Glastonbury 2024: Coldplay praised for their duet with Palestinian singer Elyanna during headliner set

Coldplay made a strong political statement with their headlining performance at Glastonbury Festival tonight.

The band – led by Chris Martin – are breaking records tonight with their fifth headlining appearance at the legendary music festival live from Worthy Farm. As they played some of their biggest hits, they were joined on stage by a number of famous faces.

Performing the song “We Pray” from their unreleased album Moon Music, the band was joined on stage by Little Simz, while Burna Boy was also seen on a videotape in the back of the stage. The group also decided to bring Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna on stage for the special version of the song, which was very popular among fans.

The song contains the poignant lines “We pray that we make it to the end of the day,” and with their choice of guest stars, the band seems to want to send a strong political message amid the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Later in their performance, Chris thanked everyone who attended the show – and said it was important that they were able to be a “beacon of togetherness” at a time when that seemed impossible. He said people could send their love “anywhere in the world” and that included Israel and Palestine as well as places like Ukraine – and other places affected by conflict.

According to the frontman, the release of their upcoming album will be their last. He said back in 2021: “Our last real record will be in 2025, and after that I think we’ll just tour. And maybe do some stuff together, but the Coldplay catalog will end then, so to speak.”

In another interview, he added: “We’re going to do 12 albums. Because it’s a lot to put everything into them. I love it and it’s great, but it’s also very intense. I feel like because I know the challenge is finite, making this music doesn’t feel difficult, it feels like, ‘This is what we’re meant to do.’ I don’t think we’re going to do that. I know we’re going to do that in terms of studio albums.”

Chris had also previously recalled how he almost missed the band’s very first gig at Glastonbury. In the BBC documentary Coldplay: Our Glastonbury he said: “The urge to go was so strong. Our first introduction was probably, I think, carrying a not very good amp with a drunk tour manager who obviously didn’t know what he was doing either. So we did a sort of very quick tour of the whole place and then started where you’re supposed to start, which was the new band tent, first in. I don’t think I thought about how wild it was. It was like we were here and we were too late and it’s huge.”

Coldplay returned to the year 2000 when they opened their record-breaking fifth Glastonbury Festival headline slot with their hit “Yellow.” The band first headlined the Pyramid Stage in 2002, and their Saturday night performance overtook The Cure, who had headlined the slot four times.

Frontman Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, drummer Will Champion and bassist Guy Berryman began their history-making set after a clock counted down on screens, after which a BBC logo appeared on the screen before the music began. Their second song of the night was Higher Power from their ninth album Music Of The Spheres, after which Martin took to the stage and launched into Paradise from their 2011 album Mylo Xyloto, with singer-songwriter Victoria Canal accompanying her on piano.

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