All language subtitles for Coldplay.A.Head.Full.of.Dreams.2018.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-NTG-sdh

[phone ringing]

[ringing continues]

[Chris, on phone] Hello?
-[On phone] Hi, hey, Chris, it's Mat.

- [Chris] Mat, how you doing?
- [Mat] I'm good. Can you talk?

[Chris] Yeah, it's
a good time. How are you?

[Mat] I'm good, I was just...
I was just wondering

if you had a chance
to see the film yet.

[Chris] Uh, the truth is, Mat, I don't
think I'm gonna be able to do it.

I feel like if I see it, I might just
wanna remove myself from the film.

[both laughing] -So, if it's okay with
you, could I just trust you on it?

- [Mat] Okay.
- [Chris] If you don't mind.

I just feel like
we've known you for so long

and we trust you
and we love you.

You just make the film
you wanna make

and all I ask is please
could you not open the film

with one of those shots of the
band walking to the stage,

'cause I feel like
that's been done.

- [Mat] Really?
- [Chris] Yeah.

[Mat] Okay. Well, leave it with me.
I'll see what I can do.

- [Chris] Thanks, Mat.
- [Mat] Yeah.

- [Chris] Speak to you soon.
- [Mat] Bye-bye.

[cheering]

[cheering continues]

[cheering intensifies]

[man through speaker] I don't
want to rule or conquer anyone.

I should like to help everyone
if possible...

Jew, Gentile, black man, white.

We all want to help one another.

Human beings are like that.

We don't want to hate
or to despise one another.

In this world there's room for everyone.
The good earth is rich.

For those who can hear me,
I say do not despair.

The hate of men will pass
and dictators die,

and the power they took from the
people will return to the people.

The kingdom of God
is within men,

not one man, nor a group of men,

but in all men, in you!

You, the people, have the power!

The power to create machines,
the power to create happiness,

you, the people, have the power to
make this life free and beautiful,

to make this life
a wonderful adventure!

[echoing] A wonderful adventure!

[cheering]

[echoing] A wonderful adventure!

["A Head Full Of Dreams"
playing]

[shouts]

[Chris] A Head Full Of Dreams is somewhere
we've been trying to go for a long time.

The journey has been
so incremental and so episodic,

it's just a mountain
that keeps getting higher.

If I ever turn round
and look down,

I think will I just be amazed
about how on earth we got here?

[singing softly]

[Will] There's not really
a day goes by

that I don't get a reminder
of how very fortunate I am,

first of all,
to have met the other guys

and that things just happened
in the way that they did.

[Jonny] Our friendships
have somehow survived

and stayed quite similar
to how they were.

We've spent half our lives
together now.

I've spent more time with these people
than almost anybody else. [Chuckles]

[Guy] It's more like family, it's more
like brothers, actually, than friends.

I think we all think about what
we'd be doing with our lives

if we hadn't met each other.

I mean, it's almost terrifying
thinking about it, really.

[singing softly]

- Cool.
- [man] Nice.

Can you turn the lights down
a tiny bit?

Just this one down a bit.
Thanks, bro.

Cool, cool, cool.

[instrumental music plays]

What are we singing?
-[Singing "A Head Full of Dreams"]

[all vocalizing]

[vocalizing continues]

[crowd vocalizing]

[shouts]
-[singing "A Head Full of Dreams"]

[resumes singing]

Nice.

- Great work, fellers.
- [children cheer]

- Yeah, that's it. That's it.
- [applause]

Wait, list...
Listen to the applause.

[cheering and applause]

If you don't like it, don't worry about it.
I'm having fun. You know what I mean?

[laughs]That's how it makes me feel.

Dad, I love this song. Thank you, baby.

[chatters]And thank you for saying
what I paid you to say earlier.

[all laughing]

I was saying to the others,

to see things that were recorded
20 years ago, you know,

I had no recollection of anyone
having a camera back then...

Is a really strange sensation.

["Brothers and Sisters"
playing on computer]

[Guy] What had become really distant
memories came flooding back to me.

You know, our lives have changed
in so many ways.

And when I think back
to what our first album was...

You know,
if you listen to Parachutesnow,

it's very acoustic and it's very
small and it's very intimate.

[singing "We Never Change"]

[Guy] And then if you fast forward
to A Head Full Of Dreams,

it's a very different thing
altogether.

Looking back at some of the
old footage, underneath it all,

I still see the same people then
as we are today.

To really get the full story, you've
got to go back to when we met.

I mean, it really does
feel like a lifetime ago.

We were friends for almost a year
before we played any music together.

We all lived in the same
student halls of residence.

Most people would've found
their bandmates by advertising.

"Drummer required" in the back of
the NME or something like that.

Fuck it!
-[Guy] I think in our case, it was different

because we all really knew this is
the group that we want to form.

This is who we want to be with.

[vocalizing]

We met at
University College London.

We were all studying
to be in bands. [Laughs]

I've been expecting you,
come on in.

Just your Jones person?

Let me show you around.

College was just a sideline,
you know.

I thought it was a good place to meet
people 'cause I wanted to be in a band.

I got there,
got to this big place,

Ramsay Hall it was called,
Tottenham Court Road.

That block hasn't changed a bit.
That was where we lived.

- Looks quite bucolic now, doesn't it?
- Yeah.

Didn't look like that
then. [Laughs]

I remember the first day I got here,
a tramp was sick outside my room.

Lots of musicians in this hall,
weren't there?

Five or six bands
were spawned in our year.

There was a lot of sniffing out
at the beginning, wasn't there?

Like, who does what?
Who's a guitarist?

There was a bass player
on the third floor.

[students chattering]

Chris was like this massive
ball of energy and hair.

Yeah, I remember he had
very long hair,

quite unlike anyone
I'd ever met before.

I would always be
showing off saying,

"I play songs, I play songs" to
anyone that would listen, you know?

♪ I love you Jim
you are a geezer ♪

♪ I don't mind in
the slightest ♪

♪ That you look just a little
bit like Julius Caesar ♪

- [girl laughs]
- He was very, very funny,

and, you know,
he was the life of the party.

[Jonny laughs] ♪ I love
Jim and everybody knows ♪

♪ Even though he's got a slightly
Roman nose ♪ [girl laughs]

He was just waiting for
someone to click with,

- and fortunately that was you.
- [Jonny] Hmm.

Back in 1996 when we met,

I didn't think Jonny spoke
at all.

He was just this stoned guy
in the corner

that if you said something he
would just, like, smile. [Laughs]

Yeah, we got on pretty well
straightaway,

but you know, you can't start
playing music on your first date.

I came to London solely to find some people
to be in a band with and make music.

I'd wanted to do this
from when I was a small boy,

but you never really imagine
that it's possible.

One day I came into the room
he was in,

and Jonny had a guitar,
and I was like,

"I didn't know
you played guitar."

Then he started playing.

And something in me
was switched.

I was like, "This is the guy I've
been looking for my whole life."

[man on TV]
Chuck! Chuck, it's Marvin.

[Chris] Like in Back to the Future
where Chuck's cousin Marvin

calls Chuck Berry and says, "I've got
that new sound you're looking for."

Well, listen to this!

[Chris] It was
love at first sight for me.

He took a little longer
to convince.

When I first started playing
with Chris,

I thought, "He's so good, I think
we might do something," you know.

[Chris singing
and playing guitar]

[Jonny] Obviously you have a sense
that something is starting,

but I don't think we had a sense of what
that something was or where it would end up.

Within a couple of weeks,
we'd asked Guy if he would join.

Me and Guy didn't like
each other at first.

He thought I was weird
'cause I had long curly hair.

I thought he was arrogant, but he wasn't.
He was just really quiet.

But then we bonded over
a keyboard, so we thought,

"Ah, wicked. Well,
maybe we don't hate each other."

What does it mean to me, music?

It's been my life since I was
probably about five years old.

I found a box of cassettes my sister
had, and I'll never forget that.

I became a bass player 'cause
of my love of soul and funk.

