Venue: National Stadium, Singapore
Date: 23rd January 2024
Promoter: Live Nation Singapore
Review by: Anna F.
Special Thanks: The Live Nation Singapore team
Photos by Ernest C.
It only took seven years for British megastars Coldplay to return to our shores. The last time they performed here was in 2017, on their A Head Full of Dreams tour. This time, the quartet pulled out all the stops once again for the Singapore leg of the Music Of The Spheres world tour, and the first of six nights here was nothing short of paradise.
Made up of lead vocalist and keyboardist Chris Martin, lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion, the British rock band added so many more elements to their live show over the years that it completely transcended the overall concert experience.
The band’s drive towards sustainability was very apparent from the get-go, with kinetic floors and power bikes that you could ride on. The energy generated from this is channeled into powering the C stage at the subsequent show. Even the wristbands that were handed out to the audience transformed the crowd with incredible lighting effects, priding themselves on being the world’s first compostable plant-based plastic wristband. And if that wasn’t impressive enough – Grab announced that concertgoers could hop on free shuttle buses that would take them to Redhill, Jurong East, Boon Keng, and Toa Payoh MRT stations after the show.
It all felt like a completely different planet we received an exclusive invitation to, participating in something larger than ourselves; contributing to the bigger picture and creating a better world. All while being treated to music from a band with over 100 million albums sold worldwide.
The night was led by charismatic frontman Chris Martin, who seemed genuinely happy to be playing in a stadium filled to the brim with diehard Coldplay fans from all around the world. His golden retriever energy was contagious and got the crowd singin’ every second, from the very first song, Higher Power, off their ninth studio album.
Despite forgetting the lyrics to Paradise, and having the piano die on him during The Scientist, which all happened during the first act of their set, the singer kept things light-hearted and quickly segued into a version with just Jonny on guitar, which made for a very special rendition of the hit single off their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head.
“Thank you for letting us come to Singapore. We’re so happy. We’re gonna give you everything we have, pianos or no pianos,” Martin said, smiling from ear to ear.
From the synchronised pyro blasts during Hymn For The Weekend, and the rainbow-coloured confetti streams shooting across the sky, to the bright lights adorning every audience member’s wrist, reminding us that we were all part of the Coldplay family, the band made sure to put on a spectacle that would keep us all buzzin’ night after night after night.
The show took a meaningful turn during Everglow, which saw two fans who had recently lost someone close to them getting called up on stage to sit by the singer as he serenaded them. “You don’t need to film now. Everybody else is filming. I’m right here, I’m real,” the singer said, after one of them whipped out his phone to document the special moment. Martin even apologised for being sweaty, saying, “I sweat more when the piano doesn’t work.” I’m not exaggerating when I say there was not a dry eye in the house at that point.
Singing along to every lyric, the audience’s voices reverberated throughout the stadium and it was a hair-raising experience, especially when the arena was encased in tiny bouncing lights meticulously curated for each song. They all turned yellow in time for the band’s breakthrough hit off their debut album titled Parachutes. “Yellow sounded so good we’re gonna sing another chorus,” Chris proclaimed, to the sheer glee of their fans.
The lads even donned alien masks during the prelude to Something Just Like This, and Chris even signed the lyrics to it. Toward the end of the night, giant inflatable planets were carried out, making it feel like intergalactic travel was within reach. The band closed out the show with Fix You and Biutyful, leaving the audience awestruck with everything that they witnessed in the span of just two hours.
“Thank you for being with us, for giving us your Tuesday,” the singer said before the band made their way offstage. It was a night of epic proportions, and by the end of it, it was clear that for Coldplay, we’d bleed ourselves dry.
It’s such a shame for us to part…