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the much awaited rolling stone review is here!! 4/5 *s A Head Full of Dreams BY JON DOLAN December 4, 2015 Beyoncé, Noel and Gwyneth help Chris Martin shake out the sads Coldplay's last album, 2014's Ghost Stories, was a surprisingly dark and muted set released just months after Chris Martin's split with Gwyneth Paltrow. A year and a half later, the frown has been turned upside down. A Head Full of Dreams, produced by Norwegian hitmakers Stargate, might be Coldplay's brightest album ever – an eagle's-wings whoosh of soaring melodies, happy dance beats and Martin at his most wide-eyed. "There are miracles at work," he sings on the album-opening title anthem, which sounds like U2 and New Order on a joint humanitarian mission. Coldplay flex their coalition-building strength by bringing together Beyoncé's backing vocals and Noel Gallagher's heroic guitar on the gingerly optimistic "Up&Up." Bey also appears amid chirping birds on the R&B-touched "Hymn for the Weekend." The LP's healing mood is made personal when Paltrow herself adds some vocals to the warm farewell, "Everglow," on which Martin compares his ex to a diamond, a lion and an eagle. He's hinted that this could be Coldplay's last album; if so, they're going out on a sustained note of grace. x

the sun rated it 4/5 with exclusive interview

Coldplay The rise and rise of Coldplay was rapid. Chris Martin later explained that he was impersonating Neil Young while entertaining guests when he came across the first chord of a song, which stuck with him for a bit then in a Neil Young voice he sang "look at the stars". Martin went on to further explain that the word "yellow" has absolutely no meaning whatsoever and while writing the rest of the song he tried his best to change yellow to something else since every lyric before yellow made no sense but in the end the word "yellow" just sounded right. Coldplay appeared from nowhere and in no time at all, we were all singing; “Look at the stars, Look how they shine for you, And everything you do, Yeah, they were all yellow”. Coldplay’s emergence was perfectly timed; in 2000, Oasis had sacked two of its founding members and embraced psychedelic experimentation on Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. Radiohead had just released their follow-up to OK Computer, the experimental Kid A to mixed reviews, (but big sales). Coldplay formed in 1996 by Chris Martin and guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London (UCL), under the name Pectoralz. Martin was born in Whitestone, Exeter, Devon, the eldest of five children. He found his passion for music at a young age. He boarded at Sherborne School in Dorset and where he met future Coldplay manager Phil Harvey. While at UCL (where he read Ancient World Studies and graduated with first-class honours degree in Greek and Latin), he met future Coldplay band mates Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Guy Berryman. First know as Starfish the band became Coldplay after drummer Will Champion joined the ranks in July 1997. Multi-instrumentalist Champion learnt how to play drums in order to serve as the drummer for the band. The band finally settled on the name "Coldplay" which was suggested by Tim Crompton, a local student who had been using the name for his own group. During 1997, Martin had met then Classics student Tim Rice-Oxley and asked each other to play off their own songs on the piano. Martin, finding Rice-Oxley to be talented, asked him to be Coldplay's keyboard player but Rice-Oxley refused as his own band, Keane, was already active. After recording and releasing three EPs: Safety in 1998, Brothers & Sisters as a single in 1999 and after signing to Parlophone, The Blue Room, their first release on a major label. By September 1999, Coldplay were recording what would become their debut album, Parachutes, which was released in the UK in July 2000, (and November 2000 in North America). The album's cover features a photograph of a globe taken with a disposable Kodak camera. Leading up to the launch of Parachutes, Coldplay released two singles, "Shiver" which just scraped into the UK top 40, and they "Yellow", which after heavy radio play in the UK, crashed into the UK charts at No.4. Parachutes then proceeded to give Coldplay their first UK No.1 album. In 2001, Coldplay were breaking into European markets and had their sights set on breaking the US. They succeeded; Parachutes won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album (although only reaching No.51 on the chart). The album has become the 12th best-selling album of the 21st century in the UK, (and won the Best British Album award at the 2001 Brit Awards). As of 2011, it has sold around 8.5 million copies worldwide. The band's second studio album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, released in 2002 topped the charts in the UK and in many other countries, including Australia and Canada. The third studio album, X&Y, was released in 2005 and finally gave Coldplay commercial success in the US, peaking at No.1. Now they were unstoppable. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, topped the charts in over thirty-six countries and became the best-selling album of 2008. Now a superstar, Chris Martin was easy game for the tabloids in the UK. Martin had met actress Gwyneth Paltrow at a Coldplay concert in 2002, and they soon became an item and later married. The couple that have two children announced their separation in March 2014. Chris Martin has been particularly outspoken on various issues of fair trade and has campaigned for Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign. He travelled to Ghana and Haiti to meet farmers and view the effects of unfair trade practices. He was also a vocal critic of US President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Bearing in mind his political voice, in April 2006, The Guardian newspaper reported that Martin was backing the British Conservative Party leader David Cameron and had written a new theme song for the party titled "Talk to David. This was later revealed to be an April Fool's joke. In 2014, Chris Martin announced in an interview that Coldplay were in the middle of working on their seventh studio album which would be called A Head Full of Dreams. Martin stated it might be the band's final album. The rise of Coldplay was fast; very swiftly they conquered the world. With the new album, Coldplay would have released 7 albums over 15 years. Over 7 years The Beatles released 13 studio albums, but times have changed. If this is the last album from Coldplay, they just might be the last great British band, which have remained intact with the four original members. “Look at the stars, Look how they shine for you.” x