And that was it, you know.
I'd get home from school

and I would just play that
instrument constantly for hours,

just lock myself away
and play it.

He was the first person
to put his whole life on hold

based on one song that Jonny and I had
played him on two crappy old guitars.

It just blows my mind
that he did that.

It soon became apparent
that we needed a drummer

if we wanted to play a gig.
[laughs]

[Guy] Chris Martin, these are
your wheels of fortune.

What's up? I'm Cheese Hawk,
I ride for Proco trucks

and Deutschentractors.

We went away for the summer
and at the end of the summer,

we started really writing some good
songs and we wanted to do a demo.

[Guy] Today we can eat food
that isn't come out of the bin.

- [laughter]
- [chattering, laughing]

[Chris] We were cool in everything except
the drums. We didn't have a drummer.

So, when we went to do our first photo
shoot in Tesco's on Oxford Street,

I did mine, Jonny did his,
Guy did his.

So it was just three of us and
it was called the PanicEP.

So, we went down to Will's house

and Will was always our mate who
played guitar much better than anyone

and knew about 100 songs.

He was a walking jukebox.

I met Chris... We were
on a bus somewhere together.

We used to play guitars in the stairwells
'cause they had nice acoustics.

I was at the bottom of the stairs
and he was on the fifth floor.

A five-story musical experience.

It's a very fundamental and basic
memory that I have about being a child.

Music was all around.
It's a legacy of my mum's.

I knew that Chris and Jonny
had recorded an EP

and they wanted some drums
on it.

My flatmate played the drums
and he had a drum kit.

We set it all up and then, when it
was ready to go, he wasn't around.

I think he'd disappeared.

I'm not sure how committed
he was to being in a band.

So, Will said, "I'll do it."

I'm the only one here,
I'm the only one left.

"I'll give it a go" and then
he went... [imitating drums]

I had the same feeling that I had with Guy
and Jonny. "Oh, that's him. There he is."

We didn't actually know
you were a drummer.

[Will] No, I wasn't.

That's the key, I'm still trying
to convince the world that I am.

[Chris] And Coldplay was born.

It's like when bacon and eggs

and mushrooms and chips

are put on the same plate

and become something greater
than those individual parts.

It becomes
a cohesive whole that's tasty.

Our sound is tasty.

Chris is the unstoppable
creative force of the band

that we try our best
to keep up with.

He's our best friend
and a musical genius

and he never stops
surprising you.

Music means everything to me.

I think when I was about 16,

I was performing and doing music
at boarding school.

And I remember saying to people,
"I'm gonna do this forever."

They were like, "Sure. And why don't you
reanimate dinosaurs while you're at it?"

You know, it was
that ridiculous.

But I've been really blessed
in my life

with an ability to not give up,
and it came from my dad.

He's the first person
that said it to me,

and would often say it to me,

and I now say it to my son.

My dad is a circus
ringmaster really,

but he was told
to be an accountant.

And in my mum, I could feel
a certain frustration

that she wasn't able to do what
she really loved, which is music.

So, with both of them,
there was a subconscious thing

that if you really feel that you're
supposed to do something, go for it.

And it gave me
this great sense of possibility

and then that philosophy
became A Head Full Of Dreams.

He has a relentless and infectious
energy for music and for life

and it's incredible
to have shared a journey

because we're
very different people.

Chris always has a very clear
idea about where he wants to be,

what he wants to be doing next.

We, Jon Buckland, Chris Martin,
Will Champion and Guy Berryman,

aka The Coldplay, are gonna
go on to be such a huge band,

and this will be on national television
within four years, four years.

This is now 26th June, 1998.

By the 26th of June, 2002,

The Coldplay or the band,
whatever they're called then,

will be known
just all over, man.

- We're gonna be so big.
- [bandmates chattering]

So Guy, Will, Jon, and Chris,
Don't you forget, all right?

Massive. Absolutely huge.

["Politik" playing]

- [song ends]
- [cheering]

Every record is
your first and last.

That's the way
you should really treat it.

We're not under the impression
that we have a right

to just amble
into these massive arenas

and play to the same kind of numbers
that we played to on the last tour.

We're starting again
at rock bottom.

- Well, not quite rock bottom...
- [Chris] Sort of drop bottom soft.

-[Will] Yeah.
-[Chris] But that's good, I think.

As ridiculous as it sounds, I still
feel like we're trying to make it.

[radio DJ] Hey, our friend Chris
Martin is in studio with us now.

And he's from a little band
called Coldplay.

Their new record is called
A Head Full Of Dreams.

Aren't you so delighted, though,
when you crawl out of the cave

where you boys make your magic
that the world still cares?

[Chris] Definitely. And right now we're
going on tour for another 18 months or so.

That's when
the real payoff happens.

You can't take anything
for granted.

As fast as the ascent has been,

the descent can be
four or five times as fast.

Having done like
a week of rehearsing,

we did like a practice gig.

It was basically like
us saying good-bye.

We're going away
for a year and a half.

At the end of it,
I got this overwhelming feeling

that everyone was being
nice about it,

but actually
we sounded absolutely terrible.

We definitely felt like we had to
kind of earn our stripes again.

Hey, how are you doing?

[radio DJ] The brand-new album is
so different from the last album.

So much energy,
so much color, so much light.

[Chris] Absolutely. We wanted to just
make the album we always dreamed of.

But now we're a little nervy, of course,
'cause we don't know what anyone will think.

But it's just like a dream
come true, the whole thing.

This might just work.

[guitar playing]

It was just time for us
to make an album

about hope and love
and togetherness,

you know, embracing all
the sounds that we love

and all the styles that we like.

I think some people will just say, "Oh,
fuck off. This is hippy nonsense."

But that's okay.

This is the first tour where
we feel like,

yeah, that's how we want
it to be.

I think every other tour
up to this one has been,

"One day we'll have this kind
of song and production."

This Head Full of Dreams
tour is the first time

we've got what we were
always hoping for.

- ["Amazing Day" playing]
- [sings]

[female interviewer] There's four of you in
the band. Who's in charge? Who's the boss?

[Chris]We have a fifth member
called Phil.

Nobody sees him
because he's too good-looking,

and he pulls all the strings.

- [interviewer] Does he actually exist?
- Phil is real.

I would like
to rephrase that. Phil is real.

He's... Can you not see him?

He's sitting right there.

He's next to Guy.
He doesn't speak much.

No, he doesn't show up on TV.

So, Phil Harvey was our
first manager.

He paid for us to record
our first EP.

He's a sort of outsider
on the inside.

He's able to view with a much better
perspective than sometimes we can.

The difference between
having four and five people

in a democracy is actually
crucial, because someone will win.

You don't get a stalemate.

It's probably even healthier than a
democracy because no one can be voted out.

There's no elections.

It's like a democratic
five-way dictatorship.

[Chris chuckles]

So, how much for... 400 each.

400 each? Yes, sir.

What? You make it done sir,
three pieces for...

1,000 four. Let's call it 600.

Take. 1,000.That's terrible negotiating.

[all laughing]

The important thing when you're in a new
city is not to look like a tourist.

Right, Phil? Just blend in.

Just make sure you're prepared

for any eventuality.

Yeah, be safe
and be discreet and...

I think we'll be okay. All right?

So, me and Chris, we got sent to the
same boarding school when we were 13.

That was how we met, and, uh, he's
been my best friend ever since.

I think, subconsciously,
I spent a long time,

almost in denial
of my upbringing.

I was raised very religious,

so there's a sort of
constant self-doubt.

I came from a very
small school in Devon

and then went to this
much bigger school in Dorset.

There, I realized,
"Oh, this is gonna be tough."

In retrospect,
it was great preparation

for being in Coldplay,
the abuse. [Laughs]

I think people
were pretty fucking mean to him.

I think there was also a
certain vulnerability about him.

There was a few guys in my year who
seemed to have it a bit more together

and were twice as big
as everybody else,

and one of them was this guy
Phil with the most perfect hair.

And he basically took pity
on me, I think.

We were in a couple of bands together
at school, but I never lasted long.

