tallerolder

i bet they're doing an encore now ;)

OMG this bridge!! so beautifully sung and the piano just awesome, and then it kicks into the guitar solo

wooow this sounds so good live!!!!! i'm dying

can anyone seeing the show please confirm this??

omg!!! is chris playing piano during AOAL???

wow i freakin love Johnny's guitar work on HFTW!!!!!!

you know what i've really been liking recently: the way they've improved on the acceleration during fix you when it goes in to the last part... where they speed up the tempo some bpms... cause back in the days that was always a bit of a mess...

missed the old beautiful piano outro to CB tho..

definately fix you next ;)

i think this show is pretty much showing what we can expect setlist wise for the coming tour... plus some more AHFOD tracks for the additional 40 minutes the tour shows are going to last compared to tonight's show

man this just sounds soooo better live... idk but i'd really prefer this very version on the album... just sounds so much more honest and less polished

everglow

i really like the color the natural reverb of the church adds to the sound =)

haha was that just me or did he somehow mix up / forget the lyrics of the second verse of magic? =D

to me, quite a lot of the album does actually sound pretty 1998-2000ish... Everglow, Fun, HFTW...

now the viva album is being played instead... for whichever MX track... i guess they have some problems with the MX album ..

somewhere on youtube in a comment i've read that apparently the leak contained a note saying that the leak version wasn't the final mix. can anyone confirm this?

hurts to myself to say this and to destroy your hopes but i really doubt this cause the pianos were actually taken out completely after the intro and they only return for the outro... and you'd also clearly hear that if the bitrate was like 48kbits/s or something ;)

:shocked: pretty much every comment in the top10 section or so is saying they like the live version better cause the studio version sounds too overproduced. Wondering if and if yes how the band are going to react to this... cause it's not just any channel but it's their official youtube channel... i haven't seen many songs in the past where everybody's opinion was so much the same...

Ok, I might need to specify what I mean with the 'production', in my opinion this term includes more than just how many instruments being used, but also the arrangement, mixing, mastering, the way certain instruments are being played, etc. Cause from that point of view you're absolutely right, there definitely arent too many instrumens being used - but it's more a question of the mix here. For my taste, it just sounds a bit too shimmery, glimmery... Like there was too much make-up on a face. And this is imo related a lot to the mix, i.e. where and how you use reverbs and delays, EQ, etc...

not sure actually - wasn't the release party recorded somewhere in LA (would make sense since iHeart Radio - who are hosting/airing it - are based in LA) ? Anyways, I'm still pretty sure this was filmed during a soundcheck or rehearsal, not only because no audience can be heard (clapping and stuff), but also because there's nothing going on with the lights (no light show, etc...)

btw. I just honestly think this "stripped down" live version sounds soooo much better than the studio version. it's exactely what the album lacks, production wise - this raw, genuine, honest, simple sound... the production (stargate) just feels like a ways tooo sticky icing on a delicious cake and therefore makeing the whole cake a bit less enjoyable in some ways... :/ even though in general i'm not that much a fan of coldplay live albums (especially the GS live album, because the arrangements basically sounded almost as on the studio CD...), but here i really hope they're gonna record a live album! with this kind of sound and arrangements

As far as i know this wasnt at the album release party - but at the soundcheck of the TIDAL X show - at the Belasco Theater. hence no audience.

I'm actually a bit confused about this whole "hope has it's proof" line. First after hearing the studio version, I just assumed Chris forgot that particular line back in September during the debut at the central park show and thus sang "Sat on a roof" for the second time. But then i realized he also sang "Sat on a roof" (instead of "hope has it's proof") when recently performing it ad TIDAL X as well as in that TF1 show. Since the album version was most certainly recorded before all those shows, I guess he might go on singing live "Sat on a roof" in the future...

