CP-EST

In my opinion Higher Power works well as an opener indeed, it will be difficult to replace. As a closer, Biutyful is more likely to be replaced, I think. I just really hope they have written a strong album closer for Moon Music, which is suitable to play. I think People of the Pride is getting dropped and replaced with something similar from Moon Music. I think they hinted a couple of times that they have some new song which is more heavy than PotP, was it called Jupiter? But honestly I'm not sure what to expect. Maybe just 3-4 new songs added into setlist, but we might end up getting an whole setlist being turned upside down. Currently I would say the start of setlist from Higher Power to Viva la Vida is rock solid. Rest of the setlist is alright, but the only really iconic sequence of songs in my opinion is just the combination of My Universe and A Sky Full of Stars. Middle part of the show and encore is definitely something which could be changed up a lot, if they got new ideas. Overall, I have just one demand. It would be cool to see them play their instruments as an whole band more often in some new songs, something with piano involved. I just hope they have written something cool for Moon Music, which they can pull of during live performance as well. Coloratura was cool, but didn't quite work on stadium. Maybe it's time for Chris to calm down and start behaving like an older gentleman in a few more songs. Not so many songs have to be so full of jumping around, it's not making it easy to sing either.😆 Noticed that as well, I think he sang a lot more after this summer's European leg, in fact it seemed like recently in US, Asia and Australia he sang more than he ever had been during previous legs of MOTS tour - haven't done extensive research though, so don't quote me on that. They seem to be conservative with his voice, because of this tour being a long one. At this point I'm pretty sure they continue in 2025 as well.

Just because it's quiet in Coldplay front at the moment, I thought it would be fun and exciting to speculate what will change in MOTS concert setlist and production next year when Moon Music is released. Some key points: - Will they change the show opener Higher Power to something new? - Will they change the show closer Biutyful to something new? - Which songs from MOTS album will be dropped from setlist completely to make space for Moon Music songs? - Which one of the classic hit songs should be given some rest? - Which one of the older songs currently not regulary on setlist should be made regular? - Some interesting new production tricks? - Should they make concert a bit longer? Yes 😀

It was interesting to hear that Moon Music turned into something bigger than they were planning at first. It probably means that at some point they realised they have written some really good material, which made them work longer and harder to turn it into a big proper album. And if the story about Brian Eno being involved is true as well, then wow! Exciting! They always record more than they need and through process just realise some material is stronger. In case of Aeterna, not sure if it even deserved to be on album. I never got the big hype, yeah it's a nice moment in a context of show, but otherwise not that strong track from start to finish. I think B-sides are just a way to give fans something more and special and it's nice they want to release them again. About MOTS3, it seems like if there is something to be called MOTS3 then it could be the musical.

History based on finished tours: The highest grossing tour in history considering inflation should still be U2 360 tour, but Elton John's farewell tour is close behind. Adjusted for inflation: U2 360 tour grossed 958 million dollars, Elton John's tour grossed 939 million dollars. Source: Wikipedia. But there's different ways of rating tour. Total gross, total audience numbers, average gross per show etc. Ed Sheeran currently holds the record of attendance for tour with 8,8 million people. Source: Wikipedia. About Taylor vs Coldplay. Taylor's average ticket prices for US seemed insane, but in Europe they don't seem so drastically different. At this moment it's difficult to make any conclusions how much the average ticket price differs, because I haven't found any conclusive data about Eras tour. Let's say right now, her average ticket price throughout the tour is around 2,0 times higher than Coldplay. Coldplay focuses more on higher audience numbers and making shows affordable for as many people as possible. Taylor's shows should have way higher gross per show. Predictions: Coldplay has done 107 shows by now for MOTS World Tour, excluding Rock in Rio festival performance. 57 more shows are scheduled at this moment, so 164 in total. Prediction, if they sell out all shows 100%, like they have done so far: they should achieve audience numbers of around 9,3-9,4 million people, which would be a new record in terms of audience numbers any tour has achieved. In terms of gross it's more difficult to predict, but it seems like Coldplay will get close to U2 and Elton John, maybe even beat them. Taylor has 131 shows scheduled in total for Eras Tour and should achieve audience numbers of at least 6,5-7,0 million people, but in terms of gross she could definitely go over 1 billion dollars, maybe even 1,2-1,3 billion dollars. Don't quote me, but I think Coldplay hasn't finished their tour yet, some more legs might be announced, so it's not time to make any conclusive predictions yet. I'd say tours are not always about promoting one certain album. Taylor Swift's Eras Tour isn't either about one specific album. Elton John's tour was more about farewall than 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. With Coldplay it's a bit different though. The shows that are sold out and are in sale right now for next year rely on MOTS vol 1 (+ old classic hits and the hype about shows on social media) if we could say so, because general audience has no idea about some new album coming out next year. So foundation for this tour would be MOTS vol 1 for now, but they seem extending and improving this tour with next album for sure.

