My Coldplay.com - A Coldplay Blog

#42 muses on the band’s time in Japan

Can it really be a week since we left Japan? Worse yet, I’ve not yet submitted my journals from those shows. “Jetlag” sounds far more glamourous and interesting than “couldn’t get off the sofa”, so I’m sticking with that. Somehow though, I think we all know where the truth lies.

In a nice follow-on from the previous journal, I opened my hotel room curtains in Osaka to be greeted by a building in the distance bearing the word “Yodobashi”. The very same camera shop I arrived at in Tokyo minus my credit card. Over breakfast, I enlist the permanently Leica-bearing Berryman to join me for a trip over there. I’ve managed to obtain cash and today there’s no stopping me. We both return somewhat lighter of wallet, but laden with photographic goodies. [Read more]

I have to wonder whether it’s called “the land of the rising sun” due to most visitors spending their first jetlagged days waking at 5am. Indeed, it was apparently a skewed body clock that had Chris walking round an Osaka park at sunrise when he began writing Lovers In Japan. It’s cheesy and obvious, but it’s impossible to wander the humid streets and not have the tune as a mental soundtrack. [Read more]

#42 sends Pemberton video footage…

Greetings from the East. Whilst we adjust to the jetlag and the culture shock, here’s a little home movie from that festival in the mountains we did a little while back.

Thanks Coldplay.com

In which #42 runs into Barack Obama

After spending the day off in New York, the Hartford show is close enough to drive to. Everyone climbs into a couple of vans outside the hotel and we head off. It’s been a fair old while since the days when the band traveled to every gig by van. The nostalgia for the van days steps up a notch when they pull off the freeway after 90 minutes for a break. ‘Motorway services are as integral a part of any band’s early touring experience as hangovers, smelly socks and lost sleep. Everyone piles out into the sunshine. Ice creams are purchased and grimy vending machine coffee plops its way into paper cups. It could be any band heading to play a divey club anywhere in the world. Except, of course, it’s Coldplay and they’re heading to Hartford, Connecticut to play a sold out arena… [Read more]

#42 reports from Canada

So that’s Canada done for a little while, eh? This time out, a good proportion of the crew are Canadians, so Chris’s claim from the stage that it’s a “home from home” have an extra resonance. As soon as Life In Technicolor hits in Montreal, I’m suddenly reminded about this place. Nobody knows whether it’s the crowd or the acoustics, but the cheering is absolutely deafening throughout, which can’t help but lift the show to new heights.
[Read more]

#42 sends pictures from Philly

We’re in the mountains doing a festival right now.

In the meantime, here are some photos from during Yellow the other night.

R#42/Coldplay.com

#42 reports from Philly

[Read more]

#42 tells of unexpected encores in Chicago…

[Read more]

#42 expands his role to passport photo snapper…

Two for two.

Well, it seems that we’re airborne. The maiden flights of the Viva La Vida tour have been a success and it looks like we’re in for a good run. Admittedly, the shows passed in a blur - a mixture of concentration and panic that leaves one utterly shattered. I have to say, the standout aspect of the shows for me is how effective the acoustic section has been. This is possibly because I don’t have anything to do at that point in the show. I have a feeling, however, that it’s more because it is a truly emotionally resonant moment. You can feel the crowd pass first through confusion that all the lights have come on, then excitement that the band are suddenly wandering through the arena, to the final shrieks of recognition as Yellow strikes up. [Read more]

#42 blogs from LA on the day of the first show

[Read more]