Coldplay will go on first ever battery-powered world tour next year after vowing not to unless it was sustainable
COLDPLAY are embarking on an Adventure Of A Lifetime with their next world tour – which will feature kinetic stadium floors that convert fans’ movements into energy to help power the show.
The group announced their first tour in five years and vowed it would be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy, including solar energy and recycled cooking oil.
They have also pledged to plant a tree for every ticket sold — expected to be in the millions across 30 shows.
Fans at the gigs will also help to power the sets by riding kinetic bikes dotted around the venue which they can use to boost energy reserves.
Chris Martin and his bandmates Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion announced the ground-breaking tour yesterday and have their ninth studio album Music Of Spheres, out today. Chris and the lads said: “Playing live and finding connection with people is why we exist as a band.”
They will play three nights at Wembley Stadium, and among the fans will be Chris’s girlfriend Dakota Johnson who he was seen partying with on Wednesday night following the London premiere of her film The Lost Daughter.
They added: “We’re super excited to play songs from across our whole time together. At the same time we’re very conscious that the planet is facing a climate crisis.
“So we’ve spent the last two years consulting with environ-mental experts to make this tour as sustainable as possible, and, just as importantly, to harness the tour’s potential to push things forward.
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They said: “We won’t get everything right, but we’re committed to doing everything we can and sharing what we learn.”
All of the energy harnessed from the sun — and those dancing and bike-riding fans — at each venue will be stored within the first ever mobile, rechargeable show battery. This was created in partnership with BMW using the carmaker’s recyclable i3 batteries.
The tour, which begins in Costa Rica, South America, on March 18, will be responsible for only half the emissions of Coldplay’s most recent world tour in 2016.
They will play across the globe before arriving at Wembley in mid-August with their final UK show at Glasgow’s Hampden Park on August 23.
When I last spoke to Chris he said they wouldn’t tour until they could make it eco-friendly and they have pulled out the stops to make it happen.
I look forward to seeing what it looks like in action. Although I hope gig-goers keen to lend a hand on the bikes leave the Lycra at home . . .
A HILL WIND BLOWS
BECKY HILL put on a sick performance – after having food poisoning.
But her illness wasn’t even the worst of her issues as the Remember singer headlined South London’s Brixton Academy on Wednesday.
She said on Instagram a few hours before her show: “I think I’ve had food poisoning.
“And to make matters worse, I had a leak coming through the ceiling.
“Water just p***ing out of our light socket. That’s fun. We don’t have any electric or water.”
I’d say she deserves a drink after all that, but that might not be the best idea until she’s fully recovered.
Clooney reflects...
GEORGE CLOONEY has confessed his 1997 turn as the Caped Crusader in movie turkey Batman & Robin was a travesty.
Reflecting on the critical and commercial flop, he said: “I did one superhero movie and I f**ked it up so bad they won’t let me near the set. I wasn’t good in it, it wasn’t a good film.”
IDRIS 007 HYPE LED TO FILM
IDRIS ELBA has admitted it was speculation he could be the next James Bond which led to the decision to bring Luther to the big screen.
He will reprise his role as DCI John Luther in a Netflix movie version of the hit BBC drama, with filming set to begin next month.
Idris said: “The writer, Neil Cross, and I had this ambition about four years ago and it really came from those Bond rumours, with everyone wanting to see me in a film in the central position like that.
“That’s where Neil and I sat down and looked at Luther and thought, ‘That could be a sick film if we could make that happen’.”
Idris has had to get back in the gym to beef up for the role, having starred in five series of Luther from 2010 to 2019.
He added on the Spotify podcast Who We Be TALKS: “I’m training for it at the moment and start work on it November 1.”
Dua’s duo fly in for Future follow-up
DUA LIPA has knuckled down to work on her third album after international Covid restrictions delayed her tour.
The Levitating singer has flown her hit songwriting collaborators Sarah Hudson and Clarence Coffee Jr into London to work on songs for the record with her.
Dua, who splits her time between the UK and Los Angeles, has spent this week in the studio with the pair, who worked on her No1 album Future Nostalgia.
A source said: “Dua is on a roll and doesn’t want to lose any momentum. They have already come up with some great songs.
"But she is a perfectionist and won’t put out another record until she is completely happy. Dua is putting the hours in to get some amazing music.”
She will finally kick off her Future Nostalgia tour in February, two years later than planned, with UK dates in April and May.
A few new tunes when she hits the stage would go down a treat.
Elton Eds for No 1
SIR ELTON JOHN is set to score his first No1 single in more than 16 years this afternoon thanks to his Dua Lipa collaboration Cold Heart (PNAU remix).
Yesterday, with 24 hours still to go before the finalised chart, the song had sold 49,113 copies, putting it 3,580 sales ahead of Ed Sheeran's hit Shivers, which has shifted 45,533 copies this week.
If Elton does do it he will end Ed’s 15-week run at No1, having spent four at the top with Shivers and a further 11 there with Bad Habits.
The Candle In The Wind singer hasn’t had a chart-topping single here since 2005, when he featured on the posthumous 2PAC single Ghetto Gospel. But Ed reckons he could have prevented his pal Elton reaching No1 if he had wanted to.
He said this week: “That’s going to knock me off and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve got a load of signed CDs which we could drop into the chart and make sure it doesn’t happen, but I really want Elton to have a No1.”
DARIN’S ABBING A GO
ABBA aren’t the only Swedes putting on a show in London. One of their home nation’s top acts, Darin, is to stage a concert in the capital, too.
The Stockholm-born singer, who has had seven No1 albums there, will play a sold-out one-off show at The Bedford in South London on November 9.
And it’s sure to feature single Holding Me More, which drops next Friday. It was written with songwriter Jamie Hartman, who has collaborated on tunes with Lewis Capaldi and Celeste.
Darin counts Sam Smith as a fan and is now making moves to break the UK. In May he released his first English language song in eight years, Can’t Stay Away.
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Abba will release Voyage, their first album in four decades just days before his show.
Their digital avatar residency will start at the purpose-built Abba Arena in east London next May.