When Coldplay tours, the British rockers typically play to tens of thousands of fans per show – in fact, as of Aug. 2024, their Music of the Spheres World Tour became the biggest rock tour of all time, according to Billboard Boxscore.
So when Chris Martin & Co. hit the stage at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg – a 650-person capacity venue — on Monday (Oct. 7) afternoon for a SiriusXM Presents show in support of new album Moon Music, the crowd was freaking out more than a little bit. Which might explain why one attendee, toward the end of the concert, shouted out a request for a nonexistent Coldplay song.
The saga began when Coldplay gave fan-favorite Music of the Spheres track “Coloratura” a rare performance, explaining that people online had been clamoring to hear it live. After that, fans began shouting out song titles, with one guy yelling, “Fix It.” Presumably, the man was thinking of the Billboard Hot 100 hit “Fix You” from 2005’s X&Y, but Chris Martin wasn’t letting him off that easy.
“’Fix It’ is another song from another band, my brother,” Martin said, shaking his head before leading the band through “Yellow.” But after wrapping up their breakthrough hit (“Yellow” was their first Hot 100 entry back in 2001), Martin seemingly decided that perhaps “Fix It” should be a Coldplay song after all. Apologizing to the fan for getting a bit “cross” with him, Martin sat down at the piano and freestyled an impromptu tune on the spot, dedicating it to the dude.
“Here is a song called ‘Fix It,’ specifically just for that guy / It’s okay if you come to a concert to call out of the name of a song,” Martin sang, chuckling good-naturedly. “[But] I’d much prefer you don’t get the name of the song wrong / Oh, fix it, let’s fix it / It was broken a long time ago / Yes, fix it, a famous song called ‘Fix It’ / That before today even I didn’t know.”
One can only imagine what it was like to be that man in that moment. In less than 10 minutes, he mangled a Coldplay song title in front of the band, got gently mocked by Martin, received an onstage apology and then had a brand-new song dedicated to him – one that will probably never be performed again. Iconic.
That unscripted moment gives a good sense of the vibe throughout Coldplay’s underplay, which was broadcast on SiriusXM later that same day. Thanks to the intimate space and a respectful but enthusiastic audience, Martin seemed warm and congenial, pointing at specific people in the crowd and sticking his tongue out for fans’ cameras. He even joked about the band going the Taylor Swift route with its back catalog. “We released Parachutes (Taylor’s Version), it’s going to do very well,” he quipped while speaking about their new LP, Moon Music.
Of the new Moon Music tracks, the live highlights were undoubtedly “The Karate Kid,” a gorgeous piano ballad that saw its first-ever live performance during the SiriusXM show, and “Good Feelings,” which brought collaborator Ayra Starr onstage and saw The Weirdos — Coldplay’s puppet alien rock band — pop up on the venue’s balcony. Much like their recent Saturday Night Live performance, Coldplay brought of Elyanna & TINI for an emphatic “We Pray,” too.
As for the anthemic sing-alongs, “Viva La Vida” and “Sky Full of Stars” enjoyed wild responses from the crowd, while a live run-through of “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face” from 2002’s classic LP A Rush of Blood to the Head proved that Coldplay can still kick ass as rock n’ roll band.
Although the mood of the show was light, joyous and celebratory (confetti blasted the audience more than once), Martin did take a moment to acknowledge that the concert took place on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel and the start of the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.
“Today, on October 7, we send peace to the Middle East,” Martin said prior to “Coloratura.” The juxtaposition was perhaps intentional, given the opening lyrics: “We fell in through the clouds / And everyone before us is there welcoming us now / It’s the end of death and doubt.”
