Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: Coldplay in a fan's back garden.

Last week the band had a crazy day where they finished the Jay Leno show and headed off to play their first ever barbeque (in a fans back garden!). It sounded like a ridiculous idea, but we got there it turned out to be really rather wonderful.

Here's a little home movie of it. R#42.

Time for a breather.. time I caught up with the world.

I am in the production office at the United Center, Chicago. Home of the Bulls and the Blackhawks! Banners marking their history of success hangs from one of the highest ceilings on the tour.

This venue is apparently one of the ‘big 3′ (in terms of height at least). Got a bit of vertigo on the ‘noseblead’ seats when I took a wander earlier. There is history everywhere. I met tonight’s Oxfam volunteers a couple of hours ago, by a statue of Michael Jordan leaping for the basket. I think Coldplay would have slightly different statues, but who knows, they may get one someday. The tour seems to be the biggest on the planet right now.. selling out shows in hours and minutes, rather than days and weeks.

Read the full journal entry here [thanks Cris_Santos]

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 reports on a magical night in Vegas

San Jose sees set-list tweakage continue. The LA shows have gone very well and feedback has largely been extremely positive. The band, however, aren't really ones for auto-pilot. Everyone is very pleased with the show, but the search for the ultimate knockout punch continues.

To this end, Politik is pulled out of storage and gets a good airing. I can't really see the point in ever doing a Coldplay show without it myself. It is truly monstrous live and tonight is no exception. It's very good to see it back! From where I am through the gig it feels like the first utterly solid show. Inevitably, my response to the gig is largely built on whether things have technically worked or not - and tonight is very smooth on that front, which is very gratifying this early in the tour.

As soon as we get into the vehicle for the ride home, the band are discussing other ways to improve the flow and refine the set. It's all subtle tweaks, but at this point, improvements are based on many tiny changes, rather than single grand gestures. One more show and then two glorious days off...

We hit the ground in Vegas and Tour Manager Franksy finds the Tannoy mic at the back of the plane to welcome everyone with his finest Elvis impression. Outside the window, the vehicles that meet us have multiplied into a true cavalcade to accommodate the selection of LA's finest who've accompanied us for a Saturday night jolly. Chris remarks that looking out at them on the tarmac makes him feel like the president of soft rock. It's almost the perfect arrival, spoiled only by the minor detail that the steps they've bought for disembarking turn out to be the wrong size. We all sit back down as the man with the ladder-on-a-van turns tail and heads off in search of something that fits.

It seems it's been a tough day for the rest of the crew. When we arrive, I overhear someone on radio saying "I gotta go get breakfast". Given that it's 5pm when we arrive, it seems safe to say it's been a busy day here. After the ten hour drive from loading out in San Jose, the trucks only arrived at 11am, which means they've performed nothing short of miracles to get the show up and ready in only a fraction of the time they usually have. Hats off folks!

Though everyone is happy to be in town, there is a slight concern pre-show. Vegas crowds can be pretty hard to impress. It's not like they're short of options for how to entertain themselves of an evening - and more than that, I think sometimes folks can be just plain over-stimulated. Lets face it, any town that can take in its stride hotels with their own roller coasters, next to pyramids, sphynxes and full-sized pirate ships is going to find a few flashing lights and a pop group pretty uninspiring.

Or are they?

It would appear not! The crowd are utterly bonkers from the off. So much so, that I spend the majority of the evening with one earplug out so I can take in the sound of the crowd. I'm wondering if it's the loudest Viva La Vida singalong so far, or whether it's just that I've never been listening for it before. My question is answered when the song finishes and the crowd simply carry on singing. They roar the chorus on alone and it's utterly wonderful. It's the kind of football chant-style crowd noise that I've only really ever heard before in South America or certain parts of Europe and here they are in a "hard to impress town" giving it loads! Inevitably, the enthusiasm of the crowd drives the band on to new heights. I don't want to spend the whole tour writing "it was a great show" in this journal, but tonight was truly remarkable, it has to be said.

See you in a few days...

