andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Coldplay’s music is about as unconfrontational as a banana. And yet somehow, their entire career has been plagued with criticism and controversy from the music world and beyond.

Aside form vicious accusations of being “soft-rock” and the next U2 (which, I have to point out, aren’t exactly negative qualities when you are raking in millions of dollars and married to Gwenyth Paltrow), Coldplay were accused last year of ripping off said soft-rock from Deep Purple, no less.

The lawsuit was filed in December by none other than guitar god Joe Satriani, who claimed Coldplay padded their massive hit “Viva la Vida” with large parts of his song “If I Could Fly.”

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Citing “artist-related medical reasons,” British band Coldplay postponed a concert at the Ford Ampitheatre in Tampa, Florida, scheduled for Sunday, reports Perez Hilton.

“We’re sorry to report that Coldplay has been forced to postpone their show at the Ford Ampitheatre in Tampa on Sunday, August 9th,” read a statement on the band’s web site. “This is due to medical reasons. The show is currently being rescheduled – we’ll give you the new details as soon as we have them. In the meantime, the band have asked us to apologize on their behalf for the inconvenience this causes.”

Having just hosted a Jazz and Comedy festival only a few weeks ago, Montreal was once again the pearl of Canada this past weekend with the undeniable success of the Osheaga Music and Arts festival- a two day event filled with performances beginning at 1:00pm all the way until 11:00pm.

As Saturday would feature notable acts such as Jason Mraz, The Roots, K’naan, The Stills, Girltalk and above all, the grandmaster Coldplay, andPOP decided to venture down to La Belle Province for day no. 1.

But something funny happened by the end of our trip. Not only did we go from being pale skinned to maple brown sunburned, but we also went from being a concert reviewer to a behind-the-scenes explorer.

With four different stages and acts scheduled at similar time slots, we had to pick and choose which musical path our day would lead towards.

This is our story.

2:30 pm- I begin my journey in Hell’s Kitchen. Beautiful sunny day in Montreal, but sweltering 30 degree Celsius heat. For some reason though, the crowd seems to want to stand through it for acoustic rock performer Donavon Frankenreiter at the Mountain Stage. The musician and also pro surfer gathers a trickling crowd with an immediate groovy set- reminiscent of longtime pal Jack Johnson.

Part of that next batch of sunshine tune-fellows like Johnson, Ben Harper, Matt Costa and G. Love,  Frankenreiter ignites the festival’s spirit with his variety of catchy soothing numbers- most notably It Don’t Matter, which leads fans into a massive chant. A laid-back Frankenreiter even lets a lucky fan help him belt out the chorus, sending the crowd into rave cheers.

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Coldplay will come bearing gifts for their fans during their upcoming “Viva La Vida” summer tour.

The British band has announced they will give away a live CD, “LeftRightLeftRightLeft,” to every person attending a show, starting May 15 when they kick off their North American tour in West Palm Beach, Florida. The giveaway will continue for the rest of the band’s live shows in 2009, with the exception of festival appearances.

The free CD is described as a “recession-busting mark of gratitude” for the support the band has received. “Playing live is what we love,” Coldplay said in a statement. “This album is a thank you to our fans – the people who give us a reason to do it and make it happen.”

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The 2009 Roskilde Festival has lined up a diverse roster of performers, including Coldplay, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, Oasis and Lil Wayne.

Now in its 39th year, the event is the world’s longest-running outdoor music festival and will take place outside of Copenhagen, Denmark from July 2 to 5.

Other scheduled performers include Lily Allen, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Pet Shop Boys, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Slipknot, Fleet Foxes and the Mars Volta.

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The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival will return to Montreal this summer with two huge headliners: Coldplay and Beastie Boys.

The fourth installment of the annual extravaganza will take place at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Aug. 1 and 2, with the Brits headlining on Saturday and the Brooklyn MCs closing the festival on Sunday.

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Kylie Minogue, Coldplay, Kings of Leon and Taylor Swift were among the music stars who took part in two charity concerts on Saturday night for victims of Australia’s deadly wildfires.

Tens of thousands braved heavy rain and lightning to attend the Sound Relief concerts in Sydney and Melbourne, which organizers hope will raise about $5 million Australian ($4.18 million Cdn). Last month’s wildfires in southern Victoria state left at least 210 people dead and destroyed thousands of homes.

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U2 frontman Bono appears to be getting a tad bit jealous of Coldplay’s new label as “the new U2 of our generation”. According to E! online, in a radio interview promoting U2’s new CD, No Line on the Horizon, which drops this week, Bono also “dropped a couple of verbal bombs on Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.”

The interview was held by BBC Radio 1 deejay Jo Whiley, who asked Bono if Martin was as talented as Paul McCartney. This question appeared to rub Bono the wrong way, as he replied “I think he’s a good melodist, but he’s a wanker”.

He went on to elaborate that Martin was “obviously a completely dysfunctional character and a cretin, but he happens to be a great melodist and up there with Ray Davies, Noel Gallagher and Paul McCartney.”

Whiley asked Bono for an apology, but Bono was insistent on his original opinion, E! online reports. He responded with “I’m a reformed character, I don’t any more.”

Bono must have realized the negative consequences his comment could have, as he tried to smooth over his earlier comment later in the interview. His version of an apology was, “I think [Coldplay] are a great band, and actually, it turns out [Martin’s] a great soul as well. Sorry about that. I was joking entirely.”

Coldplay are heading back across the pond this summer.

The British foursome will kick off a North American tour on July 10 in Portland, Ore., one of 14 confirmed dates leading up to early August.

One Canadian stop is on the lineup so far, July 29 in Toronto. Tickets for that show will go on sale Feb. 13.

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis will serve as the opening act for the entire tour, in addition to Amadou & Mariam for the first half of the tour and Elbow for the second half, including the Toronto date.

Check out Coldplay’s tour schedule at their official website here.

The band will perform at the Grammys this Sunday, where they are up for seven awards including album of the year for 2008’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.”

A feature on the group will air on CBS’s “60 Minutes” at 7 p.m. ET/PT, preceding the awards telecast at 8 p.m.

Coldplay also received a Juno nomination for international album of the year on Tuesday.

Yes it’s true, Coldplay has banned its vocalist Chris Martin from entering the recording studio, but don’t worry, it’s not for long.

“Chris has been banned from the studio for these first two weeks. Now, before the rumour mill cranks its way excitedly into life, this does not indicate any kind of split in the camp. This is an experiment of Brian’s, “ wrote Roadie #42 in a post on the band’s website.

The post says that producer Brian Eno wanted the rest of the band to construct “their own musical underpinning with little idea of what Chris had in mind.”

“The fact that this is such a crazy way of going about things seems to encourage them to go off in deliberately strange and adventurous directions, Roadie #42 continues. “Often, they come in first thing in the morning and listen to Chris’s idea once, before going out into the live room and working up something based purely on how the song “felt” to them on first listen, paying little heed to what chords he chose or how the melody sat”.