Coldplay’s Chris Martin has written a letter to the band’s fans (via their website) to offer up some info regarding new releases. It isn’t a new album but Coldplay fans will be excited, maybe…

The band is gearing up to release an EP called “Prospekt’s March” and it contains 5 songs that didn’t make it onto the band’s latest album “Viva La Vida.” Before the EP is released Chris Martin has also revealed that “In a few weeks we are going to release a version of Lost! which has a guest experience on it in the form of JAY-Z.”

This is why I said that Coldplay fans would “maybe” be excited, I think the Jay-Z collaborations will probably get mixed feelings but either way, if you’re a fan you’ve got a few new things to look out for. The tracklist for “Prospekt’s March” is as follows…

1. Life In Technicolor ii (which is a song)
2. Postcards From Far Away
3. Glass Of Water
4. Rainy Day
5. Prospekt’s March

Chris Martin continues, “We are very proud of these and are pretty excited to release them. They have been the subject of many discussions and arguments; some might be considered too catchy or too heavy for Coldplay songs but in our minds they complete the VIVA LA VIDA picture.”

If you’d like to read Chris Martin’s full letter head over to Stereogum, where they have transcribed the original letter posted to Coldplay’s website.

A lot of artists are performing in support of Obama, the list keeps growing but includes Bruce Springsteen, Vampire Weekend, The National, The Breeders and many more.

Now I know that Jay-Z is a hip-hop artist and not really guitar-centric in any way. However, he did come on stage as the headliner of Glastonbury 2008 with a Fender guitar over his shoulder, which he used to make fun of Oasis with. Also, I think its really cool that he’s doing these free shows, because not only does it give people a fun evening, but younger fans of his are more likely to listen to Jay-Z than anyone else when it comes to voting.

The free concerts will be taking place in Detroit, MI and Miami, FL.

Ticket info for the shows:

(October 4th) Detroit MI, Cobo Arena

(October 5th) Miami, FL Bayfront Park Amphitheater

Source.

The first edition of the Pemberton Festival ended the other day, and while I didn’t mention the festival here previously I was interested in finding out how it went.

The main acts playing were Coldplay, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Jay-Z, Nine Inch Nails, The Flaming Lips and Death Cab For Cutie. Organization wise the festival seems to have suffered, as reported by several publications. Festival organizer, Live Nation (formerly Clear Channel) claimed that the festival was a “triumphant success.”

No matter who you believe, you can still check out some great photo’s from the event at Stereogum.

A few months back Noel Gallagher of Oasis remarked to the press that he felt it was wrong for Jay-Z or any hip-hop artist to be headlining the main stage at Glastonbury. Jay-Z, in turn, responded back in the press by defending hip-hop in general.

When Jay-Z’s set commenced, he strapped on a Fender strat and “strummed” along to Wonderwall by Oasis and proceeded to sing the song very out of key, as a sort of “screw you” to Noel Gallagher.

Now, I feel like I should comment on this after having read some people’s responses on sites like Stereogum. It is kind of cool that he came out and basically mocked the Oasis song, but he obviously can’t actually play guitar and it just looked stupid seeing him pretend to play. Also, they just put on the album version and he sang along to it, like someone would in their car.

I dont know, to me it just seems lame. Jay-Z did get a lot of great critical response from the performance, but also some critics saying it started to wain mid-way through. To me, this kind of proves Noel Gallagher’s point in a way. Not that hip-hop shouldn’t be a festivals, but that in my opinion, hip-hop just isn’t very good live.

Check out the video here.