mathieu_c

They have played a song before at Glastonbury that turned out to be a b-side (One I Love). Could be exactly the same for Major Minus. I can't see more than one song being a b-side though. But having one new song being a b-side would fit with what they've done in the past. In the end, it doesn't matter. A song is a song. No matter how it gets released.

They played One I Love at festivals in 2002 before it was released. They also played See You Soon at festivals, and they played songs that never even got released. I'm not too fond of most of the X&Y and Viva b-sides, but Coldplay has had some brilliant b-sides in the past.

Here's a review I just wrote for a Dutch Coldplay site. Obviously, it's in Dutch. It's a bit late, but I had loads of other stuff to write the last couple of days, so I had a bit of a temporary writer's block.

Top 5 so far: 1) Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts 2) Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See 3) Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys! 4) Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver 5) The Kills / The Vaccines / Radiohead / Explosions In The Sky / Miles Kane / Fleet Foxes / Beastie Boys / PJ Harvey Not too sure about the fifth spot.

I like the song and it would have fit on the Prospekts March EP. However, I don't think it would have been a great choice for a single.

By the way, Chris said 'see you soon' at the end of the gig. European arena gigs in November? :)

He's part of that group of people around the hugely overrated non-talent Tyler, the Creator. That said, I don't think this song is that bad. I'd never turn it on myself, but it's passable as an R&B song I guess.

It's crazy how relaxed they seem on those last minute backstage pics.

Coldplay lyrics work the way they should... in a Coldplay song. They're not poetry, but that's not what they're supposed to be. A good lyric is a lyric that works in a song. Looking at lyrics separately from the songs they're in and commenting on them doesn't make a lot of sense I think. Chris Martin clearly writes them with the songs in mind and not the other way around. And yes, most Coldplay songs have abstract (or even vague) lyrics, but could you imagine a song like Sparks with lyrics about Topshop princesses, girls with fake tan and kids with pool queues in their hands? :P

It is a lot of money. But on the other hand, Pinkpop had about 20.000 visitors in 2005 and the festival nearly went bankrupt. They had nearly 70.000 visitors on the Coldplay day alone this year. If you do the math, they're (more than) worth it.

Here's a review from the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. It's written by Bart Steenhaut, who is definitely the best and most respected music journalist over here. http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/1011/Concertverslagen/article/detail/1278144/2011/06/14/Afsluiter-Coldplay-is-duurste-festivalact-ooit-voor-Pinkpop.dhtml It's a four star review that says (summary - didn't translate everything): - Judging by the new songs, the new album will be brilliant and will contain some big hits. - They cost 1.2 mil € to book, but it was money well spent. In fact, he says that it's a steal for such a great gig. (kind of the opposite from the Volkskrant review) - Hurts Like Heaven has got a hook that immediately sticks. - He loved the back to basics approach (e.g. GPASUYF, Us Against The World). - The band - especially Jonny Buckland - sounded very tight and the set had a very fast pace (once again, that Volkskrant dude must have seen a different gig). - VLV was a highlight, but Life Is For Living was just as good. - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall proves that you can have euphoric and melodic songs without sounding like something you'd hear at a gay party or the Eurovision song contest. :-) And that journalist is always right. :-)

Ouch... :laugh3:

Forgot to record it as I was watching yesterday's broadcast. Loads of familiar faces in close up by the way. Should have been there too, rocking out at the front...:\ Awesome to see the crowd reaction for Charlie Brown on television. That song is going to be huge.

For some reason, I think Jay-Z would fit in nicely on this track. I don't know why. Especially when the (short) YouTube clip stops, I sort of expected him to come out on stage.:P

Not a lot of crowd reaction for Hurts Like Heaven and Major Minus, but that was to be expected at a festival. The fireworks at the start of Hurts Like Heaven seemed a bit odd, considering it was not dark yet (at all). HUGE crowd reaction for Charlie Brown (for a new song at a festival) and ETIAW. And people around me seemed to really like Us Against The World. Did anyone else think that the sound was rather quiet for Elbow and Coldplay? It seemed to be (a lot) louder for the first two acts. At times, it was so quiet that I almost became a bit embarrassed to sing along. I didn't care in the end but it still felt a bit odd. :P

Shiver (full band), Everything's Not Lost (the version played during the AROBTTH tour), Green Eyes/Warning Sign/See You Soon (they can't play all of them I guess, so either one would do), A Rush Of Blood To The Head (although I can imagine that would be a pee break for a lot of casual fans) and Amsterdam (ditto). Oh, and Trouble and Life Is For Living. :P In reality, I can't see them playing more Parachutes and AROBTTH tracks than they are doing now (maybe they could add one for an arena tour), but it would be cool if they mix it up a bit. That way, if you see multiple concerts, you'd get to hear a few different old songs. The fact that they brought back Shiver at the Christmas gigs and Phil mentioning that it would be nice to bring back Everything's Not Lost as well could point to that. :)

Well, during this series, it was clear that Nowitzki was the better (and more consistent) player. As a whole, I'd think that Dwight Howard, LeBron and Derrick Rose are better athletes. But it's a tough call. I'd definitely prefer having Dirk on my team than those players though. Great athletes don't always equal great championship winners. :P

I still think LeBron James is probably the best athlete in the league right now (despite the fact that he's a choker), but these kind of quotes aren't really helping him... Kind of brings up a funny dilemma. Would you want to have all the money in the world (like LeBron has), yet be the most hated athlete on the planet at the same time? Because that seems to be what he's saying. He knows that he's hated, but doesn't care as long as he makes more money than the people that are hating him.