'Gwyneth took a chance on an unripe banana': Chris Martin opens up about his split with Paltrow EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Chris Martin on amicable split and new record A Head Full of Dreams Coldplay . . . Guy Berryman, Chris, Will Champion, and Jonny Buckland AFTER overcoming the toughest time in his life, A Head Full Of Dreams marks a new chapter for Chris Martin. Following his “conscious uncoupling” from actress Gwyneth Paltrow and the turmoil of the break-up, the Coldplay singer has bounced back with an album that reflects his positive outlook. Martin says: “The idea that you can go through something and, with the right guidance, you can emerge into this more colourful place — that’s where this album came from.” And he admits: “It has been difficult. I reached a real low point through the nature of what was going on in my personal life, so Ghost Stories was quiet, intimate and silver and blue in colour. It felt right not to do a huge tour after it. “A Head Full Of Dreams is the blossoming. At the end of Ghost Stories there is a song called A Sky Full Of Stars which is the gateway into A Head Full Of Dreams.” His optimism is evident when I meet him at his central London hotel. Martin, 38, bounds toward me, all smiles and hugs, and hands over a badge with LOVE on it. “You’re in the team. Thanks for joining me and doing all this,” he says, referring to the secret arrangements in the run-up to announcing that Coldplay’s seventh album was imminent. Getting into his car — I travel to Wembley Arena with Martin where he is to hand out a prize at Radio 1’s Teen Awards — he tells me he’s just had the best sleep all week, after flying in from LA a few days earlier. He also reveals that he is on a fasting day — a part of his new, positive take on life. He says: “I’ve done it for nearly a year now. It has had a big effect on my life, and probably on this album, in terms of making me feel so grateful. “When you don’t have food in your life, just for a day, it makes you realise you’re lucky to have it the next day. So the day after fasting, the music that comes out will be very joyous.” His split from Paltrow, his wife of 12 years, forced him to reassess what was important in life and “reminded me of the miracle of even being here”. Martin says: “The changes made me rethink how I approached life in general. Like how grateful and lucky I am even to be alive, in particular the poem The Guest House, by Rumi. “This album is based on that poem. Its idea is that you sit with everything and don’t run away from it. So that’s what I did, and so now I’m in a good place and can handle the harder feelings.” So, while Ghost Stories was mournful, A Head Full Of Dreams is a celebration. Blissful pop songs made for stadiums. Good cheer . . . bandmates remain as close as ever Hymn For The Weekend — an impressive collaboration with Beyoncé — as well as first single Adventure Of A Lifetime and the anthemic Up&Up is Coldplay at their most joyous. The latter track also features Noel Gallagher on guitar, whom Martin now shares a close friendship with. He says: “I love Noel. I’m like his little brother who likes ballet. We’ve been blessed over the years to have mentors within music. I would count Noel, Jay Z and Bono among them.” Produced by Stargate (Norwegian production duo Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen), A Head Full Of Dreams also includes Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter, Swedish singer Tove Lo, Martin’s new girlfriend Annabelle Wallis — and Paltrow, who sings backing vocals on piano ballad Everglow. With his ex on the new record, does it surprise him that people are so interested in the pair remaining friends? He tells me: “Gwyneth and I broke up a long time ago (their official break-up was announced long after their actual split) but I don’t think about that aspect. “I know I am in a band that is famous and my private life is famous. I get it and it’s fine. “Even when I grew up in a village, people wanted to know who was going to the dance with whom, and I understand, but I think if I engage with it too much it won’t be that healthy. “That whole period was a real blessing and I am so grateful for it but you want to keep certain things to yourself. “But if your job is to release music you’ve got to explain it a bit because otherwise it’s not fair on your audience who think they might be buying a carrot and you’ve actually made a cabbage. “And Gwyneth and I are really