Review: Everything happens all at once at Coldplay’s sold-out show.
About 15 minutes into Music of the Spheres, I realised that we were all just big babies. When Coldplay emerged for their first song, our compostable plastic wristbands lit up around Eden Park, delighting us all. Minutes later, Chris Martin gestured dramatically and confetti exploded into the air and floated around the stadium. At the beginning of the second song, giant colourful balloons (spheres) emerged from seemingly nowhere and bounced around the crowd. We were so enthralled we forgot about the music for a good five minutes while we punched at the balloons as they passed over us and the lights flashed and the pink confetti landed in our hair. We were 57,000 babies having the time of our lives.
At most concerts, it’s fun to clock the demographic of an artist’s fans on the walk into the venue. And at most concerts, that demographic is overwhelming. The white women of P!nk. The jean shorts and broccoli haircuts of Travis Scott. The gays of Dua Lipa. But on the walk into Eden Park on Wednesday night, the demographic was hard to pin down. When we sat down, I was within arm’s reach of a plaid beret. The wearer’s partner was showing them his phone which displayed an email with subject line “Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy – Official Trailer”. Two rows in front, a man who must have been at least 70 was bopping. Down on the ground, kids were running around, some wearing earmuffs. What had brought them all to Coldplay on a Wednesday night?
The morning after, I’m still not sure. The Music of the Spheres global tour is record-breaking, with 10 million tickets already sold, and all three Eden Park shows sold out long ago. There is a huge audience for it and I can’t help but feel it has been designed to appeal to the broadest possible audience. This was evidenced in the surprising lack of crowd singing outside of the obvious hits (‘Fix You’, ‘Yellow’, ‘Paradise’), though I have been told those on the ground experienced a much livelier crowd than those in the stands. And so, the extra bits. There was confetti multiple times, the big balls, the light shows on the wristbands, goggles on the way in to see hearts floating in the stage lights, a puppet show that I thought was pre-recorded but then looked down and realised it was happening live onstage, fireworks! Three times! Everything was happening all the time, enough that even the most casual of Coldplay listeners (like my colleague sitting next to me) would’ve had a great time.
A few days before the concert, I saw a TikTok that had placed audio of Mr G from Summer Heights High speaking over Chris Martin dancing onstage. Watching Coldplay live, I can confidently say that Martin is not beating the Mr G allegations, but you know what? Mr G would sell out Eden Park too. It takes a certain character to hold a crowd of 57,000 for two hours, and Martin rose to the challenge. He was like a charismatic youth pastor, preaching love and acceptance through song. He had his obligatory banter but added more audience interaction, including improvising rhyming couplets for random fans who appeared on the big screen. It was all fun and extremely wholesome but did make me wonder if the music itself was secondary to the vibe of it, even for the band.
‘Paradise’ was a highlight, coming early in the show when energy was at its peak. And ‘Sky Full of Stars’ was a nice moment later in the show. There are a number of Coldplay songs that would have sounded incredible in a stadium – ‘Death and All His Friends’, for one – but probably didn’t fit the tone of the show, which Martin described as a “family reunion”. With such an extensive discography, and a new album to promote, darlings will always be killed. And by the sounds of the crowd, no one minded.
In lieu of some of Coldplay’s older hits, concertgoers experienced something unlike any other music show. There was a short film before the concert began detailing the many environmental initiatives supported by the sale of tickets. Martin explained that there were bikes at the back of the GA section that people could ride to help charge the batteries for Friday’s show. At one point we all put our arms into the air to “send love” to someone else in the world. If there was a song you didn’t know, there was plenty to look at and do instead.
In fact, when the band returned for its encore, Martin set up at the opposite end of the park for an intimate rendition of ‘Sparks’. About halfway through I thought, “Wow, he’s singing this quite badly”, and then felt a bit bad. The man had been entertaining for nearly two hours, he was probably just tired. But moments later he paused after the second verse and muttered “I’ve completely ruined this song”. Everyone laughed and didn’t care – there would be more fireworks soon.