R#42 blog

Just counting the pledges at the Oxfam tables by section 110 at London’s O2 Arena. The Oxfam volunteers have handed in their sheets, and gone in to take their seats. ‘Speed of Sound’ is ringing through the doors, each time someone swings it open, to run to the toilet, or grab some fish n’ chips.   The total so far tonight is 1188. All those names, showing their support, can make a real difference to people’s lives. One person can make a big difference. 1188 can make a huge difference. Imagine wh

We made it. And it was great! The band finally made it back to the start.. (well close enough, just a few tube stops away from Brixton). It was the first of three sold-out shows at the O2 Arena in London.   This morning, I stepped off the Jubilee Line, at Greenwich North Station, looked up, and saw huge cranes sticking out of a big, white, dome-shaped tent. It was the sight of the Millenium dome. I had only ever seen it on TV, or from a distance on my way around London.. but today, the big show

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the secret special guest...   Discuss this blog entry here onwards.   Here I am, sitting outside the production office in the O2 arena. It's the first of the "Big London Shows" today, which would traditionally mean much stress and fretting all round. However, we've managed to completely circumvent any last minute nerves by being so insanely busy that worrying has fallen off the to-do list entirely.   Whilst the first of the 14 trucks are being

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the hometown show   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks Pris]   Finally, I spend an entire day off in bed and so see an end to the misery that is "the tour cold". Everyone is suffering. Folks have either had it, just finished it, or are right in the middle of it. It seems poor old Jon Hopkins has been hit harder than most though. He's come down with something a bit heavier than a cold and he's not with us for the Manchester shows. Let

Half of them was anyway. The security here really stand out, in their bright yellow blazers. It was an odd sight when they all took their positions just before the doors. All these organised yellow dots, covering the arena entrances. The biggest line of yellow, being by the stage barriers. The dots of yellow were far less organised a few hours later. As balloons were thrown in to the crowd by the roadies at the mix desk, by the stage and up in the rafters. Yellow bopped and popped all around the

I’m sitting in the same little room as I was a few days ago, writing another blog, about another Coldplay show. We have had some adventures on this tour, playing 3 different countries in 3 days.. it’s not quite the same adventure when you return to the same city, but it was another great show in Glasgow. Oxfam’s brilliant bunch of volunteers, between them, got 1526 Health and Education For All pledges, to add to the thousands of others on the Coldplay tour.   Another noisy crowd greeted the band

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the crazy car chase   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks JENNY34]   On the ride into Liverpool from John Lennon Airport, there is much talk in our van (which, I hasten to add, included none of the band) about The Beatles - as though this is all that has ever happened in Liverpool. Come showtime, Chris gets part way through In My Place and reminds the crowd that half of the songs they are hearing were written here. Suddenly, it strike

The capacity of the Liverpool Echo Arena is 8000 tonight. 2044 of them made the Health and Education For All pledge, in just under 3 hours, thanks to our incredible Oxfam campaigners. For many of them, it was their first time volunteering with Oxfam. That’s a pretty good first time campaigning, by any account.. 1 in 4 signed up. Wow.   Chris Martin is currently singing ‘The Hardest Part’. The volunteers effort tonight has certainly ensured that Liverpool is not the hardest part of this tour for

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the nasty flu   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks coldplay12]   Don't get too close, readers. I'm full of cold. Being ill on tour (OK, I know, it's only the sniffles and a sore throat...) is a pretty rubbish experience. If I had a sensible job, I would have called in sick and spent the day under the duvet feeling sorry for myself. That's not really an option in my line of work, so instead, I've turned up to a cold and draughty arena

I’m sitting on a road case, which says C O L D P L A Y, in spray paint across the top. On my right, is a label which says ‘Coldplay. Viva. Viva La Vida 2008/2009. Location: Warm-up room. Truck: Backline. Contents: Piano.’   It’s the ‘Dressy Piano’ case, ready for the band to warm-up for another show on their world tour tonight. Today, we have made it to Liverpool’s Echo Arena. It sits proudly overlooking the Docks, and this famous city of music. It’s also European Capital of Culture this year. A

Actually. I’m not sure they were wooden. That’s probably classed as a fire hazard. There was plenty of stomping on metal bars though. Fantastic atmosphere tonight. The Scots came out to party in Glasgow’s SECC. Coldplay were the life and soul. Soon enough the whole room was all, sort of.. yellow.   Tonight’s surprise was a bunch of yellow balloons, which the band kicked out onto the crowd at the beginning of that song. It was a great sight. I’m always facinated to watch people’s reaction when so

After an overnight drive up to Glasgow, we are here at the SECC.   There’s frost on the trees and that kind of cold clear blue in the air. The Oxfam case is out in the ‘cold-zone’ as Fin described it earlier. That is right behind the stage. It’ll be good when that crowd show up later on and warm the place up a bit! Just a little short blog.. to say.. “brrr”.   Read more blogs at the Oxfam Blog website here  

Three nights in Birmingham, 4 UK Coldplay shows in 5 days. 7177 people have already joined Oxfam GB and made the Health and Education FOR ALL pledge. Thank you to all those amazing Coldplay fans for adding their small action to a global movement. Thank you to our 69 awesome Oxfam volunteers so far, who have given up their evening’s to spread the word, talk to fans, and make all those little actions, add up to an incredible 7177!   The first day in Birmingham, the sign-up record tumbled. The seco