good friends. I think she was really lovely to take a chance on an unripe banana.” With Martin living in LA and the rest of the band — drummer Will Champion, guitarist Jonny Buckland and bassist Guy Berryman — in England, the record was made on both sides of the Atlantic. “We shared custody,” says Martin. “So we worked in LA and then we’d have two weeks away from each other, which was a good time for me to work on what I’ve got to work on and then I’d come to London and do two weeks there. “But it worked out. I’m happy in LA but I will live wherever my kids are and I don’t really mind where it is.” Consciously uncoupled . . . Chris with Gwyneth Insight News & Features All of Coldplay’s children — including Chris’s daughter Apple, 11, and son Moses, nine — also sing backing vocals on a number of the new tracks. And on this topic Martin laughs about how his children find having the likes of Beyoncé or Jay Z “in their kitchen as normal” yet can get starstruck when it comes to their idols. He says: “In some ways Apple and Moses have had that mystical allure of celebrity removed but on a musical level Moses is obsessed with Ed Sheeran and Apple is the same about Taylor Swift. “They are so sweet as, when Coldplay play a concert, I can see they are listening and are engaged, but as soon as we are finished it’s like, ‘Dad where’s my iPad?’ It’s like I’m two different people!” US President Barack Obama appears on the track Kaleidoscope — via a sample of him singing Amazing Grace at the funeral of Charleston shooting victim Reverend Clementa Pinckney. Says Martin: “I thought it was one of the most powerful responses to a tragedy I’ve ever seen and so we asked permission to use that clip. “Not to sound like a nob, but I knew someone who knew him and they asked him. I have met him once or twice. I am a big fan.” Coldplay also got to work with another of their heroes — Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter singer Merry Clayton, who appears on tracks Adventure Of A Lifetime and Up & Up. Martin tells me: “It had been a dream to work with her so we just called her up. “She came in a wheelchair and did her thing and then said, ‘I just lost my legs’.” The legendary singer had just had both legs amputated at the knee after a serious car accident. Says Martin: “We didn’t know. She’d just come out of hospital the week before but was so full of joy, gratitude, love and life.” The first single, Adventure Of A Lifetime, is said to be inspired by Martin’s friendship with Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence, who he was rumoured to be dating from last year. Tracklist 1. Unstoppable 2. Green & Gold 3. What You Don’t Do 4. Tokyo 5. Wonderful 6. Midnight 7. Grow 8. Ghost 9. Never Get Enough 10. Good Goodbye I ask him if that rumour was true and he answers: “I didn’t know that had been said but that song is actually inspired by a book called Half The Sky, by Nicholas Kristof, about all the women in the world. “So it is about a girl but about three billion of them.” With A Head Full Of Dreams being released just a few weeks after Adele’s record-breaking album 25, will the band be disappointed if this album misses the top spot? “Not at all,” says Martin. “Music is not a competition and I know Adele and I am a huge fan. “I am so grateful for where we are as a band and the numbers don’t matter. Adele is f***ing awesome and it’s cool to see her do so well, as I love her.” It’s clearly a different Chris Martin from the one I have interviewed before, when he has admitted worrying about how he’s perceived and why people are so vocal about not liking Coldplay. He adds: “Things don’t matter like before. This time round I am even happy for the people who don’t like it to slag us off. “If it makes you happy then please go for it. You’ve got to express yourself in life and it’s better out than in. What you reveal, you heal.” As the car arrives at Wembley Arena, where a TV team are awaiting for him, Martin adds: “I am really living in the now and going to enjoy life and my band, go on tour and make it the best tour we’ve ever done. “Everything up to here has been a journey. I couldn’t have got here without going through what I have and musically we would never have arrived at A Head Full Of Dreams without making our first six albums. “As a group of friends we met in 1996 and formed in 1997 — it’s now coming up to 20 years and we’ve had ups and downs but are still here. “Now that is something to be happy about.” x

