Set list revealed as Coldplay brings Music of the Spheres tour back to Australia

The British rock band are bringing their world-famous Music of the Spheres tour back to Australia and fans could be treated to an Aussie-inspired song. See the full set list.

Kathy McCabe

@McCabeRadar

4 min read

October 26, 2024 - 1:00PM

Entertainment Network

Music Tours

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Coldplay are well versed at busting out a few bars of You’re The Voice.

The English supergroup have been weaving snippets of that unofficial Australian anthem into their shows here since 2009, when they invited John Farnham onto the SCG stage during their set at the Sound Relief benefit concert.

As the Farnham fanboys head back down under this week with their epic Music of the Spheres tour, frontman Chris Martin will be weighing up which Australian classics he might sprinkle through the set lists of their eight sold-out shows.

When the tour stopped in Perth a year ago, instead of adding an Australian classic, he made up a song at each of the two concerts.

He performed the improvised to Song For Australia at the first show last November and then Song For Shane at the second gig, a funny, heartfelt, acoustic ditty for his late mate Shane Warne, which he told the crowd had come to him in his sleep.

“Friends come, friends go, There are some people you’re lucky to know, If I could I’d do it all again, Thanks for everything, Shane,” Martin sang.

Perhaps Song for Shane will get another airing at one of the four Melbourne concerts at Marvel Stadium which kick off on Wednesday.

Chris Martin in the moment at one of their Perth shows last year. Picture: Duncan Barnes

As Coldplay return to Australia, they are at the peak of their powers. Over two and a half years, the Music of the Spheres pop extravaganza has sold about 10 million tickets, is the most attended concert tour of all time and grossed more than $1.5 billion.

It may eclipse Taylor Swift’s Eras as the highest grossing tour of all time when they eventually wind it up in late 2025.

Martin and bandmates Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion are still loving their seemingly endless world tour, even after almost 170 shows.

“It used to be all about us, now it’s not about us at all,” Martin told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe as they released their 10th studio album Moon Music earlier this month.

“We’re just there to facilitate a gathering really. It restores my faith in humanity every day I get to see people singing together. We love it.”

Coldplay have sold 10 million tickets to their Music of the Spheres tour. Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage.

Perhaps the most masterful frontman of the post-millennial stadium concert era, Martin makes it look effortless as he works hard to compel tens of thousands of people to feel they are as much a part of the show as the band.

Coldplay was the first pop act to pioneer the LED wristband which turns their concerts into a dazzling coloured light show; for the Music of the Spheres shows, the wearable tech is made of compostable materials.

The 47-year-old musician said he still suffers the occasional “confidence crash” on stage.

Martin suffers the occasional confidence crash on stage during their joyous shows. Picture: Duncan Barnes

“But you can’t let anybody see that,” he told Apple Music.

“It’s funny because (drummer) Will, who looks so stern all the time, who’s so sweet, he’s the person I go to if I’m worried … if I think I lost the crowd or that was a terrible improvisation or whatever it is. And he goes (thumbs up), that’s all I need.”

The band have revealed that those big smiles on their faces beamed onto the jumbatron screens during the concerts aren’t always just a reflection of the joy they get from playing their songs to tens of thousands of adoring, screaming fans.

Sometimes they’re laughing because one of them just made an hilarious blunder. Martin regularly stops and starts songs again because of a gaffe.

Drummer Will Champion on the big screen harmonising with his mate. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images.

“They’re little things that no one would notice,” Champion said.

“(Guitarist) Jonny hit an absolute clanger the other day and we were all in hysterics, in the intro of feelslikeimfallinginlove. He forgot to switch his guitar on and then he ran to switch it on and then inadvertently played a semitone.

“It was the worst possible interval to get wrong and it was horrific but hilarious and funny and becomes a nice moment cuz it’s proof that it’s real.”

Coldplay are on a mission to spread good vibes with their world tour. Picture: James Marcus Haney

A Coldplay concert is exactly what the world needs right now, overloaded with good vibes. Martin and the band seem to regard spreading love and happiness with music as a mission rather than a day job.

Their enviable canon of hits from debut single Yellow through to A Sky Full of Stars are their vehicles to offer escape from the world’s struggles. They know the “hippyness” of it all inexplicably irks some people but they don’t care.

“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,” Martin told NME. “It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. It’s very liberating …”

Coldplay take over Marvel Stadium on October 30 and 31 and November 2 and 3 and then head to Sydney’s Accor Stadium on November 6, 7, 9 and 10.