Coldplay to play May 19 at UCLA's Royce Hall, 5 other small shows

Coldplay's Jonny Buckland, left, and Chris Martin, shown performing in March in Austin, and the rest of the group will play May 19 at UCLA's Royce Hall in conjunction with the worldwide release that day of the band's new album "Ghost Stories."

By Randy Lewis

April 17, 2014 9:13 AM PT

This post has been updated. See note below for details.

Coldplay will do a rare small-theater show on May 19 at UCLA’s Royce Hall on the day the band’s new album, “Ghost Stories,” is released.

The show is one of a half-dozen small-scale shows the group will play surrounding the release. In addition to the UCLA appearance, Coldplay will perform at the Beacon Theatre in New York on May 5 and on April 25 in Cologne, Germany, May 28 in Paris, June 12 in Tokyo and July 1 at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Tickets for the Cologne stop go on sale online Saturday. Ticket information for the other performances, including the Royce Hall show, is still to be announced.

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Coldplay finds itself at a tricky career juncture putting out and promoting its new album closely on the heels of the public announcement of the split between lead singer Chris Martin and actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who described their amicable parting as a “conscious uncoupling.”

When Martin was on hand to induct Peter Gabriel into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10 in Brooklyn, he declined to stop in the media room for photos and questions as many of the evening’s other participants had.

“Ghost Stories” is the band’s sixth studio album. The group released “Midnight,” a track from the album, in late February, and a week later put out the first single, “Magic.”

Here’s “Magic,” which has logged more than 13 million hits since it went up on YouTube:

Update at 10:30 a.m.: A spokesman for promoter Live Nation said yicket information for the remaining five shows will be emailed exclusively to subscribers to the Coldplay mailing list (which can be found at Coldplay.com).