Coldplay get giddy as they smash Wembley Stadium record

Coldplay celebrated the end of their record-breaking 10-show run at Wembley Stadium with a dazzling, multi-coloured night of musical magic.

Playing hits from every era of their 25-year career, they filled the stadium with light, and even indulged themselves with a giddy version of Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody. "This is the song I warm up to in the car park," joked singer Chris Martin.

The show closed the latest leg of their Music Of The Spheres Tour, which has circled the world four times since 2022. It is now the highest-attended tour in history, with more than 13m tickets sold.

On stage, Martin promised it would resume "somewhere in southern Africa in about 18 months".

Friday's show was held almost a week late, after a strike by London transport workers forced the band to postpone.

"I know it caused a lot of inconvenience for a lot of you," Martin told the crowd. "In return we're going to play a show fifteen times better than any show we've ever played before. That's the pledge."

They might not have achieved that goal - Coldplay have already set themselves a ridiculously high bar - but this was stadium stagecraft at its absolute finest.

The concert is a sensory overload, full of LED writstbands, raining confetti, laser lights, spinning inflatables, 3D glasses that turn everything into hearts and stars, and even a brief puppet show (the operators, Drew and Nicolette, happily got engaged during last Saturday's concert).

Martin is the glue that holds it together. He bounds across the stage like a puppy - or is it a youth pastor? - covering the length of the catwalk several times within the first few songs.

His plan isn't just to bridge the gap between the band and the audience, it's to dismantle it entirely.

"I see you," he says repeatedly, identifying uber-fans at the front and distant figures in the vertigo seats.

"I see you over here with a Brazilian flag. And I see you, too, in the top corner with lights on your bodies. You look like you're from the movie Tron."

It's a schtick, for sure, but it fosters an incredible sense of unity. Those LED wristbands play a huge part, too, making everyone in the audience part of a giant tapestry of light. And there's a communal euphoria in singing along to hits like Paradise, The Scientist, Yellow and Sky Full of Stars.

After the first 30 minutes, I realised that I'd barely looked at the giant screens above the stage.

The audience is the show.

That's a contrast to most stadium concerts, where the message is more like: "Look upon me, puny mortals, and be astonished by my divine talents and somewhat improbable physique."

Coldplay don't bother with any of that. Martin's bandmates Guy Berryman, Will Champion and Jonny Buckland would rather that no-one noticed them at all. Instead, they'd rather make a fuss over their special guests.

In London, that means Venezuela's Simón Bolívar Orchestra - a group of youth players who've supported the band at all of their Wembley dates. They come out twice, for Viva La Vida and feelslikeimfallinginlove, twirling their cellos and jumping up and down as they provide the stirring string accompaniment.

Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna, meanwhile, hogs the spotlight during We Pray, hitting some quite extraordinary high notes.

* Including six nights in 2022 and 10 nights in 2025

Musically, Coldplay's set-list is stacked. There's a thrilling version of Clocks that shudders with discordant guitar riffs before resolving into a powerful chorus; and an extended acoustic version of Sparks has fans swooning.

Something Just Like This, an abominable song on record, becomes a euphoric mini-rave on stage; while Fix You is simply majestic.

With the tour about to go on hiatus (or maybe because he keeps self-administering throat spray) Martin is on whimsical form.

He describes Coldplay as "the third best soft rock band in London"; randomly sings the opening lines of Wonderwall; and, during Paradise, invokes the dancehall star Shaggy, for no discernible reason.

"That song was by Shaggy," he declares, inaccurately.

Towards the end of the show, he stops everything to celebrate Buckland's 48th birthday, presenting the guitarist with a Lego Batmobile and promising, "I'll give you £1m if you build it before Fix You".

Then, preparing to play the album track Jupiter for the first time, he announces: "This could be terrible. But if it is terrible, don't worry, we're going to play Yellow in a minute.

"Will Champion could fart in the microphone, as long as we play Yellow."

Martin later admits that his sense of humour "gets me into trouble every day". But not as much trouble as married tech CEO Andy Byron, who was caught in a loving embrace with his HR executive on the giant screens of a Coldplay concert in the US earlier this year.

The moment - during part of the show where Martin serenades audience members with an improvised song - went viral, and has reportedly led to at least one divorce. So when the jumbotron section of the show starts on Friday, Martin issues a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer.

"Whatever happens here, stays here. Guaranteed. So if you've just embezzled the company funds, come on camera now. It's fine."

Before long, a young couple flashes up on the screen.

"Holy crap, don't put me through this again," the singer grimaces, only agreeing to play a song after they've flashed their wedding rings at the camera.

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