Hollywood star’s surprise Aussie Coldplay cameo

The audience at Coldplay’s second huge Melbourne concert was treated to an on-stage cameo from an 80s Hollywood legend.

Coldplay fans at the band’s second Melbourne show on Thursday night were treated to a surprise cameo from a genuine 1980s Hollywood legend.

Karate Kid Actor Ralph Macchio took to the stage during the show to help the band perform – what else – their song The Karate Kid, from their current album Moon Music.

Macchio, 62, lip-synched to frontman Chris Martin’s vocals, before the pair embraced warmly in front of the crowd.

Macchio is best known for playing Daniel LaRusso in three Karate Kid films through the 80s, and more recently has reprised the iconic role in the Netflix series Cobra Kai.

One Coldplay fan account reported that the resulting footage of the actor’s cameo will be used as a music video when The Karate Kid is released as a single.

The Karate Kid himself, actor Ralph Macchio.

Macchio (left) on stage with Chris Martin.

Macchio had earlier been spotted in the audience at Coldplay’s Wednesday show at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, having flown from New York to attend the gig.

In an interesting bit of pop trivia, the song The Karate Kid is co-produced by The 1975 frontman Matty Healy – another celeb who’s made a surprise appearance in Australia this week, having been spotted among the audience at Wednesday’s Gladiator II premiere in Sydney.

Meanwhile, after kicking off the Australian leg of their tour with an unfortunate career-first, Coldplay were back to business last night with bassist Guy Berryman recovered and back on stage. Berryman had taken ill shortly before the band’s Wednesday concert was due to begin, making it the first concert in Coldplay history without all four original band members on stage.

Martin was full of praise for the band’s touring engineer, Bill Rahko, who stepped in at very short notice to fill in as bassist, and wore an alien mask for the gig.

Coldplay perform at Marvel Stadium. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Martin said Bill had “taken it upon himself with about 30 minutes’ notice to wear a stupid helmet and a jumpsuit and look like an idiot for two hours.”

Coldplay’s four-night run at Marvel Stadium will continue with shows on Saturday and Sunday, before the band move to Sydney to play four sold-out shows at Accor Stadium next week.

The east coast run comes after Coldplay courted controversy last year, visiting Australia earlier in the tour – but only playing two nights in Perth.

And Martin jokingly explained why the band had shunned Australia’s east coast for so long during their first night in Melbourne, revealing that a bad review of a Brisbane gig during their last world tour had haunted him and made him stay away.

It started way back in March 2022, but incredibly, Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres world tour still has another year to go: The mammoth tour is scheduled to finish with a jaw-dropping 10-night stint at London’s Wembley Stadium next August and September. By the time they finish, the band will have played 222 shows on the tour.

Originally published as Hollywood star’s surprise Aussie Coldplay cameo