• Having started an Oasis thread spurred on by the ticket shenanigans the other week, here's one on Coldplay for similar reasons as we've just had a kind of repeat performance of the heated debate about online queues, Ticketmaster's practices, etc. Someone asked, have TM not learned from the Oasis 'incident'? My view is that TM aren't in this business to learn things. The more pertinent question might be, did Coldplay fans not learn from the Oasis brouhaha. Because TM aren't going to change a thing they do while they know, as we all do, that devoted fans will always put up with the queueing and the prices.


    More broadly on Coldplay, while I don't much listen to them I find them one of those bands with that curious thing going on that was summed up by a journalist in Sounds interviewing Alex Lifeson - the comment was about Rush but can be applied to Coldplay: "Hugely successful, yet apparently liked by no-one."


    I thought they did some interesting, slightly edgy stuff on the first couple of albums when they had a 'cleaner' sound before it became bogged down with big dollops of "WOOOO-OH-AH-AAAAAHHHH". For me they hit their peak with their Viva La Vida album which has their strongest material (please let's not re-tread tedious discussions of its full title here). It was the one album of theirs Brian Eno produced, and I wondered if its satisfyingly different feel sprang from his working methods. In particular, as is his approach he initially observed their studio practices without interfering much. It quickly dawned on him that Chris Martin was dominating proceedings. He then barred CM from the studio for extended periods of time to let the other three flex their muscles more. Whether it was this that did it, but I think that album is their best by quite some distance. I love the back-to-back Yes and (the unlisted) Chinese Sleep Chant which are two of the most un-Coldplay-like tracks they've ever done.


    After that they lapsed into the formula we're now very familiar with. Charlie Brown off the next album is good, I love the riff on that. But now they largely don't interest me.

    Abandon all reason

  • Mostly agree.

    They lost me more and more over the years, but "Everyday Life" is one of their best albums. The last one plus the two new singles are mainly crap, but they still rock it live.

    ... make tomorrow today!

  • On the contrary, I find - having seen them twice - that they're a pretty bad band, and of no interest live. Already the high ticket price for a 1.30 show with Chris Martin in narcissistic mode...

  • I find - having seen them twice - that they're a pretty bad band, and of no interest live.

    I don't think they're a bad band. As musicians they're in the 'ok' range, pretty unremarkable, not terrible but not too impressive either. I think they could be a much better live band than they allow themselves to be. Christian said elsewhere that he'd seen them and enjoyed it but also found it quite gimmicky. I think that's a fair assessment. It wasn't so bad the couple of times I saw them some time ago but when I see TV coverage of their shows now, barely one or two songs go by without a special guest appearing or a satellite link-up or some other thing happening.


    At their Glastonbury show this year I thought by far the best bit was Clocks (which I've always really liked anyway, still a great bit of pop-rock) when the whole stage was backlit green and the band were silhouettes against it. Simple, unfussy and very effective in contrast to all the pizzazz of the rest of the show.

    Abandon all reason

  • On the contrary, I find - having seen them twice - that they're a pretty bad band, and of no interest live. Already the high ticket price for a 1.30 show with Chris Martin in narcissistic mode...

    They play between 2 and 2,5 hrs nowadays. The 90 minutes shows are something from the past

    cheers

    Christian


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  • One of those bands where far too much focus is on one member, most people (myself included) can't even name the other 3. The Glastonbury performance a few weeks back appeared to have keyboards with no visible keyboard player, it all seems a bit "naff" to me. I think I'd rather see Oasis, but from an elevated platform with just me in it!

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • One of those bands where far too much focus is on one member, most people (myself included) can't even name the other 3. The Glastonbury performance a few weeks back appeared to have keyboards with no visible keyboard player, it all seems a bit "naff" to me. I think I'd rather see Oasis, but from an elevated platform with just me in it!

    They use a lot of samples on stage, which in itself isn't so bad - Peter Gabriel does it too - but the musicians don't seem very concerned with their music. They lost all credibility a long time ago. As far as I'm concerned, these are the worst concerts I've ever been to! Bad taste and profound boredom...

  • liked early album, but recently seem to have gone in a much more commercial direction...with lyrics that mostly have no real sense or direction

    Originally i thought they were capable of coming up with a possible proggy/concept album but those days seem long gone now...But the masses love them, so what do i know!

  • Coldplay, in my opinion, is a great band overall.

    Their first four albums are just super solid. Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head are those are the kind of albums you can play from start to finish without wanting to skip a track.


    I think anyway that they started to change a bit after the fourth album, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing... It just feels like they leaned a little too hard into the production side of things. Take Mylo Xyloto. On the one hand, you’ve got Eno’s production, which is amazing - he brought this whole different texture to their sound. But on the other hand, it almost feels like they started to let the studio do too much of the "heavy lifting"... Like there was more focus on the production tricks than on the actual songwriting.


    Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if they’d brought Jon Hopkins on as a full-time member instead of just working with him here and there...

  • It just feels like they leaned a little too hard into the production side of things. Take Mylo Xyloto. On the one hand, you’ve got Eno’s production, which is amazing - he brought this whole different texture to their sound. But on the other hand, it almost feels like they started to let the studio do too much of the "heavy lifting"

    Thanks for reminding me that contrary to what I said, Eno did two albums with them, VLV and MX.


    I only recently realised MX is a concept album, with a ridiculous story. But I still think Charlie Brown is one of their best tracks. I quite like Major Minus too.

    Abandon all reason

  • Looks like their 2025 UK shows will be another great success (yet again).

    The new album comes out this Friday. Not expecting something special, but perhaps it has at least on track like Coloratura...

    cheers

    Christian


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  • 10 shows??????

    Unbelievable. This must be the biggest tour that ever happened.

    In all it's around 40 stadium dates including the 10 Wembleys. They are all currently showing as sold out except for some in Abu Dhabi and Seoul.


    Whether it's the 'biggest' ever tour, I don't know. One of their previous tours, and the recent Taylor Swift Eras tour, are cited as being the highest-grossing tours (if that's what you meant), and some sources include the U2 360° tour of 2009-11, adjusted for inflation.


    EDIT - I just remembered that about 10 or 12 years ago (?) among their arena and stadium dates Coldplay included a tour date at Dingwalls in London, a 500-capacity club they played in their early years. I doubt they'd do that now. Imagine the mayhem if they or Swift attempted it.

    Abandon all reason