had to laugh at this one. x

billboard: 3.5/5 Coldplay Creeps Onto the Dancefloor With ‘A Head Full of Dreams’: Album Review 12/4/2015 by Jody Rosen Coldplay A Head Full of Dreams Album Review 3.5 Sooner or later, every goliath of modern stadium rock hears the siren call of the discotheque. U2, Radiohead, Arcade Fire -- all have striven to goose their sincerity with syncopation, to inject more fun, more funk, into their big, regal, high-minded songs. Now it's Coldplay's turn. On the band's seventh album, A Head Full of Dreams, Chris Martin and company nervously creep onto the dancefloor, like boys at a junior high school prom, determined to unleash the boogie, white man's overbite be damned. Thus "Adventure of a Lifetime," the first single, which puts a classic disco beat -- percolating bassline, hissing high-hat, hand claps -- behind Martin's tremulous falsetto. The song's sentiments are pure Coldplay. "We are diamonds taking shape," sings Martin. "Everything you want's a dream away." Coldplay Debuts Happy-Hour-Perfect 'Hymn for the Weekend,' Feat. Beyoncé: Listen Martin told an interviewer that the group wanted to make an uplifting album that would prompt fans to "shuffle [their] feet." Listeners familiar with Coldplay might ask if the band has ever made a record that doesn't aim to uplift. For nearly a decade and a half, Coldplay has been the global standard-bearer of Inspiration Rock. Even on Ghost Stories, the moderately downcast 2014 album released in the wake of Martin's marital breakup, the music chimed grandly, and the lyrics tilted in the direction of bombast and bromides. In Coldplay's world, we all have wings, and the band provides the wind. As for feet-shuffling, that's where collaborators come in. On A Head Full of Dreams, the band teams with Stargate, aka Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, who share production duties with longtime Coldplay comrade Rik Simpson on all but one song. There are other boldface names in the credits: Tove Lo, Noel Gallagher and, well, President Barack Obama, whose sampled rendition of "Amazing Grace" can be heard amid a wash of piano and ;synths on the vague songlet called "Kaleidoscope." Then there's the Queen of America, Beyoncé, who provides backing vocals on three songs, including the album's grooviest, "Hymn for the Weekend," which sounds an awful lot like Coldplay's answer to "Drunk in Love." ("I'm feeling drunk and high/So high, so high/Then we'll shoot across the sky," exults Martin.) Coldplay Teases New Album With Spacey, Cryptic Video The decision to work with Stargate was a shrewd one. The Norwegian songwriting-production duo is among the world's best at blending the flavors of R&B and bubble-gum pop. More than any previous Coldplay release, A Head Full of Dreams sounds like a pop record; the band has never been catchier. That's especially true when the tempos are brisk, in tracks like "Hymn for the Weekend" and "Birds," whose ringing guitars and thumping bass might please fans of The Cure. Of course, the songs are still big, with the peeling guitars and crescendos in which Coldplay always has specialized. But Stargate finds new ways to ornament the anthems with hooks, beats, samples and effects. Martin and Coldplay haven't exactly reined in their excesses, but they've given them new shape and weight. They've put some ballast in their ballads. Which hasn't stopped Martin from doing what comes naturally: singing corny drivel. The lyrics are full of miracles and angels and soaring eagles, and "philosophy" along the lines of "Life has a beautiful crazy design." Coldplay has hinted that A Head Full of Dreams might be its last album. If that's true, it's a fitting swan song, a reminder the act has been a band of and for our time, proffering heroic psychobabble. The record closes with "Up and Up," which marshals a hip-hop beat and gospel-style chorales to drive home a pep-talk banality: "When you think you've had enough/Don't ever give up." It's not exactly new advice, maybe not even good advice, but it's a message that millions want to hear. And, lo and behold, you can dance to it. billboard

Coldplay have finally embraced their own goofiness and a made big dumb pop record by Richard S. He4 December 2015 How does the biggest band in the world become underrated? RICHARD S. HE delves into Coldplay’s most playful album yet to find out. It’s not easy being a mainstream rock band in 2015. Commercially, the old ideal of the rock band – four dudes making music with guitar, bass and drums – has hit an all-time low. On one end, there’s Maroon 5, shamelessly struggling for relevance, and on the other, the Foo Fighters, who couldn’t care less. Ever since the Beatles, we’ve worshipped rock bands as counterculture icons, even when they become so big they no longer have anything to rebel against. But Coldplay have never been cool, and they’re not about to start now. They’ve found a freedom in being the biggest band in the world. The haters can hate; their fans will follow them anywhere. On A Head Full of Dreams, Coldplay have finally embraced their own goofiness. Where 2011’s Mylo Xyloto flirted with mainstream pop trends, Dreams goes for broke. They’re making music for people who don’t believe in guilty pleasures. This is a record with a song unironically called ‘Fun”, where “Hymn for the Weekend”, featuring Beyoncé(!), actuallyswings, where the lead single’s video casts the band as a pack of CGI apes just for the hell of it. Amazingly, most of it works. “Coldplay have never been cool, and they’re not about to start now”. Ever since Coldplay broke out of their initial sensitive singer-songwriter mold, Chris Martin’s felt like a weak link. He’s the band’s only recognisable member, but he’s not enough of a rockstar. Bono’s messianic; Chris Martin’s an everyman. The rest of the band is just as egoless. So how do a bunch of introverts make hits that sound like 2015? Why not outsource the album’s production to Stargate, the Norwegians behind Rihanna’s “Diamonds” and Katy Perry’s “Firework”? In a way, Coldplay have inverted Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. There, two dance producers made a quiet, introspective disco record with a live band; on A Head Full of Dreams, Coldplay have made a grand, synth-heavy pop album with outside producers. They’ve become less and less about the instruments, and more about the vision behind them. Rumours suggested A Head Full of Dreams might be Coldplay’s final album, but Chris Martin’s reframed it more as the end of the band’s first era; what their last six albums have been building towards. You’d expect it to be some pretentious, preachy record – yet it’s anything but. Dreams is the closest thing pop’s had to an easy-listening new age record since Enya. Coldplay should really be soundtracking Disney movies and covering ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. Which could be a bad thing, were it not so meticulously crafted. “It’s closest thing pop’s had to an easy-listening new age record since Enya” Wonder is an easily mockable emotion, but Chris Martin’s lyrics and limited vocal range don’t carry the songs – the production does. ‘Adventure of a Lifetime”s chorus doesn’t belong to him; Jonny Buckland’s instantly memorable lead guitar owns it. Coldplay have nothing especially profound to say, but they have more ways than ever to say it A Head Full of Dreams is Coldplay’s least serious album to date. They’ve found maturity by making a big dumb pop record, by regressing away from heartbreak toward a childlike innocence. After 15 years on top, with no lineup changes and relatively few creative dips, Dreams is their victory lap. That’s longer than the lifespan of many classic bands. Culturally, they’ve outlasted all of their cooler peers – Muse, The Killers, The Strokes. Every criticism that’s been thrown at them was true… a decade ago. To paraphrase Steven Hyden, the people who call Coldplay boring are more boring than the band itself. How does the biggest band in the world become underrated? Now’s as good a time as any to find out. faster louder

