Jenjie

one-track mind :P :laugh3:

finally catch Coldplay live, after ridiculously missing out on the last one without paying attention. I was lucky to get single seat tickets late in October, but all it meant after that was the endless wait for the actual night itself. I still remember the first time I paid real attention to them. I liked Yellow, but it wasn’t initially enough to get me chasing after them. Sometime in 2001, Channel 5 showed a MTV Live special on TV, and i was probably channel surfing when it just had to happen that i saw/heard the introduction to ‘Clocks’. The rest, as they say, is history. Clocks remains one of my personal favourite songs, and I’ve unsuccesfully learnt how to get the first bit off a piano. In any case, my only complain of the concert was that Clocks came on as the third song after Life in Technicolor and Violet Hill, catching me somewhat cold and unprepared. I somehow had fooled myself into believing it would be an encore (the honour went to The Scientist). Chris Martin was an absolutely livewire on stage, and he just comes across as the bloke next door who made it big writing songs. Makes you even more jealous that his wife is the lovely Gwyneth Paltrow, whom I adore as well. Hosting the largest sing-along in London as he puts it, he got the whole crowd to hum to that unmistakable hymn in Viva la Vida, and left me bouncing in appreciation to Lovers in Japan. Every song bred its familiarity with me, and it would be a sin for me to not write about this. I realised how much I love attending gigs. Big (THIS!), small (Read: Base Ball Bear in Hiroshima), they’re all an outlet of escape for me. On another note, i also realise how much closer i really am to leaving London for good. There’s only so much time left, and it’s up to me to make the most of it. Nonetheless, Thank you Coldplay. http://becauseimreal.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/viva-la-vida/

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller for Rolling Stone When Rolling Stone’s Brian Hiatt hit the road with Coldplay for a recent Viva la Vida gig, the band gave him unprecedented access into their behind-the-scenes world — opening up about their sets (”We’re not going to be Springsteen and play for three hours”), stage outfits (”Are we gonna look ridiculous?”) and why Chris Martin is frontman (”He’s like the sort of engine of us”). Click below for exclusive photos of the band prepping to go onstage, rehearsal shots and live photos, complete with commentary from the quartet: • Backstage With Coldplay: Exclusive Shots From the “Viva La Vida” Tour • On the Road With Coldplay http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/12/16/backstage-with-coldplay-exclusive-photos-plus-the-secrets-behind-their-live-shows/ ------------------------------------------------------- On the Road With Coldplay Minutes before showtime in Coldplay's darkened Dallas dressing room, Chris Martin cracks open a bottle of Jameson. He takes a shot, throws his head back and gargles loudly. At least a dozen pill bottles litter the floor next to Martin's yoga mat. But it's all a lot less decadent than it seems: The pills are vitamins, and the whiskey is mostly to lubricate Martin's throat for the many quavering high notes to come. "It's pretty exciting back here, right?" cracks drummer Will Champion, who spends most of his pre-show time playing a PlayStation 3 soccer game. "It's just like Mötley Crüe!" Coldplay are in the middle of the biggest tour of their career, and their latest album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, has made them the top-selling band in the world this year. (They have trouble accepting the news: "Most of the time we just feel like losers," says laid-back bassist Guy Berryman.) But as they hang backstage, reports are bouncing all over that they're about to break up: Martin, 31, told a British newspaper that he was treating 2009 as Coldplay's final year. But he didn't quite mean it: He explains that Coldplay have the ambitious plan of recording and releasing a Viva la Vida follow-up next year (they hope to work again with the production team of Brian Eno and Markus Dravs), and setting an end date is meant to keep them focused. "We're proceeding as if it's our last, because it's the only way to proceed," Martin says. "You've got to have deadlines, you know. What that means is we're going to pour everything we can into next year and not think beyond that. We always say that and we always mean it. But every time we say it, someone writes that it's over. I don't think we'll ever split up, but we have to do a lot before we're 33." The band is about to release the last of its Viva la Vida leftovers in a deluxe reissue of the album, so the new record will consist of more recently written tunes — which Coldplay have already begun experimenting with in various studios. "I would like to build on what we've just done," says Martin, "and deliver something short and optimistic." Backstage, the four band members have just changed into the French Revolution-inspired uniforms that provide the visual theme for their tour — and inspired more discussion than Martin would prefer. "The Pittsburgh Steelers wear the same outfit every week, and no one expects them to change," he says. "But wear the same outfit on both Leno and Letterman, and suddenly it's an issue." The band plans to shift to modified versions of the get-ups when the tour continues early next year. "We're not sick of the theme — just the smell," says Martin, who actually has six or so near-identical versions of his suit — today's has Barack Obama's name written on one of the armbands. The group members perk up when they hear the distant sound of "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)," by Martin's pal Jay-Z — the final song on their pre-show mixtape. They button their frilly jackets and march out of the dressing room, stopping just outside the curtains that lead to the stage and a crowd of 20,000 people. Their intro music — Strauss' "Blue Danube" — swells, and Coldplay gather in a huddle and join hands in a "go, team" gesture. The band is clearly most excited about playing the Viva la Vida tunes — but it delivers enthusiastic, straightforward versions of old hits like "Yellow." Martin used to pull the Dylan move of changing that song's melody — but then he got some simple advice from Michael Stipe: "Stop doing that. People want to hear the songs the way they know them." The show gets a lot of mileage out of simple tricks, beginning with the illuminated balls above the stage that serve as spherical video screens. And then there's the bit where the band runs into the nosebleed seats to perform "The Scientist" acoustically among the fans. Most spectacular is the moment during "Lovers in Japan" when thousands of transparent confetti butterflies spill from the ceiling, glowing in the stage lights. It's a stunning sight, inspired equally by the Flaming Lips' showmanship and a trip Martin took to a zoo's butterfly habitat with his kids. "Even if the show's going shit, I know that there's two moments that'll be fine," says Martin. "The song 'Viva la Vida' — and when the butterflies glow in the dark." [From Issue 1067 — December 11, 2008] http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/24617025/on_the_road_with_coldplay

