Coldplay’s new album, Viva La Vida, is available in all stores today. Go get it! Check out a full first review of the album here. For Coldplay tour dates read this.

Here’s a complete review of the new Coldplay release from the Sun in the UK

An album by some band I had never heard of landed on my desk yesterday.

I nearly lobbed it in the drawer of unheard music next to SCOUTING FOR GIRLS’ last release.

But the innocuous sleeve with an obscure codename was in fact holding the biggest album of the year — possibly the decade.

I can bring you the first full review of the new COLDPLAY CD, out on June 12.

And I think epic is the word. The full title — Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends — should have been a clue.
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Get out your moping shoes, Brit-rock sensations Coldplay have announced their North American touring plans for Summer and Fall of 2008. The tour, which shall kick off in Philadelphia at the end of June, will be in support of their upcoming fourth full length album, Viva La Vida (nee Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends), due out June 17th on Capitol Records. You can find ticket information here or here. The band will also play a few pre-tour dates, including London (June 16th, Brixton Academy) and New York (June 23rd, Madison Square Garden).

6/29 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center 5/16
7/2 Washington, DC Verizon Center 5/17
7/3 Hartford, CT XL Center 5/17
7/5 Detroit, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills 5/17
7/6 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena 5/17
7/8 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center 5/17
7/9 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center 5/17
7/10 Oklahoma City, OK Ford Center 5/16
7/12 Phoenix, AZ Jobing.com Arena 5/17
7/19 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena 5/17
7/21 Sacramento, CA ARCO Arena
7/24 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
7/27 Pemberton, BC Pemberton Festival
7/29 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
7/30 Calgary, AB Pengrowth Saddledome
8/1 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
8/3 Omaha, NE Qwest Center
8/4 Chicago, IL United Center
10/20 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
10/21 Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place
10/26 East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
10/29 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
10/30 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
11/3 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden
11/11 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
11/18 Houston, TX Toyota Center
11/19 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
11/21 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
11/22 Salt Lake City, UT Energy Solutions Arena

As mentioned last Friday, Coldplay has announced a June 17th release date for their fourth album, “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.” While writing that post, something clicked on in the back of my mind: this album has the potential to either keep Coldplay’s label EMI afloat for another year, or make necessary the eventual merger of EMI Music (including its subsidiaries like Capitol, Virgin, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Def Jux, Mute and Tooth & Nail) and Warner Music Group, who currently hold the 3rd and 4th place slots in “The Big Four.” Variety agrees that “Viva…” is shaping up to be something of a high-stakes venture. EMI’s certainly hoping that Coldplay’s X&Y wasn’t this:

I remember a time, not so long ago, when a record label depended on its solid roster to make the business float, not just a handful of high-profile superstar artists. Their top sellers would go quintuple-platinum, allowing for enough extra cash to take chances on smaller artists, grow them and support them until they break through, joining the ranks of the high-sellers (we used to call such a thing “artist development”). Britain-based EMI and its subsidiaries once boasted an amazing roster including the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and The Beach Boys. Now the label seems to be relying on one or two current chart busters, in this case Coldplay, and the repackaged back catalogs of their dusty dinosaurs.

Artist development on major labels is now a ting of the past (that’s what indie labels are for, right?); there’s no new EMI artist who comes close to replacing Radiohead, who left the label in 2007 after deciding that they no longer needed a record label. EMI can release Best of Radiohead (June 3rd), but no one stands a real chance at releasing another OK Computer….save Coldplay. It’s possible that Chris Martin and company can release an album with (almost) as much impact. But if Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends does any worse than 2005’s X&Y, I wouldn’t be surprised to see EMI/Warner Music rear its head in 2009/2010.

Until then, let’s look at what EMI will be releasing to keep its head above water, after the jump: (more…)