Coldplay Chris: We won’t tour until the world is Paradise
WILLIAMS ON BATTLE FOR FESTIVE NO.1
COLDPLAY have warned fans they won’t be launching a globetrotting tour for their latest record until it is environmentally friendly to do so.
The band’s eighth album Everyday Life – their first since A Head Full Of Dreams in 2015 – drops today.
Frontman Chris Martin confirmed yesterday that they won’t be hitting the road to promote it until their live outings are sustainable.
The Paradise singer said of any future tour: ‘We would be disappointed if it’s not carbon neutral.
‘We’ve done a lot of big tours at this point. How do we turn it around so it’s not so much taking as giving?’
He was speaking to BBC Breakfast’s Colin Paterson in Jordan, where Coldplay will today perform Everyday Life for the first time, in a YouTube live stream.
While Martin, 42, wants all Coldplay’s tours to ‘have a positive impact’, he explained how everyone involved needs to help. He added: ‘We’re taking time to see how our tour can be actively beneficial. All of us have to work out the best way of doing our job.’
He revealed the double album reflects the feelings of the band – completed by Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion – on the environment. ‘If you’ve had the privilege of travelling around the world, you know we’re all from the same place,’ he said.
‘In a very gentle British way, this record is us saying we don’t feel different from any human on Earth.’
OBBIE WILLIAMS says he will be ‘crushed’ if Coldplay prevent his stocking filler The Christmas Present reaching No.1 this week. In the battle of the chart juggernauts Robbie is aiming for his fifth album in a row to top the charts, while all seven of Coldplay’s have reached the summit.
‘If that happens, I will be really happy,’ Robbie told Guilty Pleasures just before performing five tracks at Winter Wonderland in London’s Hyde Park last night. ‘And if not, I will be crushed. I don’t mind saying I want nice things to happen to me.’
The Angels singer and Coldplay may be represented by the same teams but he says there will be no love lost when Chris Martin and Co. drop Everyday Life today.
Robbie has cooked up a motley crew of duets for his Christmas singalong, including one with boxer Tyson Fury.
Explaining the bonkers musical teamup, he said: ‘I was in the dressing room with Tyson Fury before his fight and in that moment it completely made sense, that song with him. He is a better singer than I am a boxer.’
Robbie, who has three children, also teams up with dad-of-eight Rod Stewart but failed to pick up any parenting tips in the studio.
He said of the 74-year-old rocker: ‘I watch what Rod does from afar. I see his gigs and set lists. And where he lives and how he lives. I have kind of stalked him.
‘You want to see the people who have gone before you and how they deal with stuff after the intense spotlight shines on them. I haven’t asked about children, but he loves them all and he’s a good daddy.’
Robbie never takes the predictable route and this year’s festive offering is no different.
‘It’s not a normal Christmas album,’ he added. ‘There is not a tradition in the UK for Christmas albums but, in America, everybody does them. Ariana had one last year. Everybody. This isn’t a traditional Christmas album. I want to be a little bit subversive.’
And Robbie won’t be retreating to Hollywood again after his chart run. With a mansion on each side of the pond he explained: ‘Well, I pay tax in England so I live in England.
‘I am really enjoying England. I am not enjoying the weather. I don’t enjoy the grey, it makes me feel sad. I need sunshine to actually function as a person.’