All photographs courtesy of Roadie #42 (passport photo services available at a very reasonable rate)

Thanks Anchorman/Coldplay.com

Somewhat predictably, the week of production rehearsals has passed in the blink of an eye. For the first couple of days, the band were still in the UK. The lighting department replaced them with white towels hung over each mic stand. For some reason, Guy’s mic stand was adorned with a bed sheet, which gave stage left the look of a particularly cheesy Halloween party.
[More...] But I digress. Once the band did arrive, it was right down to business. The first couple of run-throughs were somewhat tense, it has to be said. The B-Stage section of the show had been particularly problematic. Nobody has been 100% happy with the way it’s been going. Will has been playing a drumkit about fifty feet in front of the sound system. This means the audience were hearing his drums once when he hit them, again when the audio from the PA system reached them (sound actually travels pretty slowly) and then a third time when the reflections from the back of the arena echoed around again. Everyone was dissatisfied and with the time available to change things getting short, people were concerned.

As is so often the case, a very small change brought a flood of others. Saturday began with the band merrily swinging sledgehammers at the B-Stage. The second drumkit? Gone. The Vox Continental keyboard? Gone. The songs they were going to play down there? History. The entire crew? Very, very confused!

Will had arrived with a tiny electronic drum-pad setup that plays some glorious 808 drum-machine sounds. They kicked into ‘God Put A Smile’ and it was utterly transformed, becoming a tight, almost claustrophobic techno rendition. Jonny twisted a demented new guitar part out of his pink Jazzmaster, the lasers rolled around overhead and all around the arena jaws dropped. It had gone from being the least effective part of the show to a new highlight in mere moments. It’s the Coldplay way. Hours of uncomfortable stress give way to a burst of frenzied creativity and suddenly everyone is excited again.

The guys made their way back to the main stage and hammered through ‘The Scientist’, ‘Speed of Sound’ and ‘What If’ - all stripped down and without the aid of the orchestral studio parts. They sounded all the better for the simpler approach. The songs breathe and come alive without the mass of technology weighing them down. After weeks of adding, adding and more adding, they’re finally stripping away the unnecessary baggage and letting the songs speak for themselves. And this they do, loud and clear.

At 7pm on Saturday night there was a final full show run-through. From where I sit, watching the show on a TV monitor under the stage, it looked like we’ve finally got a Coldplay show. The band were clearly excited and pleased. So much so, in fact, that Sunday was designated a day off! Production Manager Fin announced that the bar down the road from the hotel was open and he was buying.

Somewhat tellingly, pretty much the entire crew still wandered in on Sunday to do some small tweaks and last minute tidying up. We learnt long ago not to let our guard down just because we have a good day. Tonight is the first full show and everyone wants it to fully blow people away. I have to say, I really think it will.

Coldplay.com

Back to school.

After the past few weeks of complete and utter chaos, we find ourselves loading into a huge empty space in LA with an entire week until the doors open for the first show of the tour. It’s a little like finally getting a chance to move into your new home after a mad month of parties and visitors. Finally, we have time to arrange the furniture, to work out where the fusebox is and to attend to that troublesome leak when someone uses the shower upstairs.

In many ways, the promo shows were a great way to get a lot sorted out very quickly. We didn’t so much hit the ground running as get thrown from a moving vehicle. It meant we had no choice but to make things work - and fast! Now though, we’re smoothing the edges, refining every aspect. “Good enough” has never ever been good enough with this lot - and now, less so than ever. I expect a lot will happen this week and not all of it fun. I’m also pretty sure that by the time the house-lights go down for the first night next week, the show is going to have grown into something pretty exceptional.

Also by then, with any luck, British Airways will have found my suitcase….

http://coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=59

BBC Radio 1 have just announced that Viva La Vida has become our first ever UK number one single. Amazing.

(Where are you now Crazy Frog?)

Coldplay.com

Well that was one of the more intense weeks I’ve had in this game. To be honest, these promo shows have wiped us all right out. The thousand-yard stare has been replaced with the utter ‘man down’ exhaustion where merely being awake and having to function feels like cruel and unusual punishment. We’re off for a few days to get home, do some laundry and then pinball off to New York. Nobody said it was easy!

In the meantime, here’s some photos from Paris TV day this week. Note Mr. Berryman being admonished for leaving his iPhone on during an interview!

R#42/Coldplay.com

I’m with the band…

Coldplay.com

Coldplay.com

17.6.08 - Barcelona

The crew is running entirely on espresso today. I sneak along to the press conference in a nearby swanky hotel. When we get to the rather impressive and imposing foyer, there is a gent in a suit at a grand piano playing a lounge jazz version of Trouble. Given my level of sleep deprivation, it seems wonderfully twisted. Lord only knows how the band manage to be so affable and approachable throughout. The wit and good humour flows and soon the press conference is done. Just a gig to do and a flight back to London. See you at the BBC!

Roadie #42

Thanks Coldplay.com!

Thursday 12th June, London

I feel very relieved that the album is finally released out into the big wide world today. it’s out of our hands now. It doesn’t belong to us anymore.

I hope that you like it. I hope that there’s song on there that will make a shit day slightly less shit, or a good day even better!

Thank you for your patience and support.

Prospekt/Coldplay.com

]]> http://mycoldplay.com/timeline/2008/06/12/the-album-is-out-coldplay-are-relieved-enjoy/feed/