gai

ah ok :) i just started streaming it. just a reddish simple animation going on right? with the info about the event.

oh yeah? when? i missed that.

there will be an interview. according to someone who was there and chris, the whole band spoke in it, not mainly chris.

merged threads

looks like ahfod will be streamed on paid platforms like tidal and apple, not spotify. x

how was the crowd marc? from the couple of short videos i've seen, the older songs + aoal got quite the response

hey Quentin, welcome to coldplaying! :)

exclaim.ca - 6/10 If you subscribe to the idea that Coldplay are heirs to U2's throne, then A Head Full of Dreams is their Pop. On that record, Bono and company hooked up with Howie B, immersed themselves in club culture and produced their most dance floor-friendly record at a time when the music industry was trying to sell dance music to America under the guise of "electronica." Efforts on both fronts were a bit of a washout. Eighteen years later, Coldplay are trying to walk a similar line, merging their stadium-sized soft rock with the EDM (the industry's most recent and far more successful dance music pitch) zeitgeist. It also marks a return to the pop maximalism of Mylo Xyloto, following last year's muted Ghost Stories, aided and abetted by Norwegian songwriting duo Stargate, best known for penning dance-infused R&B hits for Rihanna. On paper, this sounds like an intriguing combination. But, as with their work with Brian Eno, Coldplay are reluctant to let their collaborators voices overshadow their own. The record's best tracks, "Adventure of a Lifetime" and the swinging "Hymn for the Weekend," featuring vocals from Beyoncé and programming from Avicii, provide a clue as to what might have been. But they seem more interested in borrowing EDM's aesthetic of oversized uplift than crafting memorable grooves. Coldplay-isms — Chris Martin's piano ballads, Jonny Buckland's bland single-note guitar riffs — continue to abound, and any substantive contributions co-producers Stargate or guests like Noel Gallagher make are relegated to the background. Coldplay have the distinction of being music's safest band, but that wasn't always the case. Although they always rocked listeners gently, there was a distinct sense of yearning and tension at play on debut Parachutes and its blockbuster follow-up, A Rush of Blood to the Head. Over the years, the band descended into a complacency they've tried to mask with experimentation. Despite a rolodex of A-list producers and guests, they've never embraced the role of sonic innovators the way U2 did. Pop was a failure in the eyes of many, but no one could accuse the group of half measures. Despite pretensions both arty (Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends) and populist (this record), Coldplay remain steadfast in their unwillingness to mess with their (very successful) formula. A Head Full of Dreams might have been a poptimist masterpiece. Instead, it's just another Coldplay album, with all the baggage — both positive and negative — that entails. x

looks like the original thread disappeared. so here is a new one. on 7th Monday at 10:35 pm PT on CBS countdown: http://www.tv.com/shows/the-late-late-show-with-james-corden/2015-12-08-3302209/

no everglow please...

radio1 will post the video later. but live audio streaming only. fyi, all the info can be found on the first post. and have fun sparky and all :)

