Why Coldplay Will Leave a Feel-Good Legacy

I think I don’t love Coldplay.

But “A Sky Full of Stars” was our wedding playlist’s chief song and the background track to our microsite invite. My go-to music on the Walkman at the turn of the century, while in my mid-teens, was a broad brush across rock, with a developing affinity to the heavier variety. But a few years on, X&Y was my gift at the start of a relationship and Viva La Vida or Death and all his Friends was the parting gift.

A splashy graffiti-enthused Mylo Xyloto record sits pretty on top of our living room’s vinyl player. Both gifts from my wife, for whom Coldplay has stood by in times of all kinds and in an important decade of her life, across countries and new experiences. She got her badge of honor being at Rock am Ring Germany, 2011, catching them on the Mylo Xyloto tour.

While we dated, we named our car ‘Coldmayer’, for the CDs on repeat, that included John Mayer’s Battle Studies.

“Fix You” played often in the period she grieved her father. Fast forward 10 years and our chimp cousins break into a celebratory dance as we bring to the world our son’s name, via a video message, backed by “Adventure of a Lifetime.”

This is a band I think I don’t love.

If you are a millennial as well, this unassuming bunch of dance-pop rockers, who so effervescently move with the fast-changing tastes and times, must have been a part of some of your important moments as well.

2024 seems like the year where everybody you know has been to a concert. While U2 crowned India’s pre-pandemic concert history which is only a few dots on the timeline, a few years on, the graph looks busier, with big concerts consistently across the year, across genres. It is no longer a rumor that an artist or band will feature India in their itinerary. The top 10 on Spotify actually turn up.

It was only a matter of time and much deserved that Coldplay came by. If one wanted to understand the addressable concert market this was the dipstick. Higher powers were called in, laptop keys were shattered, nails were manicured, complaints were filed, everyone felt the pain of an IRCTC tatkal traveler…wait, the undersea cables were ruptured. And one was left thinking, where was the AI or natural intelligence to not have predicted the Godzilla-like tsunami of ravenous, concert-deprived (potentially) 100 million Indians?

While grief started waning off, one realized that Coldplay just has to play in more Indian cities, like another jolly Englishman is now doing. Something is amiss when the band plays 10 nights in a single stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2022 (a country that is less than 5 percent of India’s population), but only manages a pitstop in India.

Our bygone years have had Michael Jackson’s 1996 show to talk about, which stands like a monument in time. You or somebody you know will take back a piece of stardust home in a few days, seeing an artist(s) just like the ‘King of Pop’ that caters to 100 percent of the ears they fall on, across ages. Can you think of any other active international act in that category for an Indian audience?

U2, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Metallica have been the stadium machines. They have carved rather large niches. But Coldplay is sweeping generations, families alike across the world. They are the only group that rubs shoulders with the solo pop heroes in the streaming charts.

A cousin got hold of tickets to the McMaharaja of stadiums aka NM stadium, Ahmedabad, and I thought I certainly wasn’t excited to spend two days and 1,000 kilometers to be a part of a colorful, dry zillenial party. As destiny would have it, here we are, making only a much shorter journey to NM aka Navi Mumbai on the 19th, thanks to an old friend’s son, who was 6 years old when he attended our “Sky Full of Stars”-studded wedding. Their school gang ensured they beat a billion other wifi connections.

On that note, I wanted to look a bit deeper into Coldplay, just anchor their unstoppable colorful ship for a bit, walk inside, and take a closer look at what sets them sailing, what keeps re-fueling them at each stop. If you are a die-hard fan, this is a good revision (and I look forward to your comments). If not, this is more for you, with some nuggets that will leave you enriched with insights and cues to start grooving.

How do you escape this magnum opus expression in popular culture, whoever and wherever you are? You are a 10-year-old hooked to BTS and The Chainsmokers, a 20-year-old crushing on Rihanna or Beyonce, or a 70-year-old typing “Yellow Submarine,” a 50-year-old looking for the new wave of Britpop …or a near 40-year-old like me singing the chorus of “Paradise” to his two-year-old.

Coldplay brings art in its entirety, the depth in writing, the on-stage dance, imaginative album covers, the voice that stands for causes, uniquely designed venues and gorgeous videos like “Up & Up.”

The band oozes positivity, the first song “Don’t Panic” on their debut album Parachutes (2000) affirms that come what may, “We live in a beautiful world.” An amazing, authentic, raw and mellow album. Sticking to simpler tones for fans who craved meaningful pop while the charts oscillated between raging nu-metal like Linkin Park and Kanye’s hip-hop. This album is indeed ‘cold-played’, it just sounds like a singer-songwriter’s winter musings.