I wanted it so badly,
but I just had zero talent.

Our blues band
was called the Rocking Honkies,

and it was as bad as it sounds.

[man] We're gonna go backstage
with the Honkies.

Add your comments on it.

Well, Tim, we're the
rocking, tonking,

rocking, tonking,
rocking, fucking honkies.

[blues music playing]

- Chris Martin on the piano!
- [audience cheering, whistling]

We know each other so well now that
we know what buttons not to push.

Honestly, I feel better friends with
the four of them now than I ever have.

Chris kind of explained it
to me the other day,

'cause we had a band meeting, and he
said, "It's really nice nowadays",

I know when I don't have to say anything
'cause I know when Will's gonna say something,

"I know when Guy's gonna
say something."

So, major disagreements
are rare.

We've had our moments as a
band, but we came through them.

A four-way marriage is a
tricky proposition. [Laughs]

It's difficult because we work so hard on
keeping each other happy, the four of us.

But sometimes
things do need to be said,

and I've learnt over the years
that that has to be me,

the sort of unofficial
"spanner in the works thrower."

What songs are going
on A Head Full Of Dreams?

I think we all agree that...

we might not all be
in agreement.

[all laughing]

[Will] But I think there are
eight songs

which I would like to think that we
won't have any disagreement about.

- Yes.
- This might be too much for me.

[Will] Okay.
[simultaneous talking]

I'm worried that we might be about
to really piss each other off.

We've gotta be honest.
This week we can't...

- We have to have this.
- All right. What are they?

My feeling is
"Hymn for the Weekend."

- All agreed? Agreed?
- [Phil] Agreed.

- [Chris] Carried, carried.
- [Phil] Yeah.

[band playfully mocking] "Everglow"?

Agreed. [band members laughing]

"Amazing Day."

[mutters][Jonny laughing]

But I don't wanna be a dick. My
part is to keep the band together.

[Will] Of course, but...
I'll do whatever you say.

[Will] I'm not gonna walk out
of the band just because...

So, that is on the definites.

"Up and Up." That's on my definites.

[Jonny] I would like it
on there.

It has to be, really, because that's
an example of a crucial story bit.

Well, we've definitely
made an EP.

None of us are
particularly confrontational,

but sometimes
it can absolutely be fraught

and there are
definitely arguments.

Everybody has a say, you know,

that's the foundation
of our band really, is equality.

We decided that
down in Camden from the outset.

This is our area.
This is our area.

I'll show ya.

Just over there,
that road up there.

Just up here is where it
all happened. It's our Cavern.

This is where it began.

- [Jonny] Camden?
- [Chris] Yeah, at Camden.

[Jonny] Beginning of
rock legend.

- [Jonny] This was it.
- [Will] Wow.

So...

- [Jonny] 268.
- [Will] Yeah.

- [Jonny] Been repainted.
- [Will] Looks a lot nicer.

This is where we first started rehearsing
when Will first joined the band.

My old flat
where Chris and I used to live.

[Jonny] We are in Camden Road,
we're The Coldplay.

[Chris] Come on through,
I'll show you.

- [Jonny] There goes Guy.
- [Chris] To the left down there.

- [Will] Who lived in there?
- [Jonny] This was Chris's room.

- [Jonny] We played in here.
- [Will] Yeah.

Basically we go through
a simple stretch routine

while singing
some songs as well.

I don't know if you can see
that where you are.

This was Jonny's bedroom
and our band rehearsal room.

Uh, Chris and I normally stand together.
We raise the right arm.

Right one. Just bring it round
to the side.

[laughing][chattering]

Did you just get
your arse out, Jonny?

- [Will] It's pretty small, isn't it?
- [Jonny] It really is.

For a full band and a bed.

[Jonny] It's funny to think that
it all stemmed from this bedroom.

[Will] A few days after the
Panic EP, we had our first rehearsal

and on that evening,
I phoned up this promoter

at the Laurel Tree in Camden
and said, "Can we have a gig?"

Thinking it might be
in six, eight weeks' time.

[laughs]
He said, "Yeah, next Sunday."

[Jonny laughing] "What's your name?"
"We haven't got one yet."

That was it. We had to think of a
name 'cause we were printing flyers.

So, we came up
with a really terrible name.

There's an old piece of paper
that Chris has.

It's like a list of things
for the band.

One is to get a drummer.
[laughs]

Gig one, gig two, gig three,
gig four, get signed.

It wasn't until Phil came along
that things started to change.

I was always going down
to visit Chris down in London

and I would share a bed
with Jonny.

Obviously I came down for the first
show when they were Star Fish.

It was in a total dive
in Camden.

[singing]

Our first gig in
the Laurel Tree was, I think,

probably the most terrifying
experience I've ever had in my life.

I felt so sick before it.

I've never been so nervous,
I don't think.

We expected about 20 people.

It was sold out and we thought,
"Wow, this is a bit weird."

That's the great thing about college,
you know. It made us look popular.

Whereas, in fact,
they were just there to pull.

[Jonny] It's really small,
isn't it?

My pedal board
wouldn't fit on this stage.

[Will] It's fantastic, though.
-[Jonny] It doesn't feel like 20 years ago.

[Jonny] We did a couple of gigs
here, didn't we?

[Will] I think this was just
one without a drum kit.

Yeah. The band that was
supporting us had a kit,

and so we asked them if we could
use theirs and they said yes,

but then the promoter cut
their set short.

Yeah. They got quite cross
and they took their kit home.

I was pleading with them,
"Please, don't take it.

This is only
our second-ever show."

Absolutely terrifying in every
way, but incredible and wonderful.

Our second gig as people,
but our first gig as Coldplay.

- The Coldplay.
- Oh, The Coldplay, yeah.

Where did our name come from?

A friend of ours
had a band called Coldplay,

and they decided they didn't like
the name, so we just stole it.

They said it was a rubbish name
and they didn't want it anymore.

Turned out to be a really hard
word to pronounce to people.

You say you're in a band. "What's
the band called?" Coldplay.

"What Goldblade? Cold Cut?"

- It's really hard. [Laughs]
- Gold Blend.

I still don't feel that
we've quite got the name right,

[laughing] but I think we might
be a bit late to change it.

Every show seemed
like a milestone really.

I remember the feeling
and the buzz in these rooms,

the sweat dripping off the ceiling,
smoke, and the sticky floors.

The toilet circuit,
as it's known,

that kind of made us realize,
this is gonna be hard work.

You do have to put
the time and effort into it.

We were prepared to do that
for as long as it took,

just carrying on
and getting skanked

by money-grabbing,
shady Camden promoters.

I think in the back of my head,
I must've been thinking,

"Yeah, I'd like to be
involved in this."

And then I remember Chris telling me
how they were getting ripped off,

and I thought,
"Maybe I could do a better job."

He dropped out of university
to come and manage us,

which was an extraordinarily
selfless move.

Then it went to the next level.

[Chris] Deep in the lair of rock and
roll, we find Mr. William Champion.

- Bit nervous?
- Uh, little bit.

- [Chris] Where's the Harvey character?
- Where?

I think I took it pretty seriously
from the moment I came on board.

I had a book, I remember
called "How to Manage a Band."

I had the longest list of people
to approach,

but no one wanted to take my call
and I was quite down on myself.

I think what kept us going was
the songs kept getting better,

the shows kept getting better.

I think Chris always had enough
self-belief for all of us,

you know what I mean?

The Falcon was the first time
that Steve Lamacq came.

Fuck me. Steve Lamacq's in the
audience, so we're, like, wow.

He's like the Yoda of radio
in Britain.

He came to us
before anybody else.

I couldn't believe it. I started sweating.
Steve Lamacq, Steve Lamacq.

I remember Lamacq calling me.

"Phil, this is the first
time I've ever offered"

a Radio 1 evening session
to an unsigned act.

"Are you guys up for it?"

- Sorry, mate, thank you.
- Cheers.

Got accosted
by some autograph hunters.

They weren't looking for our autograph.
They were looking for Bryan Ferry's.

