For anyone who thought Coldplay peaked in the early to mid-aughts with a seemingly endless hit parade that included “The Scientist,” “Fix You,” “Strawberry Spring,” “Paradise,” et al., well au contraire; Chris Martin and co. have been racking up continued successes in a surprisingly enduring fashion. Their most recent album, last fall’s Moon Music, topped the charts around the globe, from their native UK to the States and Australia and all ports in between.
Not bad for LP number 10.
There are other reasons why Coldplay has been able to retain a core audience while bringing in newbies on the regular, enough to fill stadiums on their current Music of the Spheres tour, something they’re doing in Foxborough two times over, tonight (July 15) and Wednesday (July 16) at Gillette Stadium. A big part of it is tapping into a younger demographic via effortless collaborations with artists like BTS, Selena Gomez, Burna Boy, and Big Sean, or having the audacity to cover songs by, say, Kudi Cudi, and shamelessly linking up with Swedish pop songwriting machine Max Martin.
Basically, they don’t give a shit what people think, and it works wonders. When the band dropped in for a surprise halftime performance at the FIFA Club World Cup over the weekend at MetLife Stadium, the tabloids in England lost their damn minds, falling just short of declaring the sport is over because of it. Martin, meanwhile, didn’t have a care in the world, embracing Doja Cat and dancing around with the goofiest smile he could muster during the appearance. For him, it’s just another massive venue to conquer, much like Gillette, or next month, when he and his bandmates will break a record set by Take That and Taylor Swift by headlining 10 nights at Wembley Stadium.
It’s one thing for an artist to have a moment, but Coldplay somehow made theirs last a quarter century, with very few valleys in between all those peaks. So, for those looking to turn the “Clocks” back or first got introduced to them via a collab with The Chainsmokers, finding fulfillment amid the tens of thousands of others this week shouldn’t be too difficult.
COLDPLAY + AYRA STARR + ELYANNA :: Wednesday, July 15 and Thursday, July 16 at Gillette Stadium, 1 Patriot Place in Foxborough, MA :: 6 p.m., all ages, $302 to $1,352 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
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