Coldplay perform without their bassist for the first time ever

MUSIC Coldplay | Music of the Spheres Wold Tour ★★★ Marvel Stadium, until November 3 More than anything else, a Coldplay concert is a spectacle. It has all the hallmarks of a big-bucks production: confetti, fireworks, streamers, flames, large balls bouncing across the crowd, light-up wristbands that pulse in sync to create a visual symphony. Coldplay scrambled to find a replacement bassist in the hour before their show.

Credit: Martin Philbey The music almost feels secondary to the extravagance on display, but even that is a long way from the British band’s stripped-back beginnings over 20 years ago – their more recent tunes have all the inspirational gravitas of a bumper sticker, but it’s all delivered with confidence by leader Chris Martin. This tour exclusively came to Perth last year, so it’s been a long time between drinks for east coast fans, who last saw Coldplay in 2016. In a career-first, the band is playing without its full line-up – Martin comes on stage before the show kicks off to explain that bassist Guy Berryman is unwell, and that a “strange, alien, weird friend character” will be taking his place.



The band’s co-producer and engineer Bill Rahko steps up to the plate, wearing a helmet for the whole show – and for a last-minute gig, he does remarkably well. Martin is a charming frontman with a dash of chaotic energy: he cracks jokes, tells zany anecdotes and has a huge grin on his face the entire night. Chris Martin is a charming frontman with a dash of chaotic energy.

Credit: Martin Philbey There are splashes of Australian culture throughout the show, from a few bars of You’re the Voice and Locomotion , to a tribute to Shane Warne with an acoustic performance of Sparks . It’s these lower-key moments that have more impact, allowing the music to stand on its own – when Martin takes to the piano for The Scientist and nails the falsetto in Fix You , you can hear a pin drop. Counter that with the presence of the Weirdos, the Muppet-style characters that have been a part of the band’s act since 2021.

They’re contentious even among Coldplay’s biggest fans, but for a casual concertgoer, they’re downright confounding. Appearing via the big screen, they even sing a song – Human Heart – and their leader, a female Weirdo named Angel Moon, instructs the crowd to don “Moon Goggles” towards the end of the night to enter a new world of colour. The goggles – disposable 3D glasses distributed at the point of entry – insert love hearts into the landscape.

There’s no doubt this is a great night out and a pop show for the ages – but all the platitudes about love and peace and joy and harmony feel generic. When the music speaks for itself, it’s far more powerful. The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from Jason Steger.

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