How I came to terms with my Coldplay fandom Chris Martin and co have just been unveiled as the Super Bowl half-time show entertainment to the usual groans, but I’m used to the haters by now – and I won’t think twice about belting out Viva la Vida Coldplay: sitting very comfortably in the middle of the road. Photograph: Brian J Ritchie/Rex Shutterstock Matthew Cantor For more than a decade now, I have harbored a secret – one that I have shared only with my closest friends and family. I avoid discussing the subject for fear of derision from my colleagues and the complete loss of my peers’ respect. But I’m tired of hiding. With the release of their latest album, I’m finally going to publicly admit it: I love Coldplay. It all started around the turn of the century, when a girlfriend introduced me to Parachutes, the band’s first album. Sure, there were some cliches in the lyrics, and my mom said the singer sounded like he was getting over a cold. But the melancholy songs and their spare arrangements worked their charms on me. I liked the way Chris Martin’s gravelly, unconventional voice lent a sense of intimacy to the record. This was long before Coldplay songs became stadium anthems; Parachutes was an album best listened to privately on one’s Discman(unless, of course, you were one of the lucky few who already owned an mp3 player). At the time, Coldplay were still small enough to be considered something of an indie outfit, but it was already clear that they weren’t cool – their songs were too easy to enjoy, too uncontroversial, for them to be seen as boundary-pushing artists. Already, I found myself suffering some trepidation when telling friends I’d been listening to the band. But it wasn’t until after their third album, X&Y, was released in 2005 that being a fan really became a liability. It was that year that Jon Pareles offered his “case against Coldplay” in the New York Times, in which he labeled them “the most insufferable band of the decade”. Since then, anti-Coldplay fervor has only grown, with a review of last year’s Ghost Stories in the Quietus dubbing it “one long stagnant f***ing pool of premium grade f***ing cockwash” (asterisks theirs). A commenter noted that the review was too lenient. Perhaps I’m being paranoid; perhaps the opposition to the band isn’t as strong as it seems to a self-conscious fan (Pitchfork, for instance, was less harsh in its Ghost Stories review, merely accusing the album of having the “visceral impact of a down comforter tumbling down a flight of stairs”). But this critical vitriol seemed to pervade the public consciousness, at least among people who consider themselves to have discerning musical taste. It didn’t help that Coldplay kept getting bigger and bigger; when it comes to music, of course, popularity and coolness are diametrically opposed. Coldplay want to be liked. They write songs people like. That’s why so many people don’t like them. The thing about Coldplay, though, is that they are very aware that they will never be cool; Chris Martin has called his band “the shit Radiohead”. The challenge for them is that they’re not quite silly enough to embrace ironically – like, say, your average boy band – nor do they cultivate an image of being above the fray, of being consummate artists who don’t care what you think. They occupy a space somewhere in between, and that means the hip kids and the critics will never offer them unqualified admiration. Maybe that’s part of why I admire them. I am also not cool, and I also definitely care what people think. Since I spend time with many people who feel strongly about music – people who are perfectly nice, I hasten to add – I have long kept my Coldplay fandom quiet. But when we would discuss our favorite albums, I would feel as though I was living a lie as I avoided mentioning A Rush of Blood to the Head and Mylo Xyloto. In the weeks after a new Coldplay release, the dreaded question “What are you listening to these days?” would send me into a panic. I would rush to think of a cooler band – read: literally any other band – to name-drop. The issue has continued well into my adult life. First date? Don’t mention Coldplay. Moving in with new roommates? Don’t leave your iTunes on shuffle; there is a very real risk of blasting Fix You. And while I plastered posters of most of my favorite musicians on my walls, the Parachutes-era picture of Martin and company staring wistfully into the distance stayed at my parents’ house. Such a crisis might, in other circumstances, require joining online communities where I could share my fandom anonymously, or forming a covert group of listeners who meet secretly to discuss the finer points of Swallowed in the Sea. But fortunately, none of this was necessary: Coldplay fans already have a safe space. Concerts were my refuge, my sanctuary, the place where I could belt out the “oh-oh-ohs” of Viva la Vida with no fear of social calamity. (At the last show I attended, we fans really pushed our luck, continuing to sing the refrain en masse between the Emirates Stadium and Arsenal station. Miraculously, no one beat us up.) A Coldplay show forges an alliance of the uncool. Given the adversity we face as Coldplay fans in the outside world, it’s all the more moving to join voices; it’s practically all we can do to keep from joining hands and bawling together at the sheer beauty of it all. Some disdain the band’s highly singable choruses, their emphasis on strong melody, the clear effort to write songs for a stadium crowd. But when you’re in the stands, those songs offer an impressive demonstration of how tunefulness can build community. If that sounds saccharine to you, fair enough. You’re probably not a Coldplay fan. Coldplay want to be liked. They write songs people like. That’s why so many people don’t like them. If you are genuinely offended by the inoffensiveness of their music, I can accept that. But I’ll be buying the new album, even if the record store clerk judges me for it. x

