Coldplay’s ‘Music of The Spheres’ tour is the biggest rock tour ever
Coldplay’s ‘Music of The Spheres’ world tour is the biggest rock tour of all time, according to Billboard’s touring archives.
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PALO ALTO, California – Sitting among some 50,000 other happy souls at Stanford Stadium watching Chris Martin hop, skip and jump around a confetti-strewn stage, a thought comes to mind. This must be what it’s like to live inside a magnificently utopian Hallmark card.
Martin and his merry band of Coldplay troubadours – guitarist Jonny Buckland, bass player Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion – unleashed their infectious brand of rock May 31 on an adoring California crowd to kick off the final leg of a tour that started in March 2022 and wraps in London this September.
Love was decidedly in the air. In the hearts created by digitally controlled audience wrist bands, in the spontaneous kisses shared by couples in the crowd, and in the countless exhortations from Martin, who seems to be genuinely if not desperately trying to counter a rather sober global mood. Coldplay really should be called Warmplay, so brimming with affection and frolic is this band and its music.
Not that Martin and Company aren’t aware their brand of upbeat sonic love bombs seem to run counter to the current vibe. Whether it was a joke about the band suddenly losing its visas, a T-shirt that proclaimed “Everyone is an alien somewhere” or a salute to both Israeli and Palestinian fans alike (“Don’t put some bulls— on the internet now, we love all people!” Martin boomed), the message was clear: Don’t bring your siloed, judgmental views anywhere near a Coldplay concert.
From roaring rockers to thoughtful ballads, Coldplay’s range keeps the show moving
The show started in daylight after a hot, sunshiny day in Northern California. That meant after one early song ended with a dramatic coda, Martin quipped: “OK, there you had to imagine that all the lights had gone out.” At another point, he noted “this is show 195 of the tour, or, 194 rehearsals for this Stanford show” (the band will perform here again June 1).
And what of the music itself? Does it matter, truly? For three decades now, this quartet of college pals have produced an impressive body of work that is eminently hummable, a cornucopia of earworms that everyone knows even if most folks would fail to come up with the names of their songs. They’re just … there. In the ether. In the culture. In the cosmos.
If you want the full rundown, just check Coldplay’s setlist. But suffice to say the 20 tunes blended Coldplay staples such as “Paradise” and “A Sky Full of Stars” with newer songs such as “My Universe” and “We Pray,” this last one sung alongside Elyanna and Willow, who opened for the band.
Coldplay have faced criticism from detractors who like to dismiss them as U2 Light or a Muzak Oasis. Martin’s well aware, and has no issues accepting and dismissing such barbs. At 48, he and his mates are at this point beyond the reach of such slings and arrows, content if not downright proud in their roles as Pied Pipers of Good Vibrations.
And hand it to this band. The lads have range, capable of playing any number of stadium-rocking infectious sing-a-longs such as “Clocks,” but then bringing things way down with Martin-at-the-keyboard songs such as “Magic” (which Martin sang to two fans who’d each requested that tune on cardboard signs they’d held up in front of him).
A Coldplay concert is less musical evening and more a spiritual rally
Say what you will about a songs such as “Viva La Vida” or “Adventure of a Lifetime.” If they’re not gritty or serious enough for your tastes, so be it. For Martin, they are nothing less than personal anthems, statements of commitment to making the world just a little bit better, one song, one concert, one human connection at a time.
During the show, there were many times Martin acted almost like a preacher in this church of Coldplay, a willing congregation welcoming his pleas and exhortations.
With his beaming smile and infectious enthusiasm, he asked the crowd at one point to pick a fan across the stadium and wave at them. In another break, he told everyone to spend five seconds beaming out goodwill towards either someone you liked or someone you disliked. In another gesture that wasn’t heeded by all, Martin stopped “A Sky Full of Stars” and asked the crowd to please put their phones away and just live in the moment.
Near the end, Martin made a point of thanking a long list of people, from Coldplay’s crew to the vendors in the stands. He seemed almost intent to leave no one out for fear of offending. For Martin, humans can be amazing, if they only remember to shut out the negativity.
Bob Marley in his time pushed the same “one love” concept on the world through his music, a plea for unity and positivity. Coldplay has taken up that baton (Marley’s refrain “Let’s get together and feel alright” might as well be a Coldplay mantra) and added things the reggae icon might never have imagined, from confetti to fireworks, and from bouncing spheres to 3D vibrating hearts.
Martin’s ‘One Love’ entreaties come from the heart, as a long-ago meeting revealed
Martin seems to be the lodestar for this big love vibe. I felt his idealistic embrace firsthand 10 years ago when I interviewed the band about Coldplay’s seventh album, “A Head Full of Dreams.” I was waiting to speak with Martin outside a burger joint in west Los Angeles, and he arrived a bit late, wildly apologetic and explaining he’d been delayed by his then-young son Moses’ flag football game.
For the next hour, Martin wasn’t a rock star but just another father of a young child sharing parenthood stories and his hopes for the world amid bites of crispy French fries. At the end of our talk, he handed me a small pin that said “Love.” The same pin he wore Saturday night in Palo Alto.
It could have been the cheesiest celebrity gesture ever. Yet somehow it didn’t feel like one. The man wears his heart on his sleeve, and he’ll show it to you on a park bench or in a giant football stadium.
So in a world that can often feel angry, fractured and imperiled, Coldplay is here to remind us all there is love, community and hope. If that sounds like a musical Hallmark card, ship me off in it.