R#42

[thanks masterkraig]

I’m on the bus. Front top bunk. Driver’s side. I just marked my name on the mini-whiteboard that has the 11 other scribbled names for this bus. One of 5 on the tour. I can hear the set frantically being wheeled out case-by-case from the loading bay, onto the shining red trucks. Drivers eager to hit the road, and crew, ready to hit the hay. I’m fascinated by how fast that whole set gets boxed up and heads for another venue. That venue waiting for us this time is the MGM Grand.. Las Vegas.

I hear it’s ‘hot’ in Las Vegas. And Crazy. I’m excited. And intrigued..

If Oxfam has a group of volunteers as good as tonight, we’ll do fine. Another night. Another raft of names signed up for Oxfam America. More people showing support for the cause. More people ready to use their power and take action on injustice. It’s exciting to meet so many people ready to do something positive. Also to meet all the people who already know about Oxfam, and want to do more.

The Coldplay show shifted a little tonight. Don’t Panic was an acoustic track, with ‘Yellow’ played in full, I think for the first time so far. No venue seems too big for this band. If anything, the bigger the better. More people = more noise from the crowd. The HP Pavillion in San Jose is a huge concrete dome. Home of the Sharks hockey team. Coldplay seem to feed off the singing voices of big crowds. Not quite like sharks though.. thankfully.

Just before I go (as my eyes are drying up with this bedlight shining at them), I just wanted to say. I went to San Francisco with a couple of old uni friends last night. Checked out the pacific and the misty Golden Gate Bridge. That thing is awesome. I got vertigo just looking at it. Apparently they never stop painting it. Imagine the guy who paints that thing all year round.. I have enough respect for the rigging guys on the tour who swing from the lights and speaker stacks every day!

Enough from me. 8 hours, 528 miles, and we’ll be in the desert. Farewell California. Viva Las Vegas*.

*I had to say it.

Source: http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 expands his role to passport photo snapper...

Two for two.

Well, it seems that we're airborne. The maiden flights of the Viva La Vida tour have been a success and it looks like we're in for a good run. Admittedly, the shows passed in a blur - a mixture of concentration and panic that leaves one utterly shattered. I have to say, the standout aspect of the shows for me is how effective the acoustic section has been. This is possibly because I don't have anything to do at that point in the show.

I have a feeling, however, that it's more because it is a truly emotionally resonant moment. You can feel the crowd pass first through confusion that all the lights have come on, then excitement that the band are suddenly wandering through the arena, to the final shrieks of recognition as Yellow strikes up.

From where I stand near the stage, the guys look very small up there at the back of the arena. They also sound pretty fragile - often being drowned out in the choruses by the roaring sing-a-long of the crowd. When they get to "For you I bleed myself...", it's just one huge voice and the band are but a tiny part of it.

Back on the main stage, the ending to is now similarly transformed, as the guys jam up a storm. Monday night saw Will exploding into life as the four of them played off each other, completely freeform. I couldn't tell if it was the anxiety of the first show, or the excitement of the response, but Will was utterly on fire at being let of the leash like this. It was truly a sight to behold.

Thoughts of a leisurely start to day two were scuppered when word came around that, for some reason, the band's passport photos had been rejected from their Japanese Visa applications. Things needed to happen fast, as the consulate would not release any of the passports they were holding until this was resolved. This meant nobody (band or crew) could fly anywhere until we got it sorted.

Luckily, there was a linen trolley outside of my room - where I swiftly swiped a fresh bed-sheet as a photographic background - and there was plentiful sunshine out by the pool. Band assistant EJ rounded up the guys and one by one they gazed blearily into the early morning sunshine as EJ held the white sheet behind them.

I did the electronic equivalent of waiting for the prints to pop out of the machine and we were good to go. The gig wasn't bad either...

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 blogs from LA on the day of the first show

It struck me today that so far we've spent time in Wembley Arena, Madison Square Garden and the LA Forum - and yet the tour hasn't yet officially begun. Either it's all downhill from here, or this is going to be one hell of a ride...

