Why Coldplay's concerts are a global movement

‘If music be the food of love, play on,’ Shakespeare’s immortal lines from Twelfth Night are seeing a modern-day interpretation. In these uncertain times when conflict and upheaval spar, as though in a duel, a music band is showing us how empathy and positivity can be ours for the taking if we so, choose.

Before attending a Coldplay concert (the streamlined edition in Abu Dhabi) I wondered if croon-worthy music notwithstanding, the euphoria around the band was at least mildly exaggerated. After crossing to the other side, I can convincingly say, that all the hype and the online queuing is worth it.

Coldplay is an experience, and it is one for the times we live in, where positive affirmations don’t always translate beyond online reels as truth becomes conditional. The band are not just performers doing a job well done.

That they take us along for an unforgettable ride as though they have a stake in our anonymous lives is what makes them special. Indians will tell you how celebrity and VIP culture is affected and disparate. Chris Martin on the other hand is the real showman.

The four-member British group is as much about its music as it is about a band of men — and their crew — with their hearts in the right place. Polarised, demographically and ideologically, we come together as one under a sky full of stars.

For just a moment, a long one, they make us forget everything — the chaos outside, the quest within. No hashtags, however long they trend can come close to Coldplay’s power of uplifting a sea of humanity.

Reality hits soon enough

Inclusive in the deepest sense, Chris Martin uses sign language for the visually impaired and special backpacks for those with hearing loss. In a world looking for a healing touch, theirs is elastic, infinite and flexible.

In Abu Dhabi, there was a shutout to Gaza and Palestine, in Mumbai the British singer apologised for colonialism. In Ahmedabad, they bonded over India’s national obsession with cricket and its local hero, bowler Jasprit Bumrah.

Despite a shift to online or OTT platforms, popular culture still holds its own and Coldplay keeps it real, offline. Much like Taylor Swift, there is no empty seat at the venue. Incidentally, incorporating the best of both worlds, their live-streamed show in India garnered 83 lakh views.

Yes, the world has real problems, India totters in the hunger index and the Middle East has been far from calm in the past two years but naysayers need to let go and stop equating a concert with any imagined abdication of conscience.

These woke outlooks do no one any good. There is not enough joy going around so why begrudge those grasping what they can with both hands? Reality hits soon enough.

Message of sustainability

As America withdraws from the Paris climate agreement and the world struggles to grasp the enormity of the environment and climate crisis, Coldplay has emerged as an unlikely champion and its biggest mascot. We live in times where icons are not always organic, and here is one spreading its message of sustainability across borders. Theirs is a lesson easier learnt than any knowledge shared in classrooms.

Coldplay recycles LED concert wristbands and installs power bikes and kinetic floors at their venues that generate renewable energy from concertgoers dancing or cycling.

Single-use plastic is discouraged and instead, water stations are set up for refilling. Last year, Martin and his team cut down by 59% carbon dioxide emissions during their tour and kept their promise of halving their carbon footprint compared to their previous tour.

What seems interactive in the moment is a well-thought-out environmentally friendly plan. For every ticket sold Coldplay plants a tree, and from Brazil to Australia 7 million trees have been planted.

The band admits their sustainability and environment advocacy is a work in progress and while no one gets it all done when the challenge is this vast, they are setting a fine example.

The idea of oneness

And their message to protect the planet resonates, from the youngest kid at the concert in Greece to the oldest in South Korea, everyone is watching and hopefully, internalising. Critics who consider themselves the real inheritors of a musical sensibility can trash Coldplay fans, but the numbers do the talking.

Musicians the world over, come on stage, perform and exit. In a broken world, Coldplay is here to make it right for us, to fix you. In times of vehement self-righteousness, they take a stand with love and leave us smiling and warm. Chris Martin broke the barrier between a celebrity and his fandom and, so, the hangover lasts. Don’t listen to the critics.

Instead, just for a few hours embrace the idea of oneness, of a world at peace with colourful balloons in the air and a thousand steps jumped together. It is a brotherhood, hold on to it, for it is fast lost.

It may not be profound, but the experience is transformative, it is a reminder that the stars, they shine for you. Or as John Lennon sang in Imagine, ‘You may say I am a dreamer, but I am not the only one. I hope someday you will join us and the world will be as one.’