yes,i would say viva too. although a rush of blood is a very close second.

i did read that. explains the neurotic responses coldplay get from critics a little bit. was about to post it.

the best song from the album! looking at the love this song gets from the fans, shows the difference in expectations when you see birds hardly getting any love from the critics.

Coldplay take fans to church as they dazzle in Hackney show 5 / 5 stars Coldplay in Hackney Taking to the stage for an exclusive BBC Radio 1 gig, Chris Martin and co reduce fans to tears with a moving performance. By HANNAH BRITTS PH Coldplay show at Hackney Having recently sold out a three night run at Wembley Stadium, a small church in East London seems an unlikely venue for one of the biggest bands in the world. Yet last night saw a very special performance from Coldplay at St-John-at-Hackney Church. With a capacity of just 1400, tickets for the one-off show were snapped up in seconds. Moments later, many were being touted online for thousands of pounds. Yet for those lucky enough to have bagged a ticket, it was a night to remember. Perhaps not quite up there with the birth of a first child. But for the superfans queuing since the early hours to get in, it can’t have been far off. PH The 1400 tickets were snapped up in seconds During the hour-long set, in celebration of its release, Coldplay treated fans to tracks from their new album A Head Full of Dreams, with some old classics thrown in too. It's been a long time since we've done a show like this Chris Martin "It's been a long time since we've done a show like this," said frontman Chris Martin, addressing the crowd as the band took to the stage. With a floral set reminiscent of the Healing Fields at Glastonbury, Coldplay worked their way though Clocks, Paradise and Magic. Watching from the VIP area were Abbey Clancy, Peter Crouch and Simon Pegg, as well as Radio 1 favourites Annie Mc, Greg James and Edith Bowman. Also in attendance was Chris Martin's new flame, actress Annabelle Wallis. Dancing and singing her heart out through the show, she looked every inch the doting girlfriend. Momentarily turning St John’s into a club with the not-very-Coldplay-sounding Hymn For The Weekend, the band’s new collaboration with pop megastar Beyonce was a particular crowd favourite. Adventure Of A Lifetime, the band’s latest single, was also spectacular. PH A floral set reminiscent of the Healing Fields at Glastonbury It was a nice touch when, during A Sky Full Of Stars, confetti canons filled the church with thousands of white paper stars and, despite the cramped space, during Charlie Brown Chris got the crowd to crouch on the floor before leaping in the air. But predictably, it was classic Coldplay that received the biggest cheers of the night. As the anthemic Fix You resounded around the church, it would have taken a hard heart not to be moved. As the stage lighting mingled with the moonlight streaming in through the stained-glass windows, I watched as tears ran down the face of a man below me. PH Watching from the VIP area were Abbey Clancy, Peter Crouch and Simon Pegg “We are so grateful for the job you've given us and the life you've given us," Chris told the crowd as the set drew to a close. Ending all too soon on the pretty Christmas Lights, Coldplay took a much-earned bow as they left the stage. The crowd dispersed, pre-ordering the album as they headed towards the tube. Next stop, Wembley. I’ll see you at the front. expresshttp://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/624205/Coldplay-fans-church-review-Hackney-show

