Coldplay's decision not to tour their new album could be music to the ears of the leading tribute band.
Everyday Life, released on Friday by the super band, will not go on the road, after Chris Martin and his pals aired their concerns about the environmental impact.
The epic productions involve many lorry loads of equipment and more than 100 air fares just to perform a single gig. Last time out for the A Head Full of Dreams Tour, 122 shows were staged across five continents, drawing in more than five million fans.
Coldplace, from Grimsby, has a somewhat smaller footprint, and while the town four-piece were jumping on a plane to Gibraltar as the album and no tour news dropped, there was precious little else heading to the Mediterranean outpost.
Lead singer Shane Crofts said: “I wasn’t too sure if they were going to tour this album anyway, and now they have come out and said no. For us, playing the new songs live is something we will be doing once we have worked out which off the album will fit in with our show.
“If people want to come and hear them live, there is more opportunity for us there. There are a lot of very nice songs on the album, Orphans is one we have been looking at playing in our set, we want to make shows as authentic and as lively as possible with old stuff and new as well. It will be a case of wait and see how many come, we just take everything as it comes.”
Sunset and sunrise gigs in Jordan were being performed by Coldplay, to be broadcast free on YouTube, to partially satisfy the appetite of fans as they work out how such feats can be not just sustainable but beneficial “over the next year or two,” Martin told the BBC, with a one-off at the Natural History Museum in London.
Next month sees Coldplace in the Middle East too, performing on the same stage as Kylie at the Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens, while in 2020 close-to-home feature as dates easier on the road miles for the tribute act.
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“We are not that big when we travel, but are trying to bring a bigger element to what we do,” Shane said. “Outside of the 海角视频 we are four guys in a van, driving to places like Denmark and Holland for 24 hours – it is the only way we can take the show. When we fly it is a smaller scale than that, and – in terms of equipment – we rent what we can when we get there.
“We have a few new ideas for Grimsby Auditorium, we want it to be big, there’s a lot more space (than previous sell-out gigs at The Beachcomber). We’ve got plenty of time to learn them and try a few new things.”
Formed in 2003, the band has gone on to play regularly internationally, with numerous television appearances. The line-up has changed, but the current set-up Shane, lead guitarist Dean Stewart, bass guitarist Asa Crofts and drummer Wayne Birch have now clocked a decade.
“We started in Grimsby,” Shane said. “I put an advert out for a Coldplay tribute band, had people coming up and saying let’s do this. It was playing what we wanted to play, not getting too excited.
“It was always the enjoyment of wanting to play Coldplay music when we started. It was around the time of A Rush of Blood to the Head (the second studio album), we never knew how big they were going to get. I’ve met them a few times now, they are all very nice and they appreciate what we do, and we certainly didn’t imagine doing what we are doing.
“We have gone from Grimsby, to outside of Grimsby, to outside of the 海角视频 – 39 countries – and we still enjoy it like the first tour, the buzz is just terrific.”
And while it has carved a career opportunity, Shane is balancing a taste of stage stardom with being a father and a husband. “I have a day job, I'm still window cleaning! I could be away every week, but I’ve got family and I just don’t want to be travelling every weekend and not having that family life.”