The Latest from Coldplay

I have a soft spot in my heart for Coldplay, as my wedding song was "Yellow," off of their first album (not the most traditional wedding song in the world, I realize). My husband and I saw them in concert before they were really popular, and then took off on a two-month-long backpacking trip through Asia, at the end of which my husband proposed (let me hear it: "Awwwww....").

We saw them again a few years ago for their "X & Y" tour, but had really crappy seats off of the side of the stage in the nosebleed section, so that bummed us out.

Now they're back with another album, "Viva la Vida," and will be hitting the road again soon. I'm going to try to get tickets, but in the meantime I've pre-ordered the new CD and got the title track in advance off of iTunes. I also downloaded another song, "Violet Hill," when they did a promotion a few weeks back on their web site.

I have to admit that "Violet Hill" scared me... I didn't like it at all at first. I was like, "This is what they're giving away for free to get people to buy the rest of the album--yikes?!?!" But I knew I was going to buy whatever they put out anyway, so I still did the pre-order (the full album is released in mid-June). The good news is that "Viva la Vida," while pretty different from the other Coldplay songs I know and love, is very cool. There is no video for the song yet, but some dude uploaded himself and a friend playing it and they did a pretty good job, if you want to get a feel for the song in its entirety:

"Violet Hill" has actually grown on me, too. I don't feel like either of the songs has a real chorus, so perhaps that's what's throwing me. But I'm anxious to hear the rest of the album. "Yellow" was my favorite from "Parachutes," "The Scientist" was my fave from "A Rush of Blood to the Head," and "Fix You" was the best off of "X & Y."

They better have another power ballad in store for me or I will be upset!

- e