absolutely fantastic :D

wooooooooooooo ty Sue :D

welcome to the board hedgie :D I agree Chris moves way too fast!! he kept disappearing out of my shots!! :lol: thanks for sharing more photos, they are ace

its the longest live text updates posting on Wiki and there's still 20 mins to go :lol:

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Xmas songs

I'm here. :D was just watching something from 9 til 10. now trying to catch up on the live updates :laugh3: wooooooooooo videos before the concert finishes :D how very adorable! I want one :D

no longer on your own!! :D there's a few of us from here going and we're going to try & meet-up, so as a Coldplayer the invite includes you :)

woooooooooooooo :D no idea how much, but they were the single guys in black jackets hanging out in Victoria Station and near the taxi rank outside. there was even one near the Printworks!!

my shoulders are aching too badly for me to stay any longer :( a full day's work at the computer, plus another 4ish now is not good cyas tomorrow :kiss: Kimchi, it wasn't Kels fault, we bullied her. Hope you had an ace time tonight!! :D Everyone else - love ya!!!

awwwwwwww :kiss::kiss::kiss:

about 22:45ish

that's brill thank you :) no-one had posted the Scientist on youtube that I could find :D

Another from 42's blog: Craig Finley - Production Manager

Miller runned away from Ian's camera :(

seconded!!! if we won't send us concert updates, he'll have to put up with you filling us in on the gossip instead :laugh3:

yup. I hadn't seen your promise of support before I voted :embarassed: I voted tonight purely on the playlist, and I do like the Pink Floyd one.

I hereby present, Mr Phil Harvey, as seen on Fri 12th December 2008 approx 20:30GMT

aye, that we can do :D will just go find him

I can't get at it until 1st Jan to copy elsewhere grrrrrrrrr

bugger weblogimages. let me upload it elsewhere

awwww Pink Floyd are being slaughtered and they have an ace playlist

cool :D you gonna do it here or there or both? :thinking: or will you get in lots of trouble if I keep asking questions? :embarassed: