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Four men in black standing arm in arm on a dark stage
Coldplay take a bow at Bonner Springs, Kansas, 21 September 2005: Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion. Shane Adams from Olathe, KS, USA · CC BY 2.0

Fitzrovia · Camden · Monmouth · Studland · Wembley

ColdplayRamsay Hall to Wembley, 1996–2025

All four lamps up.

Four students meet in a hall of residence, play their first gig above a Camden pub, write Yellow in Wales and end up handing everyone in the crowd a light. Go and stand where it happened.

Coldplay take a bow at Bonner Springs, Kansas, 21 September 2005: Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion. Photo: Shane Adams, CC BY 2.0.

Maple Street, Fitzrovia · 1996

Over a pint, by the pool table.

Guy Berryman said everyone had a room of their own, with a bar and a pool table downstairs, and that he met the others over a pint.

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Four balls on the table. Pot one.

Chris Martin remembered his dad driving him down with about a dozen bags to the big hall off Tottenham Court Road, where he met Jonny and everything changed.

Jonny remembered Chris running up and down the corridor with a long curly mop of hair, and thought him a bit mad. Will said the best guitarist turned out to be the quiet one who kept his guitar in a cupboard: Jonny.

Still a UCL hall of residence: see it from Maple Street. The doors are for the students who live there.

Sources
A six-storey brick and concrete block of student rooms with balconies on a street corner
Ramsay Hall, the UCL hall of residence on Maple Street, August 2006. Sam Kuper · CC BY-SA 2.5
Chris Martin singing with an acoustic guitar under blue stage lights
Chris Martin on stage, July 2003, the year after A Rush of Blood to the Head. Zach Klein · CC BY 2.5

Camden and Kentish Town · 1998–1999

Three rooms, one wrong name.

Jonny and Chris shared a flat on Camden Road, and the first Coldplay rehearsal took place there on 10 January 1998. The flat had once been home to Bernie Rhodes, manager of the Clash.

Laurel Tree flyer: billed as Starfish.

A corner building with a dark blue ground floor, its signs taken down
113 Bayham Street, once the Laurel Tree, in August 2025, a week or two after the bar closed. Ewan-M · CC BY-SA 4.0

16 January 1998 · 113 Bayham Street, Camden · 1.8 km from Ramsay Hall

The Laurel Tree

Coldplay’s first show was on 16 January 1998, in the upstairs room of a pub called the Laurel Tree, not far from Chris and Jonny’s flat.

They played under a short-lived name, Starfish, before they arrived at Coldplay.

The gig sold out, mostly because the band talked their friends into coming.

The Laurel Tree was a 1990s music pub, where the Blow Up club night began in 1993. It closed in 1999.

The building became BrewDog Camden, which closed on 25 July 2025. CAMRA lists it as closed, seeking new tenants.

Closed, with the lease on the market: see it from the street.

Sources
The Camden Road flatCamden Road, CamdenPrivate · not mapped

They lived there for two years, within walking distance of Camden Town.

Sources
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Camden, London

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Rockfield, near Monmouth · The Parachutes sessions

Switch off the yard.

The producer Ken Nelson said Yellow was written at Rockfield, in the Quadrangle Studio, which runs along one side of an open courtyard about 50 yards square.

5 lamps on in the yard. No stars yet.

Rockfield says it was acknowledged in 1965 as the first residential recording studio in the world, and names Coldplay among the bands it has hosted.

A working residential studio, not open for drop-in visits. Groups can rent the Quadrangle, a holiday house in its own courtyard, through Rockfield Leisure.

Sources
Long low stone farm buildings round a grassy yard under a pale sky
The old stable block at Rockfield, near Monmouth, May 2024. Steve Knight · CC BY 2.0
A gravel yard in front of a long stone and brick range with a covered walkway
A courtyard at Rockfield Studios, May 2024. Steve Knight · CC BY 2.0
Parr Street StudiosParr Street, LiverpoolNot mapped

Before July 2000

Ken Nelson did most of his work on the album, the bulk of Parachutes, at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool.

In 2022 the owner said the original building would be demolished for flats and the studio would move to Kempston Street.

Sources
The Bakery and the BeehiveNorth LondonPrivate · not mapped

2007 onwards

In 2007 Chris Martin asked Rik Simpson to help the band build a studio, the Bakery. Simpson engineered and co-produced Viva la Vida there.

It was small and pokey, with the management offices above: fine for overdubs, hard for the full band. When a church or village hall across the road came free, they built a much bigger room there, the Beehive. Simpson co-produced A Head Full of Dreams, and co-engineered and mixed most of it.

