One of the hottest selling club tours for the autumn so far is Coldplay. The Mercury Music Prize nominee is selling tickets like proverbial hot cakes, despite still having a few major festival dates to play this summer. Two Shepherds Bush Empire dates sold out within a week and other shows are nearly sold out. The band has built a big following and the album has sold well beyond platinum status.

The 17-date U.K. tour starts in October at the Junction in Cambridge and will take Coldplay to the next level of live venues ranging from 800- to 2,000-capacity clubs. Prior to this tour, the biggest venues the band had headlined were around 400 capacity.

However, despite the huge demand for tickets, agent Steve Strange said he wanted to stick to “an organic approach” and not leap straight into big venues on the back of the successful new album. Strange said the level of interest internationally is mounting steadily and there are plans to tour the U.S. in 2001.

Spain

Two of the most emblematic and popular Spanish pop singers, Ana Torroja and Miguel Bose, will tour America from early October to the end of November. Torroja, of legendary ‘80s pop group Mecano, who last toured in Mecano’s farewell tour in 1992, presents her new album, Pasajes de un sueno. Bose will accompany Torroja presenting his Lo mejor de Bose CD that encompasses the artists’ numerous hits throughout his 15-year career.

They are on the Spanish leg of their tour, having returned from their first Americas leg that took them through Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, El Salvador and Venezuela. U.S. dates of GIRADOS, the tour’s name, include The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles October 21, New York’s Beacon Theatre, Miami’s James L. Knight Center, as well as Puerto Rico, San Diego and El Paso.

They will continue on to Santo Domingo at the end of October and through Central and Southern America in November, hitting Argentina, Peru, Chile, Panama and other places. GIRADOS will conclude in February 2001. Tour promoters and Torroja/Bose managers Rosa Lagarrigue Management made a good choice joining these two popular artists on tour. Their individual efforts have written an important page in pop culture in Spain in the 1980s. They still release material that appeals to the masses, thus appealing to the fans of the old and new.

Germany

A couple of interesting dance-oriented projects and tours are on the way

A four-date Morcheeba tour has been booked in medium-size venues such as the Muffathalle in Munich (October 31), Grosse Freiheit in Hamburg (October 28) and Universal Hall in Berlin (October 27). For Cologne, the band is booked at the Theater am Tanzbrunnen.

Despite the fact that Morcheeba has been gaining in terms of its media profile in Germany, record sales haven’t quite caught up. However, it’s expected that the ticket sales for the band will be better as Morcheeba is one of the few acts in this genre that has proved itself as a strong live presence.

Also in the works is a 10th anniversary celebration for record label Ninja Tune. This show is due to include live sets from Clifford Gilberto and Coldcut. The DJs booked for the tour are Kid Koala & P Love, DJ Food, Mr Scruff, Ollie Teeba (The Herbaliser), Dynamic Syncopation, and DK (Solid Steel). The dates are September 29, Berlin; September 30, Munich; and October 2, Cologne.

Australia

Savage Garden is to be announced to play at the closing of the Olympics October 1. Rumoured to also perform at the event are AC/DC, INXS, Natalie Imbruglia, Men At Work, Yothu Yindi, and Kylie Minogue.

Performing at the opening ceremony are John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John, jazz trumpeter James Morrison, R&B group Human Nature, crooner Julie Anthony, Amorosi, and Tina Arena.

The September 15 ceremony at Olympic Stadium in west Sydney – to be seen in the U.S. on NBC television – is being assembled by director of ceremonies Ric Birch, who worked in executive capacities on the 1984 Los Angeles and the 1992 Barcelona Olympic ceremonies.