Coldplay, against war and ISIS: "I do not believe in killing us, believe in" Imagine " Chris Martin does not drink, but all the time messing with your finger in the throatwo oil , a traditional Chinese medicine that restores the yang in the body. And you do not mind falling into the cliche musician committed to peace and a better world, like Bono , at a time when jihadist attacks in Paris seem to question our Western system of dealing with conflicts. It has been 15 years since he and the rest of Coldplay released Parachutes , that first album that reformulated the intensity of pop at the turn of the century. Since then, much has happened, as the group has become the heir of U2 singing on that hope in big stadiums. O marriage and subsequent divorce from Chris Martin (Devon, UK, 1977) with actress Gwyneth Paltrow . Or the consecration of his formula futboleros break at Viva la vida (2008). Or many reinventions and assimilation. But even after all this time and the evolution of the wild world, lead singer of British band still clinging to his positivity. And not loose in this strange morning in Los Angeles Paramour mansion , where Coldplay presents his latest album, A head full of dreams ("A head full of dreams"), an album that becomes the bright and cheerful response to Ghost Stories , published last year in which Martin realized his sadness over the divorce with Paltrow. In the pool of the mansion, which belonged to Antonio Moreno , the Spanish heartthrob of Hollywood silent era, which is said to be haunted after the death of the latter's wife, Daisy Canfield, an heiress of floating petroleum business a multicolored circles made with flowers, like those drawn on the album cover. He and the rest of the group ( Jonny Buckland , Guy Berryman and Will Champion ) are reunited with color and with the routine of promotion after the silence of Ghost stories , which even took on tour. But even despite the contrast, Martin retains the hope of the first disc. IfParachutes ended with the song Everything's not lost ("Not all is lost"), the phrase that closes the disc, Up and up , it is Do not ever give up ("Do not ever give up"). "It is curious that our first album and the latter ending in the same way," explainsChris Martin . "A long journey to return to the same message. But I still believe it and I remember it every day: we must never give up hope. " "Our previous album," he adds, "it was more quiet, introspective and somewhat constrained, something in gray and blue. We did it because we wanted to try to get comfortable with the feeling of being sad, because if we we allowed that, at the end end up in a different place. So, instead of going on tour, we came this idea of A head full of dreams , colorful and cheerful album. That is, that this project allowed us to do this, as a catharsis. " So instead of whining, Martin and his colleagues have focused this "head full of dreams' to the dance floor with songs like Adventure of a lifetime , Hymn for the weekend and cut that gives title to the disc, between samples of Barack Obamaand collaborations Noel Gallagher or Avicii . "A group like ours does not fit into any category. We are erratic, but always genuine. If we make a piano ballad is because it really is what we want; We dance if we do something, it's because we want, as well. The sound is always sincere. " The question is not whether or not Martin believes the effects of oil wo cree- seems like as if it really works or not. The same with music: does it make sense to make songs about making the world a better place if they do not get better? " We sing Imagine , John Lennon, the day after the attacks in Paris . And I firmly believe that it is better to go find someone to fight option. When it happens so crazy, you have to do something or will head. So, instead of going straight to aggression, the role of music is sometimes express your feelings in a safer way, "he argues. " The guy who played the piano Imagine outside the Paris Bataclan certainly calmed people . In our case, when we interpret it felt graceful. Because Lennon really believes in what he sings and me too. I do not think what to shoot and kill. I believe in it, believe in Imagine . " "Of course ... music can not convince anyone of ISIS to change his mind , but it sure will help us respond, "continues Martin. "Now many are confused and sad, a good time to remember that many of us believe in peace, many people are friendly and considerate of others. And that song represents this. " Interior and exterior . But the leader of Coldplay is also aware of how difficult it is to combine these two worlds, the inner and the outer, emotions and events. "If I have a feeling that I get in out in song, recorded only if I see someone else feels reflected in it, if you connect to the outside. And vice versa: if I see something I record outside only if it is reflected in the interior. " Gives an example: "On this album there's a song, Birds , which on one hand is a love song, but it also talks about Israel and Palestine . I wondered what if someone falls in love with someone Palestine in Israel, which I'm sure it happens all the time. " "Start falling in love / start the riot" ("Start to fall in love / the revolt begins'), a verse proclaims the issue. "What touches me is to understand how individuals relate amid these situations." But again, the effect is not always as expected. Phil Collins , and massaging their blanditas songs, is perceived by many as the epitome of obnoxious singer. But there are reports that he has snorted the ashes of his father, or dealings with minors, or that he has engaged in black masses or destruction of hotel rooms.Something similar happens with Bono, of U2. And, of course, with Chris Martin and Coldplay's songs. The singer seems to understand that the reaction to his positive spirit is precisely negative . "No human being is only positive or negative. White or black. We all have both sides, the light and the dark. No Angels, is a myth, no one is a unique thing, "he defends himself. "It is easy to fall into cynicism because everywhere you look there is aggression, war, destruction. I get it, okay? It is true that for some Imagine not tell them anything. And if you've lost your cousin in an attempt not want to hear, you're angry. No music that has a full meaning for everyone. This is what we have learned in the world: that nobody thinks the same ", he says before it reaches the but:" But that does not mean we can not play the music to people who want to listen, "he reaffirmed. "Your election as a human being is to decide which side you want to be. We can be very aggressive, but we can also simply be happy. " " I do not care if someone has a negative response regarding Imagine, U2 or us . If we can be a punching bag in which people vent ... perfect. Because it's good for them, "says sweetly everything you can while releasing a smile that invites you to fall in love with him. "Besides, going back to white or black, I like that Paul McCartney wrote Helter Skelter , which is one of the darkest songs from theBeatles . " And that Charles Manson says inspired him to plan the murder Cielo Drive . "Uh. I know nothing of that, "Martin runs off with another smile. World music. In this sense, mixing ideas and stories from around the world and, above all, musical references, it becomes an almost political positioning. "The wonderful thing about music is that now do not have to stay in a single category.While you are genuinely doing what you do, whether salsa, tango, rock, rap ... not really matter how you do it. You need not only be a blues band at this time, because we are exposed to so many things that influence you come naturally; your world is more open. " And that's when the dance appears as another positioning face reality. "See, we love to dance, but we are not experts," says Chris. "But increasingly, I feel the need to feel a rhythm that moves me to say what I mean. Sometimes, the more political songs come with a rhythmic rush, as Say it loud . I'm black and I'm proud of James Brown "he recalls. "At a very basic level, dance is the way people express themselves and gives back to the problems. If you dance without you care what anyone thinks, if you say "to take the ass," always end up feeling a little better. I do it every day on stage. I know it sounds stupid, but I need to do and I do not care: "Dance like no one was watching ... and do not read the reviews. '" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- translated by google from here. check the course for a video clip from the interview as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUqlEdLzOfI

digital spy track by track review is here. won't add the track reviews here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Martin goes from heartbreak to hippie to... S Club Party? 3/5 * The verdict Coldplay have gone from the saddest album of their career with Ghost Stories to the happiest with A Head Full of Dreams; they work better as part one and two. And though the final mantra of optimism is what this band have been spreading since the early days of , Martin means it now more than ever. He needs this sequel as much as anyone. It is preachy in parts, and no-one should have to hear Martin rapping through a vocoder, let alone 'Conscious Uncoupling: The Single'. But Coldplay don't get enough credit for their adventurous nature; their ongoing evolution is one reason why, 15 years later, a new album is still such a big deal. With Stargate, things prosper when both band and producer just go for it - giant pop hooks and vows of joy. It's not quite, as Martin suggested, the peak of their journey, but when it comes to delivering the buzz that's won over so many millions of adoring fans, A Head Full of Dreams does it better than any of them.

Hey there Ben! welcome to coldplaying :) it definitely is the right time to join in.

really loved this pic from the dressing room.. toothbrushes! and chris the big kid: a couple more here

it's pretty bad... US chart preview (early projection): @coldplay, A Head Full Of Dreams 150-200k. x compare that to 700k+ - x&y, viva 440k+ - mylo 380k+ - gs we can only hope that they do better than the early projections. anyway, i think we can safely say good bye to the run of US #1s with this one.

stephen, fantastic job!

wow! is this the biggest backhanded compliment ever?? but thousands of times a backhand than the minuscule compliment in there.

