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I'm wondering if anyone has a specific photo of the band's gear. It was of Chris' acoustics racked up backstage with Guy's two basses also in the end of the rack. I think it was from their yahoo gig at the hammerstein ballroom.

I'm not sure.

So you're saying that Pop sounds like the same U2 from the 80's? If you say so...

Jonny uses D'dario strings. Chris used to play regular guage Ernie Ball Slinkys, but I'm not sure if he still does.

In my opinion, Radiohead only had one truly major style shift (namely from guitar based music to electronic music) Incidentally, it's probably worth noting that every major shift in U2's sound occured in collaberation with Brian Eno.

I'm afraid I simply don't agree. U2 have changed more, more times, than virtually any othr band I can think of. Boy is only a bit like the Unforgetable Fire which is only a bit like rattle and hum which is nothing like Achtung Baby, which is different from Pop which is the opposite of ATYCLB and HTDAAB etc. U2 does not have the same sound for 35 years, and I would contend that's a large part of why they're the best.

Guy seems to be the only one who gets cited by other musicians (even those who dislike the band as a whole) as a "good player". Not sure why, but I've seen his name come up a few times, and from some people who would seem unlikely to cite him.

A few things: #1 his playing an Ibanez, If you're refering to the black guitar he's been playing lately, it's a Moog E3. The whole point of that particular guitar is that it has some fairly gnarly built in effects, so I don't think you'll be hearing much clean tone on songs he used that for. That said, he's also been photographed playing strats and an old Epiphone Casino in the studio so you should get some new sounds. He's also not given up the Tele's though, as you can clearly see about a half dozen of them racked up at the Crisis/Vegas gigs from december, as well as in studio photos. #2 His tendinitis issues, which were apparently quite serious, started around the time X and Y were being recording and weren't fully resolved until fairly well into the recording of VLV, so this could well account for the differences in his playing style. He's not a flashy player for sure, but I think he's honestly a fair bit better than he often gets credit for. Although he will probably never go down as one of the greats, his parts usually work for the song, he has decent skills when the song calls for it (he's particularly good at slide, although he doesn't use that much anymore and at tremolo picking). Also, although his studio parts can leave something to be desired from time to time, his live work is pretty consistently decent. His only real spotlight moment in the live set is GPASUYF (when they play it in the regular configuration), and again while his solos here are not exactly Jimi Hendrix, they're nothing to be ashamed of either.

For more current shows, Chris and Jonny both use Fender patch series straps (in some close up photos, you can see the patch with the red star on it). However. I think Jonny also has some different straps on a few of his guitars (his older sunburst Jazzmaster has a fender tweed for example.)

Ok, I've spent some time reading through the rest of the thread and I feel I have to say a couple more things: 1. As I've said before, traveling large distances for a band is a risky proposition. It can at times be rewarding, but the quality of what you see may be diminished in relation to how far you had to travel. Keep this in mind before you jet off around the world. 2. Although I don't know the specific details, open bar at a lot of events creates a huge insurance liability and EMI may not have been willing to deal with that. (and make no mistake all the ND stuff people had to deal with came from them not the band.) 3. Miller's inability to do the Q and A may indeed have been a last minute thing. I've worked in media situations a fairly long time now and often you don't know the exact logistics you need until close to the time you begin. This goes double if Matt was truly sick, as they could well have been one key crew member down. 4 I really don't think anyone was intentionally "used" Let's be frank, the band could have easily found 100 people willing to appear in Camden alone (let alone all of London or all of the UK). It's really too complicated a scheme just to save on extras as some have claimed. 5. I can't help wondering if maybe the community hear over hyped the invite a bit. Perhaps the band thought Ian would handle the whole thing a bit more low key? (I'm in no way criticizing anyone, just throwing it out there.)

It just makes me mad. If people want the boys to stay as personable and friendly as they've been (judging by numerous reports from people who have met them), they need to return the favor. Otherwise, they'll turn into one of the many bands that never goes above and beyond for anything. If the band is guilty of anything, it would seem to be that they overestimated the popularity of meeting three of their backline crew. (although I did briefly meet Miller once and he was quite cool.)

