Coldplay news [NME (March 1st, 2003)]
Coldplay: âWeâre like The Beatles in America!â
CHRIS MARTIN AND CO CONTINUE TO STORM THE STATES WITH MASSIVE ALBUM SALES AND STADIUM GIGS
âMadison Square Gardens is a huge leap-but of any British band, they can do itâ
Jonathan Cohen, Billboard
As Coldplay prepare for superstardom in the US â the first British band to achieve that status in a generation â they have told NME: âWeâre like The Beatles there now.â
Last week it was announced that Coldplay, who have been touring the US relentlessly for the last eight months, were stepping up a league with gigs at the vast Madison Square Garden in New York and the Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl. The shows, part of Coldplayâs biggest US tour, see them follow in the footsteps of mammoth acts such as Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.
âWeâre like The Beatles there now,â Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland said last week.
âActually, weâre definitely not the biggest thing in America. I think Shania Twain is the biggest thing in America, but itâs exciting at the moment. Itâs weird.â
Oasis and Blur both struggled to repeat any of their European success in the US. Radiohead managed to score significant album sales, but have never played the sort of venues Coldplay are stepping up to now. Robbie Williams has continually struggled, and despite costly promotional campaigns and setting up a home in Los Angeles, he still shows no sign of becoming a star in the States.
Industry insiders in the US are now beginning to talk about Coldplay as a band that could become the new U2. Jonathan Cohen, reviews editor on industry bible Billboard, told NME that Coldplay had succeeded because they built on a solid fanbase established with their debut album, and also because they toured and toured.
âThey have spent oodles and oodles of time here,â Cohen said. âTheyâve done club shows and radio station shows and bigger venue events â they worked and worked. And for âClocksâ to be in the rock chart Top Ten (calculated through radio airplay) is significant. Theyâre sitting alongside acts like Foo Fighters and Nirvana. The quality of their album across the board has carried them.â
âA Rush Of Blood To The Headâ is still in the US Top 30 six months after its release. It has just been certified platinum in the States, having shifted a million copies.
âMadison Square Garden is a huge leap for them,â said Cohen. âBut of any British band, they can do it. They have the potential to have a long and interesting career. Chris Martin has a little bit of Bono about him.â
Some thanks for Coldplayâs success should go to Capitol, their US label, he added.
âThey know something the rest of the industry doesnât. Their track record for English bands is unparalleled. They seem to sign acts who develop and grow over time.â
Capitol is the same label responsible for Radiohead in the US. They are also looking to The Music to lead a new wave of young British bands.
Chris Martinâs symphony to âBeethovenâ Liam
Chris Martin has revealed he thinks Liam Gallagher is like Beethoven. Speaking last week, the Coldplay frontman rhapsodised about âSongbirdâ â the first song that Liam had penned for Oasis to be released as single.
âI think it is the most beautiful song in the world,â Martin said on Radio 1. âIt makes me cry, that song â that is such a heartfelt, beautiful song. Liam Gallagher always gets some bad stuff but itâs like that film about Beethoven⌠his girlfriend says, âHow could I not love him âcos he writes such beautiful musicâ⌠anyone who can write something like âSongbirdâ is basically alright by me.â
Meanwhile, Noel Gallagher has revealed that Liam and Oasis guitarist Gem Archer are in the studio writing new songs, while he plans to take a year off.
âIâm officially on holidays until this time next year. Iâm a lazy little shit! If I can get out of doing anything I will, yâknow,â Noel told Channel 4. âI can wangle a year out of the management company before they say get back to work.â
He said that after ten months on the road, heâs planned how to fill his time: âIâm going travelling, holidays, catch the end of the football season which I never get to do, go to New York for a bit.â
Noel said heâd be happy for Liam to take a lead in songwriting after the success of âSongbirdâ.
âLiam and Gem are doing demos in the studio, and if itâs anything like the stuff he was playing on tour with his little acoustic guitar itâs really good.
âIn an ideal world, heâll write 15 mega, mega tunes and he can pay my way for a while! If at the end of a year off heâs written 15 songs, Iâll be, âAlright!â.â
Noel also said itâs time for a new rock maverick to emerge in the UK, and predicted how the end will come for Oasis. âWeâve got Travis and Coldplay, who are fantastic. Theyâre nice boys, they write great songs, but we need another Liam or another lan Brown or another Bobby Gillespie.
âIt will happen sooner or later. Somebody was saying to me, âWill there be a symbolic passing of the baton?â What will happen is somebody will come and take it from me, and in one album will make me obsolete. And when that happens, weâll bow out.â
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