fakfak

He's also using something that creates a Leslie (rotating speaker) effect for large parts of the song. I believe this is accomplished with his Eventide processor in his rack set up. He's also tremolo picking, which he does in a lot of his parts.

I suspect his change in attitude is likely due to the fact that the "behind the scenes" negotiations are not going in his favor and now he wants to save face.

"Your local guitar store would be able to help you out with this one." My local shop is a chain and the people who work there are worse than useless, as far as questions and the like go. I just knew a lot of the players here favor Hotrod's, and thought I might get an opinion on what worked well for someone else. I'm moving toward a shoegaze sound and am attempting to get that "wall of sound" tone without nessacarily(sp?) going for overdrive.

Currently, I'm plaing through a pair of Hotrod Deville 2x12 combos. I'm considering getting an extension cab (probably some type of 4x10 or 4x12) to add a bit of headroom to the setup. I've not had any experience in using an extension cab with a combo, so am I bit unsure how to determine the best fit for my rig. Any advice?

"Never said it was" True, you didn't. However, that did seem to be the central thrust of the original article/post which is really what I was responding to. I've attended shows at alpine that drew 15,000-17,000 strong crowds and the place was still only about half full, yet those numbers are solidly within the range of a normal arena or amphitheater show, Alpine is really like a small stadium in terms of capacity. (for that matter, Hershey is a small stadium) I'd be more interested to know the sales percentages for the more average sized venues.

"Phish and DMB Sold out 2 nights each already for shows at alpine this summer." Jam bands tend to have slightly different crowds, as a large number of their fans go to multiple shows, whereas most other bands play to an audience that tends to go to 1 show per tour. Even among the "hardcore" CP fans you're probably talking more like 4-5 shows as opposed to the 10-20 (or more) some DMB fans I know attend each tour. Regardless, my central point was that both Hershey and Alpine Valley are two of the largest venues on the upcoming tour, and I think it's a bit premature to brand the whole tour a finacial failure at this point...

"there are still a lot of Alpine tickets available too, especially the Lawn GA" Alpine has a huge GA capacity (even by amphitheater standards) and it is extremely rare for it to sell out completely. Coldplay only managed to fill it to capacity in 2005 (which btw was slightly smaller than the current capacity) by not playing in Chicago that year, thus combining their audience from two markets. More generally, it is fairly rare for outdoor amphitheaters to fully sell out their lawn seating, as there is usually a ton of it, and it is not exactly popular with fans. Looking on the LiveNation website now, it seems as though all pavillion seating for Alpine Valley is sold (which if memory serves is about 10,000 seats), so I'd say the tour is doing ok. EDIT: Also, there's nothing about the tour doing poorly sales wise is any of the trade papers in the concert industry (billboard, pollstar etc.) and given the fact that they all usually jump on such things with extreme fervor, I'd say that's a good sign...

"They've been lowering prices and adding extra tickets for a lot of the shows though...I think maybe they've over done it." In actuality, ticket sales for the upcoming CP shows haven't been that poor. The bottom has pretty much dropped out of the concert market this year, and I'd venture to guess Coldplay is holding up as well as anyone. Even huge veteran acts lole U2 are experiencing slower than normal ticket sales of late. The live music bussiness is in a tough time right now. In addition, I think it's worth noting that many markets played on this upcoming tour are much smaller than those played last year, hence demand will be reduced. Hershey in particular is a huge venue in a relatively small market, and I can't imagine Scranton (again a smaller market) is much better. Just my two cents...

"Fix You I have worked out totally...if you listen to this tour's live version its like two short delays which seem to give a ping pong sound. As i say i'm not exactly sure, can anyone help out?" He used to play this using two Line Six DL4 (I think that's the model name-they're the rectangular green ones...) pedals set slightly apart from one another in delay interval(SP?). However, his current set up only has one DL4, so my guess is that he's doing this with rack units now.

Can anyone Identify the large (4x12) amp Behind Johnny in this photo: It looks like it could be a third Fender Hotrod (albeit a 4x12 instead of 2x12's like his other 2). It also kind of looks like some Marshall models, but I can't see a head, so if he's running one through it it appears to be hidden. Anyone know?

"And alot of these amphitheater venues have season ticketholders, so they already are locked into seats. Some of them will put their tickets on StubHub if they don't go to all the shows. I got one of them for an RH show and when the ticket came, it was a season holder ticket and also came w. a VIP parking pass. Live Nation is always contacting me to buy a season ticket for the two Amp's around here. It is some high price in the thousands, so I could never buy. But if I add up all the tickets I have purchased in one year to get good seats, it is amazing how much money I have spent! :/" Add to that that most amphiteater venues only have around 9,000-10,000 reserved seats (with the balance being lawn seating) and you end up with a lot less reserved ticket seats available than in comprable sized indoor arenas. EDIT: Looking on the Live nation website, it seems that for most of their amphitheater venues the entire lower front center section of the reserved seating is reserved for season/VIP ticketholders, so this probably explains why the only place these seats seem to be for sale is on re-sale sites.

