Lunches, even just a sandwich, a drink and some sort of sweet thing to make the afternoon slightly more bearable rarely give much change from a tenner; rents are preposterous when compared to anyone at all living outside London; and it has never been easier to spend most of your salary on tube fares. But every once in a while, something comes along that's so fun, and unique- so unbelievably cool, in fact, that it reminds us why we are Londoners.

The Rock Im Park festival was the first gig we did with these songs. That was on 3 June - exactly six months ago to the day, come to think of it. I've worked for bands whose entire album campaign lasted less than six months and that was our round of promo to warm up and get us underway...

Today's show is a radio thing for KROQ, who have been behind Coldplay here in the States since the very word go. The band are playing in a tiny black box room with a crowd that Chris points out is smaller than at their first ever show

With Arts Council funding looking about as secure as Machu Picchu, Britain's musicians need our support now more than ever. But with 80% of households admitting to money worries, it seems that Britain is destined to become a cultural black hole...