Apparently, he lives round here.

[Lamacq] It's Lamacq
Live from Radio 1,

and we can go across now
to our Maida Vale studios.

Hello, Coldplay?

- [Chris] Hello, Steve.
- [Will] All right, Steve.

[Lamacq] You had a single out,
didn't you?

I didn't even know
you had a record out.

[Chris] We put it
in your pigeonhole.

- You didn't listen to it, you bastard.
- [laughter]

I'm not gonna say that.

[Lamacq] What's the first song
you're gonna do?

[Chris] We're gonna do a song called
"Bigger Stronger," which was our single in May.

[Lamacq] It might've passed
people by.

All right, it's Coldplay then,
live on Radio 1.

[Chris] Thank you, Steve.

["Bigger Stronger" playing]

It was a really intense
period of time

because we were so determined
to not fail.

We just weren't gonna give up
until we got somewhere

and made an album
and got a record deal.

I could tell the songs...
They were real songs,

and I just thought,

"Okay, this could be something
that becomes part of my life."

And then within a few weeks,
it was everything.

I was in the bathroom
in my mum and dad's house,

reading the NME.

It said "20 New Bands for 1999."

And sure enough
there was Muse, Elbow,

Gay Dad, Bellatrix,

and then it came to Coldplay
and I fainted, basically.

Yeah, Chris fell off the toilet.

I basically had a Doc Brown
from Back to the Future moment.

And I called Will,
I called Jon, I called Guy.

I was like,
"Have you seen this?"

It said, "Bigger Stronger"
was their no-key debut release.

Expect copies of it to be worth a
small mortgage come Christmas."

Fucking hell, man.

One paragraph changed
our entire lives.

The next show after
that NMEtip...

I just remember it
being rammed wall-to-wall.

[Phil] Things happened
really quick after that.

Loads of different record companies,
the ones that had stonewalled me,

they all came back and said,
"Oh, found your demo again."

It was amazing.

Yeah, April 15, 1999,

we signed, didn't we,
in Trafalgar Square.

We got loads of offers, but it
was always gonna be Parlophone,

the home of the Beatles.

And they had Radiohead,
they had Supergrass.

I remember it very well,

the feeling of,
"We have something now."

But it goes back to Chris's
list. It was a tick done.

Now let's get on
with the important work.

I definitely don't remember

it being a sense of,
wow, we've made it.

It was more like a sense of,
okay, this is the beginning.

[cheering]

Yeah, boys.

We did our first UK tour
with seven guys on a bus.

We couldn't believe our luck.

It's amazing to still be doing the
same thing almost 20 years later.

It's been a constant evolution.

So, it doesn't feel like

we've suddenly jumped from
playing a small pub in Camden

to a massive stadium
in Saão Paulo.

I think sometimes
it's that gradual process

that clouds your feeling
of quite how far you've come.

[Guy] But the scale of things going
on around us is absolutely immense.

[Chris]
Hoppy, where's Hoppy gone?

Would you come up
on stage a second?

Everyone, this is Hoppy, he's been
doing our guitars for 20 years.

He's been with us since we were
traveling around in a tiny little van,

smaller than this stage
and playing to maybe 20 people.

And all that time he's been with us and been
patient, and so have a lot of our crew,

and we wanna send love out
to them

because they work so hard
to make this thing possible.

The crew have been incredible.

There's been a handful that have been
with us from the very beginning.

They're legends within
the industry now,

which is wonderful.

[Chris] Everyone has
this conception of us,

sort of like we've been made up
by a big record company,

like some sort
of indie boy band,

but we've done it all
ourselves really.

Our manager's our best mate,
and we produce the record.

That's what we get a buzz off,

is the sort of homemade-ness
of it.

But no one really sees that

'cause they see the slick
TV adverts and stuff.

So what other lyrics
could go on T-shirts?

It'd be a bit morose to have "We
never change, do we?" Wouldn't it?

That would be funny
if you wore it all the time.

[laughter]

"Can anybody fly this thing?"
[Chris] Good one, Hops.

[Jonny] That's my favorite line
of any of our songs.

Yeah, same.

When you're on your first album,

a 14.99 WHSmith globe is
about as big as production gets.

But now we have, like,
a multimedia, 3-D thing.

[Will] What's the scale?

[Chris] One to one.

So, the real thing will be bigger?
[Will] Twice the size.

Twice the size. At least.

[Chris] So, these are
the tickets we've sold.

[Guy] Pretty much everyone's
still there.

We've just kinda kept
adding people along the way,

one big family.

Musically in the past,

I think we felt
a lot of pressure

to have everything
come from the four of us.

We started collaborating
with people

just 'cause it opened up
a new way of making music.

[Chris]

[woman]

[both singing]

Can they film this? Course.

- [Will] It's Chris's phone.
- [laughs]

[Chris and Beyoncé singing
"Hymn for the Weekend"]

We still have
that homemade philosophy,

but now we have
a very open door policy.

Basically if you show up,
you might get a shot. [Chuckles]

But it helps if
you're, like, a legend. [Laughs]

Oh, that sounds so great. Thank you.

Let's just do
that right now.Okay.

[Chris] The studio we recorded
with Beyoncé

was actually my son's bedroom,

so we had to make it look like
a studio a little bit.

He wants me to do it
softer again.

[Chris] And just make her feel
as special as she is.

["Hymn for the Weekend" playing]

["Hymn for the Weekend"
continues]

It might be strange
for some people

that Stargate are
producing a song

which Noel Gallagher's on,
that Beyoncé is also on.

Even for me it took a while
to get my head around it.

Oasis was such a pivotal band
for us in the mid-'90s.

[Chris] So, it was just like, this
is called A Head Full of Dreams.

It should be about
making dreams come true.

And one of our dreams was
to have Noel play on something.

Noel Gallagher, by his own
admission, is a bit of a grump

and doesn't share my worldview
in any way at all.

That's the whole point of the album.
It's like, everyone's all right,

even the people that don't really
like the concept of this album

have shown up to play on it.
[laughing]

So, thank you, Noel.

[Mat] I noticed that
your kids were credited.

[Chris] Right,
for better or worse,

if you want your kids to appear on
your album you have to strike a deal.

First of all, they have
to like the song.

Second of all, there has to be
maybe a pizza involved.

It's basically bribery.

- That was so beautiful.
- [applause]

Generally with
A Head Full of Dreams,

we just asked anyone who was
around if they would sing.

We wanted to try and embrace
all the things that we love

and the people
that we think are awesome.

Just the idea of inclusivity.

["Everglow" playing]

["Everglow" continues]

[cheers and applause]

[woman] You started off as four
friends just playing together,

and you became the biggest
rock band in the world.

I was wondering, what did
you lose in that process?

- Our drummer.
- [laughter]

Very early on, I learnt
that without the five of us,

we just can't be Coldplay.

I lost sight of
what makes a band a band.

The only thing we have going
for us is the friendship.

And the course of our band
could've dramatically changed

because we basically kicked
Will out.

It was kind of like the darkest
and worst point

in our time together.

The excitement, everything we'd
done was focused on getting signed.

We got signed and thought,
"Oh, God."

Yeah, what do we do now?

[Will] I got to a
certain point whereby

I didn't know enough about
how to play the drums

in order to keep up with the
music that was being written.

[Will] I certainly wasn't good enough
to go through the rigors of recording.

Shall we leave it and
go on to another one? Yeah.

We were working with a producer that
was very meticulous about perfection.

And it was all about, "Will's
drumming isn't up to scratch."

And we believed it,
you know, we believed it.

Things got very difficult.

Chris and I had a...

I left the band,
which was absolutely miserable.

I was just a bit of
a dick to Will,

and, you know, we didn't know
what we were doing.

So, Will left,
and we did some auditions.

And I think probably
doing those auditions,

it really kind of struck us
that this was awful.

I just woke up and I was like,
"This is totally wrong."

You know, we said, "Look, please
will you come back?" Um...

And thank God he did.

If we'd gone down
a different path,

I just know that we would have
at some point failed.