After having heard all those interviews and promo-talk, I was expecting AHFOD to be a real "happy-clappy-album" and therefore to be a bit shallow... Since Chris often described it as the kind of opposite part to Ghost Stories. To my own perception, this is not as obvious at all as it's been portrayed. After my first listen, I actually found myself in a rather melancholic mood, which I judge really positively - cause feel like this the album is much more a genuine and adequate picture of how they really feel, which I prefer to the thought of making a "happy" album - which would have something really conceptual to me. A HEAD FULL OF DREAMS - When I heard the live version of this for the first time, I was pretty amazed at how much I liked this song. I think it's a really good song as far as the melody, arrangement and lyrics go, but - and I think this is going to be very characteristic for the whole album - the production lowers the final result in my opinion. Still, I really like the "Where the Streets have no name"-U2-esque feeling of it. And I just can't help but love the chord progression over the "ooooooh"-part! 7/10 BIRDS - I didn't actually have too much expectations about this one, basically because it's one of the only tracks that was neither performed live in advance nor getting too much attention prior to the release to the lack of some kind of "special guest" (Obama, GP, Beyoncé or whoever). So far, this is one of my favorites! It reminds me a bit of "Lovers in Japan" - meeting "Hurts Like Heaven". Also, this song corresponds in my opinion the most to the feeling Chris has been talking about they were trying to convey with the album in general. 9/10 HYMN FOR THE WEEKEND - Due to all the talk about the Beyoncé collab, my expectations on this were really low. I can't say I'm positively surprised after the first few listens, but then again it's not as bad as it could have been. I actually enjoyed the first verse quite a bit.... But definitely one of the first tracks I'm probably going to start to skip... and wtf about this cheesy bird chirping in the beginning!? 4/10 EVERGLOW - I must have died some deaths while hearing this for the first time due to the production - which again for this song - is probably the biggest weakness. I really like the piano though, and also the rawness of and vulnerability in Chris' voice. Over all - and especially after having had it on repeat for almost the whole friday - a really beautiful song. 9/10 ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME - I like like it more in the context of the whole album than as a single track. Having said that, I myself wouldn't have made this song the first single of the album - but even if I personally don't like it too much, I think it has it's legitimate place and serves the purpose. 6/10 FUN - This is probably one of the bigger surprises for me on the album. Being a bit prejudiced against it since I heard Tove Lo was going to feautire it, I must say this is probably one of the songs I'm actually really going to like of the album. It might be a bit too poppy, but I like the overall feeling to it. reminds me a bit of True Love. 7/10 KALEIDOSCOPE - I don't like the poem too much, however the scenery made by the piano/glockenspiel in the background is pretty nice. To me, the whole track feels a bit too conceptual... 6/10 ARMY OF ONE - Every class has it's very average boy or girl. She/he doesn't do any harm to anyone, is neither brilliantly good or bad at anything - and generally just lacks the potential to stand out and be remembered... this might be a bit harshly said, but probably just describes the best how I somehow feel about this song right now. 6/10 X MARKS THE SPOT - Now, what the fuck is this?? Seriously, this is even ways beyond "Hymn For The Weekend" and in my personal opinion not worthy of being put on this album. You really succeeded in disappointing me this time Chris! 2/10 AMAZING DAY - Why did they have to bring again this cheesy bird chirping in the beginning that we already heard in the beginning of "Hymn For The Weekend"..? After I heard this song for the first september and not feeling completely overwhelmed by it back then, Amazing Day started to immensely grow on me during the following week. The feeling, lyrics, melody became really characteristical for how I felt and the mood I was in during that time. The closer we got to the album release, the bigger my fear grew this was going to be another song that the producers will have managed to completely ruin. Luckily, this is not the case. This is probably going to be my favorite of the album and one of my favorites in general. Reminds me of "What a wonderful world". The only thing that still bothers me: Why did they take out the ride-cymbal whenever there's a bass drum? 10/10 COLOUR SPECTRUM - Nothing special, but serves the purpose of a "transition" as had them on MX i guess.. 6/10 UP & UP - My first thought after hearing the live version of this was "Wow, Coldplay definitely are back!!" and I almost felt a bit bad for having rather mixed feelings toward the way the new album was going to turn out. I really liked everything about it. However, if I now listen to the album version, the producers have managed to fail really BIG this time!! I just feel like everything I loved about this song in the live version (the piano, the way the whole song was building up, the mix) has been oppressed here. I was expecting this kind of "Oasis"-ish arrangement (Champagne Supernova or All around the World), but no... It somehow feels really empty to me. I think it's a real real shame they took out the piano of this one and I'm really hoping they're going to regret this one after having played it live for some time and having realized how much more energy and genuinity it gets with the piano. I would really have loved to give this track ten out of ten points, but with that production and mix... I'll give it a 8.5 - to still adequately honor the songwriting and skills of the guys - cause the song in itself is reaaaally beautiful and one of the best they've ever done! 8.5/10 Over all rating: 7/10