Coldplay perform new album A Head Full of Dreams, review: 'A feeling of optimism and a new beginning' Expect something between the darker Viva La Vida and the club feel of Mylo Xyloto 4/5 *s Coldplay's Chris Martin Getty Coldplay are something of a British institution: however much you might be inclined to mock them for their perceived lack of cool, they're ingrained into our culture. It’s bizarre to witness them in as intimate a setting as St. John’s Church in Hackney, in the knowledge that their January 2016 slot at Wembley Stadium sold out in minutes and prompted them to add another date. Despite these humble dwellings, frontman Chris Martin is as enthusiastic as ever, if not more: the band seem thrilled to be performing to what is likely one of the smallest crowds they're had in over 15 years. He's said previously that Coldplay's seventh studio album A Head Full of Dreams was “written as a record to be performed live”. It follows on from 2014’s Ghost Stories but ends up diverting down a different path altogether. Unlike the unbearable “Sky Full Of Stars” or affected “Midnight”, the latter of which came across as a Bon Iver parody, the tracks played from this latest offering feel fresh and vibrant – perhaps thanks to Norwegian production duo Stargate, along with regular band collaborator Rik Simpson. What they appear to have achieved is something between the darker, more pensive mood heard on Viva La Vida and the club feel of Mylo Xyloto. The disco tone - anthemic, slightly cheesy - is there in the album’s first single “Adventure of a Lifetime” – the video of which was filmed in Andy Serkis’ Imaginarium studio – and the album’s title track. It's difficult not to think of Martin's split from Gwyneth Paltrow, whose voice can be heard among wafting electronics on A Head Full of Dreams’ “Everglow”. Beyonce’s role on “Hymn For The Weekend” is limited to ad libs and a sparse intro. The song is a let-down on the record - bursting with lyrical clichés that occur when Martin - never a strong lyricist to begin with – becomes too self-indulgent (see: “Life is a drink/And love is a drug/Got me feeling drunk and high”). The pair don’t have the same chemistry heard on Mylo Xyloto’s “Princess of China”, where Rihanna’s cool distance worked perfectly with Martin’s earnestness; the result on Head Full Of Dreams falls a little short of the latter's ambitions. But live this a different story, and it all becomes immensely clear as to why the band have such a formidable following. The set is interspersed with crowd favourites; ”Paradise“ from 2011's Mylo Xyloto runs in to Ghost Stories' redeemer ”Magic” while ”Fix You“ is followed by ”Viva La Vida“. Bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and guitarist Jonny Buckland all put as much effort into their parts as they would for an arena but are far less mobile on stage, balancing out their frontman's overexhuberant mannerisms. Martin is clearly looking to the future, he sings about the “change in the winds” and there's a general feeling of optimism tonight, of a new beginning, as though he can't wait to get started. Considering rumours that this may be the last outing for Coldplay for some time, it seems wise to appreciate what we've got. the independent

