The man who came in from the Coldplay

Coldplay's Chris Martin was among the David Gray fans who braved sub-Arctic temperatures on Grafton St last night for the worldwide launch of A New Day At Midnight.

Martin and his multi platinum-selling bandmates had just flown in to Dublin for their The Point Theatre headliners on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th.

As a special thank you to Gray's Irish fans, A New Day At Midnightis being made available here three days ahead of its UK release. HMV Grafton St. had opened up especially at midnight to cater for the demand, and as staff were locking up at around 1 am, none other than Coldplay frontman Chris Martin gave a tap at the window.

"He asked if he could buy five copies of the album," reports our man on the spot Chris Donovan. "Obviously, once staff realised who he was, they let him in. The RMG distribution representative who was in HMV at the time gave him five complimentary copies of the album, but Martin insisted on paying, and so instead gave the HMV staff EUR100 so that they could all buy themselves a drink!"

What a nice guy!

In the meantime, fans can catch David Gray's performance on BBC's Parkinson which airs at 22:25 on Saturday 26th October. Watching from the wings will be Hot Press scribe Olaf Tyaransen, whose no holds barred interview with Gray will be appearing in the next issue, which is due to hit the shelves on November 7th.