Coldplay Firing Up Coachella

Fri., Apr. 29, 2005 10:30 AM PDT by J.R. Griffin

Coldplay is ready to heat up the 2005 Coachella Valley Music Festival this weekend as one of the two-day über-rock festival's headliners.

Or are they?

"I can't even spell [Coachella]," frontman Chris Martin admitted to E! News while promoting the band's upcoming album, X&Y, set for release June 7.

Fear not swooning fans, the multiplatinum-selling British balladeers have had so much success with 2000's Parachutes and 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head that they've got "people" who will carry the band on their shoulders if need be to the Southern California desert festival's location.

Over the two days, nearly 100,000 music lovers will witness Coachella's now legendary annual lineup of alternative giants, cool reunions and hip up-and-comers: Nine Inch Nails, New Order, Weezer, Bauhaus, Gang of Four, Snow Patrol, the Arcade Fire and nearly 90 more bands are ready to bring the noise to the quiet desert community.

(Britain's Doves are a last-minute scratch from the bill, announcing via their Website that singer Jimi Goodwin is suffering from severely strained vocal cords.)

Some tickets are still available; a single-day pass is going for $81, while both days will set you back $152. More info is available at coachella.com.

Martin sees the impressive roster as a welcome bit of healthy competition.

"It's good to be challenged by everyone else. If you're not headlining, you want to be better than the headliner, and if you are headlining, you have to make sure you're better than the people who played before you," he said. "It's like when racehorses meet for a meeting, that's when you really learn who's fast and good, know what I mean?"

Um, not really. But fans are just happy to hear the band is out and about again. Internet rumors around X&Y's recording cited producer changes, various delays and a bit of performance anxiety. Martin and wife Gwyneth Paltrow were also busy producing little something of their own, their often name-checked baby girl, Apple Blythe Alison Martin, born last May.

Any doubts were put to rest in March when the band debuted songs from X&Y at a Los Angeles radio station concert and surprise club gig. The sets, which included new tunes like the rocking "Square One" to intimate ballad "What If" were warmly received. The first single, "Speed of Sound," has been iTunes' most downloaded song since its release and entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number eight this week--the highest entry by a British rock band since the Beatles' "Hey Jude" in 1968.

The band recently announced more club gigs and recorded a video for "Speed of Sound" with Mark Romanek, the guy behind the edgy imagery of Johnny Cash's "Hurt" and Jay-Z's "99 Problems."

"When we were sort of halfway through making this album, the thought of going on tour was really quite daunting and not a very nice thought at all," added bassist Guy Berryman. "But once the album started to come together at the end, we started to get really excited about it. Now, I can't wait."