Review: Coldplay’s first New Zealand show in 8 years

Thursday, 14 November 2024

Coldplay performs at Eden Park.

It was refreshing for a group of Brits to be at Eden Park without having their arses kicked by the All Blacks, Coldplay front man Chris Martin told fans at the band’s first New Zealand show on Wednesday.

Martin said performing at Eden Park felt like a “family reunion”, as Coldplay kicked off the Kiwi leg of its Music of the Spheres Tour. The band last visited in 2016, which Martin said was too long ago.

It might be why he kissed the tarmac upon landing on our whenua, as he did in Australia, which made for one of the week’s more bizarre headlines.

“I took a load of shit for kissing the ground when I landed,” he admitted. “Why wouldn’t you want to kiss the ground in New Zealand? It’s lovely.”

Coldplay perform before more than 50,000 fans at Auckland’s Eden Park.

The show kicks off with a video explaining what has been done to make the tour more green, including that the light up wrist bands we’re wearing are reusable and compostable. Good to clarify, especially for the guy I overheard remarking: “Is this an ankle bracelet? Because I’ve already got one.”

With a “3, 2, 1” from Martin and the pop of confetti canons, we launch into Higher Power and groove along to Adventure of a Lifetime, as about 100 giant balloons float around Eden Park, occasionally bouncing off the heads of unsuspecting fans.

By the time Paradise starts playing, all 50,000 of us are in party mode.

Given Coldplay is trying to reduce its impact on the environment, I can only hope Chris Martin personally blew up these balloons instead of using helium.

We’re brought back down to earth with The Scientist, after which Martin tells us we’re his favourite crowd to date, and that no, he doesn’t say that at every show (allegedly).

“We’re so happy to see all of you… It feels like some kind of family reunion.”

The crowd’s wristbands glowed yellow for a certain song.

“Thank you so much everyone, kia ora.” His te reo Māori pronunciation is pretty good for a Brit, given most of us struggle to roll our Rs. It’s always nice to see when a pop star does their homework.

Soon enough, our wristbands light up yellow, which can only mean one thing. As we sway to Yellow, the stadium twinkles and glows as if we’re trapped inside van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Star, heart and butterfly confetti covered the stadium during the show.

From here, things start to get a bit weird. The band dips under the stage for a breather, while The Weirdos - an aptly named puppet band created for the Biutyful music video - croon to each other.

When Coldplay returns, they’ve morphed into aliens, each with their own impressive alien head, and Martin wearing a shirt stating “Everyone is an alien somewhere”.

Looking like a blue Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc, he delivers the first verse of Something Like This.

The stadium’s lights turned into hearts when we put on our special glasses.

We finally get to Sky Full of Stars, the song I’ve had stuck in my head all day in anticipation of the show. Just before we reach the chorus, Martin abruptly calls for the music to stop.

“I’ve just heard that my drummer Will has been arrested for trying to bring a potato into your country, so we’re going to have to deal with this.

“We told you specifically, Will. No vegetables,” he says, before pondering whether to call Neil Finn or Murray Hewitt from Flight of the Conchords for help.

“Believe in love” Martin told the crowd at the end of the night.

Jokes aside, Martin asks us to put away our phones. He’s going to start the song again, but wants us to disconnect and enjoy it.

“For three and a half minutes… come offline,” he told the crowd.

A beautiful few minutes it was, including star-shaped confetti and fireworks. You’ll have to take my word for it, as I wasn’t about to be the only person in the stadium to ignore Martin’s wish by sneaking a photo.

When we reach Fix You, the soundtrack for all things sad, Martin says “I hope you’re OK” to those of us who can’t help but have a little cry. For a split second, I worry that this is how the concert ends and wonder how I’ll shake out of my feels.

The feels are quickly replaced by Good Feelings, performed with opening artist Ayra Star, after Weirdos puppet Angel Moon instructs us to put on our special glasses, transforming the stadium’s bright lights into holographic hearts.

With that, Martin tells us to “believe in love” and exits the stage, where the band will do it all again for another 100,000 fans on Friday and Saturday.