Sources
Rockfield Leisure

The Quadrangle, Rockfield

Rockfield, near Monmouth

A converted stable block with nine bedrooms, three of them self-contained apartments, round its own courtyard at Rockfield Studios. Self-catering for large groups; towels and bedding supplied. Ken Nelson said Yellow was written in the Quadrangle Studio on this farm.

Ask about dates
The sun rising over the sea, a lone figure on the wet sand in silhouette
Sunrise from the beach at Studland, January 2012. Benjigrst · CC BY-SA 3.0

Studland Bay, Dorset · May 2000

One take, one walk.

The Yellow video was shot at Studland Bay in Dorset. The finished video is a single shot, slowed down, of Chris alone on the sand in a black raincoat, soaked by the wind.

Blue dark. Nobody on the sand yet.

The first take had lots of extras, but it rained all day and they were sent home at 4pm. Then Chris asked the cameraman to just walk down the beach with him.

Studland has four miles of sandy beaches, from Knoll Beach to Shell Bay, with protected heath behind.

National Trust beaches, open all day. Car parks 9am to 5pm: £4 for two hours, £10 all day; members and Blue Badge holders park free.

Sources
Pale sand and green water below a grassy dune
Knoll Beach, Studland, August 2026. Jorge Franganillo · CC BY 4.0
National Trust

Studland Bay beaches

Studland, Dorset · Parking £4 for 2 hours · £10 all day · NT members free

Four miles of sand from Knoll Beach to Shell Bay, open all day; café, shop and free beach wheelchairs at Knoll Beach. Car parks 9am to 5pm.

Plan a visit

Wristbands · 2012 to 2025

Light one wrist. Watch it spread.

Every ticket comes with a light. Tap any raised wrist in the bowl, or pick a stand below: its colour runs out through the people round it, and the night it lights is a place you can go.

A dark stadium. Tap a wrist.

A stadium at night, the whole crowd speckled with points of coloured light
Xylobands across the crowd at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, May 2012. Matt Deegan · CC BY 2.0
Two wrists in the dark, each with a glowing white and pink wristband
Two lit Xylobands at the Amsterdam Arena, June 2016. Feda Wong · CC BY 2.0
Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium Tour

Wembley, London

A guided walk behind the scenes of the UK’s largest sports and music venue, where Coldplay played ten nights in 2025. VIP and group tours too.

Book a tour

Music of the Spheres · 2022–2025

Pedal for the C stage.

On the tour, fans could pedal at least 15 stationary bikes, each making about 200 watts on average, stored in batteries that run parts of the show.

15 bikes, nobody pedalling.

The bikes power the lighting on the C stage. Two of the 30 trucks carry the BMW batteries that power the show.

Guy Berryman said the green ideas had to be fun, not an onerous duty, if they were going to stick.

Sources

Visit

Where it is now

9 places you can visit. The Camden Road flat and the band’s studios, the Bakery and the Beehive, are private, and Parr Street has no current door to send you to, so none of them is on the map.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

  • General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still a UCL hall of residence: see it from Maple Street. The doors are for the students who live there.

  • General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Closed, with the lease on the market: see it from the street.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working pub and small venue: go in for a drink or a gig.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A Young’s pub, open every day for food and drink. The back-room stage has gone.

  1. A six-storey brick and concrete block of student rooms with balconies on a street corner
    Ramsay Hall, the UCL hall of residence on Maple Street, August 2006. Sam Kuper · CC BY-SA 2.5

    20 Maple Street, Fitzrovia

    Ramsay Hall

    UCL says the four met in its Ramsay Hall in 1996. Chris Martin read Greek and Latin, Will Champion anthropology and Jonny Buckland mathematics; Guy Berryman studied at UCL for a year.

    Still a UCL hall of residence: see it from Maple Street. The doors are for the students who live there.

    Sources
  2. A corner building with a dark blue ground floor, its signs taken down
    113 Bayham Street, once the Laurel Tree, in August 2025, a week or two after the bar closed. Ewan-M · CC BY-SA 4.0

    113 Bayham Street, Camden

    The Laurel Tree

    Coldplay’s first show was on 16 January 1998, in the upstairs room of a pub called the Laurel Tree, not far from Chris and Jonny’s flat.

    Closed, with the lease on the market: see it from the street.

    Sources
  3. A pub front painted bright red and white with the name across the top
    The Dublin Castle on Parkway, Camden, August 2025. Ewan-M · CC BY-SA 4.0

    94 Parkway, Camden

    The Dublin Castle

    The band played the Dublin Castle on 22 February 1998. Their timeline calls it a small north London venue that started Madness, Blur, Supergrass and Amy Winehouse.

