Ahead of Coldplay kicking off their summer 2025 UK gigs in Hull tonight (Monday August 18), the band have shared their thoughts on the fight to save grassroots music venues.
In support of their 10th album ‘Moon Music‘, Chris Martin and co will be calling at Craven Park in Hull tonight – kicking off their run of 12 stadium shows that sold out within hours. Coldplay will also become the first act to play a 10 night run at Wembley Stadium – breaking records held by Taylor Swift and Take That.
Not only that, but 10 per cent of the band’s proceeds from the Wembley and Hull shows will be donated to Music Venue Trust – to help fund their vital work supporting grassroots UK venues and upcoming artists. Coldplay’s help comes after the MVT have long been campaigning for a mandatory levy for £1 of every ticket sold to a gig at arena level and above to go back into the grassroots, at a time when the UK is facing “the complete collapse of touring” with one venue closing every two weeks.
In quotes supplied exclusively to NME from the band’s tour programme, the band explained why it was essential that gig spaces are given a lifeline and allowed to thrive to nurture the talent of the future.
“Well, we were really lucky to grow up in a place where there was a lot of opportunity for unknown people to become known or to get experience. I know how privileged we were to have music in schools and things like the BBC and all these places where they would let a non-stadium act play,” said Martin.
“Whenever I see a tree farm it always gives me hope: it’s like, you can cut down trees, but you can also plant new ones. The cycle of life will keep going. It’s the same with new musicians: it’s so important to have the places for the saplings and the seedlings. Organisations like Music Venue Trust are even more important in this country since Brexit, because it’s so much harder for new artists to play in Europe.”
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He added: “I just know that I would always want people younger than us to have even more opportunity than we had, and certainly not less.”
Bassist Guy Berrman agreed, noting how Wembley Stadium was just a few miles from where the band met and had their first rehearsals when they started out in London.
“Wembley is always going to feel like some sort of homecoming,” he said. “But, of course, back then in halls of residence, we couldn’t have imagined that we’d play there. At that point, the homecoming would be playing in some kind of dingy back room of a Camden pub.”
He continued: “I think having been allowed to make a career out of music, we’re acutely aware of the fact that it’s becoming harder and harder to make a living as a musician. In fact, it’s almost impossible now.
“So we just felt it was important to try and keep the lifeblood of young musicians going and help make sure that those grassroots venues can be supported. Because you have to start there and work your way up – you can’t start in Wembley Stadium. We would be absolutely nowhere without those venues. They were crucial for us and it’s crucial for people to still have those opportunities.”
Guitarist Jonny Buckland ended, saying that “small venues are the breeding ground for lots of exciting music” and that “there really is nowhere else for bands to start in, and there’s so many fewer of them left”.
“We need to protect these places,” added Buckland. “They’re a vibrant part of our culture. And we, as a band, wouldn’t have anything without them. I don’t know how anyone would have heard us.”
Speaking to NME last year, Martin explained that he put his plan into action when he became aware of the situation after seeing venues he loved and had played in disappearing. “I’d just assumed The Leicester Charlotte would be fine,” he said. “I didn’t think there was an issue because I didn’t think about it. It was around COVID that you started to hear about this or that venue having to close. I thought, ‘Oh, we played all those venues, Oasis played all those venues – these are important’.”
Asked if it bothered him that we may never see another Coldplay if venues continue to disappear, he replied: “I think a lot of people would be happy about that! The truth is that playing live is an important connection.
“It doesn’t bother me that there might not be another Coldplay, but it does bother me that there might not be acts that are free to start on the bottom rung and work all the way up – so that by the time they get to stadiums, they are really good. You can’t just jump into that.”
Music Venue Trust’s CEO Mark Davyd also spoke to NME to hail the band’s decision, and called on other major artists and the industry at large to follow their example.
“The reason that Coldplay have done this is because they understand it. I booked them to play in my venue in Tunbridge Wells, The Forum,” Davyd told NME. “I saw them go out and meet everyone to sell their t-shirts so that they could afford their hotel rooms or put petrol in their van. They understand it, the message got through to them and they did something about it.
“I’ve read some churlish pathetic comments from people who don’t like Coldplay, but I don’t care. It’s not about what music you like; it’s about having a system in which artists like that can have a career. Whether they end up in stadiums or stay in smaller venues, it all matters. We’ve got plenty of opportunities to make this function and function well, we just need a music industry that will get on top of that and make it work.”
Coldplay play two nights at Hull’s Craven Park before a run of 10 London gigs at London’s Wembley Stadium kicks off on Friday August 2. Martin has previously said the culmination of the UK shows will mark a pause in the Music of the Spheres World Tour, which is expected to resume in 2027. He also told NME about his plans for the end of the band and how he felt that they were nearing their final albums.
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