They say in London, you’re never more than six feet away from a rat. Well in Glastonbury, the same can be said of Chris Martin. Now headlining for a record-breaking fifth time, Coldplay have essentially become the house band with their seven performances and the frontman known to pop up for a guest spot, hand out those flashing wristbands to unsuspecting fans, do the occasional stewarding shift and probably show up to milk the cows when we’ve all gone home.
“Brothers and sisters,” starts Martin mid-set, “but because we’re in the west country a lot of my cousins”. Hailing from down the road in Devon, the frontman seems to feel like Worthy Farm is his home – and there’s no place like it. “I look around and I see so many amazing wonderful people from all over the place, and that’s what makes Glastonbury the best city in the world in my opinion,” he offers, honouring “the most peace-loving, love-making people” that make up the Glasto populace. He admits that Coldplay have “stolen so much of the ethos of Glastonbury’s vision”, and as a result they become “a band of 100,004 people”.
Seeing themselves as a reflection of this iconic festival, they do their darndest to give it what it needs. Love ‘em, loathe ‘em, casual fan with a copy of ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’ on the floor of your Ford Mondeo: none can deny the universal touch of heart-shaped arena indie. Never has then been more clear than with the straight-down-to-business opening embarrassment of riches with ‘Yellow’, ‘Higher Power’, ‘Adventure Of A Lifetime’ and ‘Paradise’ featuring rising Spanish-American singer-songwriter Victoria Canal. Two songs in and the fireworks are off, the wristbands are flashing and the packed Pyramid Field are in one embrace. Hell, during ‘The Scientist’ this writer didn’t say anyone on the horizon who wasn’t hugging.
The hit parade marches on relentlessly until the first seemingly quiet response to the debut of new song ‘We Pray’, and then they bloody bring out the hero of the day Little Simz, fresh from her own Pyramid Stage triumph. They get by with a little help from their friends, also joined by The Baltic String Orchestra, Elyanna, Femi Kuti and Laura Mvula – the latter taking the lead for a stunning and soulful choral take on ‘Violet Hill’. There’s no surprise turn from BTS (with Martin inviting us to employ our “basic knowledge of Korean” ahead of ‘My Universe with the band being projected across the Pyramid), but the most touching collab comes in the encore.
During a comedy skit song of Martin taking the piss out of fans in silly dress who appear on the big screens, the camera cuts to “total 100 per cent legend ” Michael Eavis. “As humans go, you’re the best of all sorts,” sings the frontman, “you’re a musical charmer, you’re the world’s greatest farmer, who ever got knighted wearing shorts”. It was all getting a bit Phoenix Nights when he then honours “another legendary Michael” as Back To The Future icon Michael J Fox incites one hell of a roar, joining the band on stage for a charged performance of ‘Humankind’ and ‘Fix You’ (yes, we do already know the lyrics to that one, Christopher).
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The best Glasto sets are you know you’re witnessing one for the books, which is why it’s a shame that such a monumental moment was closed with something of a shrug. It’s not a slight on the simmering electro-pop subtlety of new single ‘feelslikeimfallinginlove’ – it’s lovely – but it’s barely over a week old and Glasto were geared up for a more familiar full-stop. In the words of the great Michael J Fox: “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet.”
Will Coldplay top Glasto again? Five more times? Who knows? Martin revealed a few years back that the band planned to stop making music in 2025, telling NME they had a plan to make 12 albums; now number 10 ‘Moon Music’ is coming in October. There’s a question mark over the future, but tonight was a good crack at making history with a set that felt like home.
Coldplay’s Glastonbury 2024 setlist was:
‘Yellow’
‘Higher Power’
‘Adventure of a Lifetime’
‘Paradise’ (with Victoria Canal)
‘The Scientist’
‘Clocks’
‘Hymn for the Weekend’
‘Charlie Brown’
‘Viva la Vida’ (with Baltic String Orchestra)
‘We Pray’ (with Little Simz, Elyanna and Baltic String Orchestra)
‘Arabesque’ (with Femi Kuti)
‘Violet Hill’ (sung by Laura Mvula and choir, accompanied by Jonny Buckland)
‘Infinity Sign’
‘Something Just Like This’ (The Chainsmokers cover)
‘My Universe’ (with projections of BTS on the sides of the Pyramid)
‘A Sky Full of Stars’
Encore:
‘Sunrise’
‘Sparks’
‘The Jumbotron Song’
‘Humankind’ (with Michael J. Fox, Vula Malinga and all prior guests)
‘Fix You’ (with Michael J. Fox)
‘feelslikeimfallinginlove’
Check back at NME for the latest Glastonbury 2024 news, reviews, interviews, photos, rumours and more. Check out the NME liveblog here for all the latest Glastonbury action as it happens.‘