearly on a guided tour or some kind of outing. They're blocking the pavement completely, but not in the slightest bit interested in the passing pop stars. In fact they are far more interested in the foreign number plates on the van. We are doubled up with laughter as they stand around the front of the van pointing, while some even stop to take a photo of the German plates. Kelly is clearly as nonplussed as we are. With that, we slide shut the doors and head for Vienna.

The Viennese eBayers at the airport are somewhat similar in their laser beam targeting of the band. They ask soundman Dan Green for a signature. Dan P, the band's trainer also gets asked. I'm somewhat disappointed that I'm plainly not band material and consequently don't get asked to sign anything. Might have to get a hat like Jonny's...

The Vienna show passes in something of a blur for me. I seem to have a million unfinished jobs that require my attention and I hardly make it out from under the stage all day. Luckily, Catering is just the other side of the wall from my corner of the stage. This means I'm never more than a minute from the espresso machine. Unsurprisingly, I get rather a lot done.

In a decidedly un- MTV-Cribs style, here's where I live while I'm in the venue. It's in the 'tech bunker' below the stage wings. If the photo was bigger, you'd see the back of the drumkit and the bass amp to the right and above. It's all glamour for 42, I tell ya...

Yes, it's dark, gloomy and a bit filthy, but I have put up some decoration to make it feel a little more like home.

I did also get out from the bunker for a look at the B-Stage action today.

Roadie #42

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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 website here

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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 sights with Steve, the ‘Motion Control’ for Coldplay’s stage spheres, we headed out to see Oktoberfest. We decide that the best way to get there was to follow the lederhosen. There were colourful dresses, cardigans, long socks, feathered hats and polkerdot shirts lining the streets (worn by inebriated German folk). Eventually we found the ‘meadows’. Huge temporary tent structures crammed full of drinkers, lederhosen..and huge tankards of beer. It’s an amazing sight. Apparently “the world’s largest beer festival”. Not surprising, when seven million people consume six million litres of beer there.. 1 huge fun-fair + lederhosen as far as the eye can see + lots of beer = Oktoberfest 2008.

Read the full blog entry at the Oxfam Blog website here

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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 and without fuss through London and Manhattan's most hardened and ruthless press hounds. We sit in our van as today's hapless would-be TV interviewer misses each and every band member whilst trying to chat to Franksy to find out what time they'll be arriving. Once all the van doors slam shut and he realises that he's missed out, he throws his coat at the first van out of frustration. It's truly the first time I've ever heard a vanful of touring folks simultaneously "awwwwwww"-ing at a pap. Bless his cotton socks. Taking his exclusive with us, we whizz off into Budapest.

I've not been here before. It's increasingly rare to be able to say that these days, which is a sure sign it's time for me to find a proper job before I turn into a haggard old roadie telling war stories that interest nobody. Obviously, there's many would say I missed that particular boat quite some time ago, but hey...

Today's venue is very shiny and curved from the outside, giving it the appearance of some kind of futuristic breadmaking device. Once inside, it's a pretty standard arena scene, albeit a very big one. The one immediate "spot the difference" when we get inside though, is that the band's gear is missing.

The stage is set as always, but there is a complete lack of drumkit, piano, amps, guitars and so on. It seems that the truck carrying the "Backline" (roadie term for the band's equipment, as opposed to the lights, sound, video etc) has broken down en route and has only just arrived. Given that the doors open to the punters in about 3 hours, that's not good.

Times like this prove a crew though. Everyone is mucking in, there's sound crew getting the Viva La Vida tympani out of its case, lampies and riggers are pushing boxes of guitar gear and a lot is happening very quickly in a very productive chaos.

It's made all the more bizarre by the fact that soundman Dan Green is playing last night's gig through the sound system to get a feel for the room. He's chosen Strawberry Swing, which is gentle, relaxed and joyous. Beneath the speakers it's like an ant farm on Red Bull, but floating through the air, the band is playing and all is well.

By 7, the stage is set, Albert Hammond's gear is up and ready and the punters wander in none the wiser. I expect that the backline crew are now negotiating for a 4pm load in every day in order to secure a bit more valuable bunk time. I know I would be.

It's a huge long arena here in Budapest, which creates a strange audio effect known as "slapback". It's most noticeable when monitor engineer Chris Wood is walking round with the radio mic giving it the "one two" (yes, roadies do really do this). It sounds as huge and powerful as ever coming out of the PA, but half a second later, it sounds distinctly as though there is someone at the far end of the arena with a large megaphone, mimicking him.

None of this impacts upon the show, of course. In fact, it's rather a stormer. It's a very noisy crowd and a solidly powerful night from the chaps. Onwards to Vienna!

Cast your daily vote for Roadie #42 in the Best Blog category at the 2008 BT Digital Music Awards here

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 bunk, so it felt particularly cosy, being so close to the outside, but wrapped in a duvet. Steffan, our bus driver, decided to wash the bus this morning. Apparently he was being blamed for the rain. “Whenever you wash your bus.. it rains. I think we should try washing the buses in the desert, and see if it gets a bit more temperate!”

Read the full blog entry at the Oxfam Blog website here

Cast your daily vote for Coldplaying.com in the Best Unofficial Music Site at the 2008 BT Digital Music Awards

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. Every morning is a slightly different flavour. As opposed to spending four to six weeks in one country (albeit one with some pretty huge extremes), here, we are in a different country every day. Each with its own culture, architecture, language, fashion, currency - and so it goes on.

We arrive in Prague and the differences are immediately obvious. The architecture is grand, colourful and imposing. There are trams and cobbled streets everywhere and the street signs have apostrophes and accents all over them. They seem to like a lot of consonants here, too. Another difference - which although unsurprising, does the most to make you feel very much "out of familiar waters" - is the almost complete lack of western corporation logos. Indeed, it has to be the first journey from airport to gig without passing a single green logo for a large coffee chain. Given that it's hard to get from one set of traffic lights to the next without passing two or three in some cities, this is a big difference.

The gig venue, slightly disappointingly, is sponsored by a huge and familiar corporation and once inside, feels very much like the stock standard arenas found all over the world. Doubtless this makes for a smoother day, but you can't help feeling that a day in something a bit more resonant with history and vibe would have felt more special. Remind me I moaned about this next time we're loading down a stone staircase into an old bull ring somewhere in the Mediterranean...

Once in the venue, I realise that I've left my iPhone on the plane. A quick call reveals that it's miraculously safe and sound ready to be collected when we return to the airport tomorrow. I've been quite good at not losing things this tour and I'm really hoping that this isn't a return to form. I'm reminded of my schooldays and mittens on string that went down the arms of my coat. I hope it doesn't come to that again. The amount of stuff I cart around would make for a rather unpleasantly heavy-sleeved duffelcoat these days.

There's another run through Glass Of Water in soundcheck. It's really beginning to achieve lift off in the choruses, so it wouldn't surprise me to see that making a flight in a show before too long. Being in a big boomy room, means that things sound instantly "RAWK", which results in a rather comedically overplayed Violet Hill from Mr. Champion.

Come showtime, there's still folks trying to get into their seats, so things are delayed slightly. This has the immediate effect of getting the audience more and more excited as with each dip in the music, they cheer in anticipation of the house lights going off. There's an impressive Mexican wave doing laps of the arena and the band's name is being chanted. Once the intro tape does finally run, they're off. The entire floor section has their hands in the air as people whistle and cheer along to the classical intro.

As befits a night before a bonkers crowd, the band are lifted into the high gears early on. The cellphone ocean that we first saw in Paris flickers into life before the encore. Pretty soon, it's all over and it's into the vans for the hotel. The ride home brings us back to where we started with this entry, talking of cultural differences. Here's a photo from Franksy which gives truth to the old travelers' adage that it really is the small things that stand out.

Roadie #42

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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 and sanitation to be available to all people, everywhere. They have also joined in the chorus of ’Viva La Vida’.. Fans came from far and wide tonight. The volunteers meeting Romanian, Croatian, Slovak, French, German, English, Scottish.. and many many more.. Oxfam volunteers were mostly local to Budapest, some having previously worked with Amnesty International, some, just big fans of Coldplay. It’s been another successful day.

Marguerite, the production assistant is busily packing up the wireless and the radio cases.. I had better wind this up and go and get on my bus. Next stop. Vienna.

Read all the blog entries at the Oxfam Blog website here

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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 Hammond's soundcheck when a series of Led Zeppelin riffs get a good blast. I have to say I've really enjoyed Albert and his band being around. Not only have they got some absolutely top tunes, but they're also a lovely bunch of fellas. When one of our carpenters who normally deals with the moving risers on stage was injured in Sweden, they immediately offered to jump in and take over.

