From asking what ‘Jai Shri Ram’ means to giving a tongue-in-cheek shout-out to cricketer Jasprit Bumrah, Coldplay's first concert in India in nine years was nothing short of a cultural celebration where the band's frontman Chris Martin captivated the audience with his humour and curiosity.
There were plenty of unforgettable moments that resonated deeply with fans at Navi Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium where Coldplay kick-started their 'Music of the Spheres World Tour’ in India.
For two hours at the packed stadium, Martin belted out chartbuster tracks like "Paradise", "Viva La Vida", "Adventure of a Lifetime", "Yellow", "Fix You", and "A Sky Full of Stars", among others.
One of the evening’s most stand moments came when Martin noticed a fan holding a placard that read “Jai Shri Ram.” Curious, he uttered the phrase, igniting thunderous cheers from the crowd.
He then said, “What does Jai Shri Ram mean? Must be something good.” Martin’s innocent inquiry about the meaning of the phrase only heightened the audience's excitement.
Throughout the evening, Martin made a concerted effort to connect with the audience in their native tongues. His attempts to speak Hindi and Marathi were met with overwhelming warmth.
At the beginning of the concert, he interacted with the crowd in Marathi, Hindi, and English.
He began by saying in Marathi, “Tumhee saghre aaj chaan distat’ (You all look beautiful today).
He then said in Hindi, “Aap sab ka bahut swagat hai humare show pe. Mumbai mein aakar hume bahut khushi ho rahi hai. (You're all very welcome to our show. We feel happy after coming to Mumbai.) "Sorry, my Hindi and Marathi are bad but I tried my best," he said, before switching to English.
The British musician thanked Indian fans for giving him the chance to play in one of "our favourite places in the whole world".
"This is our fourth visit to India, the second time playing, and the first time played our show, and we couldn’t have asked for a better audience. It’s amazing you welcome us,” Martin said.
The singer-songwriter frequently checked on the crowd and made a point to ensure that they were well taken care of, asking about their well-being and hydration.
Looking at the various placards held by fans, he said, now is the good time to read some of the signs.
While reading placards by fans, such as ‘Happy Birthday to you’, ‘Love to mom she is fighting cancer’, ‘I love Coldplay’, ‘Welcome from Calcutta’, and ‘I remember you from the Temple’, Martin responded, ‘Yes, I think so. I remember you. I went to some amazing places.' He later invited a 15-year-old boy whose message read: ‘Aum, I manifested this moment. I am ready for it. Can I sing 'Everglow' with you?’ Martin fulfilled the boy's wish as the two sang the track together. A few minutes later, while performing the song "Alien", Martin even invited a male security guard on stage, who danced his heart out.
The D Y Patil sports stadium, which is primarily a cricket stadium, though it is sometimes used for football, music concerts and other events, was glowing amidst the colourful lights courtesy of the recyclable light wristbands that all the attendees were wearing and the great firework displayed at the end of the concert.
At one point the fireworks didn’t light up at the opportune time, and Martin said, ‘It’s taking a bit of time for it to get lit up. Can we all make firework sounds?’. The crowd followed him in unison till the skies were lit.
Towards the end of the concert, Martin stopped crooning and teased fans saying he needed to wrap it soon since it was time for Indian bowler Jasprit Bumrah to play cricket at the stadium.
“We got to finish the show because Jasprit Bumrah wants to come and play cricket backstage. Thank you very much, everybody, good night. He says he needs to ball at me,” he said leaving the crowd craving for some more songs. “We love you Jasprit. So, we are going to ask him to wait for 15 minutes. So, we would like to play the song one more time, this time with four of us and the 60,000 of you all in the same breath,” Martin added.
As part of their ‘Music of the Spheres World Tour’, the British band has two more shows at the DY Patil Stadium on Sunday and Monday. A fourth show will be held at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on January 25.
As the big day approached, fans started flocking from noon to attend the Coldplay concert, for which the gates opened at 3:30 pm and the band began at 8:00 pm.
One of the lady security guards said, “We have been here since 10:00 am. We’ve been told to make sure everything goes smoothly since it’s the biggest concert of the century.” Indore-based Shivani Agarwal, who was seen wearing a sash with ‘Bride To Be’ printed on it, was thrilled to bits attending the concert.
“I’ve my bridesmaid here, I wanted it to be a concert theme. This concert seemed like the perfect treat for me and my friends,” Agarwal told PTI.
Coldplay had earlier performed in the country in 2016 at the Global Citizen Festival in Mumbai.
The British rock band also includes guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey.
A Bangalore-based man, who attended concert, said even though he barely knows a few songs of the band, he chose to fly to Mumbai as he didn’t want to miss out on being part of the “concert of a lifetime”.
A couple in the early 50s from Amritsar, who came with their two grown-up daughters described the concert as a "glittering spectacle".
Before Coldplay took on stage, there were performances by Shone, Elyanna and Jasleen Royal.