The Twisted Logic Tour was a global concert tour by British alternative rock band Coldplay in support of their third studio album, X&Y. The year-long tour took the band across Europe and their native United Kingdom, as well as to the United States and Canada. The main legs of the tour concluded in July 2006 after shows in Asia & Australia, with the band resting for a lengthy period of time, and beginning production of their fourth studio album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends in November. In the beginning of 2007, a final leg in Latin America concluded the tour entirely in March, after about a dozen shows. Pollstar reported that the 2005 North American leg grossed an estimated $24.1 million. The second leg of the North American tour ended 6 April 2006 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. This is Coldplay's first tour not named after the album it was promoting; the tour is named after a song on X&Y that has never been played live at any of the concerts.
Background
The Twisted Logic Tour is noted for its use of extravagant stage effects. Strobe lights and other fixtures were used to create an elaborate light show. The back of the stage contained a two-story panoramic video panel that displayed live footage and computer-generated images, from video of a bear wandering aimlessly during "Talk" to a montage of coloured blocks from the cover of X&Y during the song "Clocks". Other concert highlights include:
A digital countdown display shown on the panoramic video screen during the song "Square One" as the band enter the stage. The timer reaches zero at the song's explosive first chorus, followed by the crowd getting showered by red, green, and blue strobe lighting.
Confetti, and yellow balloons filled with gold glitter showered on the audience during the song "Yellow".
During Coachella 2005 Martin sang the outro to "The Scientist" backwards, reminiscent of the song's music video. During much of the tour, the entire track was played backwards live, after the band had finished playing it regularly. The Charles and Ray Eames video "Powers of Ten" played in the background.
Martin running into the crowd during "In My Place" to sing with the audience.
Band members taking photographs before and during the show with disposable cameras before throwing them into the crowd. This was bassist Guy Berryman's idea, and was usually done during the reverse playing of "The Scientist".
The band taking to the edge of the stage and performing an acoustic set of 2-3 of the following songs: "Til Kingdom Come", "Don't Panic", "Green Eyes" and/or a cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" or Bob Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate".
Martin sometimes encouraging the audience to let their camera flashes off simultaneously as the band picks up during the bridge of "Talk", but also done during "Low" via a message on the main screen behind the band, resulting in a dramatic explosion of light. "Talk" also featured Martin taking an audience member's mobile phone and singing to the person on the other end, which was a common occurrence.
Martin swinging a suspended lightbulb above his head after the second chorus of "Fix You", followed, in outdoor shows, by fireworks as the drum fill begins.
A laser light show during "Clocks", with red lasers shooting out in different directions. These were reintroduced during the second North American leg of the tour.
A handwritten list of songs being projected toward the stage during "Swallowed in the Sea". This is presumably an early tracklist of songs during production of X&Y.
The band gradually increasing the tempo of "Clocks" at the end of its regular performance, until it abruptly concludes at a ridiculously high tempo.
During the Australian leg of the tour, the band made several references to the Socceroos in the 2006 FIFA World Cup by altering lyrics of the songs. On the second night of the Melbourne concerts and the final night of the Sydney concerts, the group performed the Kylie Minogue hit "Can't Get You Out of My Head" as a tribute to Australia and its music industry.
At some concerts in Germany, Chris Martin asked the audience in German "Wo geht es zum Bahnhof?". This may be a reference to the U2 song "Zoo Station".
During performances of "White Shadows", thermal black and white imagery of the band performing appeared on the panoramic big screen. This was done in homage of the song title, as these kind of images can produce "white shadows" of heat producing sources.
Setlist
The Twisted Logic Tour's set list was heavily weighted towards tracks from X&Y, which was as expected because of the tour being in support and promotion of the album. The remaining material was mostly from A Rush of Blood to the Head with songs such as "Politik", "In My Place", "Clocks", and "The Scientist", and to a lesser extent "Don't Panic", "Yellow", and "Trouble" being the only holdovers from Parachutes played with regularity. The only new song played on the tour was "How You See the World No. 2" which was from the "Help: A Day in the Life" benefit album. Earlier tours such as those in the Parachutes era debuted work-in-progress versions of tracks that would appear on A Rush of Blood to the Head. Likewise, Coldplay's newest compositions during the A Rush of Blood to the Head Tour such as "Gravity", and "Proof" were included as B-sides to X&Ys singles. The introductory music played at the start of each concert was either Brand Nubian's "Meaning of the 5%" or "Tomorrow Never Knows" by The Beatles. The closing music is "Good Night" by The Beatles. The following is a sample setlist of a concert at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, Kansas, United States. The major changes to this set for the other tour dates mainly saw "X&Y" and "Low" performed in lieu of "What If", and "Swallowed in the Sea", respectively; Often, variations of these songs being played with one another occurred, such as "What If" and "Low". Also, "Parachutes" was often performed between "Yellow" and "Speed of Sound", and "Green Eyes" was sometimes added to the B-stage set. Originally, the band were going to perform tracks from Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends such as "Lost!" and other unknown ones at Latin America but they did not want to ruin the surprise for the upcoming fourth studio album.
"Square One"
"Politik"
"Yellow"
"God Put a Smile upon Your Face"
"Speed of Sound"
"Low"
"Warning Sign"
"Everything's Not Lost"
"White Shadows"
"The Scientist"
"Til Kingdom Come"
"Don't Panic"
"Clocks"
"Talk"
"Swallowed in the Sea"
"In My Place"
"Fix You"
Tour dates
Video release
Footage was filmed at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on 22 and 23 March 2006, but they have shown the concert in Canada on Much Music. The airing date was Thursday 14 December 2006 at 9 pm and replays occurred at midnight and 3:30 pm on Friday 15 December 2006. Footage has also been shown on Spanish television and HDNet and there are plans to air it in other, non-specified countries. Due to the lack of airplay on mainstream channels in many countries, the show has been heavily shared over the Internet.
