R#42 blog

No. Not physically. That would be very silly. That’s a long old drive. Plus, let’s face it. There is not much to look at on the way. I spent much of the trip in the darkened cocoon of my bunk. The rest, faced with the slow realisation, as I peered out of the bus window, that this country is just vast. As soon as we headed out into that nothingness the day after the Dallas show.. the temperature dropped. We eventually hit the Colorado mountains on the way into Denver, and it fell again. Tumbled e

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the Flaming Lips cover   Discuss this blog entry here onwards.   It's pretty common for shows in more out of the way places to be the ones with the most enthusiastic crowds. Oklahoma then, has potential to be a right good night out. We arrive late in the day, as soundcheck has been bypassed yet again. At the top of the ramp that leads us into the bowels of the arena are three young ladies holding banners who giddily bounce and wave as the band

Houston, Texas. Home of one very famous and powerful man. Home of the ‘Rockets’ NBA team. I have seen a few very tall people walking around today.. Yao Ming is not small. Here we are in a huge state. 13′000 people have come to see the Coldplay show. All 26′000-or-so eyes, are now firmly fixed on the stage, on 4 guys who formed a band thousands of miles away, and wrote a song, and it was called ‘Yellow’. Probably also another 100 or so transfixed eyes are from crew members, waiting to jump in if

Good old fashioned pen and paper. How refreshing it can be. I’m scribbling away in the dark, next to stage right ‘guitar world’. Writing on the back of a Coldplay setlist, and leaning on an Oxfam ’Health and Education FOR ALL’ campaign booklet, on top of a road case..   I just saw Chris Martin run out to the front of the Coldplay stage, to bounce with the packed audience to ‘Viva La Vida’. There was a deafening roar when those strings kicked in. Now, if I look to my left, up the steps, there is

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the exit strategy   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks mimixxx]   I start the day in Minnesota by going to the wrong arena. I've left the hotel in search of breakfast and spot the Target Center where we played last time we were here. Although I'm not due in for a good while yet, I know that catering will be up, so I wander over. I spend a good couple of minutes explaining to the folks on the back door at the Target Center that I've l

It must be such a strange thing to be in that position. I’m sure most of you have been at a concert before, where the lead singer stops between songs to talk to the crowd.   Due to the buzz of 15′000 (or however many thousand people), and the fuzz of a microphone.. it can all become a bit of a blur. Now Chris Martin is a very clearly spoken fella. I understand the things he says from stage, a whole lot better than some artists I have seen slurring into the mic. No slurring for Coldplay at all. S

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: In which #42 muses on Hooters and parties   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks Loud Meditation]   Our show in Fort Lauderdale or Miami (nobody seems exactly sure where we are) is a nicely noisy affair. You can always pretty much judge how raucous an audience is going to be by watching them during the Blue Danube intro. Tonight it's arms aloft, swaying in time. It can't hurt, obviously that many of these arms are attached to rather large plas

I’m huddled in a corner behind one of the Oxfam pop-up banners by our table at the entrance to the arena. If I look up, I can see three of Oxfam’s volunteers enthusiastically passing out free badges and signing up Coldplay fans to the Oxfam America mailing list. Here come 5 more fans ready to sign on the sheets. It’s great to listen to some of the little things that happen at the stall..   “When I say ‘Cold’ .. you say ‘Play’ .. Cold - Play. Cold - Play! When I say ‘Ox’ .. you say ‘Fam’. Ox - Fa

Right. Time to catch up. Access to the internet on tour is never as easy as it is, when switching on a computer, in the ‘comfort’ of an office block or internet cafe. Wireless internet is set up in tour production and management offices. This usually leads to a line of roadies sitting on road cases outside, or sitting on the floor around the production team. In these concrete block buildings.. that signal doesn’t travel too far. Crew rooms are usually slightly less equipped for internet, as they

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 joins Chris in the studio as he works on new songs...   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks Lore]   It would seem that the impending Prospekt's March EP release has sent the band (and Chris in particular) into that familiar Coldplay overdrive. It's a day off today, but the term seems to mean little to one Mr. Martin. I've tagged along as he meets up with Viva's co-producer Rik Simpson to "put some ideas down".   I remember talking to Rik

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: In which #42 reaches his half-century   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks deydey]   Chris bounds up to me on the journey into Orlando with a new setlst. It's been quite a while since we've played Setlist Twister. The start of this tour often felt like trying to ride a malfunctioning mechanical bull and then, all of a sudden, seemingly out of completely nowhere, things settled into a definitive form.   The current setlist is pretty much eng

22:45, 6th November 2008. Orlando, Amway Arena. The arena empties out. Orlando Magic 98 - 88 Philadelpiha 76ers. The court in the center is shiny. Smooth under all those squeeking sneakers. Giant figures leave the court. Sweatbands are off to be rung out. Cheerleaders bound off, with white toothed smiles across their faces. Scoreboard is flashing. Disco ball is rotating. Magic’s mascot is circulating. TV crew are out doing reviews of the game for the audience at home. Charles Barkley (NBA, Suns

