lennyrott1

Point taken! I trust you as a U2 fan. I think Silencio is fine. Listened to it once and that was enough for me as someone who's never been that in to them. I guess I'm talking about at scale more than with fans. I'm sure the hardcore U2 fans are excited in the same way that Coldplay fans were excited and hyped over Moon Music -- but that doesn't mean a mainstream audience is going to jump on board. There's a part of me that is more interested in what makes Coldplay popular in the mainstream outside of what naturally will be an aging fanbase.

Yeah I've been thinking about it recently with U2 releasing a new single that's very boring and to little fanfare. It's pretty easy to fall of the map at this stage in your career, and I do think LP11, following the trend of MOTS and MM, is unlikely to get a lot of hype around it. The music has been somewhat dumbed down and Max Martin's production is way too safe and clean. Maybe it all works well for a decently fun, massive world tour but these albums aren't hitting like they used to and I think the pop music world already ran a lap around Coldplay ironically by bringing back indie rock in the mainstream (look at Olivia Rodrigo, for example). Unless the musical ends up being an unexpected hit, their "last" album might be their last shot at making a big splash if they go back to basics and really market it in a nostalgiac way. That's for a general pop audience. For fans like us, I think we all still want something with super strong songwriting and organic production that highlights their best tendencies (interesting ambient production, skillful piano, melodic guitar and cathartic build ups), regardless of genre.

It's anyones guess at this point. They often are changing plans based on tours and if they change their minds. I think there are a few possibilities: "Stars" will be the subtitle of the MOTS Live Album. "Stars" will be in the title of an EP of B-sides since 2020 and be considered Volume 3. "Stars" will be in the next album, which will be the musical and somehow still wrapped into the MOTS theme.

"Golden" Era may be yet to come if we define it as when they guys are still recording music and very old. 😅 I agree most folks would say their early career at consistent quality, classy sounds, and timeless vibes and easily could be considered when the band was at their best. For me personally though, the "Golden Era" or "Peak" era of the band was defintely the Eno albums, VLV & MX. VLV is one of their best sounding albums and really pushed their limits on creativity. In terms of sheer "rock and roll," we have incredible guitar solos across both records and explosive moments that instantly impressed in live settings. MX's overall quality and songwriting might be more mixed, but I think it's an interesting companion piece to Viva since it upped the pop appeal signficantly. In many ways, it's the bridge era from their older alt rock sound to their modern pop sound. Without Viva, we likely wouldn't have seen the band continue using amazing string sections. Without MX, we wouldn't see the interesting collaborations and increased use of drum machines and synthesizers. Lyrically they are also the only albums (save Everyday Life later on) that mostly tried telling stories and use heavy metaphors. Their first three albums are mostly love songs or about personal anxieties. Ghost Stories and AHFOD are also mostly love albums. MOTS and now Moon Music are even more vague, somehow, but are basically "love for humanity" albums. Of course, I'm biased because these two records really painted my musical taste when I was a teenager and discovering new music. But when I go back and listen to their discography, I do think these albums are objectivelly more cinematic, exciting and consistent than their most recent work and the staying power of MX in the live shows and VLV in the fan's hearts I think demonstrates this.

I like this. At this point it feels like MOTS 3 should just be a straight up surprise drop and even if that's an EP containing all the b-sides since 2020 I'd be happy with that. But I don't know what to think anymore given the rumored musical.

I actually think Lady Gaga just did this with the release of an additional song on her recent album. It could be fun. Coldplay doesn't seem to like going back and changing their original vision but in the MOTS era I'd be all for it given I don't think the albums are all that terrific.

If only. I'm not sure if that'll ever come to fruition. Coldplay might be able to sell out stadiums now by promising all of the greatest hits and Tik-Tok/Instagram moments everyone wants, with the fireworks and lights. I saw them in Denver last month and even more than the AHFOD tour so much of the experience is about the visuals over the music. But if they toured a massively deep-cut, more musically impressive "Eras" tour, you'd have to wonder whether they would sell out a stadium. Til Kingdom Come, Strawberry Swing, COTW, DAAHF are some of my favorite songs of all time, but they don't lend themselves to the style of concert they've been doing for the last 15 years. Also... it's time consuming. They have 10 albums and to hit a deep cut on each album automatically takes up about an hour of concert time. I didn't have the good luck of seeing Taylor's Era's tour, but I think most artists are going to have a hard time holding the attention of an audience for 3 hours unless the fan base is really, really hardcore. Maybe I'm underestimating Coldplayers, but based on the Denver show I was surrounded by people who just liked ASFOS and were there to take photos vs actually be there for the musical experience.

