Legal action fails to halt Coldplay India debut

Coldplay’s debut show in India tomorrow will go ahead as planned following the failure of a legal challenge in the High Court of Bombay.

Anti-corruption activists Anjali Damania and Hemant Gavande challenged a decision by the Maharashtra state government waiving entertainment duty on the concert, arguing the British band’s performance at the not-for-profit Global Citizen festival does not count as an educational or charitable activity, as required by the Bombay Entertainments Duty Act 1923.

However, judges Manjula Chellur and MS Sonak found in favour of Global Citizen and acting advocate-general Rohit Deo, who said the festival “is going to be an eight-hour programme, and the concert by Coldplay is just part of it. The festival is to create awareness of three subjects: gender equality, education and clean water,” reports the PTI news agency.

“It is going to be an eight-hour programme, creating awareness of three subjects: gender equality, education and clean water”

Deo said out of the 80,000 tickets, 65,000 will be given free to those who have demonstrated their commitment to positive societal change – as with previous Global Citizen events, tickets can be won by promoting the charity’s work (by, for example, signing petitions and contacting governments to advocate for it) – and “of the remaining, 11,000 will be sold by the organisers [Delhi-based the Global Education & Leadership Foundation (tGELF)] to meet expenditure and 4,000 have been kept for dignitaries.”

The festival takes place at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai (Bombay) tomorrow. Also on the bill are Jay-Z, Demi Levato and a host of local acts.

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