[Chris laughing]

This is it. Woof!

Coldplay! [shouting]

I am glad it happened

because I think it was
an incredibly important lesson

as to what we should
hold on to most of all.

[Chris] This is what we started,
this is what we're gonna continue.

Will, Will.

The drummer always gets
a lot of stick,

if you'll excuse
the turn of phrase.

If I've got any advice
to give to any aspiring bands,

it's just don't fuck around
with your drummer.

A band is a magic thing,
and everyone improves together.

That's what's since given
Will his power.

He's like the base of a statue,

and without that,
the thing topples.

The truth of it is that,
really, without the other three,

each of us would be
kind of screwed.

I just couldn't do it on my own.

I couldn't do it.

Jonny.Yeah.

["Freak Me" by Silk playing
on cell phone]

Great track. I love that.

Well...

This is great.

Great. Thanks.

Do you want us to speak French?
Yeah, that would be wonderful.

Parachuteswas made at a time
when we had a lot of emotions

without necessarily knowing what
they were or how to deal with them.

Will's mum was really sick.

None of us had any idea
how to help him through that.

He didn't know how
to express it.

She was ill for a couple of years and doing
really well, in fact, got much better

and then unfortunately,
got much worse again.

And it's a very strange time.

She was in bands.
She loved music.

It was her life, you know.

It's telling that where
I went was to go

and hang out with the band.

I went up to their flat
and told them what was going on.

I didn't really have any
kind of tools to deal with it,

I think I just threw myself into this
extraordinary new life that I had.

I mean, it's obviously
massively significant

when you lose a parent anyway,

but definitely more poignant
for the fact

that it was something that
she was so passionate about.

She died in May of 2000,

and our album was released
in July of that year.

You're speaking to us
in quite a nervous state

because we're just
approaching crunch time.

It's kinda make-or-break for us
in the next two weeks.

We'd had quite a hard time
in the studio

and our confidence
was kind of wavering a bit.

We didn't really know
what we were doing

and we didn't really know what
sort of band we wanted to be.

We almost split up over
those songs.

The amount of times we'd play
and go, "That was really good,"

and then we'd listen to it
and one of us would get upset.

Chris called us in and said,

"Listen to this,
I've got this new song."

And it was kind of acoustic-y and
sounded a bit like Neil Young,

slow and countryish.

Jonny played
a big, distorted riff over it

and then it was born, really.

["Yellow" playing]

We went through hell
recording that album.

But when our confidence
or our enthusiasm was waning,

it'd always be Chris that was like,
"We've gotta get this right."

We care about we do
to a stupid degree.

We care when people slag us off.

We care about being told we're
not this and we're not that.

There were so many
miserable hours in the studio,

but it was all worth it
in the end.

I didn't push for it in any way,
but it was a lovely gesture

that the guys wanted to put a
little line in the album sleeve

about the album
being dedicated to my mum.

So, I'm grateful for that

and it's something that
she would've been very proud of.

["Yellow" continues]

All right, our album's out!
Our album's out!

We never thought we'd see
the day, to be honest.

["Yellow" playing]

[man] Times are not that
great these days, but

there is a beacon of
light now and again.

The album itself is
called Parachutes,

the single is "Yellow,"
and the band is Coldplay.

[man]

Two boxes of Kitekat,
Coldplay Parachutes,

some Hobnobs. Please.

["Yellow" continues]

Mat, hi, it's day one
of this one-day video shoot.

I feel good. I feel skinny.

[man] Another Top of the Pops
debut now for four London lads

fresh from their very first headline tour.

This is Coldplay.

["Yellow" continues]

[man] You guys sold over 35,000
copies in Holland already.

[Chris] Yesterday we just hit
one million in the world.

Three years ago, girls wouldn't
even sit next to us at a bus stop.

And now they surround us.

[man] The highest new entry and
a brand-new number-one album:

Coldplay andParachutes.

I don't know how to introduce this right,
but hopefully this time next year,

you'll sing along with it
because it'll be a hit,

and it's called "Yellow."

["Yellow" continues]

[audience singing along]

[reporter] Their debut
album Parachutes

has clocked up an incredible
three million worldwide.

Not bad for four lads
with an average age of 22.

["Yellow" continues]

Merci tout le monde,
thank you so much.

People always said, "You'll get
fed up with that song,"

and I haven't yet.

But I just...
I'm not sure if it's a classic.

My name is Chris,
the singer of Coldplay.

The multimillion platinum

super-selling record of all time

was Parachutes.

And we need to do a follow-up.

And in order to do
this follow-up,

we need to work extremely hard.

This is the nerve center
of Coldplay

where everything gets done.

Let's go in and
see who's doing what.

Will.

You're the drummer of Coldplay.
What are you doing?

I'm just doing some work
on the new album.

That has to be his favorite
sound, an orchestra tuning up.

What's the verdict in there?
It seems like no one really...

- [producer] We think it's great.
- [Chris] Okay.

- [Chris] I mean, there's no room for mediocrity.
- [producer] No, absolutely not.

- [Chris] If it's shit, then tell me.
- [producer] It's fucking great.

Keep going, man.

But I'll say this even
if everyone hates it, you know,

I wanted us to make a record

that we could die happy
after we've made it,

and that's what
I absolutely mean,

and it sounds
incredibly pretentious,

but there's no point
in being in a band

unless you're trying to make
the best thing ever.

The Phil-har-fucking-monic.

The Phil Harvey-monic.

- [woman in orchestra] What?
- [Chris] It sounds great.

Just come in with attack,
as if you really love the band.

- [all laughing]
- [Chris] Imagine.

Here we go.

I don't think we were satisfied
with the first album

which made us work harder
for the second one, I think.

There's no recipe
that we were trying to repeat.

Oh, man, did you hear it?

Did you hear Jonny's riff?
It's amazing. It's amazing.

It's just Guy's bass playing that
lets the whole shop down. You know?

'Cause you spend all your time
videoing them, that's why.

Guy, please, man.

There was much more gusto
on this

to just forget
your sort of personal, mental,

or physical health.

We just wouldn't stop until what
we were trying to do was right.

We could get someone else.
Pino Palladino.

[interviewer] Is there a downside?
I mean, you as...

[Chris] Anyone who says there's a downside
to what we do is talking utter shit.

Of course we stress
and we worry about it

and we put everything possible
into it

at the expense of friendships
and everything.

But there's no downside
to being in a band.

[interviewer] Is there a downside
though to being the face of the band?

No.

Chris has done nothing but think
about the album for seven months,

striving for
absolute perfection.

He doesn't sleep really.

He's been so incredibly focused,

probably to the detriment of a
lot of other things in his life,

whereas I find it quite easy
to just walk away and go home.

Especially when we're mixing and you have to
listen to the same song 80 times in a day.

By then, it all sounds
exactly the same.

Well, Chris just went in one weekend,
he was in the studio on his own,

and then we all came back on the
Monday and he goes, "I got this song."

And we just recorded it
straight down as it was

and we kept that original take.

This is new. "Scientist."

["The Scientist" playing]

It was just all there
straightaway,

in such an immediate,
exciting moment.

Best moment
of the entire record for me

was when we'd come back
to this song

and I just heard
through a wall this riff,

and that's my favorite
bit of music on the record.

["The Scientist" continues]

Hello, boys.

Before we went to America
we just thought, "Really?"

"Are we sure? No one's gonna
like us there." [laughs]

There was no false modesty here.

I had no fucking clue how to
promote a record in the States.

I was lucky enough
to meet Dave Holmes,

and he came on
as the US manager.

Very quickly he was just
the overall mastermind.

I was a fan of their music
from the first couple of EPs,

but I'll never forget the day I got
a master copy of A Rush of Blood.

That's when I really
did believe,

"Okay, these guys have the
ability to go to great heights."

Dave very quickly
took the reins.

Now he's just the big daddy.

They were up for
whatever it took.

Let's take America.

But initially
the reaction wasn't great.

Modern rock radio station
would put on a big festival,

and we'd be sandwiched in between
some of these really heavy bands,

and it was pretty demoralizing.