The second album A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) graduates in intensity, subjects and sound. The opener “Politik” was written in the background of 9/11. More rock with a vigorous, heavier tone through the album, which is markedly different than Parachutes. If you are a Radiohead fan, this is the album for you.

X&Y (2005) is modern pop, with a refined sound, with downtempo electronic influences. An album with a good spread but the band remains dissatisfied with their effort and the production output, and “Fix You” helped them get over a couple of years of creative struggle.

Viva La Vida (2008) came from a different planet. Emphatic, large canvas, and you can hear clearly how it would break open the doors for a bigger audience. The first song’s video “Life in Technicolor” is the band’s figurines literally blowing up a kids’ party. It is the band locked and loaded for confetti, pyrotechnics and massive celebrations in the coming times, moving on from a confined indie vibe of the previous albums. From the album cover to the instrumentation to historical references, an anti-war song — this was eclectic art pop rock. My favorite Coldplay album. Magical production with a famous new producer and new sounds.

Boom boom boom boo boom boom boom boom, as the title track announces, the band had started marching. Their upcoming album would stamp Coldplay’s ambition to take over the world.

Mylo Xyloto (2011) was the second living decade for the band. The doors that they had opened with Viva La Vida, would see the world walk inside for a party called “Paradise.” It promised a colorful, groovy utopian pop party filled with love, good vibes, hugs and all the happy hormones.

In a world that was starting to acknowledge and treat mental health with care, Coldplay brought the post-therapy glow.

“So we’ll soar, luminous and wired, we’ll be glowing in the dark,” Martin sings on “Charlie Brown,” a bouncy track, as next up is a delicious duet with Rihanna — “Princess of China.” My favorite song of the dance-pop version of Coldplay.”

“Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” is their first proper dance number, and again, a sign of a new larger direction. A song that fits in the current ‘Music of the Spheres’ era.

This album got Coldplay to play at all the big festivals in the world.

Next came Ghost Stories (2014).

Except for a banger in “Sky Full of Stars,” Ghost Stories is a warm, chill electronic-infused album. A pit stop after two grand album projects. This album is a comedown from the Paradise party.

But only lasting for a short while in band years. A Head Full of Dreams was up next, released only a year apart. We are now in Coldplay’s big concert anthem territory. Their current show, setlist and emotion is the last 10 years and not their first 10 (i.e 2000 to 2010).

We saw Coldplay at a fantastic Global Citizen concert in Mumbai in 2016 where the mystery guest was A.R. Rahman and the affable four surprised a 50,000 crowd with a two-hour show, unlike a rumoured 15-minute appearance. With balloons and celebrations, this was while they were in the Head Full of Dreams tour, and their coming into being as a concert magnet.

As expected with every new album, they raised their bar once again. While the previous album had largely producer collaborations, this album sees the likes of Barack Obama, Beyonce, Noel Gallagher, Gwyneth Paltrow partnering in short bursts. This album is the band’s commercial legacy.

2019’s Everyday Life is classic pop — the band felt like they were writing the songs featured here forever and always, since it has timeless themes of humanity, justice and equality. It is simple and profound. It went with the mood of the times, the lockdown, slow-paced.

Coldplay’s fans across their 10 albums fall into 3 buckets. The Happy Poppers is the largest bucket. Born after 2000, and fans of Music of the Spheres (2021), Head Full of Dreams (2015), Mylo Xyloto (2011), Moon Music (2024).

The second bucket, though large, will start looking smaller. This is a collection of fans, those who like the original Britpop, and will enjoy the band’s first 10 years — Parachutes (2000), A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) and X&Y (2005), Viva La Vida (2008).

The third bucket will be the smallest, who love warm-textured, comforting pop via Ghost Stories (2014) and Everyday Life (2019)

And therein lies the quandary for somebody like me. How do I train Spotify to throw more older Coldplay to me than newer for nice-day-listening? How do I get more of the Coldplay I think I can love?

And where does Coldplay feature in a 15-year-old’s playlist? Does the band feature alongside hip-hop names or DJs or solo female popstars?

Or are they just meant to be an amazing happy concert experience? Or a toddler-friendly band, whose choruses I will wholeheartedly sing with my two-year-old?

Do their albums still make for your first date gift? But what would you gift, a CD or a concert ticket (that needs a month’s effort and salary to get)?!

Culturally, Coldplay will leave a feel-good legacy, that of dreaming with your eyes open, caring for and exploring the beautiful world. An all-inclusive attitude that is willing to experiment, search, stumble and discover.

For the band themselves — the Gen Xers who are closer to 50 — they would probably spend their calmer years in the U.K. countryside listening to something more classic…

See you on the 19th in the stadium called Poptimism.

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