R#42 blog

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

The sound in some of these arenas is incredible. I will never get tired of hearing the crowd spontaneously chanting that ‘Viva’ chorus. The echo and the sheer number of people singing as one, is something else. Amazing. Another thing that’s amazing, is another 982 signatures in Mannheim, the first stop for Oxfam Germany. 982 people lending their voice to Oxfam campaigns. Many thousands more learning from our volunteers, about Oxfam, Coldplay’s support of Oxfam and the ways that they can support

The singing was ringing in my ears as I packed up and took a shower last night. Chris Martin had told the crowd the rules of the encore: that they had to make lots of noise, if they wanted the band to come out again. That was before they played the last song of the set.. then, even with a mic, you couldn’t hear him speak to introduce it.   Montreal was an amazing show. The crowd in full voice from start to end. Coldplay couldn’t help but play a second encore. There’s a lesson in making some nois

I’m sitting here stage-left, backstage, outside the production office, with Steve from support band Albert Hammond Jr. They had another great set earlier. It’s Coldplay’s turn now.. Just on the way back for the encore.. Steve says “I’ve made it now! i’m pleased to be in the blog. i’m pleased to know Pete from Oxfam”. Awesome.   Hoppy and Rick just went past with the guitars from the balcony. The band have launched into the encore now. I’m sure our Oxfam Novib volunteers are out there, having a g

Ole, Ole Ole Ole .. Cold-play Coldplay! (repeat many times).   There’s nothing like a festival crowd. Squished in tight for the best spot. For some that’s right by the speaker, on your friends shoulders, by the fence, or it might be at the back.. where there’s room to dance. For everyone, it’s on the grass/mud/dust/hay, or whatever else is underfoot. It was dust at the first ever Pemberton Festival.   For most, the best spot was as close to the stage as possible, when the night reached Coldplay

Great news for Oxfam, and Coldplay fans everywhere! Well.. mainly great news for fans who live in Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, or Atlanta.   The band have added 4 dates to the second leg of the Viva tour in North America. The USA is getting it’s fair share of those lovely boys from England. If you missed it, there has also been a date added in Dublin, Ireland, in December.. Loads more opportunities for Oxfam to talk to the fans, and a second shot for me, at seeing more or Washington (I spen

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

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

Santogold just warmed up in a huddle to my left. Black hats, white shirts, balck ’pants’, white ’sneakers’ and sunglasses. The lights are bright out there you know.. They just took the stage, with a roar rippling through the excited crowd. Sirens ring around. There goes the beat. There’s the bass.   Backstage always sounds like a glamorous place.. all couches, plants.. etc. This is just where we work. I’m sat by a concrete wall. Surrounded by road cases. Roadies and crew are perched on cases wit

Amazing stuff from the Oxfam campaigners tonight. 1847 signatures collected in just a couple of hours before the Coldplay set. We have a little more time after the set.. so there is a chance, that we could surpass the current ‘world record’ held since Montreal.. (which was 1889).   Just think.. all those fans stopping to think about providing people with good quality Health and Education For All. Then signing their name. For Oxfam to take off to the Canadian government, to show that support. All

Time to get back to work. I’m in a cold-looking corridor again. This one skirts around the bottom of the Scotiabank Center. A 13′000 seater hockey stadium, which usually plays host to the Ottawa Senators. Today’s runner, Eric, told me that they are pretty good.   It will be Canada’s last chance to watch Coldplay for a while tonight. Way back in summer, in Toronto, Pemberton and Montreal, the atmosphere was electric. I’m sure that it will be tonight too. The band have had a chance to rest, and i’

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

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

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

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 new ‘Oxfam sign-ups on the Coldplay tour 2008 World Record’ holders are Oxfam Canada’s amazing group of volunteers in Ottawa. 2032 is the magic number of Coldplay fans who signed up.   It was an incredible night. What a way to start the new tour. The Coldplay set was awesome too. They nailed it last night, following opening act, a local band called ‘Stars’, with an awesome set. The atmosphere once again, was electric.   Thank you to Victoria Harnett, from Oxfam’s Toronto office, and all of o

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

The quiet hum of a computer. The muffled bleep of a printer. The distant mingled voices of the office. Grey clouds outside and the smell of freshly brewed tea. It’s all very different sights, sounds and smells to life on the road. No radios, no lines of cables on the floor, no waiting crowds filling arenas..   Most of the crew, myself included, have returned home after the first leg of the tour. Only a select few crew members have travelled on with Coldplay to Japan, for the two dates at Summer

Canada and the Rocky Mountains.. the latest destination of the Coldplay Tour. It’s the day of their headline slot at the Pemberton Festival, which will also see Jay-Z perform before the London boys take to the main stage. Quite an impressive pair of headliners. Surely rumours of a collaboration will circulate the site. We shall wait and see.   Philadelphia Wachovia Center was the last to play host to Coldplay’s sold out show. A night to remember for thousands more fans before the tour headed for

Those are the lyrics I just heard Chris Martin sing from the United Center stage on the second night of their stop in Chicago. They are on stage right now.   Just before I came in to write, they played ‘Yellow’ to a rapturous reception, literally lighting up the arena with that song, both in colour and voice. Oxfam had a massive 1143 great Chicagoans signed up last night, and it looks like a similar amount again tonight. The audiences seem really keen to find out more. The energy of the voluntee

Oxfam UK: Here we are. Paused on the finish line. The finale. The final shows of the VIVA tour this year. Hundreds of flourescent jackets are scurrying about inside this huge, world famous stadium. You can already sense the rush and anticipation, which will only be quenched when Coldplay take the stage. It’s a huge occasion.   Everyone is pulling out all the stops, to make the next two days, days to remember for a long time.Of course, this place is a venue full of memories, where dreams come tru

Hello all! I wrote this from the Vancouver International Airport with a view of the mountains in front of me, and a supremely important package by my side…   Today is the first day of almost three weeks off while the tour is on hiatus and the band hits some major festivals in Europe. This means my crew pass and 2-way radio are unclipped from my belt-band, and that I’ll be carrying car keys in the place of a hotel key-card in no time. I wish I could say the same for those weary crewmates who do

A week has gone by since Coldplay performed in Saitama and Kobe, and we are certainly feeling the impact here at Oxfam Japan. We have inquiries from people who saw Oxfam’s booth, to those who have expressed interest in future campaigning. We are also hearing voices from those who have read the tour blog!   712 people signed up for the FOR ALL campaign during the Japan tour. We will continue to collect the sign-ups and for those of you, who missed the opportunity to sign up at the shows, plea

The crew have flown out, to wipe the jet-lag from their eyes, in time to get the stage up tomorrow. Yesterday morning, Coldplay flew out to join them. Tomorrow, Tokyo will see the start of the Coldplay tour in 2009. Oxfam Japan will be there waiting for them.   With that, comes a new blogger. Oxfam’s Akiko Mera, has worked tirelessly to get things ready for the show tomorrow. She will be there, at the first drop of another rollercoaster ride on the Coldplay tourbus. The Saitama Super Arena will

Hey Folks! I’m hollering at you from the beautiful Pittsburgh, PA. The rain curse that was brought upon us has been lifted during our glorious three days off (!!!) and its been nothing but sunshine and butterflies (naturally). It seems that everywhere this crew goes-Atlanta, Hartford, Hershey, Camden- rain ensues! In every city however, rain or shine, our volunteers make me so proud to be part of an organization that has inspired the type of commitment and dedication that they exhibit.   Its bee