I managed to get one today, I was supposed to get some for friends as well, but failed and gave up for now. But yeah, it is madness. It's supposed to be a presale and hopefully there is still a chance. At least in Finland ticket selling platform announced that the band let around half of the tickets to be sold on band's exclusive presale today, some will be available tomorrow on Live Nation presale and the rest will be on general sale on Friday. This might be different in different locations. I would say that chances of still getting ticket from official resources today are quite small, but don't give up if you have time and nerves to check and refresh websites. Of course it also depends on location and dates you are aiming for. Also this doesn't mean it will be easier to get tickets tomorrow or on Friday, it's going to be even more difficult. The way the presale was managed is a bit frustrating in my eyes, I thought it's going to be a bit more exclusive and not giving false hopes for fans. Somehow in some locations "dynamically priced" tickets are officially sold without any presale code and the prices for these are insane. No wonder it gives some people ideas to try selling tickets on "black market" to some desperate fans.

Explanations of each category based on Finnish sales for Helsinki:

Going alone can be scary, especially if it's not your home city and when it's a big city. But I think there's nothing to be afraid of, people are nice. My experience... Last year I went to two Paris concerts alone and it was amazing. For first one there was a lot of unknown factors as it was a completely new place for me, but everything turned out great. Waiting at gate, I made some friends and spent some time talking to them. Second show I was already familiar with logistics and metros and it felt like home, people were friendly and nice around me as well. Some advice: it depends what kind of tickets you are getting. When getting regular standing tickets, it depends a bit how early are you planning to go to wait at gate. When going early get some food and water. Hot weather and sun can be one of the biggest factors to consider. If you want to know more then ask. Surviving with Paris concerts in 35-40 degrees Celsius, I think I have enough experience.🙂 Interestingly, I'm also thinking about going to Rome next year, don't know yet if someone joins me for concert. So, if you're going alone we might have the same adventure waiting ahead. 😀

Yeah, it's just a guess, but I don't think any of their previous tours can be used for making predictions for MOTS tour, because it's already different with having 3rd big leg of Europe and they do exclusively only stadiums with having relatively conservative schedule and breaks between legs. Considering the hints of Moon Music being released at the beginning of 2024, it's hard to imagine they just release some B sides/lowkey album and then continue with stadium tour. Also, considering what they say about new songs, it seems they are already excited to play at least some the new songs in stadium shows. Also have been talking about having already worked out some live visuals for new songs and saying it's going to be amazing. It's just a guess, but putting all the pieces together I see them using Moon Music to burst new energy into MOTS tour. Continue on, with maybe returning to some of the major venues in Europe like Stade de France and Wembley in 2025. Because why not tour stadiums as hard as possible and then go into more quiet mode after that with the musical album and the album Coldplay. (not sure about the release schedule of those)

First, this theory is quite Europe centered, so I think it can't be true. I think "melodic orbit in three parts" still refers more to the concept of MOTS having multiple volumes. Secondly, considering Moon Music is expected to be released next year, it's very possible they want to tour it more than one year. So, tour could go on in 2025 and have more legs in different parts of world, including even 4th leg in Europe.

He hasn't been mentioned much indeed. I remember them mentioning him a few times in interviews though, but can't remember which interviews these were. His role seemed be advising them to get the overall sound of the record right. The use of synthetic percussion opens up more space and makes songs sound more sparse, which they were trying to achieve in Ghost Stories. I happen to think Ghost Stories is their best sounding record overall. Most of the songs sound very delicate and these choices in production actually seem key part for achieving this. Level of detail in percussion parts is just amazing on this record and I think it would have been difficult to get it right with acoustic drums. It's sonically a very beautiful and layered album, a one for audiophiles.

Maybe it's Chris himself trolling us, testing the waters, because he's about to go wild on next record.

Isn't it obvious what it's about? 😀 Asian tour dates being announced, I think.

I really would bet on new single coming out soon and album announcement still some months away. Most optimistic schedule when considering current touring schedule is probably similar to MOTS vol1 - first single out in May or early summer and album out in October. I don't think they will announce album before they have finished working on it. At least what we have heard from recent Twitter Q&A's and interviews, I've got an impression they are not in final stages with it yet.

Don't let the Internet rabbit holes give you so negative impression. The audience numbers so far on this tour are hinting it will be biggest tour in history of music when it finishes, seems at least 1-2 more years. It's quite crazy love people are showing at the concerts. That's what matters 🙂 Still, in my eyes everyone has their right for opinion though, as long as it's respectful and not having hateful tone.

