Coldplay review, Glastonbury 2024: Chris Martin and Co. deliver the spectacle of their lives

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If archaeologists ever unearth the ley line that supposedly runs beneath the Pyramid Stage field, it will probably look like this: a shimmering ocean of 200,000 glowing neon dots surging through the valley to the sounds of sparkling synth rock.

Tonight’s spectacular preview is made possible by the large number of LED wristbands that will be dotted around the grounds and waved aloft for the reluctant record breakers of 2024. As much as Chris Martin effusively thanks “the greatest city in the world” for the chance to play, Glastonbury is lucky to have him here.

Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour is returning to Glastonbury after almost three years, having already made two visits to the UK. According to reports, the band had to be persuaded to play a record-breaking fifth Glastonbury headline show, which could well be considered over the top. However, the Elton-rivalling crowd, who make the absolutely sublime ‘Viva La Vida’ one of the most unifying and celebratory moments to ever emanate from that hallowed stage, are quite willing to go over the top.

The tour was something of a loose era of its own – one hour dominated by early classics, then an hour with their newer hyperpop tendencies. Glastonbury becomes more of a grand mashup. A 1970s BBC clock counts down to the cheeky opening song “Yellow,” then the band jumps between albums, Martin hopping and jumping around the stage as if one of the local druids had conjured up a goblin-like embodiment of pure melodic joy.

A pulsating “Paradise” gives way to an early appearance of “The Scientist,” played by Martin on a battered “Hey Jude” piano covered in stars and doodles, but also a quarter of a million heartstrings. “Clocks” – pounding, backlit in green – ushers in the electropop rush of “Hymn For The Weekend” and the snappy folk-rocker “Charlie Brown.” An hour or so flies by, as is the way with Glasto headliner sets for the ages.

Coldplay only live up to their undeserved reputation as commonplace when they surrender their anthemic power to the sonic abyss of EDM pop. There’s been much debate abroad this year about Glastonbury’s ongoing relationship with pop music. Our own Adam White argues convincingly elsewhere that a genre with such mass appeal here (think Sugababageddon and the XCXocalypse) deserves prime-time respect beyond the headliners, rather than being relegated to dangerously crowded fringes.

But let’s not forget that outside of counterculture behemoths like Glastonbury, pop music has always been and always will be overwhelmingly popular – the name says it all. And there’s a good argument to be made that Coldplay’s career trajectory is similar to that of the festival. Both colorful, unconventional extravaganzas became so big that they had to join the mainstream machine to maintain their lumbering success as streaming rock music.

Coldplay have adamantly stated that they will stop making music in 2025 (a good 10 years after they hinted at the end of their career). This does not bode well for the future direction of Glastonbury: once you’ve gone all-in on pop, the conclusion goes, you’ve reached the end of the creative line. From there, things can only go downhill.

What you can count on, however, is that regardless of their genre preferences, both will deliver the spectacle of a lifetime. Even when they indulge in Pharrell-friendly grooves on “Adventures of a Lifetime” or do a K-pop collab with BTS on “My Universe,” they’re blowing more budget on balloons, confetti and fireworks than Moscow currently spends filling your timeline with Reform UK content.

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They don cartoonish alien heads for “Something Just Like This,” their sci-fi rave collaboration with The Chainsmokerz. Martin interrupts “A Sky Full of Stars” just before takeoff in the Balearics for a “band meeting,” asks everyone to put their phones away and “think of themselves as part of the performance for this one song,” then bathes the pyramid in an aurora borealis.

They also point back a few ways. Midway through the set, Little Simz shows up to contribute gritty verses to the premiere of new rap-pop track “We Pray” – which will presumably appear on the band’s upcoming 10th album. Moon Music – and takes a far darker direction than the glossier fare of recent times. “Arabesque” features a guest appearance from Femi Kuti in the video and a swampy horn section with no small amount of voodoo, while a white-clad gospel choir appears at the edge of the stage to sing a soulful chorale of “Violet Hill” led by Laura Mvula. A soul-noir coda to Coldplay’s career in the offing? We’re curious.

Both the band and the festival know the value of “event” moments. After a stripped-down run-through of the debut album’s jazz ballad “Sparks,” Martin grabs an acoustic guitar and begins making up spontaneous songs describing members of the crowd who appear on screen: a man with a model of a pyramid stage on his head; Michael Eavis, “the world’s greatest farmer”; surprise guest guitarist Michael J Fox.

Then the stage fills with players for a jubilant “Humankind,” a more bombastic “Fix You,” and to close the night, another new song, “FeelslikeImfallinginlove,” each vying for the title of festival showstopper.

“You light up my world,” Martin sang earlier; an insane note to myself.