Coldplay postpone Brazil tour dates
Coldplay have postponed a string of Brazilian tour dates until early 2023 after frontman Chris Martin contracted a serious lung infection.
Two Music Of The Spheres shows at the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos in Rio de Janeiro (11-12 October) and a further six at Allianz Parque in Sao Paulo (15-22 October) will now be rescheduled.
The tour, which began in Costa Rica in March, returned to Latin America in September.
“Due to a serious lung infection, Chris has been put under strict doctor’s orders to rest for the next three weeks,” says a statement by the band. “We’re working as fast as possible to lock in the new dates and will follow up with more information in the next few days.
“To everyone in Brazil who was looking forward to these concerts, we’re extremely sorry for any disappointment and inconvenience, and we’re so grateful for your understanding at this challenging time where we need to prioritise Chris’ health.”
“We’re optimistic that Chris will return to good health after the prescribed medical break”
The statement continues: “Please hold on to your tickets as they will be valid for the new rescheduled dates. These will happen in early 2023 and will be announced very soon. However, we will also honour all requests for ticket refunds – which will be available at the point of sale.
“We’re optimistic that Chris will return to good health after the prescribed medical break and look forward to resuming the tour as soon as possible.”
Click here to read IQ‘s in-depth feature behind the scenes of the groundbreaking Music Of The Spheres World Tour. More than 5.4 million tickets have been sold for the tour after the band’s 2023 UK and European stadium dates went on sale in August.
The tour is currently set to resume in Argentina at Estadio River Plate, Buenos Aires on 25 October.
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Coldplay detail ‘eco-friendly’ world tour
Coldplay have announced their first tour in four years, which will have an ‘eco-friendly’ focus.
The British band previously said that they would put touring plans on hold as they investigate how to make their concerts more sustainable.
Today, they announced their return to the road which will follow the band’s new album ‘Music of the Spheres’, out tomorrow (15 October).
The Music of the Spheres world tour will kick off in March 2022 in Costa Rica, which has one of the highest rates of renewable energy generation in the world.
Dates for the first seven countries have been announced today and include three at Wembley Stadium (cap. 90,000) in London, two at Stade de France (81,000) in Paris and two at Olympiastadion Berlin (74,000).
According to frontman Chris Martin revealed that the tour will partly be powered by a dancefloor that generates electricity when fans jump up and down, and pedal power at the venues.
“I literally really need you to jump up and down. Because if you don’t, then the lights go out.”
Martin told the BBC in his first interview about the plans that fans will be on “kinetic flooring”.
“When they move, they power the concert,” he said. “And we have bicycles too that do the same thing.”
“The more people move, the more they’re helping. You know when the frontman says, ‘We need you to jump up and down’?
“When I say that, I literally really need you to jump up and down. Because if you don’t, then the lights go out.”
The kinetic flooring is part of a 12-point plan to cut the band’s carbon footprint.
The concerts will use electricity from batteries fuelled by fan power as well as solar energy, recycled cooking oil from local restaurants and mains power from 100% renewable sources where available. For every ticket sold, the band will plant a tree.
“The whole show is powered from renewable energy, which is amazing”
The singer admitted they had not figured out how to cut the environmental impact of some parts of touring but their goal for a few years’ time is to have “slightly shifted the status quo of how a tour works”.
“In some areas, there’s still not enough possible, like how do you get people to a venue without consuming any power? That’s still really hard,” he said.
“Or flying – there’s still a lot of offsetting we have to do, because even sustainable aviation fuel isn’t good enough yet.
“So we know where we still have a long way to go. But in terms of the show itself, the whole show is powered from renewable energy, which is amazing.”
Ahead of the tour, Coldplay will open Oak View Group’s (OVG) Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle – the world’s first carbon-neutral certified arena – on 22 October.
Coldplay’s last tour, A Head Full of Dreams, saw them perform to 5.4 million people across 122 shows in five continents.
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Africa Day concert raises awareness for Covid-19
Over 100 artists and celebrities from across Africa and the diaspora came together on Africa Day on 25 May to take part in a two-hour virtual concert aimed at raising awareness about the fight against the pandemic.
Modelled on the Lady Gaga-curated One World: Together at Home concert, the show saw performances from artists including Angelique Kidjo, Wizkid, Salif Keita and Fally Ipupa and was hosted by actor and musician Idris Elba.
Senagalese star Youssou N’Dour also sang a remote duet with Coldplay’s Chris Martin as part of the awareness-raising event.
The show was broadcast online by the World Afro Network (WAN) and on 200 African television channels.
“We must show our resilience and share our commitment as Africans to overcome this and grow stronger from it”
“We face an extraordinary challenge but we cannot afford to be spectators. We must show our resilience and share our commitment as Africans to overcome this and grow stronger from it,” commented supermodel Naomi Campbell as part of the broadcast.
“Use your voice to call our leaders in Africa to use this crisis as a moment to build our solidarity and deal with deep structural issues that affect our nations and their economies.”
More than 115,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported across Africa, with the virus reaching every country on the continent of 1.2 billion people.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that Covid-19 could kill up to 190,000 people across the continent and infect between 29 million and 44m in the first year if containment measures fail.
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