LisaFeehily

It could be the title of a greatest hits tour, with spheres referring to their past albums.

The London show that they're mentioning seems to be a tribute band.

I see what you mean about them not being as mainstream with this album and therefore not reaching as many people. Personally, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything because of it, it doesn't change the way I think about their music. And whether or not other people enjoy it is up to them (I don't enjoy everything that's mainstream currently either). I also think that change in mainstream music doesn't necessarily have to come from within it, or that it would happen suddenly. What I'm trying to say is it's hard to judge what impact this album might really have in the end. Someone mentioned the sustainable touring comments, this will also not suddenly change the industry but over time could have a bigger impact than any act currently touring. Even if it doesn't have any wider impact then in terms of the band's legacy it's still very positive so I don't worry about it.

What makes a band relevant? They just had a no.1 album despite skipping most of the usual promo involved in releases. They also got nominated for the Brit awards. It's not too bad i think.

Found the video on YouTube. That is quite something,hearing him describe the gig as "shitty"! :eek: it's how I felt after the London NHM ticket sales fiasco too.

Musically, I think this might be their strongest album since Viva la Vida. There aren't many artists who can pull off this kind of variety in musical styles the way that Coldplay do. I was very surprised about some of the songs, for example I really wasn't expecting a gospel song. It's something I wouldn't normally listen to but I actually really like that about this album. I also like the topics that they've covered and the messages in the songs. Overall, it's refreshing and inspiring, and it really shows off how talented they are. My personal favourites are Champion of the world, Broken, Guns and Trouble in Town.

I haven't watched the French interview yet but if there are two meanings then one of the themes in the picture could be space and the other sustainability. The way I see it the main features of the picture are the billboard, the car and the license plate, and both space and sustainability could be represented in each of the three. In terms of the space theme, if the car is an old range rover then the 2nd part of the name as well as the "2024" from the license plate could be referring to the next NASA Apollo moon mission. In the billboard the space theme is picked up by the solar system model and the "music of the spheres" slogan. As for sustainability, if it is a range rover then the "range" part could be a reference to sustainability, especially in relation to touring. A ranger is someone who protects nature and ranging can mean travelling too. In the license plate, the "FFTF" could be relating to sustainability as well, assuming it stands for "Fit for the future". And maybe if they say on the billboard "Coldplay coming soon" they're telling us that they might be on the road/touring again soon? Although that could just be wishful thinking...!

It's interesting to read about the different theories! :) This was what I posted before in the LP9 thread:

I've always been a bit of an environmentalist and I love how the band are one of the first to really acknowledge and raise awareness of the impact their industry and specifically touring has on the environment. I hope this will inspire change both on the business side and also in fans' personal lives. Having said that, making touring sustainable is a huge task and if they don't want to lose their credibility they'll now have to follow through and maybe reconsider how many flights they take etc. in their off time too as otherwise it'll look like they're following the trend and doing this for publicity only. I agree that there are industries that have a much bigger impact on the environment where change is even more urgently needed. Personally I try to find a balance with these things, I have a strong focus on sustainability in my everyday life so to be honest I don't feel too bad about going to a concert once in a blue moon, but would feel great if it was a sustainable event of course!

Staying with the space theme, "2024" could be a reference to NASA's 2024 Apollo Moon Mission, Back to the moon. And maybe the car is an old rover (-> lunar rover)? There's also a theme of bringing old and new together in the picture generally as with regards to Music of the Spheres, I learned that this seems to relate back to old theories by scientists Pythagoras and Kepler and their work on the relationship between music, harmonics and geometry, as well as the universe. In that album booklet picture that could be represented by the celestial symbols and geometrical shapes. NASA also seem to be exploring this Music of the Spheres theory further, saying "Lunar exploration is musical" and more on their website, and they're trying to sonify data from space. Perhaps Space Symphony could be a Coldplay adaptation of it? It sounds like a great title for a song either way.

Colloquially, a ball is also called a sphere. So I read something online about how balls and marbles are spheres, which reminded me of Chris talking in an interview about the blue marble picture, the 1st photo taken of the earth from space. The celestial themed album artwork would fit in with that space theme too, plus it could also be a reference to how EL brings together different people and different musical styles from around the world (different worlds). Hoping, like all of you, that we'll be spoiled with yet another album soon though!

Thanks a lot for the detailed report, sounds like it was an amazing evening! :) To be honest I feel sad to read you feel others who missed out are "entitled". I think we all know it was a small venue so not everyone who wanted to go would get tickets. And while in theory the ticket sale was set up very well, there were definitely technical issues with the website, which the band have acknowledged too, and that's what caused a lot of frustration for people because it means we didn't actually have a fair chance of buying tickets. People are allowed to feel sad/disappointed about that. Personally, I don't think I would've deserved a ticket any more or less than anyone else and I also wouldn't want only superfans to be able to attend but also "new fans" and guests. I hope that everyone who got one enjoyed the evening as much as you did.

Like someone else said, life isn't always fair. There were quite a few (all positive) articles and reviews about the show online, not all of them from UK journalists. I also heard about non-uk radio stations giving away tickets. Plus the band flew all the way to Jordan for their album launch. That's why to me the nhm gig overall seems more like a promotion thing and them raising awareness of the impact that concerts etc. can have on the environment. And I think it's great that they're doing that. Having said that I think it's normal that we feel sad to have missed out. I hope that all those 400 or so guests made donations to the charity at least.

I guess it's difficult to find a balance between promoting your album to "important people" and engaging with fans. There weren't many people outside but to those few it would have meant the most to attend, and their excitement/posts on social are free promotion for the band too. I accept there were limited tickets but hope they improve the organisation side of things for future events.

I think it's because it was advertised everywhere, national newspapers etc., rather than to those who had been signed up to the newsletter previously. For such a small and special show that would always lead to crazy demand. I like how they were able to prevent resales, however the ticket website was not ideal in my opinion. I had the dropdown to select tickets twice but there was no timer or anything so by the time I had selected a ticket and hit next I was told tickets were unavailable. With the page refreshing it was also not 1st come 1st served.

I don't have a ticket but was gonna go and see if any become available. I know it's a slim chance but it's worth trying

Anyone going to the museum tomorrow evening and wanna meet up?

I might go to the museum on Monday anyway and hope for the best. Maybe someone can't attend and there will be free spaces? has anyone got any experience with this kind of stuff? :)

Luckiest people in the world those 3 fans?! ;)

It's very unusual indeed. Have not seen any fans tweeting them saying they got tickets either. It's a bit strange to be honest. I know it's a small venue though, I'm just really sad about it.

Ridiculous! Is he selling his debit/credit card along with it? you can't attend without the card used to purchase the tickets... I also live central, never seen Coldplay live so was really excited when the show was announced. It's sad that nobody on here got GA tickets.

I also kept refreshing like crazy, got the drop down for GA but never got any further. Also looking to buddy up in case anyone here got any tickets at all?!

thanks guys!!

Hey, I'm doing an online survey for my dissertation on impulse buying. It would be great if you took part in it, that would really help me a lot. you can find the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F6WNJKR Thanks very much! Lisa

She does look toned, which is good. And I've seen her looking worse before. However: "Almost 90% of women with anorexia experience osteopenia (loss of bone calcium)" http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/anorexia-nervosa/complications-of-anorexia.html She seems to be trying to be super healthy. But to me it doesn't sound like she is with her diet and excercise regime. And I do sort of believe that she follows that diet after having read about her detoxes on goop.