"The runners list" is a term that's in daily use on tour that may not be familiar to readers. At every venue, there is at least one local person acting as a runner, usually two or three. Anything needed to keep the tour rolling goes on the runners list in the production office and these folks nip around the city we're in picking up everything from guitar strings to cabbages to fresh underwear.

On the morning of the Oslo show, I email Marguerite a request for some bubble wrap. "Enough to package a large VCR," I say. When the runner returns, they have a roll almost as tall as Marguerite and 120 metres long. Talk about Rock and Roll excess! It's like Hammer of the Gods every day round here....

Needless to say, not wishing to be wasteful, I decide to do something useful with what's left. I wait for Marguerite to leave her office for dinner and then I bubble wrap her entire desk, item by item. I was particularly proud of doing individual Post-it notes, I have to say - although I regret not doing the pens individually. We've still got enough bubble wrap left over to eBay an entire truck, so I daresay there's more to come.

As well as large rolls of packaging material, Norway is also home to a certain pop group from our youth called A-ha. Our lads ran into these chaps long ago and have been firm friends ever since. (see recent news story for Guy's collaboration). Tonight, Mags has popped in to say hello and he's been pressed into service for a rather special encore... [watch the video here]

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 batteries, catch a breath and take stock, as the tour rolls on past the half way mark. I checked out the famous Ruduta jazz club, which was a change of scenery, but a real treat for any drummer out there..

Read the full blog entry at the Oxfam Blog website here

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. Touring is a unique experience.

It is a unique opportunity for Oxfam too. When else would the organisation get the chance to take a campaign on the road in this way, and talk to such a range of people. It’s very exciting. I need to head out and set up. Speak to you soon.

Read other blogs at the Oxfam Blog website here

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, it's a somewhat less exuberant affair than it might have been after a rather heavy and eventful night previous. The crew pull ahead by the end of the first half, but they're running purely on fumes as they go into an ultimately disappointing second half. A rematch is planned for a couple of weeks' time in Rotterdam. Doubtless tactics and training are already being discussed...

Meanwhile back at the gig, the crowd for the second show are positively roaring. Apparently this second one sold out quicker than the first, which is an odd way round for things to happen, but I guess they like going out on a Thursday here in Sweden. They were a very loud and vocal crowd on the first night, but tonight I'd say they've topped it. I would have added an audio clip of them singing Fix You here, but I've just realised that the hard drive with all my show recordings is in a truck on its way to Oslo. At least I damn well hope that's where it is...

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 still young! This is the second night in Stockholm’s famous Globe arena (*golf ball). On the first night, Oxfam volunteers helped 905 people make the pledge. That was with only 9 volunteers! Amazing stuff. Incredibly, that gives Oxfam a total of 2401, in two nights in Sweden. 2401 people who care about giving everyone, everywhere, access to good quality health care. To well trained nurses. The chance to go to school and learn, for a more sustainable future. Access to clean water and sanitation. Basic things that people need to survive, to be free from poverty, and to prosper.

I think that’s truly inspiring. Coldplay are out there at the moment, inspiring people with their music (the walls are shaking, it must be ’Politik’). I want to thank them for inviting us to involve their fans in Oxfam’s work around the world.

Read the full blog at the Oxfam Blog website here

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 ensure that your 24 hours of freedom disappear before you've even properly yawned and stretched.

Today, I have a rather unusual aim. I have phone calls to make and research to do. I'm talking to Mike Hill, the technical genius who built Jonny's mission control guitar rig. He also built a pedalboard for Guy's bass gear. Now that Guy is taking photos almost more often than he is blinking, he's devised a way of firing his camera remotely during the show. We've had it working in the most basic way possible for the past few gigs and now we want it posh-ed up a bit - and Mike Hill is the man to do it.

You have to love any phone call that begins with the line "Hiya Mike, I'd like you to build us something so that Guy can take photos with his feet". You also have to love the fact that the man didn't bat an eyelid and proceeded directly to making plans. In fact, you have to wonder exactly what would phase him...

R42

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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 range of folks the band attract, is saying quite something.