We'd have a lot of projectiles
thrown at us.

Has anyone here got our album?

Right, flipping you.

Nice job, great. One person.

I remember we played
a radio show in DC

and someone chucked a CD at
Chris and hit him in the head.

And came back in the dressing room
and he went, "Thanks a lot, Dave."

I felt awful. Here I was telling
them that this was a good idea,

and I'm sure they were like, "What
the fuck are we doing this for?"

I think at the time we felt completely
different to everybody else,

but I think that actually worked
for us rather than against us.

If somebody said a year
ago we were gonna do

well in America, we
probably would've laughed,

because it's not the kind of music you'd
associate with the American music scene.

They've never said no
to hard work

and I'm sure there were times
that they hated my guts,

and I'm sure there were times when they
were really wondering if this was worth it.

Is this actually gonna result in anything?
But it did.

Plowing across America,
it felt difficult at the time,

but looking back on it now they were,
in many ways, the most rewarding days,

the days I look back
with most fondness.

We were just kids, we didn't
know what was gonna happen,

but we never gave up.

["The Scientist" playing]

So, American success,
does it matter to you guys?

As long as everyone that buys
one of our records is into it,

we don't care if it's 10 million
people or 30 million people,

as long as
it's over five million people.

I'm not gonna sit
and talk about any bad times

because there wasn't
any bad times really,

not in the grand scheme
of things.

But it was weird, you know, when it crossed
over into that mainstream media thing.

We started our band together

and there was a democracy and
this kind of concept of equality,

and then it was slightly strange
when the press focused on Chris

and his relationship
with Gwyneth.

I think for a brief moment it
felt like, "Well, what about us?"

But I think it's probably been
pretty awful for him at times.

As amusing
as it might be at first,

after a while, it can feel pretty
intrusive, pretty claustrophobic.

The thing that you've
dreamt of your whole life

has turned out to not be
quite as happy and as innocent

as it might have felt.

I always wanted to be in the NME.
That's all I really cared about.

I think we all did.

I never really wanted
any other recognition

other than what we were doing
on a musical level.

But tabloid attention,
as awful as it is,

it's a sign that you're
sort of doing something right.

When I get recognized,
I love it. I do.

You know? That's why
we're at a cool level.

Because the novelty
hasn't worn off

and, you know...

It's really exciting, 'cause the
only people that really recognize us

are people who actually
like our record.

I don't know how people
like Madonna or someone

could handle that level
of fame because...

you do have to just become
a recluse, I reckon.

Okay, mate, you go first.

[crowd cheering and screaming]

Sorry, I didn't...
I'm sorry. I didn't...

[singing
"Something Just Like This"]

Music is just everywhere.

The whole universe is music.

You can just walk down the
street, it's a kind of music.

There's always something
in the day that's inspiring.

[shrieking]

[bell clangs]

When we first started recording,

Chris had a little
four-track cassette machine

and that's how
we put things down.

It's before we had mobile phones and
laptops and stuff to record on.

[song playing, audio rewinding]

I'll show you my book.

Huh? Huh?

Look at that. See? Huh?

If I should lose that, we'd be...
What would we do?

- What's in the book?
- Get Travis to give us some songs.

Just girls' numbers.

And designs for stage costumes.

My way of making sense of the day
is to sit down and sing about it.

I suppose
it's like writing a diary.

No one really knows
where songs come from.

You don't know how,
where, or why,

or whether any more will come.

All of our biggest ones
take 10 minutes,

but you only get them by sitting for
hours and hours on the other ones,

and then suddenly one comes
through and you just receive it.

You might take it
to Jonny, Will and Guy,

and they add their bits
and it's like a production line.

And sometimes they say, okay,
and sometimes they say, no way.

It's the "okay-no way" spectrum.

When we hear a new song,

Chris and I have a tendency
to be relentlessly positive.

They're always like,

"Yeah, I like it, yes.
I think it could be good. Yeah."

And me and Guy
are sat, sort of fuming, saying,

"Boy, this is a fucking waste of time.
Let's get on to the next one."

It's difficult. If Chris comes in
with a song, if I'm just not into it,

that is the thing
that I just hate the most.

You're putting yourself in the
firing line for somebody to say,

"Well, you go and write
a better one then."

You've got the life or death of the song in
your hands, 'cause they're quite sensitive.

But any kind of inkling that it's not
the best song they've ever written,

means it tends
to get chucked out.

I'd say my hit ratio
within the group

is probably one in ten maybe.

Any one of those fucking cunts
can veto it.

It is heartbreaking,
but they're always right.

I know that once we put a song
out in the world,

we're gonna have lots of people
who say it's not very good,

so it's probably best that
the five of us at least agree.

We can't have one of us say,
"I told you it was shit."

♪ Play him a song
that you think is fun ♪

♪ He'll say, "I don't
really like that one" ♪

♪ I'm scared of Phil ♪

♪ I don't know why ♪

♪ But not as scared as
all of us are of Guy ♪

[all laughing]

That's the one!

♪ Sometimes it feels like
We're just their minions ♪

♪ Will and Guy and their
fucking opinions ♪

[all laughing]

Oh! That's too good.

Generally, that's how it works.
Normally, either ideas

or sort of fully formed songs
always came from Chris.

Most often, he'd play it
to Jonny first,

Guy would have a listen,

and then it would come to me.

It's our job as,
you know, the rest of the band

to just basically sort of
not fuck that up

because it's really good.

We're gonna jump together.

We're gonna jump together.

We gonna... One, two,
one, two, three, go!

["Charlie Brown" playing]

[woman] What's it like
being Jonny in Coldplay?

Uh, I don't know.
I've never been anyone else.

Well, Jonny is just my hero.

I spend my entire life trying
to pull him out of the shadows

because he's very humble
about himself.

I love playing live and I love
playing the songs to people,

but I love making new music
most of all, I think.

Okay, ready?

Two, three, four.

♪ Lovers ♪

Jonny was always very shy,
but with no reason to be,

because he was
the most talented.

That's the key
of our band, really,

the way that Chris's melodies
and Jonny's guitar sit together.

No!

Oh, fucking hell.
Is there a keyboard anywhere?

Our personalities
fitted together.

We couldn't have two of us
like Chris,

and we couldn't have two of us
like me. It just wouldn't work.

It's gonna be great
when we record it properly.

The songwriting
has changed, I think.

These days it depends
who's there,

because we live in different
parts of the world.

- Did it get anything in there?
- [guitar note]

When we started recording
A Head Full of Dreams,

Guy, Will, and I
were in the studio in London,

working on a track
which was "Legends,"

and we could never quite
get it right.

I went to LA,
worked in Chris's house,

trying to get
a good guitar riff for it.

Just sort of
fumbling around in the dark.

He started playing
this melody, like, slow.

[vocalizing]

[chuckles]

His guitar just gets me going.

I was like, there's something
amazing about that.

You could take the rest of the song away
and I don't think anyone would notice.

And that's what happened.

[singing
"Adventure of a Lifetime"]

Okay, trust me everybody.
This is gonna be great.

Everybody go low.

Everybody get down. Shh!

Everybody go low.

Stay low.

One, two, one, two...

["Adventure Of A Lifetime"
continues]

[cheering]Thank you, everybody.

Okay, hands up, who wants "Adventure
Of A Lifetime" to be our first single?

Our friendship's really changed,
definitely, from the early days.

Okay, that's great.
So, we agree.

It's very free communication.
We kind of talk every day.

But, yeah, that can involve
a lot of locking of horns.

Often the atmosphere in the
studio is very tense, yeah.

And there's lots of laughter,
but it can get quite heavy.

[Phil] Sometimes I get called in and there's,
like, stony faces and no one's speaking,

and I can tell they're in
the middle of some argument.

That's the bit of my job
that's hard.

[Chris] Hey, Phil? [all laughing]

We've had a terrible fight.

We had a terrible fight.

[Phil] Sometimes I look back and I
don't think I've changed at all.

I just don't. Not in the way
that Chris has changed.

