Coldplay at Eden Park, review: British band makes triumphant return to NZ after 8 years

REVIEW

“It’s amazing being a British person in Eden Park and not having the s*** kicked out of you by the All Blacks,” Coldplay’s Chris Martin reflects.

Last night, the British band turned the hallowed rugby turf into a sky full of stars – and may have made the strongest case yet for doubling the stadium’s limit of 6 concerts a year.

Around 50,000 Kiwis headed out on a humid Wednesday evening to see frontman Martin and bandmates Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion perform in New Zealand for the first time since 2016.

Following a rousing haka pōwhiri from Te Whare Karioi, Martin greets the crowd with a “Kia ora, Aotearoa”, adding that it’s taken around 172 shows on their Music of the Spheres World tour for Coldplay to make it to New Zealand.

Now that they are here, he says it’s been “such a pleasure to be here, walking around and meeting so many kind and inspiring people”, though he “took a load of s*** for kissing the ground” at the airport when he arrived.

“Why wouldn’t you want to kiss the ground in New Zealand?”

The band made history when they announced not one, not two, but three shows at Eden Park, becoming the first artist or act to perform three consecutive shows at the stadium. In recent years, we’ve seen Ed Sheeran, Pink, and Travis Scott all perform here, while artists of a similar calibre from The Weeknd to Olivia Rodrigo have either cancelled shows or snubbed New Zealand altogether.

Last night, Coldplay proved both the demand from Kiwi fans and the venue’s capability of hosting some of the biggest names in music. Hopefully, they’ve also reminded other global artists that it’s well worth travelling here to perform.

The band’s Music of the Spheres shows have been described as an “out-of-this-world experience”, and last night’s show was exactly that, from the moment it opened with the upbeat Higher Power, concertgoers’ wristbands lighting up and giant balloons and confetti filling the stadium.

The visual spectacle alone, enhanced by 3D glasses, is well worth the price of a ticket.

Whether or not you’re a passionate fan, you’ll realise you know most of their songs - hits like Yellow, Viva la Vida and The Scientist are part of our collective memory.

The setlist, split into four acts - “Planets”, “Moon”, “Stars” and “Home”, serves up a blend of the classics and newer hits such as My Universe and feelslikeimfallinginlove.

After two years on the road, the production is a well-oiled machine, but there are moments Martin, who simply exudes energy on stage, goes off script – and you can’t help but love him for it.

At one point, he gets two fans up on stage – Michelle and Eduardo, originally from Mexico – who request he play the song Up&Up from their 2016 album A Head Full of Dreams. He momentarily forgets the lyrics. “What’s the first line? S***, I don’t know.”

Later, he pauses an audience singalong of A Sky Full of Stars to joke that drummer Will Champion “has been arrested for trying to bring a potato into your country”.

“We’ll have a word with Neil Finn ... he has big power here,” he says amid applause from the crowd.

The singer then stops the passionate performance of the anthem We Pray, featuring the group This is Our Home: Pacific Artists for Climate Justice, simply because he wants to hear it again.

“Let’s do that verse again, that was f***ing amazing ... excuse my language, that was incredible,” he enthuses.

It’s not the first time the group have performed with Coldplay – in June this year, they played during the band’s show in Lyon, France during the Europe leg of their tour.

Following an emotional rendition of tearjerker Fix You, Martin closes the show by thanking the Kiwi crowd “for reminding us that humans can coexist peacefully”.

“What the world needs right now is love from New Zealand.”

Coldplay will perform two more shows at Eden Park on Friday, November 15 and Saturday, November 16. If you’re planning to head along, here’s everything you need to know.

- Review by  Bethany Reitsma for the NZ Herald and republished with permission