Coldplay, St John at Hackney, review: 'a band happy to be happy' 4/5 *s While Adele spent three years struggling to write about the absence of heartbreak in her life, Coldplay have had the opposite problem. The band's last album, 2014's Ghost Stories, was darkly shaded with the bruised fruit of Chris Martin's separation from Gwyneth Paltrow. To gossip gawkers, the maudlin, muted lyrics were hardly confessional, with spectral electronic noodling filling in the void of Martin's inarticulacy. But, for the first time since they became one of the blockbuster headline bands of the Noughties, they played only a handful of small gigs before retreating back to the studio to lick their emotional and musical wounds. The script couldn't be more different for seventh album, A Head Full of Dreams. In a suitably ecclesiastical setting in east London, Coldplay gathered to celebrate their return to happier themes of hope and redemption and a world stadium tour lined-up for next year. This church was the smallest venue they will play in some time but perfectly suited to Martin's trendy vicar character, calling his faithful to rejoice. The pulpit was decorated like the inside of a Thai tuk tuk but their sound was as elemental as ever, pounding up to the pews, filled with family and celebrity admirers like Simon Pegg and Abbey Clancy. Within a minute of opening, the crowd's arms were aloft, crying out in a chorus of "woo hoos". To non-believers, Coldplay's entire back catalogue could be summarised as one long "woo hoo", but to the faithful, it is a communal cry of joy, spiriting up the rowdy excitement of a football match. And it was something to behold the passion and ecstasy their songs bring to their believers. Coldplay performed in east London CREDIT: PA Most held a camera phone in one hand while the other stabbed the air. At times if felt you could be in one long Apple advert, with Steve Jobs looking down in approval from the heavens. For their reward, the band treated their fans to a set as heavy on the hits as it was on their latest songs. Out of the five new numbers, Hymn for the Weekend and Adventure of a Lifetime reflected the band's embrace of pop and dance beats, absorbing chunky hip-hop beats and disco grooves respectively, while on the former Beyoncé's backing vocals seemed to radiate from the stained glass windows. Unlike other guitar bands, Coldplay's reliance on rhythm and texture rather than melody or groove has allowed them to borrow electronic trends without sounding like they have had a dance makeover. The whole band seems remarkably unchanged nearly 20 years on from their formation, with Martin still in his student uniform of double t-shirt and trainers. His tiggerish enthusiasm for performing is also still irrepressibly intact — all kinetic finger-pointing, leghopping sincerity in counterpoint to the almost shy stiffness of the others. Despite the size of the venue, the band couldn't resist rolling out some impressive lasers and a confetti machine that if they leave behind, will make the church nativity play go off with a bang. Barely speaking for the hour-long set, they returned for an encore that included a round of happy birthday to their manager and an airing for their 2010 Christmas song, Christmas Lights, segued into Bing Crosby's White Christmas, a sentimental end for a band happy to be happy again. the telegraph

just as the album reviews are almost all bad, the live reviews are all good! Coldplay, tour review: Rock colossus Chris Martin roars band out of the dark times ahead of new album launch From the moment they sprinted on stage and tore into their new album’s chant-friendly title track, A Head Full Of Dreams, Coldplay were re-invigorated, says John Aizlewood 5/5 *s It's not always straightforward being planet earth’s most popular band. Last year’s Ghost Stories, Coldplay’s fourth successive British and American No 1, was a subdued affair and they refused to tour it. A year on, with their seventh album out today and a world tour including three June nights at Wembley Stadium and the Super Bowl half-time show beckoning, they’ve rediscovered themselves. Attended by a select few including Sophie Dahl, Simon Pegg and Jamie Cullum, last night’s show for Radio 1 was broadcast worldwide. With a spring in their step and a smile on some of their faces, from the moment they sprinted on stage and tore into their new album’s chant-friendly title track, A Head Full Of Dreams, Coldplay were re-invigorated. Leaving nothing to chance, there were lasers, confetti as early as the fifth song and detailed projections that made the church’s walls look like stained glass. The band unfurled a handful of new tracks, most notably Up & Up, the epic rocker they’ve always seemed on the verge of writing, and Hymn For The Weekend, which suggested that funk is not beyond Coldplay before bursting into a thrilling, stentorian coda. Chris Martin was at his best: a bundle of tics and twitches while sat at his piano, he transformed himself into a rock colossus when he prowled the stage. If there were fears that Fix You would lose its reason to exist now he and Gwyneth Paltrow are no more, the crowd carried it home. Better still, Viva La Vida — with drummer Will Champion stage-front thwacking timpani and clanging bells — and the pounding Clocks brought stadium theatricality to the intimacy of a church setting. After the broadcast, there was a mass singalong of Happy Birthday to the band’s US manager “who’s been with us through the good albums and the not so good one” and a festive treat of Christmas Lights, which segued neatly into White Christmas. For Coldplay, the dark times and the tired times are over. evening standard

everything the guardian has publish related to chris and the music since the divorce have been citing those god-awful tabloid nonsense! i thought a respected media outlet like this would be above that sort of below the belt punches. really disappointed..

pitchfork says daniel green is a kendrick lamar producer. but isn't this the dan green who has been with coldplay since their 2nd gig or something???? he is 99.999% coldplay than kendrick lamar!

ok people the pitchfork review is here! and the score is......

yep, that's probably the best super bowl half time show yet.

and paul mccartney! just remembered.

but don't forget, rolling stones bruce springsteen prince u2 etc played the super bowl too.

so the encore was christmas lights and if anyone missed marc's periscope, here it is! the encore. https://www.periscope.tv/w/1DXxykpvPLEGM

what a sad picture..

yep, i'm not on board with coldplay playing either. the hate is just starting. look at the likes vs. dislikes on the very first video! no matter how well they do, there will be nasty reviews. also i saw a couple of articles whining about not having kanye do the super bowl. some kanye fans are thinking that there is a chance that kanye will come up for homecoming. hahaaaa!

here is the back cover curious inclusion of dave grohl and calvin harris.