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the aura explorer   Discuss this blog entry here onwards.   Today marks the day when we decamp from our temporary home in NYC. We've been based here for two whole weeks now. I can't think of another establishment in the world where the staff have become friends in the same way. From the doormen, to the desk staff, the bar staff, the housekeepers all the way up to the management and the owners. Some of them have come along to the shows, many ha

Extra show added due to phenomenal demand. That’s how this show came about. Without it, there would have been a lot of people who missed out. As it is, they didn’t have to. Another sold out show in another state in the US. Coldplay whipped up another storm. The set may have settled into a groove, but the crowds are jumping around wherever we go. One of the Oxfam volunteers summed up the crowd reaction.. ”that was magical.”   I’m sitting on Bus 5, waiting for Doyle (our driver), to hop on and tak

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and a new dawn   Discuss this blog entry here onwards.   I start the day today by filling out forms for my Japanese visa, in readiness for the February trip. Somewhat less glamorously (if indeed, filling out forms could ever be considered glamorous), I then move on to the launderette. We're a day or two from leaving New York, so it makes sense to walk around the corner and drop in my smalls for a fluff and fold.   My washbag is one of my favourite

A quick note of a memorable moment in history.   Outside my Atlanta hotel room, I can hear car horns beeping and voices shouting for joy. I have the TV on. More of the same. Celebrations in the street and huge crowds gathered in Time Square, NYC, and Grant Park, Chicago. The Chicago crowd awaiting their Senator, the President-elect, Barack Obama.   The tour made it’s way down to Atlanta today. All eyes on the bus were on the election. Some people in this city won’t get much sleep tonight. With

Coldplay just polished off the last notes of ‘Strawberry Swing’ and after a little wander down to the front of stage left, have now burst into life again on the remix version of ‘God put a smile…’ I just came back to production to write to you all, who aren’t in here. Seems to me like plenty of you are crammed in though.   It looks packed out there.. People are on their feet, clapping and cheeing. The atmosphere is incredible. Spare a thought for the nerves that must jangle in those 4 lads as th

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the wonders of technology   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks coldpatrix & Pris]   Philly is close enough to drive from Manhattan. We're in the van bringing up the rear (oo-err missus, etc etc). For reasons best known to security folks (and quite possibly insurance companies), it's better for all the vehicles to travel "in convoy". Being in the back vehicle as we are today is occasionally a hair raising experience. A string of v

Directly in front of me, is the constant stream of Coldplay fans entering the Philadelphia Wachovia Center. Beep.. beep.. beep (etcetera), go the machines, as ticket bar code’s are scanned. There is one very enthusiastic security guard too, whooping and cheeing, singing ‘Violet Hill’, anything to put a smile on faces as they enter. That’s if the smiles aren’t already there.   Fans then walk directly over to the Oxfam booth to my right, where our Philly action group is busy signing up the masses,

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the Grateful Undead   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks melanieau]   Soundcheck in Washington gets cancelled in the name of a little more time in NYC in the morning. Whilst this is a right result for all, it does mean that we land at Dulles just after 5pm. Of course, as we get on the road, it becomes clear that we're in for a slow trip. One of the reasons to run away and join a tour is to escape the 9 to 5 and here we are sat in rus

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 and the wonders of technology   Discuss this blog entry here onwards [thanks Lore]   What on earth did roadies do before the laptop? Roadies and laptops are like kids with colouring books - give them a laptop and a wi-fi connection and they're quiet for hours. More seriously though, technology has genuinely changed the human experience of touring. There's no getting around the fact that a major tour means weeks at a time away from those that you l

There is a weird skeleton-skull-ghost-doll thing hanging from the door of the production office. I’m sat right outside, with it watching over me.   Skeletons will walk the halls of the Verizon Center, Washington D.C. tonight. It’s Halloween, and the Coldplay crew are dressing up for the occasion. I hear rumours of all sorts of alterations to the show. Projections on spheres, confetti, lights, video.. it should be fun to see what gets thrown in to the party. One of the roadies has a mask which is

Last night I watched the Boston Celtics NBA World Championship banner be raised to the rafters, inside the TD Banknorth Garden. They beat the Cleveland Cavaliers (whose arena we were in the other day), to open the new season. Today, the Coldplay lights, rigging, screens, confetti canons, amp-stacks, PA, and huge inflatable spheres, are being slowly raised towards the roof of this famous arena.   This is the first time that we have returned to exactly the same place, on two separate occasions, so

Check out coldplay.com for a new blog entry: #42 is watching you   Discuss this blog entry here onwards.   I've mused before on the section of the show when the guys head up into the back of the arena for the "acoustic" bit. Although I've talked about watching the audience response as they slowly realise what's going on, I don't think I've mentioned the range of reactions from the folks that are immediately around the band once they're on the "c-stage" way up in the back of the arena. My little

We now find ourselves in Boston, otherwise known as ‘Beantown’. Apparently that is because back in the colonial days, a favourite Boston food, was beans, baked in molasses for several hours. So there you go. You live and learn.   There’s a yellow page in the itinerary book, meaning there is no concert tonight. It was a relatively short trip from New Jersey last night. There was a party kicking off on my bus. Felt like being on a bouncy-castle-boom-box.. another round of ipod wars in the back lo