OK, I kind of forgot about this. But here it is: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4825889#post4825889

Some random thoughts I didn't include in my previous review: - I thought the Yellow version they played on the previous tour was already a big improvement over the rather lame one they did on the X&Y tour. But this new version has got to be the best one yet! Seems to be played a bit faster and with a more prominent guitar. - Talking about guitars, Jonny also plays some of the older songs on a Stratocaster. And in general, his guitar sounds bigger than it ever did before. - Only one X&Y song. And even though I still like the album, I couldn't find another X&Y song that would fit in this setlist. - That Back To The Future theme song works great as an opener. Didn't someone on here take a pic of Chris with a Back To The Future shirt on outside the studio's? - How cool are those lasers? - Chris always seems to forget the same lines during Politik. - Poor Bauk. I know how big a fan she is. If anyone deserved to be up front, it would be her. I saw her being taken out of the crowd from a distance and I was shocked. - They should put a huge stage with Coldplay on it behind the 100 meter track at the Olympics. I'm sure Esther (2GreenEyes) would be able to easily beat Usain Bolt. - Marjan/Marianne (?) has got an awesome Coldplay related tattoo. - Anna could either be 19 or 31. Security wasn't quite sure.

As was to be expected, they no longer cleared out the front area yesterday. Too bad they only realised their mistake a day too late... .

Just heard some stories from other people who tried to get into the front area. I'm glad none of you coldplayers got hurt. Apparently, it got really ugly after you entered. I can't imagine they'll keep this system for the remaining festival days.

First of all, I have to say that coldplayers are pretty awesome people. Loved meeting all of you! You guys (well, girls actually) rock! :) I remembered Pinkpop as being a very well organised festival, but I guess that is no longer the case. There was: - Complete chaos at the parking lots. - Chaos in front of the campsites. - Chaos at the entrance (we got in quite early, but it seems that it got out of hand after we entered). - They cleared the front area after every band. As a result, Elbow played in front of a half empty pit, since a lot of people were waiting for Coldplay. I was so angry when they told us to leave the pit after De Staat, that I didn't even bother to queue for the front area anymore. We got some good spots at the barrier behind the front area. Would have preferred to be at the front with the rest of you coldplayers though. Glad you all seemed to be able to make front row! - From where I was standing, I could see a lot of pushing when they opened the gates for Coldplay. I'm amazed noone got hurt. At some point they stopped letting people in, even though the front area was still half empty. They reopened the gates before Coldplay came on and this resulted in a lot of drunken and uninterested people being able to enter the front area. A lot of people who had been queueing for Coldplay had left by then. And that was the major reason why the crowd may have seemed so bad. The pit was half empty and lots of uninterested people at the back. At the front (and behind the pit), people were going nuts though! - Oh, there was almost no cellphone reception at times and a lot of the cash machines did not seem to be working. But enough about the organisation. This must have been the best setlist I have ever heard them play. A great mixture between all the albums and the new stuff! The gig reminded me a bit of the AROBTTH tour. The band was standing much closer to each other than they did during the two previous tours. This made them sound (and look) a lot tighter. Even though I loved the Viva La Vida tour, the catwalk and C-stage sometimes gave the gig (and band) a bit of a disjointed feel. This gig was a lot more focused and rocked a lot harder. It's a bit of a shame that you didn't get the full effect of the light show (and fireworks) because it only got dark during the last couple of songs. Highlights for me were: - The first couple of songs really hit hard! High energy from Hurts Like Heaven up until Lost. Definitely the best opening sequence of songs they've ever done. - Trouble. Wow. Just wow. I was so not expecting this. And it sounded as good as it ever did. This song should be part of every Coldplay gig. Magical moment. - God Put A Smile Upon Your Face. This has got to be the highlight of the gig. A brilliant version of such a great song. Got goosebumps when Chris started the intro and then again when Jonny started playing the riff. - Us Against The World. Loved the way each band member came on separately. - Charlie Brown. This is a MONSTER live song. It already got a crowd response similar to the one you would get for In My Place or Clocks. Imagine how this will be like once they release it as a single. This could become one of their biggest songs. - Life Is For Living. Nine long years since I last heard this live. Goosebumps during the entire song. Glad they brought this one back. I hope it stays in the setlist for the rest of the tour. It works great as a closer of the main set (I thought it always felt a bit out of place as a closer of the encores during the AROBTTH tour). - Fix You. The only X&Y song and I'm glad they kept it in the setlist. Great encore song! - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall. Whatever you think about the song, it is the perfect set closer. I even think it's the best closing song they've ever had. It just works great at festivals! Definitely one of their strongest performances I have ever seen. It could have been even better if it had been dark during the entire gig, but that doesn't substract anything from the band's performance. This tour is going to blow everything away once it will hit arenas and stadiums. I don't think they have ever been this good so early in a tour.:)

I'll be there quite early (between 10:30-11:00) in front of the entrance. 2GreenEyes will also be there early. If we are allowed to stay in the front area, I'll probably stay there. If not, I probably won't stay at the main stage. Instead, I'll go watch Manic Street Preachers and then return to the fence at the main stage. I do understand why they'd want to empty the front area after each band. It can't be much fun for a band to perform in front of an audience where the first couple of rows only care about the headliner. On the other hand, there will also be a major crush when the gates open after Elbow.

Damn, I hope they changed the rules again. That would mean you can't see both Elbow and Coldplay from the front area.:cry: