When Coldplay announced back in 2019 that they would stop touring until a sustainable solution could be found to cut the carbon footprint by at least 50% everyone was taken aback, considering that would mean not touring the 2019 album Everyday Life. The fans needn’t have worried as they announced the Music Of The Spheres tour in 2021 … a tour that would go on to rake in well over one billion dollars while selling over twelve million tickets. It began way back on 18th March 2022 in Costa Rica at the Estadio Nacional in San Jose and will end at Wembley Stadium on 8th September 2025. Impressed yet? Ok how about 225 shows, in 80 cities across 43 countries? Nobody would have thought that the Music Of The Spheres would go on to surpass the Taylor Swift Eras Tour either.
Craven Park Stadium in Hull is mainly used for rugby and has a capacity of 11,000 on matchdays but for concerts the capacity increases to 23,000 and it is a full-house tonight. We took our seats five minutes before Coldplay take to the stage, we weren’t in our seats for long though … from the first note of Higher Power the crowd were on their feet dancing and singing joyously, it basically stayed that way throughout the twenty-three track set, the collective efforts of the crowd and band made this a magical night of music that would stay in the memory for a long time. The fireworks have began already during Adventures Of A Lifetime and the wristbands that we were handed before the show were lit up intermittently adding to the spectacle that was unfolding in front of us, Paradise and The Scientist ended Act .i. (Planets) of the set. Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion soon returned to the ‘B’ stage at the end of the walkway to play Viva La Vida and Hymn For The Weekend before Chris invited a fan that has travelled all the way from China up on to the stage for True Love, a song that hasn’t been on the setlist since 2014 … Martin comments that if the Chinese government are watching they wouldn’t mind doing a few shows in that country!
Charlie Brown is a personal favourite of ours taken from the Mylo Xyloto album while Yellow is dedicated to Chris’ mum, the whole stadium is now a sea of yellow with inflatable balls keeping the fans entertained as they take turns punching them into the air, this track has a special place in the fans hearts and is considered the song that pushed Coldplay into the spotlight. Time is passing so quickly here … we have come to the end of Act .ii. (Moons) already, looking around we spot the actor James Norton and he is happy to pose for the obligatory photo, thanks James. Round three (or Act .iii. Stars) opens with a few tracks from the Music Of The Spheres album with Human Heart (with pink singers), People Of The Pride and Infinity Sign, the latter was played on the ‘B’ stage. Let’s not forget the latest album release Moon Music though, local rapper and first support of the night Chiedu Oraka joins the band during WE PRAY to the delight of the crowd. Something Just Like This from the Kaleidoscope EP is one of the standout moments from the night, it seems like every soul in Craven Park is singing this one as they are once again on the ‘B’ stage. My Universe and Sky Full Of Stars end the third portion of the set, the second mentioned is another standout as Chris asks everyone to put their phones away while restarting the song, memories come flooding back of my youngest son singing this one as a nipper even before he could speak! Act .iiii. (Home) begins with Louis Armstrong intro speech to What A Wonderful World and is quickly followed by Sparks, the second track from the Parachutes album that was released twenty five years ago now, this one is sung by Chris on the ‘C’ stage with an extended outro where he thanks those involved in the tour. There is a surprise next when drummer Will Champion takes on vocal duties for In My Place, he does a decent job of it too, is it maybe time for Chris to stand aside?
Before The Jumbotron Song the crowd are warned to duck if they are with someone they aren’t supposed to be there with … this is a reference to the concert in the USA when two fans were caught on the ‘kiss cam’ and the clip went worldwide afterwards! Chris picks out a few tonight and sings a few impromptu lines to the amusement of the crowd, Fix You is next up and has to be one of the best moments of the night, the crowd singalong was exceptional. We return to the Moon Music album for feelslikeimfallinginlove and ALL MY LOVE that is sadly the last of the set.
So what’s next up for Coldplay? Well there are just the ten sold out nights at Wembley Stadium to end the Music Of The Spheres tour in style … and that equates to around 900,000 tickets sold, every record in the industry has been smashed by this tour! This was our fourth time seeing Coldplay live and we never tire of them, they always seem to add a new dimension to the shows, it will be interesting to see what they do next. 11/10
Written by: Alan Brown
