‘That’s not planned’: Coldplay’s final Melbourne stadium show goes out with a bang
Coldplay’s fourth and final Melbourne stadium show ended with a bang when lead singer Chris Martin fell through a trapdoor onstage.
Martin was talking to the crowd and walking backwards on Sunday when he fell. The crowd at Marvel Stadium gasped as someone caught him.
“That’s not planned,” Martin said as he climbed back on stage. “Thank you for catching me, so much.”
After being checked out by a staff member, Martin said he was OK. He then pointed to where he fell and said, in the style of Oprah Winfrey, “You get a bonus! You get a bonus!”
The band later tweeted: “Thank you Melbourne we won’t ever forget these four incredible nights.”
Coldplay has charmed Melbourne crowds with tributes to the late cricketer Shane Warne, short performances of John Farnham’s You’re the Voice and Kylie Minogue’s Locomotion, and guest appearances by ABC newsreader Tamara Oudyn and Karate Kid actor Ralph Macchio. The British band also paid tribute to the city’s obsession with coffee.
“More than anything else, a Coldplay concert is a spectacle. It has all the hallmarks of a big-bucks production: confetti, fireworks, streamers, flames, large balls bouncing across the crowd, light-up wristbands that pulse in sync to create a visual symphony,” an Age review said.
Martin’s onstage tumble wasn’t the first glitch of the tour, with the band taking to the stage on their first night in Melbourne without bassist Guy Berryman, who was unwell and vomiting. The band’s co-producer and engineer Bill Rahko stepped up to the plate, wearing a helmet for the whole show.
The concerts were the first time Coldplay had performed on Australia’s east coast since 2016. The band will now head to Auckland as part of its Music Of The Spheres World Tour.
Last month American pop star Olivia Rodrigo also fell through a hole on stage during her fourth and final performance at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena.
The 21-year-old performer shared a video of the mishap on social media the day after the October 15 fall, assuring fans she was uninjured.
In the video, Rodrigo can be seen facing the crowd, and running across the stage before falling through the hole and then climbing back out.
In another video of the fall shared on TikTok, the singer can be heard saying “oh my God, that was fun” as she climbs back out of the hole.
“I’m OK. Woah. Sometimes there’s just a hole in the stage,” she said. “That’s all right. OK. Where was I?”
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