Somewhat predictably, the week of production rehearsals has passed in the blink of an eye. For the first couple of days, the band were still in the UK. The lighting department replaced them with white towels hung over each mic stand. For some reason, Guy's mic stand was adorned with a bed sheet, which gave stage left the look of a particularly cheesy Halloween party.

But I digress. Once the band did arrive, it was right down to business. The first couple of run-throughs were somewhat tense, it has to be said. The B-Stage section of the show had been particularly problematic. Nobody has been 100% happy with the way it's been going. Will has been playing a drumkit about fifty feet in front of the sound system. This means the audience were hearing his drums once when he hit them, again when the audio from the PA system reached them (sound actually travels pretty slowly) and then a third time when the reflections from the back of the arena echoed around again. Everyone was dissatisfied and with the time available to change things getting short, people were concerned.

As is so often the case, a very small change brought a flood of others. Saturday began with the band merrily swinging sledgehammers at the B-Stage. The second drumkit? Gone. The Vox Continental keyboard? Gone. The songs they were going to play down there? History. The entire crew? Very, very confused!

Will had arrived with a tiny electronic drum-pad setup that plays some glorious 808 drum-machine sounds. They kicked into 'God Put A Smile' and it was utterly transformed, becoming a tight, almost claustrophobic techno rendition. Jonny twisted a demented new guitar part out of his pink Jazzmaster, the lasers rolled around overhead and all around the arena jaws dropped. It had gone from being the least effective part of the show to a new highlight in mere moments. It's the Coldplay way. Hours of uncomfortable stress give way to a burst of frenzied creativity and suddenly everyone is excited again.

The guys made their way back to the main stage and hammered through 'The Scientist', 'Speed of Sound' and 'What If' - all stripped down and without the aid of the orchestral studio parts. They sounded all the better for the simpler approach. The songs breathe and come alive without the mass of technology weighing them down. After weeks of adding, adding and more adding, they're finally stripping away the unnecessary baggage and letting the songs speak for themselves. And this they do, loud and clear.

At 7pm on Saturday night there was a final full show run-through. From where I sit, watching the show on a TV monitor under the stage, it looked like we've finally got a Coldplay show. The band were clearly excited and pleased. So much so, in fact, that Sunday was designated a day off! Production Manager Fin announced that the bar down the road from the hotel was open and he was buying.

Somewhat tellingly, pretty much the entire crew still wandered in on Sunday to do some small tweaks and last minute tidying up. We learnt long ago not to let our guard down just because we have a good day. Tonight is the first full show and everyone wants it to fully blow people away. I have to say, I really think it will.

You can discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks polkahard]

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 sends an update from LA

Back to school.

After the past few weeks of complete and utter chaos, we find ourselves loading into a huge empty space in LA with an entire week until the doors open for the first show of the tour. It's a little like finally getting a chance to move into your new home after a mad month of parties and visitors. Finally, we have time to arrange the furniture, to work out where the fusebox is and to attend to that troublesome leak when someone uses the shower upstairs.

In many ways, the promo shows were a great way to get a lot sorted out very quickly. We didn't so much hit the ground running as get thrown from a moving vehicle. It meant we had no choice but to make things work - and fast! Now though, we're smoothing the edges, refining every aspect. "Good enough" has never ever been good enough with this lot - and now, less so than ever. I expect a lot will happen this week and not all of it fun. I'm also pretty sure that by the time the house-lights go down for the first night next week, the show is going to have grown into something pretty exceptional.

Also by then, with any luck, British Airways will have found my suitcase....

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: R#42 blogs amid crazy scenes in NYC

I had yesterday pegged as just another TV show all the way up to about 6am. Just as the sun came up, it began to dawn on me just how amazing this was going to be. I can't remember anything like it in my whole time working for the band. The first Jimmy Kimmel show in 2002 was pretty amazing, but even that was just closing down Hollywood Boulevard. Here, there was major disruption to traffic on two different NYC streets, in front of and behind the stage. There were also folks hanging out of the skyscrapers that loomed above us, trying to get a look in.

