Coldplay

Coldplay have ‘dreamed’ of playing at Glastonbury since they were children

The ‘Every Teardrop is a Waterfall’ hitmakers ‘ who will headline the festival in Somerset, South West England, on Saturday (25.06.11) ‘ admitted nerves are already mounting in anticipation of the event, which they believe is “the mother” of all music events.

Guitarist Jonny Buckland said: “It’s the ultimate festival, the mother of all festivals, the peak, and the one we dreamed of playing when we were kids. I’m already feeling nervous!”

Meanwhile, frontman Chris Martin compared receiving the phone call from Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis asking them to perform to being “asked to dance” by ‘Twilight star Robert Pattinson.

He joked: “It was like getting asked to dance by Robert Pattinson if you’re a young girl.”

Coldplay have performed at the festival four times previously, on smaller stages in 1999 and 2000 and headlining in 2002 and 2005.

The band will appear alongside fellow headliners Beyonce Knowles and U2 over the course of the festival and Jonny joked they are hoping the latter play a set which allows them to eclipse them in terms of performance.

He added to NME magazine: “We’re hoping they’ll do a B-sides and rarities set . with no lights. At least we’re definitely taller than U2, by about a foot.

Coldplay’s new material has evokes a ‘rapturous’ response in Germany

Coldplay’s new material has evokes a ‘rapturous’ response from fans.

The ‘Viva La Vida’ hitmakers debuted several new tracks at Germany’s Rock Am Ring festival on Saturday (04.06.11), including single ‘Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall’, and previously-unheard songs ‘Us Against The World’, ‘Hurts Like Heaven’, ‘Major Minus’ and ‘Cartoon Hearts’, with the band overjoyed with the reception they received.

Their roadie wrote on the band’s official blog: “I can’t work out whether Saturday was great because it was a superb crowd, because the band had really hit a stride, or just because I’d made it through the stress and finally felt like I could look up and take in my surroundings.

“I suspect, as ever, that it’s a combination of factors. Whichever way though, it was a bona fide blinder. I’m also not sure if the new stuff has made it around the internet after the first show, or whether folks were genuinely greeting it rapturously on very first listen.

“Whatever is going on here though, feels pretty good to me.”

Among the new tracks played by the group, uptempo song ‘Charlie Brown’ received a particularly good response from the crowd.

The roadie added: “If a wildlife documentary showed you a species gathering together in tens of thousands to sing and dance together, it would be gripping, unmissable television.

“I looked out from the side of the stage on Saturday and saw the Rock Am Ring crowd going pleasingly berserk to ‘Charlie Brown’ and couldn’t help but be astonished.”

U2 want to put on a ‘Glastonbury on steroids’ performance at this year’s festival.

U2

The ‘Elevation’ group are headlining the festival this year for the first time ever – after having to pull out of its 40th anniversary in 2010 – and bassist Adam Clayton says they will be “sneaking in” some of the huge pyrotechnics from their 360 Degree world tour for the stage show.

He said: “It’s very un-Glastonbury to have a big production, but we will be sneaking a few things in through the back gate which will hopefully make the experience a little more like Glastonbury on steroids.

“We’re stretching the levels of what can be done. We hope to create a mind blowing experience that reacts well with all the other substances involved.”

The rocker also hinted the group’s set for the British festival will include hits from their celebrated 1991 album ‘Achtung Baby’ album, in honour of its 20th anniversary.

He added: “We want to go back to our 90s work that plays into a certain kind of psychedelia and do something tailored around that, from the Zoo TV to PopMart. This is the 20th anniversary of ‘Achtung Baby’ so there’s a nice connection there and we thought we should mark that.”

U2 headline Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage on Friday June 24. The festival,which runs until June 26, will also see headline sets from Coldplay and Beyonce Knowles.