Coldplay announce biggest-ever show in Ahmedabad

Chris Martin of Colldplay

Coldplay have announced their biggest ever show in the Indian city of Ahmedabad next year.

The band will be performing at the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium on January 25, which is the largest stadium in the world, on their ‘Music Of The Spheres’ World Tour. They will be joined by a ‘mystery guest’ who is yet to be announced.

Tickets will go on sale on Saturday, November 16 at 12pm IST.

The Ahmedabad show is one of several Asia shows Coldplay will be playing next year on the biggest rock tour of all time, having previously announced gigs in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Seoul and Mumbai. It will mark Coldplay’s first full-length headline touring performance in India after their 2016 appearance at Global Citizen Festival. The new dates will also see the band return to Hong Kong for the first time since 2009. Coldplay’s Abu Dhabi dates are also the first since 2016, and Seoul since 2017.

Later in 2025, Coldplay will head over to North America for 10 new gigs in the US and Canada between May and July. They will then return to the UK for the next leg of the tour in August and September.

For Coldplay’s UK stadium leg, the band will be donating 10 per cent of proceeds to the Music Venue Trust, in a bid to help protect the UK’s live music sector and secure the future of grassroots venues.

“Coldplay are the perfect example of a UK band who came through the grassroots circuit on their way to worldwide stadium-filling success,” said MVT CEO Mark Davyd of the decision. “It’s fantastic to see them celebrating their own pathway to Wembley by giving back to the grassroots music venues that supported them and recognising the artists and promoters that  are struggling more than ever to build their own careers.”

Davyd added that the money will “go directly into work that ensures communities right across the country will continue to have access to great live music on their doorstep”.

Chris Martin
Coldplay’s Chris Martin. CREDIT: NDZ/Star Max/GC Images

Frontman Chris Martin shared that he put his plan into action when he became aware of the current situation with grassroots venues struggling to stay open at the tail-end of last year. “I’d just assumed The Leicester Charlotte would be fine,” he told us. “I didn’t think there was an issue because I didn’t think about it. It was around COVID that you started to hear about this or that venue having to close. I thought, ‘Oh, we played all those venues, Oasis played all those venues – these are important’.”

When asked if it bothered him if venues continue to disappear, the world may never see another Coldplay, Martin said: “I think a lot of people would be happy about that! The truth is that playing live is an important connection. It doesn’t bother me that there might not be another Coldplay, but it does bother me that there might not be acts that are free to start on the bottom rung and work all the way up – so that by the time they get to stadiums, they are really good.

“You can’t just jump into that. With all of the artists that are playing stadiums next year, it’s no coincidence that all of them started in a van, driving around and playing pubs: Oasis, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, the truth is all there. Taylor Swift has probably played more than anyone in tiny Nashville venues and county fairs.”

Coldplay live at Glastonbury 2024, photo by Andy Ford
Coldplay live at Glastonbury 2024. Credit: Andy Ford for NME

Elsewhere, Martin spoke to NME recently in an exclusive interview about the band’s current place in the world. He said: “Right now, and since about 2008, if something lands in me as a song or as a good idea and it feels authentic, we’ll do it. It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. It’s very liberating, and it was probably started by Brian Eno’s philosophy when he came in to rebuild us. Since then, if I find something true and exciting, then we’ll go for it. It has led us to some really weird and amazing places.”

As for whether the group are still planning on ending their recorded catalogue after 12 albums, he told NME: “The 12 album thing is very real, and it’s a nice feeling. It doesn’t mean we won’t tour or finish some compilation things or outtakes or whatever. It just means that the main story is told. That’s just what feels really right. Just knowing that’s happening supercharges all the work we’re doing now.”

In other news, Travis Scott has shared his reaction to Coldplay playing a cover of his hit song ‘Goosebumps’. He wrote on X along with a goat emoji – used to signify the Greatest Of All Time: “This got it.”

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