We Are All Coldplay How the world's biggest rock band became culture's biggest mirror BY GEOFF NELSON Even for the biggest rock band in the world, sampling the sitting President of the United States is a shift toward the mainstream. In the run-up to Coldplay’s seventh (and possibly final) LP, A Head Full of Dreams, news broke that the band would use a clip of Obama singing “Amazing Grace” on one of the record’s songs. The sample unites the most recognizable person on the planet with one of our culture’s most recognizable melodies, a moment shot through a pop culture supercollider by the world’s most widely known rock band. What we have here can only be called a singularity of ubiquity. The lead singer of Art Brut, Eddie Argos, , “I’m gonna write a song as universal as ‘Happy Birthday’.” All art speaks to someone, but only some art strives to speak to all. Chris Martin and Coldplay have been trying to write a song as universal as “Happy Birthday” for most of their career. More than writing music, they are trying to write us. Mass culture, whatever our comfort and discomfort with it, represents a relatively new phenomenon of the last 75 years. Even to be able to type the words “biggest rock band in the world” reflects a common understanding of industrial, technology, and economic development stitching us together with invisible tendrils. The same apparatus allowing you to read these words, a product of extractive resource management and 20th century capital and nation-state formation, has allowed Coldplay to exist in the collective consciousness as a cultural icon. Whether you love or hate Coldplay, no one needs to explain their existence to you. Like wireless internet, mass culture surrounds us whether we see it or not. Hannah Arendt worried in her 1961 essay “The Crisis in Culture” that “market-driven media would lead to the displacement of culture by the dictates of entertainment.” More than any rock band since U2, Coldplay harness the overlap of mass culture and mass media. Like an overly focus-grouped movie, each Coldplay album since 2003’s A Rush of Blood to the Head has distilled prevailing media trends into a codified, entertaining, and sometimes cynical package of songs. The litany of Coldplay’s digestion and regurgitation of cultural trends is long: the post-Arcade Fire impulses of “Viva La Vida”; the wide-screen global pop of “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall”, “Paradise”, and the Rihanna-driven “Princess of China”; the electronic R&B of “Magic”; and the cut-rate EDM of “A Sky Full of Stars”. Each moment revealed Coldplay to be a few years behind the leading edge of new cultural developments. It is perhaps no surprise that Chris Martin is so often walking toward the viewer in the band’s videos. He is quite literally behind the receding camera, never reaching the viewer moving away from him at every moment. He is always slightly removed from us, always chasing us. And yet Arcade Fire never sent a song to no. 1; the “Viva La Vida” video has been viewed 220 million times. When Chris Martin and his band performed their latest single, “Adventure of a Lifetime”, at the American Music Awards, four dancers in gorilla suits arrived near the end. Maybe it was supposed to feel edgy and fun; instead, it felt like Wayne Coyne and Miley Cyrus reprocessed for PG audiences. The performance was only a few degrees from the Kia commercial with dancing hamsters. The song itself, while hard to pinpoint as outright plagiarism, reflects Coldplay’s desire to ride the last moments of a guitar sound that rocketed songs like “Uptown Funk” and “Moves Like Jagger” into the mainstream. Not unlike sampling the President, Coldplay now aren’t cribbing their moves from the edges; they’re repackaging aesthetics from dead center. The band has become broader in its appeal and scope, producing a reflexive backlash. Describing new song “Everglow”, on which his ex-wife and celebrity Gwyneth Paltrow sings, Martin gushed: “I was in the ocean one day with this surfer guy, who spoke just like you’d imagine a surfer guy to speak … He was like, ‘Yo, dude, I was doing this thing the other day man, it gave me this total everglow!’ I was like, ‘What an amazing word!’ Then the song came completely out.” It could mean – and is – anything to anyone. While some of the cynical marketing and generic songcraft explains Coldplay’s fantastic popularity, it only hints at their unique position of being loved and hated with passion. In 2005, reviewing the band’s tipping point X&Y for Pitchfork, Joe Tangari called the band “carefully measured” and “nervously self-conscious.” So too are Coldplay’s fans and detractors. Listening to Coldplay has always been a look in the mirror, hearing a familiar sound or seeing an aesthetic retreaded for mass consumption – producing, alternatively, allure and disgust. Loving and hating Coldplay come from the same moment of recognized reflection, of self-consciousness. We glance at a version of ourselves. Coldplay, because of their incredible visibility, hold the unique power to throw trends back at us. Look at yourself long enough in the mirror and you will feel equal parts beauty and disgust. Look longer and you become unrecognizable, just a bag of flesh holding your soul. Look long into Coldplay and you may see nothing but a version of yourself; look longer still, and you see nothing at all. Their popularity is undeniable, as is their ability to divorce signifiers from meaning. Perhaps they are so beloved because of their ability to render cultural trends meaningless. Our comfort and disgust with the band lies in their emptiness. They’re the final word in cultural discourse; once Coldplay does it, it isn’t a thing anymore. We are, likewise, constrained and freed by their meaninglessness. Did our cultural climate demand a band like Coldplay, or did the band merely fill a need we never knew we had? Did we make Coldplay, or did they make us? Are they us, or are we them? Coldplay represents a simulacrum, a copy of a copy. Only Chris Martin could put a painting from the 1830 French revolution on the cover of a pop record, firmly divorcing the radical Delacroix work “Liberty Leading the People” from any meaning. In the video for the title track, “Viva La Vida”, the band becomes artwork through the power of a camera filter meant to approximate the finish of a cracked oil painting – the simulacrum in action. The album’s title, maybe their most apt, reflects its own meaningless linguistic ouroboros:Viva La Vida. Live life. This blithe tautology could mean anything to anyone, and it does. At the conclusion of the videos for both “Fix You” and “A Sky Full of Stars”, the audio of the band’s performance becomes a chorus of voices from the recorded crowd. While this sing-along is a fairly common trick in pop and rock music – the pointing of the mic to your many vociferous fans – it is less often done in the confines of a music video. But the part where they become us and we become them is critical to grappling with Coldplay in 2015. In the video for “Adventure of a Lifetime”, the band is played by poorly animated apes. Martin’s digital primate walks towards the camera again, close but never quite reaching us. It is the space between viewer and band that Martin and his band try to collapse. That space is the “Happy Birthday” aspiration, the song and the band that everyone knows. Coldplay are as close as any band to closing it, and yet the space remains. x

that was a sympathetic, favorable review from a reputable publication. wonder how they would rate it though.

