Ready.. steady..
So this is where it all starts. I’m sitting behind my desk at Oxfam. Just got my itinerary through for my trip to LA in just 8 days, where I will join Coldplay and their crew for the first show of their Viva La Vida North American tour. The album sounds fantastic. The band have been wowing crowds with their live comeback at the free shows in Brixton, Barcelona and New York (amongst TV slots galore). Next stop, California.
Rehearsals at Wembley arena were followed by the live return (both on stage and on Radio 1), at
a packed out Brixton Academy, London, 16/06/08. I arrived just as the band were soundchecking ‘Viva La Vida’ just hours before the waiting public rushed in. Oxfam was there with the Health & Education FOR ALL campaign. It is a call for action from governments and institutions on people’s right to health and education. Our volunteers also gave out Be Humankind badges and action-postcards. The badges were as prominent as Coldplay’s butterfly confetti at the end of the night… almost.
Heads were turned when the band did a very special acoustic version of ‘Yellow’ from the balcony followed by the drummer, Will Champion, on lead vocals for ‘Death Will Never Conquer’.
Next up, the band rolled into New York for their huge Madison Square Garden show. It’s a huge venue, covered from head to toe in history. As the crew were rigging for the new show, it felt as though the band were making history themselves. Over 350 people signed up to help Oxfam America on overcoming poverty and injustice around the world. Coldplay have continued their amazing support of Oxfam, by inviting us to campaign at their concerts on this huge world tour. Another packed venue. Hand painted guitars playing brand new number 1 hits. Viva La Vida is going to be an incredible tour.
I can’t wait.
This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 6:32 am and is filed under Great Britain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Coldplay has invited Oxfam on their mammoth Viva La Vida World Tour. Throughout 2008 the band played huge shows across 3 continents and 18 countries. Oxfam volunteers were there every step of the way, talking to 100,000s of people about how they can take action to overcome poverty. Now in 2010, Coldplay continue this tour with shows across in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Oxfam groups around the world will again join the tour, blogging as they go.
Luis Fernando Moreno Aguilar July 14th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
“Hola a todos” (”Hello to everybody” in spanish), I’m a big fan of Coldplay, I’m from Ecuador. It’s such a great album they have created, and I want so much to ask you: Please, please Coldplay, come to Ecuador for playing just 1 show! I beg you! My favorite songs from you guys are: “Yellow”, “Trouble”, “Clocks”, “A Whisper”, “Speed of Sound”, “Low”, and tons more, but more recent are “Violet Hill”, “Viva la Vida”, “Lovers in Japan”, “42″. Thanks for preparing this incredible show. See you soon!