Coldplay’s 2024 Australian tour with Sydney, Melbourne shows, and how to get early tickets
After sellout shows that blew crowds away on the west coast, the British rock legends have made a huge announcement about their next Aussie gigs. See ticket details.
Music
Don't miss out on the headlines from Music. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Coldplay will return to Australia for Melbourne and Sydney stadium concerts in late 2024 after their joyous sold out west coast shows on the weekend.
After thrilling more than 130,000 fans at their two sold out Music of the Spheres in Perth in a deal with the Western Australian government, Chris Martin and her merry music men will return to perform at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on October 30 and 31 next year and then head to Sydney’s Accor Stadium on November 6 and 7.
The gaps around those two city tour legs would suggest extra dates in each city are likely.
The WA tourism deal with the band, reportedly worth $10 million, stipulated the two Perth concerts at Optus Stadium, an Australian pitstop on the Asian leg of the world tour, would be their only shows in Australia in 2023.
But Martin dropped a hint there might be more shows back here when he said at Saturday night’s show that the crowd’s rapturous response had made him happy they had “started” their Australian tour in Perth.
Their return for the Melbourne and Sydney concerts will come at the end of the marathon world tour which kicked off in Costa Rica in March 2022, with Martin and bandmates Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion performing to seven million fans..
The opening show of a two-night stand at Perth’s Optus Stadium on Saturday scored rave reviews, thrilling with their collision of light and sound and an incredible backing choir of more than 60,000 adoring fans.
There were deeply emotional moments as when Martin brought young cancer survivor Jasmine on stage to sit with him during the performance of Everglow.
Or his hilarious stuff-up when he came in early with his vocals on Fix You.
“F…, I f…ed up. Just pretend that never happened,” he said and then switched up the lyrics to sing: “When you try your best but you don’t succeed – like just then...”
One of the opening acts on the Melbourne and Sydney shows will be singer songwriter Emmanuel Kelly. The Coldplay frontman is a patron of Outlyer Entertainment, set up by Kelly to drive inclusivity and accessibility in the Music, TV and film industries.
Kelly was brought to Australia as a child in 2000 with his brother Ahmed after being found in a box on an Iraqi battlefield.
He became a global sensation via his performance on the X Factor in 2011 which has more than 500 million views.
Fans can register at Coldplay.com for access to the ticket presale which opens on November 29 from 10am local time.
The general sale begins on December 1 at 10am local time.
There will also be a limited allocation of Infinity tickets for just $32, to be released at a later date. Infinity Tickets are released for every Coldplay show to make the tour accessible to fans struggling with cost of living pressures.
REVIEW: COLDPLAY STUNS AUSSIES IN WA
Anyone who has seen British rock band Coldplay live in Australia in any of their incarnations, whether at a stadium or that rare intimate occasion for an album launch or television show, will rave about joy.
The band’s power to induce euphoria, and transport a collective of humans from the everyday to the extraordinary for a couple of hours, has been amped to a stratospheric level for their Music of the Spheres world tour which has landed all too briefly for two shows in Perth this year.
The deal to get Coldplay to take a detour from the Asian leg of the tour this year, brokered by the tourism arm of the Western Australian government with promoter Live Nation, is reportedly worth $10 million.
Regardless of the economic benefit to the region, projected to be more than $60 million with about 40,000 fans travelling from interstate, the true measure of this hefty investment is what those in Optus Stadium took away from the gig.
That’s the make or break for any band and particularly one like Coldplay who are now halfway into their third decade.
For the seasoned gig goers, through to those who experienced the British quartet live for the first time, the opening show of their two-night stand was a feast of the senses.
The effect of the LED wristbands, which they pioneered to turn the crowd into an interactive live show, cannot be overstated.
It is truly beautiful and mesmerising to witness the collision of coloured lights, attached to individual wrists, with the music played by these seasoned stadium campaigners. It is like every city’s version of a light festival on steroids.
Audience participation also extended to riding bikes or busting out moves on kinetic dance floors to help power the show.
But the skill of Coldplay, or Robbie Williams, or Taylor Swift when she lobs in February, to deliver value for the money and travel and time of any fan, ultimately lies more in the song than the spectacle.
People cry when Coldplay play The Scientist and Fix You not because the stadium is lit beautifully but because the song has deep meaning in their own lives of heartache and heartbreak.
They dance to A Sky Full Of Stars or Viva La Vida not because of the kaleidoscopic choreography of colours which explode during the performance but because they are moved to move.
And they sing as one collective voice bursting beyond the lofty lip of a stadium to Paradise and Yellow, as they have done in their cars and lounge rooms and gatherings, because they love these songs.
Like any act throwing everything into a concert spectacular mix, not everything lands. Chris Martin duetting with a puppet on Human Heart and Biutyful is a head scratching WTF speed bump in the show.
But the chemistry and sheer will which enables Martin and bandmates Jonny Buckland, Will Berryman and Will Champion to unite 60,000 people in the common cause of having a good time is unique and powerful.
Coldplay are on track to breach Ed Sheeran’s two show record of 120,000 people at the Perth stadium with projections they may top 130,000 fans.
More Coverage
Originally published as Coldplay’s 2024 Australian tour with Sydney, Melbourne shows, and how to get early tickets
Rocker breaks silence about on-stage brawl
Jane’s Addiction have cancelled their tour after a shocking band brawl – now, guitarist Dave Navarro is going public with his story.
Tito Jackson’s eerie final photo paying tribute to Michael
A last photo of Tito Jackson visiting Michael Jackson’s memorial days before he died has emerged, as tributes pour in after the sudden death of the Jackson 5 star.