i would really love it if birds was released as a single. don't care much for the others actually :)

hey there nativegirl, welcome to coldplaying :)

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Review: Coldplay - 'A Head Full Of Dreams' The band continue to explore new horizons on their latest album... Samson Pharaoh UNITED KINGDOM Like Coldplay’s other recent records, ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’ showcases the group’s divisive musical evolution. Compared to its nocturnal predecessor ‘Ghost Stories’ and 2011’s ‘Mylo Xyloto’ this album, Coldplay’s seventh, does so in a way that feels freer and more fluid. The British band spends most of ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’ gliding unreservedly from music genre to music genre. The quartet manage to painlessly punch their creative stamp across the tracklisting thanks to a soaring, uplifted, ‘to the moon and back’ aura which soaks the whole record. Frontman Chris Martin is eagerly committed on ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’, and the tunes themselves range from lightly anthemic to untroubled - they rarely, if ever, completely flop. The title track isn’t the LP’s standout tryst with disco – lead single ‘Adventure Of A Lifetime’ is – still the album opener is a suitably strong indication of the album’s general direction. And despite being a grander-scale affair, the boys manage to blend easiness into it. Standout ‘Birds’ makes the most of a charging, hotfooted instrumental and gets more enticing as it expands on its feverish momentum. The hook feels like a jump of a cliff – in a good way. It’s a memorable combination of sun-kissed guitar hits and pleading falsetto contributions from Martin. Without abandoning his artistic traits, Chris Martin sounds fresh exploring the funkier vibes of the disco-singed ‘Adventure Of A Lifetime’. Enhanced by delicious bass notes and lively guitar licks during the chorus, a Nineties feel slowly works its way into the tune. Proudly affectionate and containing pretty, dedicated lyrics, ballad ‘Everglow’ comes the closest to treading ‘traditional’Coldplay territory. So it’s unchallenging in a sense, but on the other hand it’s incredibly warm. There’s space for reflection and the lyrics are relatable enough for listeners to adopt and apply to their own situations. Martin’s vocals impact sincerely and elevate above the track’s sugary shortcomings. It’s hard to miss an uncredited Mrs Beyoncé Knowles singing on ‘Hymn For The Weekend’. While ‘Everglow’ shines with simplicity, ‘Hymn For The Weekend’ celebrates the joys of being drunk in love – but often feels busy, uneasy and a little throwaway as a result. Featuring Swedish songstress Tove Lo, ‘Fun’ is illuminated brightly by the carefree vocals of both Chris Martin and his guest. A few steps ahead of over-sentimentality, ‘Fun’ bursts with forever young, ‘sky’s the limit’ spirit. Admittedly, on a side note, ‘Fun’ sounds as though any accompanying music video should be set on a beach or at a fairground, and include montages of the two play fighting, candy floss eating and blowing butterfly kisses at each other. Sprinkled with appealing vocal loops and synths, ‘Army Of One’ wins because it doesn’t overextend itself, its refrains are concrete, though completely relaxed. Plus, it’s always worth hearing Chris Martin pledge support to his loved one in his career-defining, day dreamy Chris Martin-y way. Coldplay flirt with trap on ‘Amazing Day’, the tune could’ve featured a rapper – maybe even Martin’s buddy Jay Z – thankfully though, Coldplay don’t tick that box and carry the tune as a four-piece. ‘Amazing Day’ flickers with glimpses of lyrical laziness, however, with Martin seemingly undaunted by its bumping beatwork, the cut’s ominous melodies flow effortlessly over the edgier production. The combination of lower vocals and background falsetto singing on the chorus gives ‘Amazing Day’ a whole other dimension. The romantic, old-timey blues sway of ‘Colour Spectrum’ is irresistible; it’s not hard to envision two lovebirds pledging their commitment to each other with it playing softly in the background. There’s a silver-screen simplicity surrounding this special track and in that sense, ‘Colour Spectrum’ is completely successful. In addition to some sweet guitar touches towards the front end of the song, Martin uses the intimate effort to show off his vocal versatility. Highlight ‘Up&Up’ is an ambitious and fitting finale for the standard edition of ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’. Kicking off with non-invasive beatwork and a carefree atmosphere, at first, no big statement is made. Peppered with inviting melodic passages, a community feel maneuvers the track’s sing-along chorus. Gradually though, with the help of some bouncy gospel elements, a number of old skool dance touches and a ‘let’s all come together’ flavour, the track morphs into a stadium-ready, six-minute spectacle. Verdict: ********8/10 x