Ok I wasn't going to post on this as it's become something of a dead horse issue to me. but... I am AMAZED that anyone (let alone a "so called fan" would complain about what went down on that boat. I've posted on this many times before, and not just for this band, but for any band, but seriously some people need lessons in manners and respect. It's come up before, notably with the "leftrightleftright" cd giveaway, but it seems to me that when the band goes out of it's way to show appreciation for their fans, the least their fans can do is return the politeness. Crap like this is why so many bands (or any other type of celebrity really) don't go out of their way to interact with people. I'm sure the boys thought they were doing something really nice for people, and now they're getting dumped on for it. Really CP is a rare band in the amount of personal interaction they're willing to have with fans. Ask yourself, how many other bands would take the amount of time they have to meet and chat with the people who show up around their studio? I've had experience working around a lot of bands and I can tell you it's not many, and it's even less so among bands who have CP's level of fame. -climbs off soapbox-

"sounds.... not like the coldplay i know and love" How so exactly? It's really only logical that they'd be traveling with a large touring crew, and that they'd stay somewhere top flight with all the amenties and whatnot. I would'nt worry about them "changing for the worse" based on an article that says they want some vintage wine and organic fruit. I mean, really, the guys are HUGE stars now (as well as being hugely wealthy now.), it's reasonable to assume they're tastes have upgraded a bit. Doesn't mean they're somehow worse people than before. (Although, since I assume no one here actually knows them personally, it seems a bit silly to act like we "know" anything about what they're actually like to begin with...) Personally, I could care less what they do as far as things like this goes, they make good music, and seem to work hard to give their fans a good show (which sadly, is a lot more than I can say for a lot of popular bands I've seen lately.) Just my two cents...:)

I'll admit I'm not an expert on Bass stuff, but I can't for the life of me hear most of those effects on any of Guy's live Bass parts. can anyone shed some light on when things like the Whammy and/or Flanger are used?

"Indeed! Like he asked?" from the Mike Hill Services Website. (you can also find good pics of Chris and Jonny's rigs there as well http://www.mikehillservices.com/about-mike-hill-services-1-w.asp

"why 2 times the SAME floor-controller? backup?" I would assume so. When You look at live footage it seems like his floorboard is about the size of 1 of those units.

I know there has been a ton of speculation on here for ages regarding Guy's effects set up. I finally found good pics: Rack: Pedalboard

I believe the Eventide Unit is creating most of the delay in the live version. However, a HUGE part of the sound comes from the MXR Phase 90, which creates the "oscellating"(sp) effect heard throughout the main melody. It's aboubt as basic a phaser pedal as you can get, so it's pretty readily available, and it will do more to replicate the tone of the song than any reverb effect you use.

"Tested USA and it was like trash compared to my MIM classic Tele..." There are always good and bad in any line. Quality control at Fender (and even more so at Gibson, but that's another topic) is not what I'd call stellar... I never meant to say that all MIM fenders were bad (I have one in fact.). I only meant to say that in my personal experience, the USA produced ones seem to be better constructed and more durable which is important to me if I'm going to spend several hundred dollars+ on a guitar.

"compare a 2000$ with a 3000$ - errm, where exactly is the difference?" In my experience (and only in my experience as that's all I can really speak to), the main difference is that the physical components (wood, neck, hardware, wiring etc.) as well as general quality control tend to be of much higher quality. Are there excellent MiM fenders? Sure there are, however, quality on these lines tends to be more spotty than their higher end counterparts. To me, since even a $1000 guitar is a major purchase which requires a lot of saving on my part to make, I'd much rather save a bit longer and get the highest quality instrument that I can, in hopes that it will function well as long as possible.

"So this is proof that you never can get the best guitar bye buying what professional guitarists are playing.. and that's why Jonny is one of my favorite guitarists.. playing mostly on reissieu thinlines while he also have original ones... it's not the price that makes the sound.. it's the guitar itself and the player(okay, and the amp)" I disagree. IMHO with most guitars (as with most anything really) you tend to get what you pay for. Since even "cheap" model guitars from the "name" manufacturers(sp?) cost hudreds of dollars, I would much rather save up a little extra and get a quality instrument. I recently purchased a vintage tele with money I had been saving for a couple years (for the purpose of buying a vintage tele) and the tone knocks the socks off any new tele I've ever played. Also keep in mind that while some (not most as been previously stated) of JB's tele's may be reissues, they are probably custom shop (judging by the non stock finishes and/or hardware seen on some of them) as oposed to MIM production run fender's, sp it's a bit like comparing apples to oranges. Generally, I agree that people tend to put to much stock into the notion that having top shelf gear will make you some sort of guitar god, but there is certainly a difference in quality with higher end gear.

The Baja Teles are really cool. IMHO the best guitars Fender offers outside the American Standard or Custom Shop lines.

"with 12-15 i rather meant the original price... or are there any reissues? (the baja teles are quite cool... are they discontinued??)" His three backups are reissues, but the four he mainly uses are all vintage. As far as I know Fender still produces the Baja Tele, but I'm really not sure.

"you could easily get 12-15 of these teles for that money" It's a vintage one though, which usually go anywhere between $3000-$5000 so it's more like 4 or 5. Still raised a ton of cash though...