"Question for you all.....Why is it that you all think that Coldplay doesnt have a fan club fo its true and genuine fans. We are the folks that would go crazy for them and really deserve the BEST seats and the opportunities for meet and greets...not just the schmucks with alot of money. We really need a true fan club with announcements for true coldplay fans! We shouldnt have had such a difficult time getting Pit tickets being we did all the research and drove ourselves crazy with ticketrush and livenation.....presale means nothing these days with the wasy scalpers work. They run the show. I got decent seats....sec 100 row s....not terrible but I feel I should have done better. What do you guys think??" The problem with that is that with a band as popular as Coldplay, even having a fanclub doesn't preclude the logistical problems swamping modern ticket sales. I remember when U2 first launched pre-sale preferred ticketing to fans during the Vertigo tour. Many thousands more "fans" signed up (and paid the fee" than most venues had seating, so huge numbers of fans still got shut out. Additionally, the general public was upset as virtually the whole first leg of the North American tour sold out before even the regular pre-sale. Unfourtunately, Coldplay is so popular at the moment, that no matter what they do, there will still be difficulties with ticketing. "the problem is the scalpers who have 20 seats in a row 12 rows back front and center. how does that happen?" Based on what I've heard that does seem to be the case for many east coast shows, but appearently not so much so for the shows in the midwest, as I know many people who managed to snag great seats for these shows at face value, without many of the frustrations experienced by prospective buyers in other regions.

"i bought pit tickets really easy yesterday for the DC show and they were still being sold late into that night...i seriously think it might have to do with the individual venues....but idk..." IMHO it also has a great deal to do with the fact that Coldplay (like any band) is more of a draw in some markets than others. It's probably more difficult to get tickets for certain venues, as there are simply more people trying to get those tickets. Based on people I know (including myself) purchasing tickets for the upcoming tour,it seems to be a lot easier to get tickets for the dates in the midwest than for those on the east coast.

Specifically, Jon uses 2 Reissue Gibson J-200 acoustics. (A sunburst one, and a natural finished one presumably used as a backup.) He's also currently using a Gibson Blues King (the same kind Chris is playing this tour, and Jon's is painted as well.) There have also been photos of him recently with a Martin dreadnaught (presumably a d-28) which he seems to use as a warm up guitar

Resellers like Stubhub have MANY ways of getting huge blocks of "good" seats with or without the involvement of the band. The real issue is how many of those seats are actually for sale. Most major touring acts today travel with staging that effectively renders a large portion of close seating on a venue's stock floorplan unusable. (catwalks etc. photo barriers etc.) In addition, most major acts get a very large section of comps in those sections. (often in excess of 200 tickets all told.) Even if these tickets are not funneled(SP?) directly into resale outlets, the nature of the concert bussiness means many of them will end up with people who will see an opportunity to sell them for huge profit. Like it or not, as long as people pay huge resale rates, there will continue to be a market for these outlets. As an aside, I got GA pit (I think that's what their called) for an upcoming amphitheater show, through the standard channels at face value. It does seem to vary a lot by venue, which makes me think it's probably mostly a combination of factors having to do with venue configuration and where local promotor comps are ending up. Just my two cents...

"Fender acoustics are terrible, I made this mistake when I first started. "Oh it's a Fender it must be good." I wouldn't say terrible. Would I gig with one? No. (though there are plenty of well known who do.) But if you just want something as a started for playing around the house and the like, they're ok enough for the money...

I've heard a lot of good things about Yamaha as well. I've personally never played one of their acoustics, but some of their electrics are some of the best guitars you can get on the low end of the price scale, so I'd think it logical that that level of quality is applied to their acoustics as well. My first acoustic was one of those Fender "starter pack" sets. and that seemed to work well for me and lasted for quite a while.

"I don't think that really came to mind when I wrote that :lol: apologies!" Nothing to apologize for. I was just making the point that the fact that the band seeks to control the rights to their images, doesn't neccesarily(SP?) mean their seeking to stamp out all existing photos (as many others, notably Prince have done.) As I said in an earlier post, with my publication, the photo "approval" process was essentially a rubber stamp process for everything we wanted to publish.

