Coldplay Play First Show Ever Without Guy Berryman #ColdplayMelbourne

Coldplay’s first Australian ‘Music of the Spheres’ show in Melbourne was special but for the wrong reason. For the first time ever, the four founding members were three. Bass player Guy Berryman fell ill hours before the show. Guy was replaced with the band’s sound engineer Bill Rahko who mimed Guy’s bass parts wearing a helmet.

Before the show Chris Martin came on stage to say, “We only had about an hour to figure it out. And we have figured it out. We have a strange, alien, weird friend character playing bass, or looking like he’s playing bass. So you’ll hear Guy, but you just won’t see him. Because he’s vomiting.”

“It’s a shame but we waited for the last minute to tell you that our beautiful bass player Guy is very, very sick and will not be playing for the first time. I’m sorry for you guys down here who are waiting to see Guy. He’s not going to be able to play today. We’ll have a slightly different show and we’ll do our best to make it amazing, and I know that it will be amazing because we’re in Melbourne with all of you beautiful people.”

Coldplay live in an event. This show has energy from start to finish. Coldplay include the audience in the production with electronic wristbands that light up at various points of the show to fill the arena. There were the glasses creating effects around the lights. There are three stages, the main stage, the B-Stage at the end of the catwalk and the C-stage at the opposite end of the arena, sharing the up close and personal feel for the audience not matter where they were watching. And there was Chris Martin’s interactions with the audience singing customised songs to people in the crowd. At one stage a couple who became engaged with ‘Everglow’ as there song came up on stage and Chris sang it to them.

This was Coldplay’s first Melbourne show in eight years and similar in scale to the 2016 event also a Marvel Stadium (or Etihad Stadium as it was called then).

The Coldplay ‘Music of the Spheres’ tour is named after the 2021 Coldplay album with the setlist modernised to included three songs from the 2024 ‘Moon Music’ album. It is very much a “new music” show with seven songs from the setlist coming from the last two albums. Coldplay do some of the older hits but it is not a greatest hits show. This show is very much more about Now rather than Then.

For the older fans who have been on the full 25-year Coldplay journey ‘The Scientist’ (2002), ‘Yellow’ (2000), ‘Clocks’ (2002), ‘Sparks’ (2002) and ‘Fix You’ (2005) were their introduction to the band but looking at the younger end of the fan base, a good chunk of this audience weren’t even alive when those songs came out. And therein lays one of the secrets of Coldplay’s longevity. The old audience has stayed with them and a new audience has discovered them.

There were some subtle moments. Chris popped in a bit of John Farnham’s classic ‘You’re The Voice’ between ‘Adventure of a Lifetime’ and ‘Paradise’. At the end of ‘Scientist’ the entire song and video was played backwards. For ‘Sparks’ there was a touching tribute to Shane Warne with his image appearing on the screens as Chris Martin recalled his many great times with the cricket legend on previous visits to Melbourne.

Its incredible to look back at the very first Coldplay show in Melbourne, Australia in January 2001 for the Big Day Out when they did their sideshow at The Prince Bandroom in St Kilda and did not go anywhere near selling out. Here we are 24 years later. For the past 15 years Coldplay have been one of the biggest bands on the planet. Coldplay have gone from a band in 2001 incapable of filling a 900 capacity room to selling around 250,000 tickets in the same city in 2024.

Coldplay setlist 30 October 2024

Act .i. Planets

Higher Power (from Music of the Spheres, 2021)
Adventure of a Lifetime (from A Head Full of Dreams, 2015)
Paradise (from Mylo Xyloto, 2011)
The Scientist (from A Rush of Blood To The Head, 2002)

Act .ii. Moons
Viva la Vida (from Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, 2008)
Hymn for the Weekend (from A Head Full of Dreams, 2015)
Everglow (from A Head Full of Dreams, 2015)
Charlie Brown (from Mylo Xyloto, 2011)
Yellow (from Parachutes, 2000)

Act .iii. Stars
Human Heart (from Music of the Spheres, 2021)
People of the Pride (from Music of the Spheres, 2021)
Clocks (from A Rush of Blood To The Head, 2002)
WE PRAY (from Moon Music, 2024)
Something Just Like This (from Kalediscope EP, 2017)
My Universe (from Music of the Spheres, 2021)
A Sky Full of Stars (from Ghost Stories, 2014)

Act .iv. Home
Sparks (from Parachutes, 2000)
The Jumbotron Song
Fix You (from X&Y, 2005)
GOOD FEELiNGS (with Ayra Starr) (from Moon Music, 2024)
Feelslikeimfallinginlove (from Moon Music, 2024)

Coldplay remaining dates:

October 31, November 2 and 3, Melbourne, Marvel Stadium
November 6, 7, 9 and 10, Sydney, Accor Stadium

New Zealand
November 13, 15, 16, Auckland, Eden Park

https://www.livenation.com.au/artist-coldplay-8720

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Tagged as: 00s, Chris Martin, Coldplay, Guy Berryman, rock, UK