They are just out there performing my dream concert in the soundchecks lol

Thought I'd drop a quick review from the Denver show with a spoiler tag for those wanting to go in clean. My opinion is probably tainted a bit becuase unfortunately I was extremely busy the week before and got a really sore throat and canker sores so I coudln't really sing along or dance purely because of my low energy. It was also my first show in the GA section standing between the B and C stage and taken together with the openers and a thunderstorm delay, I was standing for basically 5 hours straight before I left so yeah, overall very exhausting experience. I was really pleased with how Moon Music songs sounded and loved the inclusion of some intimate oldies but I was really, really disappointed by the crowd in GA and how much people film everything and basically make it impossible to see. The newer music clearly isn't keeping up with the classics at this point and the tension between old, alternative and raw sounding instruments is clashing even more with the news songs since AHFOD that are more synth driven. For that reason, I think this tour feels the least seamless and has the least musical fidelity. But the overall experience is still unforgettable -- the xylobands, the huge moments with lasers, fireworks and confetti. And the lighclub and puppet sections added some "WTF" parts that I think were entertaining and you cant walk away not having had a good time.

I 100% agree with all of this. I feel like we all get swept up in the hype of iAAM because finally we had Jonny and Chris's piano syncopated together again, the type of instrumentation that often made Viva so incredible. But the final mix is produced more like a pop song than an actual rock song. But on the more positive side -- sometimes that pop production isn't so bad. I think Good Feelings sounds pretty fresh and fun, a lot of the instrumental details come through nicely.

The mixing is def inconsistent. I'm not sure if its the final mix working with Max Martin and his crew, but it's very popified Sometimes pretty compressed, other times the bass and guitar are super drowned out. MOTS had it bad too. I don't know how they downgraded so much after the really excellent mixing on Everyday Life. This Man in the Moon remaster is sounding awesome.

I'm generalizing of course. There's been plenty of great Jonny moments where he's sounded like other musicians, such as on Up&Up (Oasis) or Coloratura (David Gilmour). I'd say its not necessarily the guitar tone but the execution of how is guitar is utilized as more of a texture and backdrop to the larger song and less of a stand out instrument driving the melody. I think X&Y and Viva are arguably their most guitar-forward albums, but after that we started seeing the "Big" tracks like ASFOS, Army of One, SJLT, Higher Power, MU, FLIFL, We Pray where's really just a backdrop. Even on Everyday Life he sounds more like The Edge than ever on Trouble in Town.

Generally I agree Jonny's guitar since Viva is way more Edge-like, but it does bother me he's missing. Every recent single: Higher Power, MU, We Pray, Let Somebody Go, FLIFL stand out to me as songs that are mid to fine, but they could have been great if they had a more prominent guitar moment. Like on Moon Music we basically have two really great guitar moments: IAAM solo and All My Love solo. On MOTS, we get the amazing solo on Coloratura but everything else is incredibly mid. During the tour I loved when they had HER do a solo on LSG, it elevated the song from boring 80's cheese to fun 80's cheese. Pretty much every guitar cover of Higher Power on YouTube has a cooler riff imitating the melody. I will say Guy has largely been a trade-off in this, though. I like his bass for a lot of the MOTS era. But why not have those great bass moments AND guitar? That is what a four-piece band is supposed to sound like after all. It doesn't have to be every song but at least on half of the songs would be nice.

Famous Old Painters? Idk. I won't yuck other people's yum but I think the new verse sounds pretty awful. His voice is produced different, the instrumentation doesn't really transition well and the lyrics are nonsensical and have a different tone than the rest of the song.

LP11 is really gonna be make or break for me. I like Moon Music a lot, it's a relaxing pleasant listen, but it really hasn't aged that well. Not commercially or critically successful and while the tour is doing great, it seems fans are mostly there for the greatest hits at this point. If LP11 is just another Max Martin record with this kind of airy, minimalistic pop approach then I think they're really going to lose a lot of the fan base they established in the 2010's and the fact it's a musical feels all the more risky. One the one hand, if the music ends up being really good (maybe a few hit singles) and the musical is thoughtfully done, I could see some people saying "okay fine Coldplay has impressive longevity" and maybe in this cynical world people will like the charm of it. On the other hand, if it's bad lyrics, corny production, not catchy music, then I fear it will make them a really, really easy punching bag and maybe even the final nail in the coffin for folks who were holding on through the better parts of Moon Music.