Pitchfork

People love to get mad talking about Coldplay, but when you see them doing the soaring anthemic Brit-rock thing in an actual arena surrounded by blinding columns of light, you have to hand it to them: They know exactly what they're doing. This is, after all, a band with a history of releasing gigantic yellow beach balls into the crowd right when the opening notes of "Yellow" hits. There is no getting mad at that. It's simply not possible.

So it's good to see that they're going on another full-scale North American outdoor-shed tour this summer. Worth noting: There seems to be a Lollapalooza-sized hole somewhere in that schedule, and Lolla is going to have to pull out something big to compete with all these other summer festivals.

Coldplay have also announced the opening acts for the tour. The British retro-jazzbo sibling group Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, who kind of sound like Squirrel Nut Zippers, will open the whole tour. Fellow Brit-rock mopers Elbow are also on the bill for half the tour, as are (this is awesome) blind Malian guitar heroes Amadou & Mariam.

And who knows? Coldplay is hard at work with producer Brian Eno yet again, so they may have a few more rafter-shaking jams ready for us by the time they hit these shores. Coldplay will also be among the huge roster of performers at this Sunday's Grammy Awards, and for some reason there will also be a "60 Minutes" segment on the band right before the awards show. Because, you know, there's nothing else important happening in the world.

Coldplay dates:

02-11 Tokyo, Japan - Saitama Super Arena ^
02-12 Tokyo, Japan - Saitama Super Arena ^
02-14 Osaka, Japan - Kobe World Kinen Hall ^
02-15 Osaka, Japan - Kobe World Kinen Hall ^
02-18 London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire (War Child benefit) &
02-27 Perth, Australia - Burswood Dome
02-28 Perth, Australia - Burswood Dome
03-03 Melbourne, Australia - Rod Laver Arena
03-04 Melbourne, Australia - Rod Laver Arena
03-05 Melbourne, Australia - Rod Laver Arena
03-08 Brisbane, Australia - Entertainment Centre
03-09 Brisbane, Australia - Entertainment Centre
03-11 Sydney, Australia - Acer Arena
03-12 Sydney, Australia - Acer Arena
03-14 Sydney, Australia - Acer Arena
03-15 Sydney, Australia - Acer Arena
03-18 Auckland, New Zealand - Vector Arena
03-19 Auckland, New Zealand - Vector Arena
07-02 Arras, France - Main Square Festival
07-03 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter
07-05 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07-10 Portland, OR - The Amphitheater at Clark County !@
07-11 George, WA - The Gorge Amphitheatre !@
07-13 San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre !@
07-16 San Diego, CA - Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre !@
07-18 Carson, CA - Home Depot Center !@
07-21 Dallas, TX - Superpages.com Center !@
07-22 Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion !@
07-24 Maryland Heights, MO - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater !@
07-25 East Troy, WI - Alpine Valley Music Theatre !%
07-29 Toronto, Ontario - TBD !%
08-03 Mansfield, MA - Comcast Center !%
08-06 Raleigh, NC - Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion !%
08-07 Charlotte, NC - Charlotte Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre !%
08-09 Tampa, FL - Ford Amphitheatre !%
08-16 Herning, Denmark - MCH Arena
08-19 Bergen, Norway - Koengen
08-22 Stockholm, Sweden - Olympic Stadium
08-25 Hanover, Germany - Hanover Stadium
08-27 Düsseldorf, Germany - LTU Arena
08-29 Munich, Germany - Reitstadion Riem
08-31 Udine, Italy - Stadio Friuli
09-02 Bern, Switzerland - Stade de Suisse
09-04 Barcelona, Spain - Estadi Olimpic
09-07 Paris, France - Parc des Princes
09-09 Nijmegen, Holland - Goffertpark
09-10 Nijmegen, Netherlands - Goffertpark
09-12 Manchester, England - LCCC *
09-14 Dublin, Ireland - Phoenix Park
09-16 Glasgow, Scotland - Hampden Park *
09-18 London, England - Wembley Stadium #
09-19 London, England - Wembley Stadium *

^ with Santogold
& with the Killers
! with Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
@ with Amadou & Mariam
% with Elbow
* with Jay-Z
# with Girls Aloud