Music of the Spheres World Tour: Cardiff, Tuesday 6th June 2023.
I feel embarrassed. Confused. Dumbfounded and distressed. I’ve lived my life with scant awareness of one of life’s most exceptional experiences. Coldplay live!
That is, until I was educated at the Principality Stadium, bang in the middle of the Welsh capital, whereupon an eruption of emotion was evoked by the charmer in chief ─ Chris Martin.
Courted crowd connections at concerts are nothing new, par for the course, scripted and often sanctimonious; but Coldplay have the credentials to capture hearts and minds.
Could it be their impressive inclusivity, sustainability, and eco-friendliness? What other venue can boast being powered by 100% renewable energy? Or the explicit link to addressing our most crucial climate concerns by investing a proportion of the revenue from each ticket?
Or could it be the individual wristbands that magically connected everyone in swathes of coordinated colour ─ made from highly sustainable plant-based plastic sourced from renewable sugarcane ─ thus avoiding the usual waving of thousands of mobile phone torches that ultimately need to be recharged.
Or was it the remarkable humanity of a band that seeks out the opportunity to actively collaborate with the crowd. The duet with a guy plucked from the crowd holding a sign requesting that Chris sing the beautiful ballad “Everglow” to his friend in heaven was the most moving show of intimacy I have ever shared with over fifty thousand other people.
Or was it simply the show, the shazam, or scintillating songs, that for a Coldplay newbie like me were simply spellbinding? Lifting off with “Higher Power” Coldplay orbited the Earth that evening with the vision and velocity of a celestial cavalcade that for a few precious moments lifted the gloom that presently exists around our fragile globe.
Whatever the combination, Coldplay live is a must for every terrestrial being since “Humankind” will always need to look up in awe at “A Sky Full of Stars.”
© Ian Kirke 2023 and all photographs.
@ianjkirke