1.10am: So, we made it to the cars *just* in time. And now we’re back in the UK. Everyone seemed very pleased with how the show went tonight, and spirits were high on the flight home (not least because the clock had just ticked into band PA Vicki’s birthday!) Thanks again for reading. We’ll see if we’ve got any more photos worth posting in the morning. Goodnight!
10.43pm: Right, the band are now playing their penultimate song – so one more and then we’re doing a "runner" to the airport. And we’re still sitting in an office a good five minutes from where the cars will be. So we’d better run for the runner. We’ll leave you with this picture. Thanks for reading – and for all your emails, and we’ll try to get some more pictures to post later…
And with that, we’d better (literally) run – or we’ll be spending rather more time here in lovely Venice than expected…!
10.38pm: Sorry, not the highest quality video you’ll ever see – but it was filmed and uploaded on our phone (and literally only happened about ten minutes ago)
10.37pm: Viva singalong video on its way….
10.32pm: OK, more shots…
9.54pm: And here’s a bunch of live shots, taken during the first couple of songs…
9.44pm: They’re on. The crowd are properly up for it. And we’ll post some pics in a second…
(Btw, this office is a good couple of minutes walk from the stage. We might try to grab an office that’s nearer…)
9.21pm: OK, the band are on in 8 mins, so we’re going to go and get some pictures of them coming on etc. Now is probably a good time to make a cup of tea. We’ll see you in a bit with some on stage pics…
9.20pm: The Champion is ready…
9.14pm: The Buckland is ready…
9.11pm: The radio packs are ready…
8.55pm: The crowd are doing the Viva chant again. We’re quite a long way away back here, but it sounds *really* loud. It’s all shaping up nicely…
8.48pm: Just 42 minutes until Coldplay are on, and Guy is changed and ready to go…
8.40pm: "What’s your favorite song to see Coldplay perform live?" asks Noelia from Argentina.
Hmm. Tough one. Lost was the one that sprung to mind first, for some reason. Great memories of that one from Wembley Stadium with Mr Z. Arlene, from management, who’s sitting opposite us right now says The Scientist or the new version of God Put A Smile Upon Your Face.
8.34pm: Moving on from that moment of considerable excitement… long-term photoblog followers will know that we always try to give a photographic shout out to the wonderful Coldplay fan site Coldplaying.com. And so when we saw Coldplay’s legendary soundman Dan Green just now, we thought we’d seize the moment. Problem was, we couldn’t find any paper to write the message on. So, um we had to rip a bit off the band’s setlist in the dressing room. (Shhh, our secret, right?)
And hello from the rest of us too. Thanks for all the support guys.
8.25pm: WE CAN HEAR THE CROWD SINGING THE VIVA CHANT…
8.23pm: "Where’s Chris right now? What’s he doing?" asks Giada, who sounds like they’d make a good private investigator. We don’t actually know the answer. Sorry Giada. But we will try to find out.
8.21pm: "Will the blog stay up on the site after the show?" asks Susan in the USA, who’s off to bake a cake because it’s her son’s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN’S SON! And, yes, it will.
8.19pm: Will’s chilling outside the dressing rooms too now…
8.12pm: By the way, Coldplay have a single out this week. It’s called Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall and it’s great. You can buy it from the iTunes Store worldwide by clicking http://cldp.ly/itunescp (big thanks to all of you who already have) 🙂
8.10pm: "What time does the band go on?" asks Brooke. 21.30 (ie in 80 mins). In fact, here are all of today’s set times…
8.06pm: Quite a few of you asking what the capacity of today’s festival is. We’re told that it’s 30,000.
8.02pm: So we managed to find Jonny, who’s sitting outside the dressing room. Here he is, having a fascinating conversation with Coldplay’s PA, Vicki.
And here they are when they couldn’t hold the pose any more…
7.57pm: Are the boys quite nervous ??? – Laurie
No, they actually seem really relaxed and happy. We’re guessing there would’ve been a lot more nerves flying around before the German shows. But having got those under their belts (and having really enjoyed them), they seem to just be looking forward to playing again.
