Coldplay have opened up about nearly missing their first ever Glastonbury set.
As the band prepare to play Worthy Farm for a record-breaking fifth headline slot on Saturday (June 29), frontman Chris Martin has reminisced on their debut performance – and how they very nearly didn’t make it.
Coldplay made their Glastonbury debut in 1999 at the New Bands Tent, alongside other acts like Muse and David Gray. R.E.M, the Manic Street Preachers and Skunk Anansie were that year’s headliners.
However, the band narrowly missed playing due to their tour manager dropping them off at the wrong site entrance just minutes before they were due to perform. Speaking in the BBC documentary Coldplay: Our Glastonbury, Martin recalled: “The hunger to go there was so huge. Our first introduction, I think, was probably carrying a not-very-good amplifier with a drunken tour manager who, you know, obviously didn’t know what he was doing either.
“So we sort of had a very quick intake of the whole place, and then started where you should start, which is in the New Bands Tent, first on. I don’t think I thought about the wider, how wild it was. It was just like we were here and we’re late and it’s huge.”
Coldplay have since gone on to headline five more times (2002, 2005, 2011, 2016 and 2024). Their headline slot this year will come ahead of their final album next year, ‘Moon Music’, scheduled for release on October 4.
Recommended
Martin shared the sentiment with NME in 2021, when he discussed how “intense” it can be to keep releasing new material.
“We’re going to make 12 albums. Because it’s a lot to pour everything into making them. I love it and it’s amazing, but it’s very intense too,” he said. “I feel like because I know that challenge is finite, making this music doesn’t feel difficult, it feels like, ‘This is what we’re supposed to be doing’.”
He added: “I don’t think that’s what we’ll do. I know that’s what we’ll do in terms of studio albums.”
During their last headline slot in 2016, the band paid tribute to Viola Beach, who tragically lost their lives in a car accident in Sweden. Coldplay covered their song ‘Boys That Sing’ “to create Viola Beach’s alternate future for them and let them headline Glastonbury for a song”.
Chris Martin also made a special guest appearance joining Kylie Minogue at her highly-anticipated Glastonbury headline slot.
The legendary Australian singer was supposed to headline in 2005, but pulled out due to being diagnosed with breast cancer. Coldplay replaced the singer instead, where Martin paid tribute to her by covering ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ at the time.
Minogue repaid the favour by inviting Martin to the stage at her 2019 Legends performance to duet the song together.
Visit here for the full line-up, stage splits and schedule. Check out the new Glastonbury site map here, revealing some key changes for 2024.
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos, rumours and more from Glastonbury 2024.