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My mistake, thanks for the clear up! :) It's amazing how much information you manage to dig up (and how quickly to boot!)

I could be wrong, but I thought he said his son, which would have to be Rex by default.

FWIW according to reports Will filmed his role around the time the band were on their Australia tour, which makes sense because the show is filmed in NZ and was in production during that time.

Ah! That makes good sense, I remember there was a similar situation in Australia in the early 90's. Bands were asking huge fees upfront to offset the expense of shipping gear to a the relatively far away area, and that led to ticket inflation, which led to low attendance. Perhaps the promoters didn't want to take a risk promoting a Coldplay show, and the loss of even a couple shows puts the who tour in jeopardy because it screws up the whole schedule. Coldplay still seem better than a lot of bands at their level when it comes to gouging people for big bucks, but I'm sure with the size of their current production, they have to get a hefty guarantee just to break even. If that's true, it's too bad, because it means you'll probably getting fewer of the big tours for the immediate future.

Considering most of those announcements seem to come from last oct/nov. (roughly the same timeframe as the Coldplay announcement), I think there may be some stuff going on behind the scenes in the South American concert industry that the general public isn't aware of. That's a lot of major tours cancelled in a confined span of time.

Perhaps the sanest most rational post on this thread.

FWIW a postponement usually precedes an outright cancellation. If they could tell you why, it's probably some mundane technical thing that we wouldn't even fully understand even with an explanation.

No, I don't, but I also don't see the point in constant negativity and sniping. The band have never had anything but good things to say about South America and it's fans, and everytime they go there/plan to go there they get shit on here. Like I said, I wouldn't fault them for saying f$%k it and throwing in the towel at this point.

If they actually had put tickets on sale, I'd agree, but they hadn't at the time of cancellation, so I can't muster any indignation. To be frank though, they would still be a global mega band if they never sold/records or toured in SA, so let's not over-inflate the importance of the region in purely commercial terms. The band's commercial base is primarily in Europe and North America for better or worse. This thread has WAY too much hyperbole for my tastes. In all honesty, if I was in the band (or any band really) and read some of the things people have posted in this thread, I'd be sorely tempted to never go near South America again.

Not an apples to apples comparison. Europe is the #2 global concert market (behind north america), and is also the band's home market. As much as it pains some people, SA isn't. Not fair perhaps, but that's the way it is. Though for the record, I can think of several bands who have cancelled major tours in major markets (not to mention the bands who simply don't go to places like South America, or if they do only tour there once every 10 or 15 years.) Objectively, measured against other bands, Coldplay have a damn good record for South American touring (which isn't to say they're the best, or that they hit everywhere their fans would like them to go.) Only that out of 5 major touring campaigns, they've had South American legs for 3, and 2 of those have been fairly extensive.

For everyone saying the band are somehow "disrespectful", "unprofessional" etc. let me just offer my 2 cents: If the reason for the cancelation is some sort of logistical issue (with the local promoter etc.), and from the information we have available it really seems like it's something along those lines, the band are likely not at liberty to divulge any more information than they have. It really is that simple. -climbs off soapbox-

I highly doubt they'd re-use them (or at least the bulk of them) Most of them were conspicuously new for this tour and the few long standing instruments they used (Jonny's main tele, Guy's red P-bass) were left unpainted, probably because they wanted them stock so they can be used in the future. I'm willing to bet that most of the non-instrument backline (amps, rack gear, pedals etc.) is getting replaced each tour anyway due to wear and tear and whatnot. Most high level professional bands have spares upon spares of most everything they use.

That's the one I mean. It's funny but in all 3 pictures of Violet I've seen, she's got her tongue stuck out, it must be her thing!

Not going to post it (because of my longstanding feelings over such things), but has anyone else seen the new(ish) photo of JB and family that's floating around? His kids are freakin' adorable, and his son looks 100% like a mini-me of him (only with hair.:D)

At a certain point, which IMHO he passed some time ago, the simple fact is he's already posted photos of most of the stuff people here would find "interesting" (instruments, backline, staging, and even the big concept art has mostly been posted by now). There's not that much interesting stuff left to be frank.

Wonder whose cab that is. None of the boys use a cab with that configuration. It must be for some sort of special event or something.

IMHO, they've now reached the rare level where they will probably be able to be a big touring act even after their recorded music becomes far less popular (like the Rolling Stones, or to a lesser extent U2.) Once you've been massive for a long time, you can keep going based on stuff you did 20 years ago.

FWIW, both of the shows you refer to were actually just promo gigs, and both occured after the band's first stadium tour in the summer of 2005. In fact, it's not they're still doing similar things (like their show at UEA in 2011). They'll probably always be an arena/stadium band from now on, but they'll probably do those occasional smaller things as well. I wouldn't worry. :)

Or both.

I agree with most of that, but quite frankly this was IMHO one of the best (if not the best) television performance, I've seen them give, which sadly, isn't really saying a whole lot. For such a tight live band, they really seem jinxed or something when it comes to TV. :\

The keyboard itself is nothing too special, it's just a MIDI sampling keyboard. The sounds they get out of it come from whatever rack gear they're running through it.

I can definately hear Jonny's voice when I've heard them live (although it's harder to pick out on live recordings.) He doesn't sing as often as Will, but I can tell he's there.

He may just either be turned down in the live mix, or have a live vocal mic that's not even live (Adam Clayton infamously did this for years before he finally ditched his live mic.) Guy has a distinctive voice compared to the other three, you'd be able to pick it out if it's there, even if it was pre recorded. The only time I think they use pre-recorded vocals is in a few songs (most notably ETDIAW) where Chris' vocals are looped so they can have multiple layers of his voice.

Chloe turns up on that blog a few times, I think she's good friends with the author. There were even photos from their wedding posted there. (though none with JB & Chloe or anyone else from the band's camp recognizable in them.) Also, I love how she refers to going on tour as "my husband's work".

I don't think they travel with him as much as Jonny's family does. The Bucklands seem to travel together pretty much 100% of the time.