Blog #3: The third and final instalment from our guest blogger, Soha Yassine. Soha took the reigns for all things Oxfam, for the final 3 US shows of 2008. Phoenix was the last of these 3 shows, before the UK tour kicked off.   We arrived in Phoenix at what seemed like an ungodly hour for a tour caravan that hit the road at 1:30am. As I rolled out of my bunk in the ungraceful manner that I do every morning and headed into the venue for some much needed coffee, I stopped by the stage area. It wasn

Blog #2: Second instalment from our guest blogger (Soha Yassine), who took the Oxfam reigns for the last three shows in US of 2008. November 25th. 2008. Anaheim. CA.   Tonight we are in the backyard of Los Angeles, Anaheim, California, which is centrally located in Orange County. A few days ago the band rocked the American Music Awards and tonight we’re in the home of the Mighty Ducks.   Here’s an image from the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs with the palm trees shining under the California sun. This

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 on being back in Blighty   Discuss this blog entry here onwards.   I've often said that I never feel as British as when returning from a long stint away. We've been out of the country for so much of the last six months though, that for the first time ever, it actually feels a little odd to be back in Blighty. Without wanting to get all cliched and "life on the road" about it, I have to admit to finding my own country feeling a bit foreign and unfa

Blog #1: Just in from our mystery guest blogger (Soha Yassine), who took the Oxfam reigns for the last three shows in US of 2008. 22nd November 2008. Salt Lake City. UT.   “… So come over, just be patient, and don’t worry” can be heard clearly enough that I forget for a moment that i’m standing in the middle of the concourse at Energy Solutions Arena. I take a peak inside, as the building-sized banner, that reads ‘VIVA’, drops behind Chris, Jonny, Guy, and Will. Audiences always seem to be moved

If my memory serves me correctly.. It’s been 22 shows since the last time I was able to say this. We have a new world record sign-up number for the Viva La Vida tour 2008! Oxfam has had an amazing night so far at the 1st Coldplay show, here at the Birmingham NIA.   An incredible 2050 amazing Coldplay fans, signed to pledge their support for Health and Education For All. That’s almost a fifth of the audience! Thank you to our amazing 20 volunteers, organised by Kay, our star regional coordinator.

I walked across to the arena today, watching Christmas lights being strung up around trees. It’s the first day of a freezing cold December, in England. You know, when you go outside in the cold and then get back indoors, try to speak to someone, and your mouth doesn’t work properly.. like your cheeks are freezing up. When you stand talking to a friend, and your breath in the air makes you look like two boiling kettles. That’s the kind of day it is out there. Inside, everyone is wearing wolly hat

I never get to see the end of the show from there. I’m usually upstairs, but just now, I watched as the band bowed, left the stage, bolted for the door, and the Oxfam sphere lit up, illuminating the clearing seats, so that the masses can find their way home, and find their way to take action with Oxfam.. It’s already emptied out in there, the contents of the arena, heading out into the misty Yorkshire night.   The stage is already cleared, and being torn apart. Rick marches down the catwalk, blo

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the pumpkin soup   Discuss this blog entry here onwards.   Marguerite drops into her seat at dinner in Anaheim looking as though she's just been mugged. The explanation is simple enough - it's LA and consequently, she has just submitted a guest list that outnumbers the attendance at the band's first ever gig by a factor of three to one. Shows in London, New York and LA tend to be ever thus.   They're not just gigs, they're mini music biz event

On a train to Sheffield, England. The accents have changed. The scenery (or what I can see of it), is very different. There’s coffee fumes in the air from the buffet car. Bleary-eyed Saturday shoppers are shuffling along in the carriages, for a boost of morning brew (with chocolate sprinkles).   Autumn looks like it’s been and gone. Trees stripped bare of leaves. Frost on the wiry grass. Thick.. Thick, fog. To be honest, I can’t see a lot at all. Aside from the occasional rooftop, lonely-looking

Here’s one from a couple of days ago..   Waiting in the Denver arena, looking through the glass at all manner of Denver Nuggets merch. It’s going to be a good night. I can feel it. I looked out at the setting sun, through swirls of rollercoasters.. to the huge Broncos stadium, and rugged line of mountains cutting off the sun. Now that sun has gone down, the temperature is in plummet mode again. I’m going to need some gloves for that trip outdoors.. This cooler air, is a good way to acclimatise b

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the random rememberings   Discuss this blog entry here onwards.   Gah! I hate leaving the blog for a few days - I forget all the tiny details of what happened. Hence, if this installment reads like a random list of unrelated rememberings then that's because it's exactly what it is!   Lets see, where were we up to? OK, I'd got as far as leaving Texas.   The Denver show brings a guest at soundcheck. We are joined by a chap called Ricardo Leon, w

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the Texan cable massacre   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks coldplay12]   "If you're from Tex-as, won't you le-e-e-et me know...". Chris ends Violet Hill with this line in Houston and they spend the whole night doing just that. The Houston crowd are extremely vocal. It's not just the line from Chris that sets them off either. I was musing the other day that some crowds give a cheer when the house lights go off but then get very qu