7.55pm: What kind of camera does Chris use? ~ Deshani 😀
Well, he pinched ours for those shots of the band – which is a slightly battered Nikon D40.
7.46pm: We’ve just popped to the dressing room to try and get some pics of the band. But none of them are around. Think they might still be eating, or having a bit of a wander. But we did get a few pics while we were there…
7.32pm: Right, so dinner was a very delicious pasta with meat balls, accompanied by a rather lovely rocket salad with parmesan and pine nuts. Very Italian and very nice. Phil and Guy both had that too. All agreed it was excellent.
We’re also quite impressed with the long, thin soft drinks cans (same amount, just a bit more elegant).
7.27pm: Oh, forgot to post this from our wander. Suits you sir.
7.09pm: "What do the guys eat while in Italy? Something local or what?" asks Valentina. That is a very good question. We’re off to catering to find out (and grab a quick something to eat). Back shortly…
7.06pm: Right, here are the pictures from our wander around the festival site…
A slightly odd tent at the very back of the field, with nobody in it.
7.01pm: "Are you going to have a ride on a gondola?" asks Raphaele. That’s looking unlikely. We were hoping that’s how they’d take us from the airport to the festival, but sadly not.
7.00pm: "What’s the weather like there?" ask lots of you, to anchorman@coldplay.com. Well, it’s very warm, but it’s also quite grey and gloomy. There is talk of thunderstorms. Which could make it an interesting evening…
6.51pm: Right, we’re back from our wander. While we get the pictures sorted, here’s the final picture taken by Chris – of Jonny.
6.30pm: Here’s Chris’s photo of Guy. And with that, we’re off for a wander around the festival…
6.18pm: Beady Eye (Liam Gallagher’s new band) have just come on. It sounds VERY loud indeed.
6.10pm: Here’s Chris’s photograph of Will.
6.08pm: "Please, send a greeting to all users Coldplayzone present also in San Giuliano Park!" writes Gabrielle to anchorman@coldplay.com.
Hello Coldplayzone people! Thanks for coming. Hope you packed your rain coats!
6.02pm: "Because it’s an organised event do the boys still get their own dressing room?" asks Chris in Bristol. Absolutely. Each band at a festival gets their own little room. But we are quite tickled by the thought of Beady Eye, We Are Scientists, Echo & The Bunnymen and Coldplay etc all crammed into one portakabin. Now *that* would be worth blogging about.
6.00pm: When we all arrived at the festival a few minutes ago, Mr Christopher Martin pinched our camera off a table and took a picture of all of the other members of Coldplay (and one of us, which was nice.) We’ll run the band photos one at time, in case we run out of things to take photos of later. Let’s begin with Chris’s shot of Phil Harvey, Coldplay’s fifth member.
5.58pm: "Where were those new promo photos shot?" asks Christina F. The answer is Greenwich in London. Not exactly sure where. (Greenwich is where time was, sort of, invented.)
5.57pm: "Is it usually quiet on the flight, or does everyone talk and stuff? What music do you listen to on the plane?" asks Emily. Well, it was pretty quiet today. Most people were either reading the newspaper, listening to music or playing games on their phones (Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit seemed to be popular)
5.52pm: Here’s Chris, with some fans who’d taken the trouble to come to the airport to greet the band.
5.48pm: Of course, as is the tradition with these live blogs, you’re very welcome to keep us company, by emailing us on anchorman@coldplay.com. If you have a question, it’s always worth sticking it in the subject of the email, please.
5.43pm: And here’s a nice picture of Jonny and an "artfully blurry" one of Chris during the flight over…
5.42pm: Here’s lovely Venice, from the other side of the plane…
5.33pm: Let’s begin with this picture of Jammin’ Festival from above, which was taken by the lovely Debs (longterm Coldplay friend, who actually discovered the band) out of her side of the plane…
5.29pm: We have just arrived. We have pictures. Stand by…