Cleggy

God it's not very good is it? I wasn't expecting much and I'm still disappointed. There's no flow to it, no standout tracks. A lot of the blame rests on Stargate's (over) production but even without them it would be pretty unsalvageable, the songs just aren't there. Up&Up sounds excellent live but on the album it seems that a lot of bizarre choices were made with the production. I think making an album only a year after Ghost Stories was a mistake. It's a bit of a mess really. The absolute travesty that is X Marks the Spot sums up everything that's gone wrong here.

I'd say it's a given that they'll play Magic on Monday considering it's their first single. I'm calling it now and saying that the live recording of it will be one of the bonus tracks on the deluxe edition. Midnight will probably make an appearance too, but that might be a little harder to perform live so it might sound different. Apart from that it's anyone's guess whether they'll play any other songs from the album.

It all likelihood those bonus tracks will be remixes of tracks on the album or live performances. That's what other bands tend to do. I really doubt that they'll be 3 completely new songs just as part of an exclusive deal. The chances of that are very slim.

I very much doubt that the video is official. The pitch of the song has been increased slightly on the video, presumably to avoid YouTube's software for detecting copyrighted material. Try comparing it to the original album recording and you'll see what I mean. It's fake I'd say.

Wait, why is Lovers in Japan mentioned in the review? I was under the impression that it's not on the film. Unless of course the reviewer hasn't actually seen the film but wrote a review anyway to beat other websites to the first review.

I don't understand where everybody got the idea that DLIBYH and The Scientist won't be on the DVD and Blu-Ray. They ARE on the film and that's where those vids came from. Furthermore, the Blu-Ray and DVD versions are absolutely identical except for the picture quality. The film has the standard MX Tour setlist but with Lovers In Japan, Warning Sign and Speed of Sound removed.

I doubt that they will leave off any songs, that setlist hasn't been confirmed by Coldplay or EMI yet so for now I'm assuming it's a full concert on the DVD and a select few songs on the CD like they did with Live 2003. Also, if I recall correctly the band were asking for fan-footage of their performances of Us Against the World and Speed of Sound to go on the film, so I expect that Speed of Sound will be on there.

Wow, that looks fucking incredible. I hope Channel 4 don't plaster the coverage with ads too much like they did in the opening ceremony. I really don't want to miss anything good.

Wow, Chris has absolutely no idea how to play Amsterdam. He did something identical on the Viva tour too. I hope it'll make a comeback though.

I really hope they don't work with this untalented piece of shit. Although Chris' 'we'll work with anybody' quote has me worried.

I have doubts that they'll 'go back to their roots' on the next LP. They originally planned LP5 to be an acoustic album but it turned out to be the complete opposite because the songs they found themselves writing ended up big and loud rather than acoustic. It's incredibly difficult to write a song exactly how you want it and there's a good chance that on the next album the songs that they write won't fit in with what they originally wanted. It'd be nice for them to make an album with a similar sound to the older albums but I can't really see it happening since they seem to have very little interest in their old sound.

That's beautiful. I love your voice.

It's very cinematic. It's a hell of a lot better than what it could have been, i.e Rihanna dancing suggestively in a club like 90% of her other videos. I think it's very well made.

dp

Wow, they fucked up Princess of China and then when they replayed it Chris forgot the lyrics. It'll be interesting to see how it'll turn out on the DVD. I guess they could put an edit together by using the first play of the song up until the part where Rihanna comes in, then use the second playing of the song for when Rihanna comes in. That way, Chris sings the correct lyrics and Rihanna comes in at the right time. Or maybe they'll film Princess of China at another Emirates show and use that for the DVD instead.

It's possible that the 'good songs that didn't fit in' might make it on to LP6 rather than an EP. I just don't think that an EP will be released this time.

Put simply, they were fucking incredible last night. The crowd were terrific too, they really added to the experience.

There's a Tesco nearby that you can park at. Usually Tesco don't allow you to use their car park when there's a football game on, but due the huge difficulty that some people will face when going to the concert in terms of where to put their cars, they're going to allow people to use their car park tomorrow. Not sure if it's free though.

I have doubts the author of that article has actually heard a Coldplay song. He also seems to know absolutely nothing about how the band works. It's not a 'one-man band' at all. Yes, Chris is the main songwriter but the band would be nothing without Will, Jonny and Guy. It's well known that Will is highly critical of what the band puts out and only lets the very best songs get through. What a horrible article. No research whatsoever.

Mostly, the setlist isn't that bad. It's not as good as the setlist on the Viva tour but it's still good. The only criticisms I'd have of it would be the inclusion of Princess of China. The song itself doesn't bother me, but the way they 'perform' it live is just awful. The fact that songs like Politik have been removed to make room for it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I don't know why anybody would want to pay for a concert to hear some pre-recorded vocals while the band half-heartedly play along with it. It sounds identical to the album version. It''s pointless really. That being said, I love the piano version of Warning Sign and they play most of their best songs along with a few lesser-known songs for the fans which is great. I wish they'd play Amsterdam as part of the acoustic set but it's not going to ruin the concert for me if they don't. I'm not crazy about ETIAW as the closing song either but mostly it's a decent setlist.

Princess of China is just awful live. It just feels so awkward with Rihanna singing with pre-recorded vocals while the band just stand there. I hope they remove it from the setlist as soon as possible but it's unlikely considering it's their next single. From the videos I've seen it's the only song that isn't applauded by the fans. It feels as if the audience are bored by it. Oh well, it's a decent opportunity for a toilet break.

The duo with Rihanna sounded poor in my opinion. Chris and Rihanna's voice didn't seem to fit together as much as they do in the studio version and it all felt out of place and awkward. Chris' singing was shaky on Paradise too.

I've been noticing this since the Twisted Logic tour but I didn't really mind back then because it seemed to be only the synths and sound effects that weren't live and while the sounds were playing the band didn't attempt to disguise the fact that they were playing through a backing track. However since the Viva tour they've been overusing the ability to play portions of the song through the use of a backing track and have been 'pretending' to play the drums and synths which annoys me, especially when it's extremely obvious that they're miming. Notable instances of this are Guy pretending to sing, the bell in Viva, the drum being played out of time in Lost even though it can be heard in time, the fake keyboard playing in Viva and the 2nd 'para' even though nobody is singing. If the band just came out and admitted that some of the instruments that they are 'playing' aren't being played at all then I'd be okay with that but the fact that they pretend to play portions of the song without telling anyone really makes me lose respect for the band. I seriously doubt that Coldplay would have won all those 'band act in the world' awards if everybody knew that they mimed on stage. We could try asking the Oracle about this but I very much doubt we'll get an answer and if we did I would question it's reliability. She is after all another cog in Coldplay PR machine.

1) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues 2) Bon Iver - Bon Iver 3) PJ Harvey - Let England Shake 4) Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials 6) Radiohead - King of Limbs 7) Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto 8) Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See 9) Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds 10) Kasabian - Velociraptor! That's my list. I honestly think that Mylo Xyloto wouldn't be in my top 10 if it was released any other year, I think that 2011 was a mediocre year for albums.

What baffles me is why everybody is obsessed with Car Kids rather than any of the other unreleased songs that we know the names of. I know a lot of people talk about Car Kids to be ironic but it's arguably the worst song title of any of the unreleased song. Anyway, this new song won't be Car Kids because it's described as 'brand new' and Car Kids is at least a year old. This will be a song like The Dubliners, Spanish Rain or Moses that will never be recorded and only played live.