Coldplay on touring: You just have to embrace these moments

SINGAPORE — Coldplay has been touring in support of the album, A Head Full Of Dreams, and drummer Will Champion said that he was looking forward to performing in Singapore on Friday (March 31) and Saturday. The band was last in Singapore for their Viva La Vida tour in 2009.

“We’ve been touring this show for more than a year now, so (by the time we get to) Singapore, we’ll be very well prepared,” he said of the concerts, adding that the band had been rehearsing a lot to prepare for this leg of the tour.

“We haven’t been (to Singapore) in a while and we need to make sure the show is absolutely fantastic … It’s a very big production – we’ve thrown everything at it – and what we hope is that for two hours people will come in and enjoy and be inspired and excited.”

Despite the massive stage and hi-tech set-up, Champion said the band will make sure the thousands in the audience won’t feel lost. “We are also getting more comfortable knowing how to perform in big places. Sometimes it can be very difficult for people to feel intimate or connected with the band (in a large arena), so that’s really our aim: To make sure everyone feels a part of it, to feel engaged and connected,” he said.

“There are certain songs that lend themselves more easily to performing in a stadium, like the more upbeat, high tempo, high energy songs; but other quieter songs like Everglow, you just have to find the right place for them,” Champion added. “I think it wouldn’t be the right thing to do to start the concert with Everglow. But you also can’t sustain that high energy all the time.

“(Everglow live) is even more stripped back and mellower than the album version, with Chris (Martin) just playing it on the piano. It’s a really great moment. It allows everyone to focus and get intimate, before we bring back the loud stuff.”

While Champion said the Coldplay tour has been an enjoyable experience, it hasn’t been smooth sailing all the time. Sometimes, you get "Spinal Tap moments", where things just go wrong "and we have to stop”, said Champion.

“Like, we played at Glastonbury, it was a big show for us and we were playing Everglow, and Chris’ piano, for some reason, had gone one semitone off and changed key. So even though he was playing the right notes on the keyboard … it still wasn’t right. Everyone could tell there was something wrong but we didn’t know what it was," he added, laughing.

“It sounded so terrible and it was in front of 120,000 people. In those situations, there’s nothing you can do really. You just have to laugh and try to fix the problem. But at least it proves that it’s live music, it’s real. You just have to embrace (these moments).”

Coldplay performs on March 31 and April 1 at the National Stadium.