The performances on this tour right now are heavily aided by use of different tricks indeed. Lipsyncing seems to take the most heat, understandably. Although I think for several reasons, it's really difficult to say what's really lipsynced and what's not, especially for people who don't take time to analyse it. So at the end most people would ask, does it really even matter? 1. Often there's a blurry line where Chris sings live over his own prerecorded vocals and the volumes of live and pre-recorded vocals seem to be balanced in the moment by some clever tool. 2. In some songs there is a more consistent performance from show to show. In some songs the use of tricks isn't consistent and changes from show to show. 3. 99% of time when Chris lipsyncs, he's doing it really professionally. So it's not possible to notice if you don't start to compare several shows. 4. In stadium there is also a slight delay of sound. Even if you may notice lipsyncing you're also confused by delay. 5. This show is currently so full of effects and Chris is moving around a lot. There's not many points where a single person can watch and analyse. You may only do it when being close to stage So, the way they have decided to perform is clearly a choice they have made quite early on, considering pros and cons. The show is so massive, use of these tricks takes a way lot of the technical and physical stress during the performances, result is a more consistent show. This tour seems to go on at least one more year, so it's also a decision taking account long term factors, like vocal strain. In summary, when you put it all these details in the context of a massive show they currently have, at some point everyone who isn't a stubborn and bitter person, will hopefully eventually think that it isn't worth overanalysing lipsyncing. The current style of concert just isn't the concert where pure live vocals in each song would make any difference how this show is perceived by an average concert visitor. I think the current style of performance for Chris is quite a natural development of their performances over the years, kind of seen it slowly going towards this since Mylo Xyloto tour. Still, when Chris sings live and his voice is fit, he's doing it really well.

One World is very pretty indeed, in my opinion it mixes something from When I need a Friend and Sunrise + some mantra style stuff from Chinese Sleep Chant. Potentially one of the most ethereal things Coldplay has done. Difficult to say what will be the actual structure of the song, the aim of playing it seemed to be just to get the recording of the audience, so I would avoid judging it for now. Final product might be something different, considering they can still work on things for at least a few months until they reach recording 1 million people. It might be they played it pretty much like it will be, but it might not. Could be just the ending of a long song - really hoping for it to be some epic beautiful track. Mainly I hope we are not wrong assuming that it will be on Moon Music, in speech Chris never said on which album it will be. 😄

Seems like Aeterna, which was performed in Sao Paulo yesterday, is a new Coldplay material indeed. Seems like not the full track was played though, but in my opinion it's quite similar to Infinity Sign, sounds more disco and more like a song, but still not like a real song, more like an interlude type of thing. Aeterna in Latin means eternal, so there seems to be a little connection maybe to Infinity Sign. Anyway, it sounds like a very memorable tune, at least short term and I liked the sound, so waiting to hear it in full glory on Moon Music.

It's always great to talk about Everyday Life. I often put it on, while driving somewhere alone in the early morning. To me this album has kind of an introverted and thoughtful vibe, so it's perfect one to just have quietly playing and meanwhile think about some stuff. I have one thing, what I really would argue about 😄 In my opinion Champion of the World and Everyday Life ending combination is perfect. I really enjoy when the endings that have this little calculated unsatisfactory feel, it doesn't always have to have a high climax and "go to somewhere". So, I think Everyday Life lyrically and musically finishes the album in a best possible way. Ghost Stories as a bit similar flow at the end. I hope some of the stuff from this album like Trouble in Town and Champion of the World will reflect what we can wait from the 12th album called Coldplay.

The Astronaut being on Moon Music wouldn't be that bad, but not the greatest idea in my opinion. That would just make it seem, like they use it as a filler track, because they couldn't come up with enough songs. Also it would just be a little bit weird as well, giving a song to Jin, but then later taking it back. At least I wouldn't get it, but it wouldn't matter that much if it sounds ok in album context. In recent performances hearing that Chris' voice is quite out of shape and it's so noticeable, despite of having a supporting backing track and a choir behind him. Honestly, I'm hoping they actually start using backing singers and maybe even some additional musicians on stage while touring. The hard truth is that Chris' voice just won't carry those high long notes anymore. It would suit well for Coldplay to have their stage more crowded and have some backing vocalists with them on tour. Otherwise nice performances on SNL, Coldplay version of The Astronaut is nice, but Chris just doesn't do a good job singing it. It probably doesn't suit him, but otherwise it would suit well to their concert as we have seen already. Also did Chris hit that guy's helmet at 2:05? It seems and sounds so much like that😆

Sometimes the line between what should be called promotional tour and what should be part of actual tour is quite thin. Also some are just special short concerts part of events as well, like Jingle Bell Ball. So I guess it's also about pattern and sequence of shows and length of the show as well. With classifying concert as part of the tour there has to some logic behind it, fitting in with shows before and after. Rock in Rio 2022 fits in very well with Latin American leg of MOTS tour. Rock in Rio 2011 fits in with the several festival performances they were doing before album release that year, kind of like pre album festival leg of MX tour. I guess sometimes it becomes a bit subjective, like with classifying anything in this world, there isn't an ideal formula for everything.