    A working pub and small venue: go in for a drink or a gig.

    Sources
  4. A tall Victorian pub with arched windows and benches outside on a sunny evening
    The Bull and Gate, Kentish Town Road, July 2025. Ewan-M · CC BY-SA 4.0

    389 Kentish Town Road, Kentish Town

    The Bull and Gate

    In January 1999 the promoter Simon Williams let the band play five songs in 20 minutes here.

    A Young’s pub, open every day for food and drink. The back-room stage has gone.

    Sources

Stay

Sleep in the Rockfield yard.

The Quadrangle, a converted stable block on the farm where Yellow was written, let to groups.

Rockfield Leisure

The Quadrangle, Rockfield

Rockfield, near Monmouth

A converted stable block with nine bedrooms, three of them self-contained apartments, round its own courtyard at Rockfield Studios. Self-catering for large groups; towels and bedding supplied. Ken Nelson said Yellow was written in the Quadrangle Studio on this farm.

Ask about dates

Go there

Stadium, beach and Camden.

A Wembley stadium tour, the National Trust beaches at Studland and Camden music walks on the marketplace.

Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium Tour

Wembley, London

A guided walk behind the scenes of the UK’s largest sports and music venue, where Coldplay played ten nights in 2025. VIP and group tours too.

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National Trust

Studland Bay beaches

Studland, Dorset · Parking £4 for 2 hours · £10 all day · NT members free

Four miles of sand from Knoll Beach to Shell Bay, open all day; café, shop and free beach wheelchairs at Knoll Beach. Car parks 9am to 5pm.

Plan a visit
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Camden music walking tours

Camden, London

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What’s on

Back to Worthy Farm.

The tour has been on a break since September 2025. Glastonbury returns in June 2027.

Checking current event dates…

Take it home

A poster, a book and two records.

One original poster from our store, a band history and two LPs tied to these places.

Printed Originals · Our poster store

A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)

An original 2002 poster for the second album, art by Sølve Sundsbø. 20 × 30 in, rolled, mint.

In stock

View poster
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Life in Technicolor

Debs Wild and Malcolm Croft

An illustrated history of the band, published in 2018.

Find the book
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Parachutes

Coldplay · LP, Parlophone 527 7831, 2000

The first album: Yellow written at Rockfield, the bulk recorded at Parr Street.

Live marketplace search · listings and condition change

Find a copy
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Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

Coldplay · LP, Parlophone 2121141, 2008

Made at the Bakery, the band’s first studio of their own in north London.

Live marketplace search · listings and condition change

Find a copy

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

The sources

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

12 of 12 places · 13 of 13 Moments

  • Ramsay Hall

    20 Maple Street, Fitzrovia

    • Freshers’ week

      The four meet at UCL’s Ramsay Hall, over a pint by the pool table.

    • Five floors of echo

      Will and Chris jam on the hall’s big stairwell in the first week.

  • The Camden Road flat

    Camden Road, Camden

    • First rehearsal

      The first Coldplay rehearsal, in Chris and Jonny’s Camden Road flat.

  • The Laurel Tree

    113 Bayham Street, Camden

    • Starfish

      The first show, upstairs at the Laurel Tree, sold out to friends.

  • The Dublin Castle

    94 Parkway, Camden

    • No drums, no matter

      Will drums without a shared kit; Dan Green mixes his first Coldplay show.

  • The Bull and Gate

    389 Kentish Town Road, Kentish Town

    • Five songs, 20 minutes

      A short back-room set that brings the first NME review.

  • Rockfield Studios

    Amberley Court, Rockfield Road, near Monmouth

    • Look up

      Yellow is written in the Quadrangle Studio after a night under the stars.

  • Parr Street Studios

    Parr Street, Liverpool

    • The bulk of Parachutes

      Most of the first album is recorded with Ken Nelson in Liverpool.

  • Studland Bay

    Studland, Isle of Purbeck, Dorset

    • One take

      Chris walks the wet beach alone in one long shot for the Yellow video.

  • The Bakery and the Beehive

    North London

    • A studio of their own

      The Bakery is built in north London for Viva la Vida; the Beehive follows across the road.

  • The Pyramid Stage

    Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset

    • Fifth time

      A record fifth Pyramid Stage headline, opening with Yellow.

  • Etihad Stadium

    Joe Mercer Way, Manchester

    • Wristbands come home

      Sugarcane wristbands handed out, collected, cleaned and handed out again.

  • Wembley Stadium

    Wembley, north-west London

    • The tenth night

      Ten Wembley nights on one tour, the last on 12 September 2025.

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