For the fifth time in their career, Coldplay are to headline Glastonbury.
The ‘Something Just Like This’ hitmakers will hit the Pyramid Stage this Sunday for a record fifth time.
Having first performed at the event in 1999, Coldplay have gone on to perform as one of the festival’s headline acts in 2002, 2005, 2011 and 2016.
However, as Chris Martin recent revealed in an interview, the band almost missed their debut performance in 1999.
“didn’t know what he was doing”
Recalling this incident, Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin revealed that he and his bandmates Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, and Will Champion had to run across the fields with their amp in tow.
Despite this, Coldplay managed to make it to the New Bands Trust on Worthy Farm, seconds ahead of their stage time.
“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”, Chris Martin said on the BBC documentary ‘Coldplay: Our Glastonbury’.
He also added: “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”.
Glastonbury a “natural home” for Coldplay
Elsewhere, Chris Martin stated that there is a spiritual connection to Glastonbury that exists beyond just the festival.
“Even when I go there when there’s no festival, it still seems to be like a centring place for what we stand for”, he said.
“Maybe that’s because of the land and that’s where I grew up around. That’s the idea of this Pyramid that’s also really connected to the earth. It’s the meeting of these two worlds which I love. Sometimes I go and climb the Pyramid and sit up there to think. Often if we’re going to play that summer, it’s sort of a very true place, as a frontman I can feel what is right and wrong, at least for us”.
Chris Martin also added that he loves how diverse the line ups are at Glastonbury.
“There’s just a feeling of the land being magical. The vibe being magical. There’s something for everybody”, he continued.
“That’s what I really liked about it. There isn’t just one headliner. If you don’t like our band that is totally fine. There’s 57 other things to do. If you want to see us, you’re here. And if you want to be in jazz world, you’re in jazz world or in the stand-up tent or dance tent. It contains so many things in such an eclectic way. And it’s all gathered in one circle”.
“The spirit of the festival is so intertwined with how we are as a band that I wouldn’t know how to separate them out. It’s like, yeah, that’s the kind of place we’d like to be able to play. It always felt like the natural home and only become more so”.
Last week, Coldplay also shared their new single, ‘feelslikeimfallinginlove’. Check that out here.