Obviously, it's perfectly legal to pose as a fan, get a signature and sell it for a buck. Ultimately though, it's bad for the real fans. As we jump in the vans outside the hotel in Berlin, I can see how frustrating it must get for the chaps. How can you tell who's an ebayer and who's a real fan? How do you remain polite after the fourth person in the gang has just pushed their fifth identical CD cover in your face despite being told that there's only time for one each??

It's a shame really, as the guys have been lovely to every fan I've seen them meet, but you can see how the pretenders could make the whole experience more wearing. As Guy hops into the van shaking his head at Jonny's seemingly inexhaustible patience, I suggest he asks each person to name three songs from the album whose cover they're asking to have signed.

Obviously, it is but a minor irritation and certainly it seems to bother me and the fellas' security much more than it bothers the guys themselves. It seems to be more and more common though, so I guess if you do meet someone you like and your opening line is "here, can you sign these? (and these...)" at least you know now why they may give you a slightly withering look...

We arrive at the shiny, new O2 arena in Berlin mid-afternoon. Now that the set has settled for a while, you'd think that maybe they'd knock soundchecks on the head for a bit. What does Christopher Martin do today? He gets up on stage and starts writing stuff for the next record. Quietly in the background somewhere, a Duracell bunny is weeping.

Actually, talking of power, (tenuous link alert!) the intro tonight rolls a wee bit late due to an electrical problem up in the truss. One of the huge followspot lights, manned by our intrepid truck drivers, is failing to come to life. Given that these are about the only things that Sparky can call on to light up the fellas when they decide to wander about on the edges of the stage (or indeed up to the back of the arena) it needs fixing. To this end a lampie shins up a truss ladder and scurries along the steel framework high above the stage with seemingly as much concern as someone crossing the road to the paper shop. I bet the view from up there is amazing when the crowd is in like this. Can't say I'm in any rush to get myself into a climbing harness, then shin up there for a look myself though.

The beginning of the "runner" is normally signaled by tour manager Andy Franks charging down the loading dock ahead of the band shouting "Let'sGoLet'sGoLet'sGO". Tonight, he's curious by his absence until just after the band's van doors slam shut. He drops into the front seat of our van somewhat short of breath. Apparently, Mr Berryman had left his camera onstage and Franksy ended up running back in to get it, then back out again through the maze of the backstage to the vans. As we all look about inside the van for respiratory equipment to help stabilise him, Franksy finds the red wine and all is well once again. We speed on through the darkness towards Stockholm and a day off.

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 about 'Unwrapped', ask about OXJAM, ask how they can raise money in the marathon they are doing next week… ask why we are at a Coldplay concert in Hamburg? Because they invited us, of course.

The message is simple. It’s written on my wrist. “Deine Stimme Gegen Armut”. (Give your voice against poverty). Oxfam. Time for the encore. . . (once the band have run past this little office, back to the stage!)

Read other blogs at the Oxfam Blog website here

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 had a couple of goes at the intro, trying to work out if it starts with "Oh, summer" or "Oh, winter". The crowd soon set him straight, however.

It's got to be a sign that things are beginning to settle when there's time in the gig to take notice of what the crowd are up to. I'm led to believe that in Paris, Cemeteries of London saw some particularly bonkers Parisians dressed in bedsheets sat on their friends' shoulders. Plainly Cemeteries need Halloween-style spooky ghosts. Excellently silly - and I applaud. Cologne saw what was possibly the first display of sparklers during Fix You so far this tour. Maybe there have been more, but from where I am, I can only see a tiny section of the crowd, so I may well have missed out. It's beyond great though, when the crowd give the band and crew something to look at. We see the flashing lights, the smoke and the mirrors of the show every night.

When something totally unexpected happens, it's a talking point until well into the next day. The mobile-phone glowsticks in Paris came like a lunar eclipse, giving the whole touring party something to stand staring at and pointing. I'm sure there's more to come. Be assured, we'll all be watching.

Another sign that the mad bout of "moving the furniture round" in the setlist is taking a brief breather is the fact that the Hamburg soundcheck consists mainly of a round of cover versions. Mr. Champion picks up the bass and gives Blur's Girls and Boys a go. Pretty soon Guy is on drums, Jonny gives it some, and they're off. Chris's Damon Albarn impersonation is given an extra lift by his nice new white tracksuit top from the German promoters. Not wishing to take sides in the whole Britpop divide, next up comes an Oasis tune. Chris slurring "All I need are cigarettes and alcohol" was certainly one of the more unusual soundcheck sights so far this tour.