MOTS as an album might not be their strongest, but I feel like at this point certainly more seems to have come out of it than from AHFOD. It produced several very different amazing moments for live shows. So I'd expect vol 2 concentrating on generating some more great live show moments. While MOTS vol 1 was "From Earth With Love", vol 2 will be "Moon Music". Now, I don't expect there to be a storyline really, but I sort of expect vol 2 to be an answer or reflection to some of the stuff on vol 1. Vol 1 very much was sang from the perspective of being human on Earth, although at the end Coloratura sounds more thoughtful and wandering about in Universe. Maybe vol 2 will generally take another perspective lyrically, being more distant and telling stories/commenting. Sonically I'd expect it to be more adventurous and heavier than vol 1. I'd expect band being instrumentally more dominant in live performances than with vol 1 songs. We already know from 2022 interviews they were working on song Robots, which they said is heavier than People of the Pride. For live performances I definitely hope for a new strong full band rock ballad come out of it. In the end sadly they couldn't make Coloratura work in stadium shows properly. So we need some instrumentally equally great, but more concise song to get over it. Also of course there will be some more emoji titles probably, moon emoji pretty much confirmed as one of the titles, I guess. 😄 The worst what could happen is Moon Music being a full album of sugary sweet love songs like Biutyful sang by Angel Moon and we're not going to hear Chris' actual voice this time.

It's a bit tricky, but here's how I have understood it. I guess from the band perspective, yes it was. Considering performance and setlist, everything about it was like Music of the Spheres World Tour, they even used the wristbands. Meanwhile it was also part of Rock in Rio festival. So from organisatory and financial perspective it's very different to classic tour dates. Also, from the general audience point of view these kind of concerts feel more like festivals rather than some band's world tour date. To simplify it, we could look at it as if they just fitted a festival performance into touring schedule. Same goes with Glastonbury 2016 being part of A Head Full of Dreams Tour. There is many examples of these cases and from a lot of other bands and artists. Even 2011 Rock in Rio should be spiritually considered part of Mylo Xyloto tour. That one is even more tricky to call, because the album wasn't released at that point, but they were performing a lot of songs from the album and all the visuals looked like MX.

At this point it seems a bit unpredictable, what exactly and when it's going to happen. Announcing just 4 US and Canada dates at this point is a bit confusing. I was kind of expecting a lot more. Considering they have sold out already all the shows for this year and probably wouldn't struggle selling out these 4 new dates + maybe a few extra dates, they might as well just ride on with old stuff until the end of this year. Then after that release something new, announce further dates for 2024 and use new music to support selling out new dates. This might be one alternative scenario, but it's totally unpredictable. There is still reasons to be excited for February with SNL performance, Grammys and Brits coming up, as it is one of the potential windows for presenting something new. At least on ColdplayXtra interview they said their next release is on schedule, it means that in August 2022 they might have had a release date for MOTS vol 2 (or whatever it's going to be called exactly) on their mind, which also means back then already this release must have been close to completion. So, let's see how it's going to play out.

I think the short notice for the release would make sense. Considering it's a MOTS vol 2 and they certainly would want at least some songs to be part of the tour. It would not make sense to drag the release process too long, because tour would just finish. Although it's quite possible they go on with MOTS tour in 2024. Also the timeline with first single out many months before album is very outdated now. In this busy and overstimulated world that kind of release schedule just loses momentum and isn't that successful anymore. Let's see, how things turn out. Considering the tour continues in March and in February there's a period of Brits and Grammys, where it might be a good place to present some new song, it would be a perfect window to release something new. It would be smart to use it, but they might have something else in mind.

There will be a new album (possible MOTS vol 2) sooner rather than later. So, better let's get ready. My guess it's going to be released in different way than they're used to. Without much time (if any time) between the first single and album release. I've been following stuff, but never heard of Colilyakliuk somehow, until now. And it was months old already. The snippet I managed to find, doesn't sound like anything people should build their expectations on. Sounds like a snippet of not fully developed idea, at least at that point.