He's evolved so much
as a person.

But then there's loads of things
that haven't changed,

like his ability to make me
laugh like no one else.

If you look at this Venn
diagram that I'm doing,

it splits the set into
old Coldplay songs,

new Coldplay songs.

What do you think about
singles to album track ratio?

Well, at the moment,
it's like a 60/40 split of new.

But if you minus the metric we took from
the first quarter against merch sales,

it's the basic fractal
that we learnt from REM and U2,

who we now refer to as RE2,

the band
that we're aspiring to be,

plus Radiohead and Beyoncé
and Jay-Z at the same time,

moving through to Young Thug.

That leaves us with this,
which is our set list.

There's definite pros and cons

to working with someone
that you're that close with.

Chris would be the first
to say that as well.

It can get a bit messy,
definitely.

[singing "Animals"]

Well, I've left the band
probably two times, I think.

The first time was 'cause I got really ill.
It was basically exhaustion.

I'll always remember. It was
the day of the Brit Awards.

The Best British Group.

- Yes!
- Coldplay.

We won Best Band and Best Album

and I'd had
this feeling inside me

that it should be
the best day of my life,

but I just felt
so totally exhausted.

It was not a happy memory
at all.

This is the weirdest thing
that's ever happened to us.

And we're really made up.
So thank you very much.

But then I came back

and we made
A Rush of Blood to the Head.

That was even more stressful
than the first one

and my relationship with Chris
in particular was quite strained

and something had to give.

I think the dynamic between singer
and manager is a specific one,

and it just didn't really
suit our friendship.

So I quit.

Phil got a bit burnt out

and wanted to do
something different.

He moved almost as far away
from us as he possibly could

by going to South America
and then Australia. [Laughs]

I think he was trying
to tell us something.

He wasn't with us for one album,

and that was
when we sorely missed him.

We made decisions that weren't
as good as they could've been.

We seem to sort of give up
before we've...

No, it's just...
Does that sound right?

I don't understand.
Is that the right pattern?

I don't think we were
very functional in that period.

I think we lost our way
a bit, yes.

I think we felt a lot
of pressure

to make some kind
of grand album.

There were strange headlines
in the press

about the EMI share price
and all of that stuff.

We didn't even know what
a share price was back then.

We spent day after day after day
of getting nowhere.

It came out in addictions
and it came out in tension,

and at the time,
it was a real struggle.

One year later and we've got
precisely nothing finished.

What a fucking cunt. Bollocks!

And you don't film
any of the arguments.

There was a lot of questioning,

like, "Should we do this,
should we do that?"

So, it's shite.

We have to start
all of it again.

We've lost the plot!

I was so worried about
what everyone else thought.

We just totally spun out,
you know.

So, what do you want me
to do, then?

In general,
the bigger you get as a band,

all the kind of machinery around
you gets bigger and bigger

and there's more things
to get in the way

of just four people playing
music together.

[Chris singing]

No, no, no.

You've gotta do that... [imitates
drums] thing for that verse.

That was the first time
we'd been in that situation

and didn't know how to deal with
all of that stuff.

If Phil had been around,
it might have been different.

That's just normal, is it?

You don't let me sing
any nouns or things.

Like anything that's a thing
is immediately banned.

And freedom. You hate
riffs, freedom and nouns.

I think the process was probably the least
enjoyable of all our records, definitely.

We were going through
some weird shit that time.

But Dave was amazing,

and luckily
we had the song "Fix You"

to get us through that period.

What's that you sing at the end?
What are the lyrics?

Tears stream down your face

when you lose something
you can't replace.

Tears stream down your face
and I, I, I, I, I...

Right.

- Yeah.
- Is that shit?

No, it sounds good.

I just was wondering
if it could be sort of

made into something
which makes a bit more sense.

Can you take a tiny bit
of reverb off?

That's cool, thanks.

[singing "Fix You"]

["Fix You" continues playing]

[audience singing "Fix You"]

That's the most self-conscious
I've ever been

about people
not liking what we were doing

because I wasn't really sure
if I liked it.

It was a strange period of time.

[singing]

When you read something
that is critical,

you always give it
much more weight

than anything you read
that's kind.

[laughs] And they can write
a whole article that's nice

and just have one line
that's a bit shitty,

and that's the only line
you'll remember.

Alan McGee of Creation Records

has come out and said that your
music was bed wetters' music.

How did you feel about that?
What was your response?

We wet our beds.

You can't please everybody,
right?

If that's what you're chasing
you're just gonna fail,

because it's just not possible.

[singing]

[Chris] Shucks.

It's okay. I get it.

I think it's important
to have figures of ridicule.

I don't mind being one of them.

The only time it's awkward
is if you bump into someone

who's made a joke about you.

In the old days, I used to
get really angry. [Laughs]

But I changed
my whole philosophy.

The only thing I complain about
in our job is that

if you're the sort of person
who worries,

you have so much time
to sit and worry

that you just worry
and worry and worry.

I spent quite a lot of years
being anxious

about the people
that didn't like us

without focusing enough
on the people that do.

It's hard to explain.

I'm not.

You are. Apart from...

No, I know, Guy.

But if I wasn't a perfectionist,
we'd still be playing the Falcon.

So? But you'd be doing it
very well.

I think everything
we've done is shit.

That's why I keep
trying to do new stuff.

That's my gut feeling. That's what
fires you up to do the next thing.

In the early days, I think there
used to be a lot more arguments,

particularly between
Chris and myself.

I was probably much
more opinionated back then,

which I think was probably
a huge pain in the ass

for everyone.

I don't know if I was
trying to get away from

myself or if I wasn't
comfortable with myself,

but I definitely had
a drinking problem.

It doesn't make for
the happiest of times.

Chris definitely
wears his heart on his sleeve.

Will, Jonny, and myself are
much more guarded emotionally,

and that's probably
why so many bands have split up,

because they haven't learned how to
accept each other's differences.

There was a time where I was like,
"Everyone needs to just follow my feelings."

At a certain point I was like,
"If this carries on like this",

then one of them's gonna leave."

It might be like, "We don't wanna deal
with this temperamental idiot all day."

♪ What a cunt ♪

Only 32 concerts to go
before the end of Coldplay.

They've got their own feelings
and their own lives.

Even though
they are much harder to read,

but they still have
highs and lows.

Fucking mic stand
keeps hitting me in the face.

It's like singing
into Naseem Hamed.

I'm learning how to deal with the
peaks and the troughs a bit better.

Please sort it out.Understood.

Every cliché that there is,
we've been through it.

We just never felt like
it was important to talk about.

Any group of five men
who have got to their late 30s

probably gonna have been through
depression, addiction,

divorce, everything,

even if it was five accountants.

We've been through
so much together.

But what's incredible to me is that
we've stuck together as a pack.

Everywhere we go,
whatever we're going through,

we can close the door
and sit down as a group

and either laugh about it
or commiserate or celebrate.

I could sit with
Jon, Will and Guy and Phil

just for hours right now

and just talk about anything.

[all singing "Fix You"]

I think that X&Y had been
a bit of a slog for all of us,

whereas getting back
in the studio

and doing Viva
became exciting again.

[singing continues]

We definitely missed Phil and we
realized how much we missed him

when he came back into the fold.

Yeah, Phil came back in
in glorious technicolor again,

and that's when we bought
our own little place

and really tried to
reconnect as friends.

When I came back, I was
not coming back as a manager.

Dave Holmes was doing that
much better than I ever could.

I was coming back as a bandmate,

just doing all the fun stuff.

We finally got our band home.

That really brought
everything back into focus.

You know, it was
our own studio, our own HQ.

It was new territory for us. We
didn't really know how to behave.

I think we wanted a producer
to give us some ideas about

how we can present
the next phase of our band.

We wanted to find someone
who had the same effect on us

as Brian Eno did on U2 and
David Bowie and Talking Heads,

all these incredible bands
that we love.

And so we asked Brian,
"Do you know anyone?"

And he said, "Well, I wouldn't
mind having a go."

So, we were looking for
the new Brian Eno

and we found the old Brian Eno.

I think he only becomes
interested in a band

when they get massive
and terrible at the same time,

because he sees an opportunity to
keep you massive, but make you good.

It's very much like a having
a lovely, cuddly headmaster

quietly directing proceedings
without ever raising his voice.

He's like a sort of
wizard-type figure,

like a Gandalf or a Dumbledore

who comes in and sprinkles
magic all over the place

and then disappears for a bit,

or says,
"I really like that song,

but have you thought about playing
it backwards and in French?"

He's a relentless experimenter.

He's not afraid for it to sound silly.
He's not afraid to fail.

It can be sublimely ridiculous,
some of the stuff that we're doing.

He kicked me out of the band
for a few weeks.

At that time,
I could be quite strong-minded

in terms of it has
to sound like this.

So, he taught us to let everyone
get to the end of their idea

before any judgment is passed.

[all singing "Lost!"]

We went to Barcelona and we did
a sort of singing trip with him,

which is one of
the key elements on that record,

the sound of lots of
voices together.

[singing continues]

The thing that sparked Viva La Vida
was the big sing-along chants.

The most purely joyous bit
for me is that communal thing.

What's the next one?
Oh, "Viva La Vida"?

Nothing can beat a chant live.

[vocalizing]

I love sing-alongs
more than anything.

[all vocalizing]

["Viva La Vida" playing]

Through the course of
the next album, Mylo Xyloto,

it was pretty clear that I was doing
well in some parts of my life

and really not well in others.

When we're on tour,
it's such a little bubble

that you become
institutionalized,

and this is why
a lot of front men

have problems
in their personal life.

[sighs]

Towards the end of the Mylotour,

it was a very difficult period
for about a year or so

of feeling completely worthless
and nothing to anybody.

I was just like,
I'm a mess, really,

because I can't enjoy
the great things around me.

Then, of course, I went through
a breakup with Gwyneth.

Listen, man,
I'm never gonna moan.

I'm grateful for everything.

But it was pretty touch and go.

It was evident that things
were very difficult for Chris

and that he was unhappy.

We sort of felt helpless
in a way, you know,

naturally it's distressing when your friend
is going through something so traumatic.

He was in a lot of pain.

Your mind can go to
the worst-case scenario.

I was worried about him
to the extent that

I was just really glad
to get a text in the morning

just to know he was okay.

And almost when he was
at his absolute lowest,

that was when we
started making Ghost Stories.

What we decided to do
on Ghost Stories

was to really be honest
about it.

I don't wanna bullshit,

because I need to sing it
to get through the day.

We all set up a studio
in Guy's house.

I think that was all
that Chris was capable of.

I remember it
as being a healing time for him.

I think he started to smile
a bit more around then.

[singing "True Love"]

He was having
a really hard time.

Yeah, we definitely felt
very protective towards him.

Chris's life
is different from mine.

He has very much a public life.

People know what's going on,
or like to think they know.

So we were worried about him
letting people in too far,

but this was what he wanted
to do.

[singing "True Love"]

I think Chris needed
to get it out of his system

and he needed to express
those things in those songs.

Of course, it was a very personal
album, and I like it for that reason.

I like it for its bravery
and its honesty.

What we wanted to do was to provide the
comfort that music has always given him.

That's the only way that we could really
help him was to be musical friends.

When some of us have been going
through harder times,

it's the band
that really picks each other up.

That really is an amazing thing
to have in your life.

Whenever anyone needs anything,
really, everybody's there.

It has evolved into
much more than just friendship.

We are more like a family now.

It was a challenging period.

It was a sort of journey from ultimate
loneliness to ultimate togetherness.

Come on, come on, come on.
Come on.

Bring it. Bring it in.

Phil, you wanna lead? Come on in.

It's been a long journey
up to this point.

The period that we've been a band has
been such a shifting time in music.

It's just not a time where you
can take something for granted.

I think we were very lucky
to have each other

and lucky in many other ways
as well.

I feel like I've been running
for years.

It's the first time
since I've joined the band

I've actually stopped
and looked back.

It really does feel like
a lifetime ago that we started.

[audience cheering] Hello.

What's still the same is our
passion to make music together.

I wouldn't wanna do what I do
if I wasn't with my friends.

I think the gang mentality
is still definitely there,

but it's just the gang's
got a bit bigger.

That initial dream, at the time we had
it, that seemed like the final point,

and what I've realized is, actually
that's just the beginning.

I don't feel like we've got
to a final destination.

["Paradise" playing]

I don't want to stop playing.

I don't wanna stop this.

Don't want to stop this.

Let's turn it up.
Let's turn it up.

Let's turn it up.
Let's turn it up.

Let's turn it up.
Let's turn it up.

I really don't look back.
You know?

I just feel weird about it.

Like Phil said the other day,
because I was about to turn 40,

you should write a letter to your 17-year-old
self and tell him what you're up to,

'cause his head would
just explode.

The first few years, you try to make
yourself feel different to everybody else.

But in the last few years, I feel like the
journey's just been to remind me and us

that we're all in the same tribe on
the same little planet in space,

and more than ever, it feels
like that's what we're part of:

One big band.

[Mat]
So, what next? I don't know what's next.

We've been trying to get
to this place for a long time.

I'd be very surprised if there was
another conventional Coldplay album.

It feels like the finale
of the story,

or the end of a movie.

It doesn't surprise me
that he's saying now is

the end of an era, it's
the end of something,

'cause it really is in his mind.

But I hope it's not really
the end of things.

Literally happens every album.

"This might be our last one."
And it hasn't been yet.

I'm just looking forward to
what happens next.

We've been together for 20 years

and achieved so many things
that we wanted to achieve.

I mean, it has just been
the most amazing ride so far.

I'm grateful for
the whole journey.

I have faith in the future.

I trust life.

First of all, thank you all
so much for being here.

You're all actually a part of the band.
Isn't that crazy?

Even though some of you might be ashamed
to say it, you're all members of Coldplay.

We got one more song
if you wanna do it.

Yay!

Thank you for
that lovely response.

You get top marks from me.

One, two, three and...

["Up & Up" playing]

["Up & Up" continues playing]

["Up & Up" continues playing]

My friends... [audience cheering]

This is the end of
A Head Full of Dreamstour.

Back where it all began.

Thank you, everybody
all around the world,

at home and abroad,

for being the best part
of our show

and for keeping your
and our heads full of dreams.

We're in this together.

We're one big band.

Everything is possible
if you never give up

and if you believe in love.

[singing]

[cheering]

[audience cheering, singing]

[Chris singing "In My Place"]

If you're watching this,
it means we haven't flopped.

So, thanks a lot
for not making us flop.

If you're not watching this,
we have flopped,

so I can say what
the fuck I want.

[singing off-key]

[laughing]Come on.
We'll get past it.

If you're watching this... Obviously,
they're watching this.

It should be "You're
watching this." Not if.

Let's go.

Let's go and sell
some fucking records.

It's time to go home. Tell them
we formed at college.

I don't care.
I don't like Alan McGee.

Can you sing that note
again, please? Yeah.

[high-pitched note]

I think this song
is brilliant. I think it's good too.

What do you think, Will?

I think the second half
is great.

[high-pitched note continues]

We are probably the
only band in England

where at least two of the
members have got webbed feet.

- Who's got webbed feet?
- We're all bluffing now, aren't we?

The reason I knew, we were on tour.
We had a shower.

And every morning, there'd be two sets
of normal footprints and two flippers.

[Guy] Two flippers?

[all singing]

I can fucking see you laughing!

A lot of people think...

we're not rock and roll.

But I ask you, is having pastries
before eight o'clock not rock and roll?

In what fucking universe?

Ladies and gentlemen, you may remember
a year ago this band was formed...

[unintelligible]

[shouting]

Fucking pathetic!

[piano playing,
Chris imitating dance beat]

[singing in falsetto]

[rapping]

[imitating beat]

I'm gonna be sick.

["Life Is For Living" playing]

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