There's plenty more. Fools Gold from the Stone Roses gets a go and for the tiniest moment they try a Police song before giving up, quite reasonably concluding that it's just too hard. Perhaps we should look into getting them some club gigs on days off doing covers? Mind you, all the gear will need setting up, so it's probably best not to be giving them ideas.

I'll leave you with a few shots I got during Yellow in Paris just before the runner...

R42

Discuss the latest blog entry here [thanks mimixxx]

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 the same direction, for a fairer world without poverty. That was a great effort by the team, and set a new record for the tour im Deutschland.

I took my chance to take in most of the show on Friday night too. Albert Hammond Jnr is still doing a great job of warming up the crowd, surely building their fan base in every city they pick up guitars. Coldplay live is a real spectacle. It would be easy to either close your eyes, or block out the sound, and still enjoy the show. Lights, confetti, screens, spheres and lasers, all add to the action on stage.

Read the full blog at the Oxfam Blog website here

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 for the Health and Education For All pledge. That’s fantastic work. One volunteer even travelled twice from Marseille, just to help Oxfam in Lyon and Paris.

I met some great people. I especially want to thank Amelia, Maria and Nina for all their work helping to coordinate everything. Merci!

Read the full blog at the Oxfam Blog website here

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 theParisian crowd having their own impromptu rave without them! Forgetcigarette lighters, mobile phones are the new glowsticks!

Watch the film

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 being Coldplay, everything is getting a fresh appraisal. New approaches are considered, embellishments added, whole sections dropped and replaced, then completely reworked.

The band have undergone huge growth with this record and it's clear that they're continuing on with that trajectory. The tour is like a toddler on a growth spurt. Every time we find it a nice pair of shoes that fits and send it off to school happy that we've kitted it out properly, it wakes up taller, bigger and bursting with even more energy. There's not time to sew the name tags into the shirt before they've outgrown it.

It can be overwhelming at times and certainly, for those in the crew who haven't experienced a Coldplay tour before, it's taken some adjustment. Much of the job seems to be about anticipating what might come next, or what the band might ask for. It means a lot more work, as inevitably for everything that actually happens, you end up organising and preparing three or four things that don't. In all honesty though, it's so much better than touring for this length of time with a show that's "set in stone". Boredom creeps in easily and tedium can be far more exhausting than anything else. That's not to say that the panic of hearing "can we make this happen, so we can do this song tonight?" gets any less intense - just that everyone knows that it's (usually) worth it. Either way, I'm nominating this tour for the "most tweaked setlist of all time" award.

The B-Stage is the epicenter of change right now. It begins the week with the techno tunes dropped completely, to be replaced by The Hardest Part down there at the end of the walkway just on piano. This version of the song didn't even exist during rehearsals - it just arrived unannounced at the end of Speed of Sound one night, completely out of the blue. This is a good way to push that off-the-cuff moment into a fully formed part of the show and to give it maximum impact.

Later in the week on the B-stage, Talk gets a techno treatment and God Put A Smile gets revisited.

Cemeteries Of London gets its live premiere this week. The European crowds (particularly Spain) grab hold of the flamenco claps and provide a whole percussion track of their own. There's a couple of unreleased tracks popping up as well. Postcards From Far Away now bookends the B-stage (at least until the next idea comes along...) They're also playing Glass Of Water in the soundchecks with a view to giving this a live run.

Manneheim's soundcheck begins with Will at the piano. He has a beautiful, simple melody which floats in the arena echo to give a very atmospheric soundtracky feel. Guy joins in as Chris picks up Jonny's guitar to give his pedalboard a try. Jonny arrives and quite reasonably decides he may as well play drums. I really hope this evolves into a new song. The soundcheck rolls on with an impromptu jam on Back In Black. I have no idea where the band's current AC/DC fixation comes from, although I'm looking squarely towards stage right where Jonny's guitar tech Matt McGinn is no doubt grinning broadly. The rockier feel continues as old In My Place B-side The One I Love comes off the shelf for a play.

Warm evenings and big truck parks out the back of the venues mean that football is replacing table tennis for post-soundcheck entertainment. I have a wander out the back of the Strasbourg venue to phone home and spot Jonny and Will having a kickabout in front of Albert Hammond Jr's bus. Passing crew join in from time to time until the fellas get called in to do some interviews. Like schoolkids being forced indoors to do their homework, they collect their ball and troop off.

