I’m about to review what will forever stay by far one of my favourite gigs of all time. Coldplay at Wembley on Sunday were more than incredible. But before I get into that, there was another special, unforgettable, unique experience I have to talk about.
I will start by saying that I will never ever be able to thank Coldplay for delivering such inclusive and unique shows. To make their gigs accessible to everyone, Coldplay organised sign language interpreters for those with hearing impairment, sensory rooms for those with any sensory disabilities, and touch tours for those with a visual impairment at every show. Before the show started, I was able to go on a touch tour. As a blind individual who often goes to gigs on my own, I am often left wondering about all the visual elements that are put in place to make the show what it is. From stage setup, to band image and everything else in between – these are the things that most of the time I have no clue about. Experiencing the touch tour at the Coldplay show allowed me to get a better insight of these things. I was able to have a feel of the guitars and the acoustic piano and learnt so much about how they are all operated by the guys in the underworld to make sure everything was ready for the respective songs. Yes, there is a bit under the stage called the underworld. I never knew this. I also got to look at the small but all important elements such as the different shaped confetti that would shoot out of the many, many cannons at different parts during Coldplay’s set. My favourite part has to be the theme which the show represented. I found the whole alien world aspect and the fact that everything was written in Kaotican very fascinating. It was interesting to feel the clothing that the band would wear and the patches with the tactile letters spelling the words in Kaotican. The same theme was represented on the piano with lazered symbols in the sides which was made better by added LED lights.
The team did an amazing job of describing what everything was in such great detail. This is definitely an experience I want to see more of at gigs in the future.
Now onto the actual show. We started off with the first support act, Laura Mvula. I can honestly say I hadn’t heard much about her before then. So I was one of the people who didn’t know any of her songs. As I always like to discover new music, it was definitely an interesting listen. Her set got all the attention when she did a cover of Coldplay’s “Violet Hills” and Chris came on stage to sing it with her. I am still not entirely sure how to describe her style.
London Grammar were the second support act. Other than actually wanting to see Coldplay live, they were obviously my main reason of being at the show. As I have reviewed them before, I will only have great things to say about them. This was my first time of experiencing a support act’s set lasting for roughly an hour. They did a great mix of songs from their first and third albums. Highlights include “Lord It’s A Feeling”, “Wasting My Young Years”, “Metal And Dust” and “Lose Your Head”. I must admit that seeing London Grammar from the seating area instead of the front barrier was different. And seeing them as a support act also had a different vibe to it as the crowd interaction was not the same as I have been used to all this time. Nonetheless, seeing them live was another special moment.
I also have to comment on the zen, meditative music that was playing in between sets. As much as I often am intrigued to hear the playlists that play between bands on stage, this was a nice change. And I appreciated the quieter music moments. Especially as I was experiencing some anxiety over being in such a big venue like Wembley.
Fast-forward to the main part of the show, and we had Greg James and an NHS nurse introducing Coldplay on stage. But before that, we watched a short film of the band members explaining how the shows are made environmentally sustainable. The fact that the band were making these shows so accessible, inclusive and sustainable made me want to see them live even more when the tour was announced. These are all causes I strongly believe in and feel proud that one of my favourite bands does too.
I think that Coldplay shows don’t have the case of getting better as the show goes on. The impression I got on Sunday was that they started out strong, and carried that all the way to the end. It was the wildest, most incredible gig I have ever been to. The band, the songs, the crowd were all amazing. I did not hear a moment where people weren’t singing and clapping along. Even with the slowest songs we had something we could get involved with. Some of the more memorable songs include “Paradise” and of course “Viva La Vida”. You can always tell that someone has been to a Coldplay gig as the entire Wembley Way to the tube station was filled with people singing songs from the night. My personal favourite moment has to be when the band were playing “A Sky Full Of Stars” and Chris was calling out the lyrics to us before stopping the song. This then went into an unforgettable moment of Chris telling everyone to put their phones away and not film the song. He said, “You don’t have to film this. I promise, this is already on YouTube”, and told us to go mad and exist in the moment. I wish we could go back to the times where people didn’t have the chance to film anything. It is one of my pet peeves that people record entire gigs. I can understand the wanting to remember it forever aspect of it but sometimes it makes me wonder how much people actually pay attention to the actual show at the time. Of course the song was incredible complete with fireworks.
There were also some surprises I did not expect such as “Sparks”, “In My Place” and “Magic”. I loved hearing “Human Heart”. A big shout out to Angel the puppet. And let’s not forget the special guest. I wasn’t expecting it to be Stormzy and I don’t think anyone was expecting him to sing. He blessed us with his song “Blinded By Your Grace”. Safe to say, it was a beautiful moment and we all got emotional. Anyone would with a song like that.
Overall, I still can’t put into words how unbelievable this gig was. It started with an unforgettable experience, and ended on such a high, a show I will never forget. I want to say a massive thanks to the team organising the touch tour – especially to Lauren and Hayley for doing such a great job of describing everything. I hope that more bands follow in the footsteps of Coldplay and start to implement these things into their shows. It helped massively towards the enjoyment of the show. My first time seeing Coldplay live could not have been better.