Viva la Vida Tour

The Viva la Vida Tour was the fourth concert tour undertaken by British rock band Coldplay. It was launched in support of their fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008), becoming a massive commercial and critical success. The tour visited Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, further establishing the band as one of the biggest touring acts in the world.

The stage setup consisted of a stripped-down main stage and two catwalks; Coldplay also performed amongst audience members at the back of venues in a special acoustic set. Instead of a giant video screen on-stage, the band opted for six hanging giant spheres that displayed images, video and streamed closeups. Lead singer Chris Martin dubbed the fixtures as their "magic balls". During the introduction, "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss II was played before the band came into the stage. The tour visited arenas and stadiums in two separate phases: in London, they visited The O2 Arena in 2008 and the Wembley Stadium in 2009, with the latter show featuring a half-dome stage design.

Coldplay were accompanied by Oxfam and David Gibbin during the tour. Volunteers were stationed at each venue to tell concert goers how to reduce poverty; the organization's logo and website was featured on one of the light ball fixtures during each show. On 23 July 2008 Coldplay performed their second in two shows at the United Center arena in Chicago. In each of the two shows, the band shot the music video for "Lost!" by performing the song twice. On 19 September 2008, Chris Martin was accompanied by A-ha pianist Magne Furuholmen in the encore at the Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, to play a cover of the A-Ha song "Hunting High and Low".

Visuals

The intro of the concert would begin in space before turning to show the Earth and zooming to aerial views of the continent, country, city and then stadium that the show would take place. The idea was to make each show being a spectacle in its own, rather than just part of the tour. The cosmic theme is repeated across a number of the visuals like "Speed of Sound" and "Glass of Water". This takes the gig-goers on a journey through a solar system where the stars coalesce to form an eye shape that goes supernova and engulfs the screen in flames. However, other sections of the show were completely different. "Lovers in Japan", one of the highlights in visual terms, uses a series of archive footage and animations across the screen at the back of the stage and in the end thousands of confetti butterflies would rain all over the venue. For the show's closing number, "Life in Technicolor II", the paintings created for the album artwork from Viva La Vida was treated with sprocket and projection effects to create a vibrant, immersive and colorful effect.

Opening acts

There were 34 supporting acts for the tour. They are:

Reception

In total, the tour grossed $222,256,153 from 3,022,635 tickets sold. Coldplay also broke the attendance record of Sydney's Acer Arena, which was previously held by Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow (2007).

Set list

Tour dates

Cancelled shows

Personnel

Credits taken from the band's official tour book, which was sold exclusively on merchandise booths and their online store.

Gear

Credits taken from Projection, Lights & Staging News, with product quantities being represented between parenthesis whenever possible.

See also

• List of Coldplay live performances
• List of highest-grossing live music artists

Notes

Cities

Others

References

External links

• Coldplay Official Website