I'd forgotten what a difference it makes having the audience on the floor all standing. The American shows had all been fully seated. Here, people have to queue up early to get a good spot and stay there until the band get on. This does mean they don't get to sit around in the bar, or go get food, but it means that they're like coiled springs by the time the house lights go down - and once they do, the vibe is explosive. From my days as a gig goer (long since over, gentle reader - unless it's Radiohead) it never felt quite right being sat down. Being squashed up with a few thousand sweaty strangers cheering at the top of your lungs because you all loved the same band always seemed to be a huge part of the experience to me. I can definitely see pros and cons in each approach, so it's nice to get a mixture.

So far, the European crowds have been nothing short of amazing. We're in the land of football chants on this continent and they've taken the "Wo-oh-ah-oh-oh-oh" of Viva La Vida warmly to their hearts. It starts before the show, it carries on after the song and most nights, it's still going well after the band have left the stage, the house lights have come on and roadies have been dismantling the show for a good ten or fifteen minutes. Here's to Coldplay's first terrace anthem!

Part of the lot of the tour manager is the fact that no matter what's going on and no matter how in the dark you are as to why it's happening, it's still you that everyone looks to for answers. This is demonstrated admirably when we come in to land at Lyon. Not only are we coming in during a rather heavy thunderstorm, but the pilot gets halfway through our descent before pulling rather steeply back up, then banking away sharply. All eyes in the band party turn to Franksy, with a range of expressions from confusion to concerned alarm. "Oh, THAT Lyon, the one in FRANCE - oh bugger" comes the cheerfully unruffled response. It transpires that air traffic control forgot about a plane they left sitting on the runway. Probably just as well we had a couple of goes at it.

Climbing the steps onto the plane in Barcelona is also somewhat eventful, as another nearby plane is boarding when two passengers spot the band and run across the open runway clutching posters for the band to sign. Immediately a security vehicle squeals down the tarmac to scoop the two off the flight-path. I believe the word fan is short for fanatic. How do you shorten "Loony"?

I should also mention that Yellow has been shuffled into the encore position. I can't remember them ever having done this before. It works well this way, though. I'd guess that for a pretty large proportion of the audience, it's the song that first got them into the band. As the set closer then, it works a little like one of those twisty turny films where the last scene begins and you think "isn't this where we came in?" It's joyous and celebratory at this point in the show and it's heartening that they clearly still enjoy playing it.

The shows have been simply unreal, night after night the crowds have been phenomenal and the vibe completely electric. It's been a tour of shows that it seems they'll never top. Every few nights comes another. I can't wait to see what's next.

Talking of which, I might resurrect my old tour game of trying not to look at the itinerary and seeing how far I can get into the day before I work out what country we're in. Actually, thinking about it, I seem to remember managing four days without knowing where I was on a tour many moons ago. In fairness though, I did drink a lot more back then...

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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 about 2:30am last night.. One of the guys described it as a ’submarine trip’ (”a very long time, spent in a confined space”). Mind you, I slept soundly most of the way in my confined bunk space on Bus 5. Our driver, Steffan, always gets us safely to the next city as quick as he can.

Read the full blog at the Oxfam Blog website here

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 too. No matter how many shows they do. Belen, my Intermon Oxfam contact, told me that Chris said (in Spanish), at the end of one song, “thank you, with all my body”. He also said, they will be back until the crowd gets bored of them. I don’t see that happening any time soon.

The set just fits. The band knowing how to tease the best out of the crowd. Knowing when they will sing, and when to make them jump. It’s an amazing sight to see people united in that way. And of course, to see four people controlling all that.

Read the full blog at the Oxfam Blog website here

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 assembled, which will later see Chris Martin walking into the waiting crowds (who are already sitting patiently outside..)

It was my first time working with Intermon Oxfam last night, in Barcelona. It was a pleasure to work with such a happy bunch. The show was a great prize for all their hard work. The atmosphere in Europe is raising the bar even higher, and the band seem to be savouring the challenge of living up to fever pitch expectation. The crowd were still singing that famous ‘Viva’ chorus long after the show closed in that Yellow lit arena. It once hosted the gymnastics at the 1992 Olympics. It was a very different spectacle last night.

Read the full blog at the Oxfam Blog website here