"Yeah but we're not likely to sell our pictures, nor are many publications likely to buy them" The kicker is, in the current environment professional freelance photographers are unlikely to find much success in selling such photos either. (even if they were not prohibited from doing so via contract.) The simple fact is, most publications now feel they have easier (and cheaper) ways to obtain photographs than paying the going rate that most proffesionals feel fairly reflects their skill. (and that they are accustomed to). Obviously, one of the big ways they have found to do this is to use photos taken by "non-professionals" (ie. you). Many major newspapers and even some magazines here in the U.S. no longer use any pro photographers and more are following this trend all the time. I suspect that's one of the reasons contracts such as this raise such ire from photographers, with many traditional revenue streams drying up, they're really keen to keep what's left.

"It's publication only or they sue you to high hell basically." CAN "sue you to high hell" and WILL "sue you to high hell" are two different things. I doubt they'd actually go to the effort to take action unless the photos appeared in a fashion where the profit was exceptionally blatant, or the context of the photo (or where it appeared) was somehow embarassing to the band...

My thoughts on this: While I can't really condone policies such as this on the whole, I think there are a few legitimate reasons to impose such policies on the part of bands and it's not as simple as saying "its a rich band ripping off some poor photographers"... Firstly, I think it's important to note that Coldplay are hardly the only act doing this. I work for a pop-culture oriented web magizine in the Chicago Area that regularly sends Photographers out to most of the touring gigs coming through, and over the last year virtually every act big enough to play one of the major arenas (and a few that play smaller venues, even down to the Metro with a capacity of about 1000) have imposed similar policies. From my personal experience, Coldplay were actually one of the better acts in terms of how they treated our photographer. Usually we have to fight tooth and nail just to get the big acts to even grant us credentials as we're not a big outfit, yet dealing with the Coldplay organization was really smooth and easy. Again not saying it's in any way a typical experience, just my personal point of view. Now, as to the logic behind policies such as this (and yes there is logic behind them.). IMHO it mostly has to do with bands being able to retain control of their image, as oppossed to money. Bands work hard to skew the perception of their live act/touring show in a certain manner. It is therefore paramount that they have some means of governing which images of their show see public release, and in what context. Rock photographers started the whole trend towards this trend by deliberately setting out to capture photos that undermined their subjects in various fashions. It's only reasonable from a marketing(sp?)/bussiness perspective to cast a weary eye toward how you're represented. It's also important to keep in mind that while the actual photo may be, strictly speaking, the photographer's work, legally speaking the band's image and likeness are their intellectual property (at least here in the U.S., not sure what courts have ruled in other countries.) In ordinary circumstances (ie. not concerts), people have been sued (and lost) for publishing photos of someone else without their expressed consent. Therefore, even without a contract such as this you already have a vested stake in any photo anyone takes of you for any reason. Lastly, just because the band retains the option to hold right to the photos, does'nt always mean they will. My publication was allowed to print (without fee) any of the photos our photographer took, and she was allowed to include them in her portfolio (again without fee). Again not saying that's true in every case, just mine. It's really no different then taking photos at any private event (which is essentially what a concert is.) If you want in, it's at the host of the event's terms. That said, I do think there has got to be a better way to handle these issues than the current status quo for big bands, one that would allow them control and allow photographers some fair amount of rights. EDIT: Looking back over the contract we signed to get credentials to Coldplay at the UC last summer, it says you have to be attached to a publication of some sort to get credentials. This being the case, the whole article as somewhat moot, as many (most?) publications retain all rights to any photos taken on assignment for them, even by freelancers, meaning there was no way for the photographers to profit from said photos anyway. Apologies for the long post...

Recently Jon seems to have been using a Red Fender Jaguar (as opposed to his sunburst one.), notably in the LiJ video, but I've seen photos of the band in the studio and such, that suggest he used it during some of the recording of VLVODAAHF as well. Judging by the matched headstock and other details, it appears to be a classic mid 60's model. I'm just curious if there have been any articles/interviews etc. that talk about what he recorded with it. Anyone know...

Well, I'm a staunch Fender man myself. (Except for acoustics, there I prefer Gibson to almost all others.), so I'd join the chorus here in terms of recomending a Tele. However if that's not to your taste, I'd suggest a Yamaha Pacifica. It's got a pretty nice clean tone and is probably the cheapest electric guitar that you can find that's of decent quality. (If memory serves these actually list for around the same as Squier Tele's but IMHO are much more durable than anything Squier produces.)

Glad I could Help. :D

Will actually cues most (but not all) of their backing tracks/looped elements with a foot switch next to his hi-hat stand. If you look close you can sometimes see it in videos of them playing live. I would assume they all have a click track playing via their in-ears to let them know where tehy are in a given song relating to the looped parts, as this is a fairly common tactic among bands that use extensive looping.