I think the fact that it was an obscene hour of the morning made me a little slower to realise how beautifully strange it all was. It was only when Chris did a quick re-write of the 'shoot an apple...' line from 'Clocks' in the soundcheck ("too early to be out of bed...") that I even remembered that it was still some ungodly hour. This sideways sleep-deprived view obviously wasn't just limited to me, as 'Violet Hill' came towards the end, Chris stopped singing and spotted a young lad with a pretty hefty bandage and sling. "Wow, what happened to your arm, man?" he enquired as the track carried on below him. "Your brother hit you with a stick?".

The soundcheck stopped and started as commercial breaks allow. The setlist went through so many changes that the final version was brought out (after at least half a dozen revisions) by Tour Manager Andy Franks, literally scrawled on the back of a napkin. More run-throughs were squeezed in and nobody seemed to know whether we were actually still rehearsing or live on air. It was gorgeous chaos, wonderful nonsense - and then it was over. The band waved, thanked everyone and ducked back out. Me? I headed off to find a diner...

R#42

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: More Paris pics from #42

I expect I'm either on a Plane to NYC, or in the back of a truck at MSG as you read this. Couple more from Paris for you. First, the Q&A session..

More on this here onwards [thanks iriden]

And here's the fellas giving it some to a crowd of Parisians. Capital city crowds can occasionally be a little 'too cool'. None of that here though, this lot were bonkers!

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 sends pics from Paris

Well that was one of the more intense weeks I've had in this game. To be honest, these promo shows have wiped us all right out. The thousand-yard stare has been replaced with the utter 'man down' exhaustion where merely being awake and having to function feels like cruel and unusual punishment. We're off for a few days to get home, do some laundry and then pinball off to New York. Nobody said it was easy! ;-)

In the meantime, here's some photos from Paris TV day this week. Note Mr. Berryman being admonished for leaving his iPhone on during an interview!

R#42

More on this here onwards [thanks mimixxx]

Short but sweet post from #42

I'm with the band...

Roadie #42 @ coldplay.com

Hello there, I am Roadie #42. My good friend Prospekt has asked me to keep you all posted on the goings on from inside the tour. I sit somewhere stage left through every performance. Wherever the band are in the world, I'll be there and I'll be reporting back to you.

So here we are in Brixton Academy. The crowd's gone home, the floor's a mess and the truck's nearly packed. It must be the first night of the Viva La Vida tour.

In many ways, it feels as though we've run a marathon just to get to the starting line. Rehearsals have been brutally taxing. We've been flitting about across the planet doing TV shows, amidst trying to work out exactly what we need to do to be ready for the guys to play the songs. (Tympani drums? Cast iron bells? Butterfly confetti? Hand painted synths and guitars? None of this stuff comes off the shelf...)

Folks have been working around the clock in Wembley Arena to put together a live experience that does the record justice. The show is crafted and sculpted from months of mere imaginings in round table meetings. From the CAD drawings of Lighting Designer Paul Normandale and the "What we really want to do is....." emails from the band, to the "How the hell are we going to...?" 4am headaches of Production Manager Craig Finley. Time comes to crush us, as ready or not, it's time to take the show on the road.

After the scale of the Wembley production rehearsals, we rolled into Brixton with a very stripped back and bare show. In many ways, it's a testament to the songs and the performance that the show was as good as it was. Proof (if it were needed) that the huge arena spectacle is about enhancement rather than distraction.

You all know how the show went - it was on the radio. As for us, let's just say that there's one very happy band walking out of the venue tonight and a large number of very relieved roadies.

See you all in Barcelona - the van's here to take us to the airport. We should get some sleep once we've checked in at around 5am.

Roadie #42 crashes the Barcelona press conference

17.6.08 - Barcelona

The crew is running entirely on espresso today. I sneak along to the press conference in a nearby swanky hotel. When we get to the rather impressive and imposing foyer, there is a gent in a suit at a grand piano playing a lounge jazz version of Trouble. Given my level of sleep deprivation, it seems wonderfully twisted. Lord only knows how the band manage to be so affable and approachable throughout. The wit and good humour flows and soon the press conference is done. Just a gig to do and a flight back to London. See you at the BBC!

Roadie #42 @ coldplay.com

Check out the 2008 section of Coldplay.com for a new Prospekt entry.

Thursday 12 June, London

I feel very relieved that the album is finally released out into the big wide world today. It's out of our hands now. It doesn't belong to us anymore.

I hope that you like it. I hope that there's songs on there that will make a shit day slightly less shit, or a good day even better. Thank you for all your patience and support.

Prospekt.

More on this here onwards [thanks Stefan-C8]

Read the full chronology, including all Prospekt updates, at WikiColdplay

Check out the 2000 section of Coldplay.com for a new star.

Mince Spies EP 2000

Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Even big soft rock bands like us are frustrated Karaoke singers.

CM

You can listen to Chris Martin's version here. More on this story here [thanks melanieau]

Read the full chronology, including all Prospekt updates, at WikiColdplay

Check out the 2003 section of Coldplay.com for a new star.

Dec 2003 - Christmas cover of 2000 Miles by the Pretenders (wonderful band with fringes/bangs).

We love Christmas songs, but every time we try and write one it’s awful. So we often cover them. Well, once or twice actually. The one song I would most like to have written is ‘Fairytale of New York’ by de bloody Pogues of Ireland.

CM

You can listen to the band covering a festive classic here. More on this story here [thanks Stefan-C8 & Loretin]

Read the full chronology, including all Prospekt updates, at WikiColdplay

Check out the 2001 section of Coldplay.com for a new star...

Jonny Goes Jazz - 12/01/01

It was just a phase!

JMB

You can discuss this star here onwards [thanks doritji]

Read the full Coldplay chronology, including all Prospekt updates, at WikiColdplay

Check out the 2005 section of Coldplay.com for a new star...

Talk Video

In our 3D video for Talk (only visible on HD) we played astronauts landing on a distant planet.

GB

You can discuss this star here onwards [thanks crestingwaves]

Check out the 2006 section of Coldplay.com for a new star...

Square One at Brits 15 Feb 06

Having performed averagely at the Grammy's a few days earlier we felt we had a bit of redeeming to do. Thankfully it was a much better experience. Award shows are hard, TV shows are hard, award shows on TV are a nightmare.

W x

You can discuss this star here [thanks joyhannah]

Check out the 2001 section of Coldplay.com for a new star...

Trouble Video 2 USA - Sept 25, 2001

Tim Hope (of the Mighty Boosh) made this. He's very talented, but we haven't seen him since. Our favourite bit of the Mighty Boosh is the moon singing 'Neil Armstrong walkin' on me face'. On that note, did you ever watch 'The Day Today'? For us, its the comedic equivalent of The Beatles.

CM

You can discuss this star here [thanks fixed] and click here for the WikiColdplay chronology page.

Check out the 2000 section of Coldplay.com for a new star...

The next (new) men who NME cover - 6 July 2000

Now famous as the NME's worst selling issue

CM

You can discuss this star here [thanks doritji]

Check out the 2003 section of Coldplay.com for a new star...

Hollywood Bowl, 31 May 03

I remember watching Monty Python at the bowl on TV when I was young. When we played there were a few less dead parrots and silly walks but it was an amazing venue. Being surrounded by the bowl and being able to project on to LA made it feel like playing inside a giant fish tank.

Wx

You can discuss this star here [thanks joyhannah].

Check out the 2003 section of Coldplay.com for a new star...

We liked this song but our people (we have a lot of people) said it was balls. So it was just sitting gathering dust and then Danny McNamara heard it on Limewire and we said would he like it and he said yes he would and then it was a good song.

CAJM

You can discuss this star here [thanks doritji]

Check out the 2005 section of Coldplay.com for a new star...

When X&Y was coming out we were pretty nervous. It was a difficult time for us as we had a lot of opinions flying around from within and without. But we got through it. Mainly by playing live I think. Plus, we discovered that we played better and liked each other more when we wore white trainers.

CM

You can discuss this star and previous stars here.

Check out the 2005 section of Coldplay.com for a new star...

This article changed our lives quite considerably. Although it was pretty painful at the time, it did us a lot of good I think.

CM

You can discuss this star and previous stars here.