Coldplay's concert at London's Wembley Stadium on Sunday drew jeers from sections of the crowd after frontman Chris Martin invited two Israeli fans on stage.
The moment, captured on video and widely circulated on social media, shows two women – reportedly identified as Avia and Yael – stepping on to the concert's mini stage, a standard feature of the Music of the Spheres world tour. After they said they were from Israel, the sold-out crowd of 90,000 responded with a mix of boos and cheers.
The reaction prompted Martin to address the audience. “I'm very grateful that you're here, as humans, and I'm treating you as equal humans on Earth, regardless of where you come from, or don't come from,” he said.
He went on to add, to loud cheering: “Although it's controversial maybe, I also want to welcome people in the audience from Palestine. Because we have a belief that we're all equal humans.”
This is not the first time Coldplay have referred to the conflict in Gaza during the tour. At the band's four-night run at Abu Dhabi's Zayed Sports City Stadium in January, Martin invited a Pakistani fan on stage and asked her to choose a song. When her choice clashed with the setlist, he instead proposed performing a song dedicated to “our loved ones that we miss”, sending love to “our brothers and sisters in Gaza” as well as other countries across the world.
Also performing in London and Abu Dhabi was supporting act Elyanna, a Palestinian-Chilean singer who has joined Coldplay on dozens of dates during the 225-show tour, which began in 2022.
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Coldplay performing at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi. All photos: Pawan Singh / The National -
The performance is the first of four shows in Abu Dhabi -
Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin performs on stage -
Projected visuals feature abstract animations, galactic landscapes and slogans drawn from song lyrics -
Fans enjoy the show -
The show is part of Coldplay's Music of the Spheres tour -
A packed Zayed Sports City Stadium -
Chris Martin conducts the audience from the stage
The singer, 23, collaborated with the band in 2024 on the single We Pray with English-Nigerian rapper Little Simz, which was featured on Coldplay's latest album Moon Music. Elyanna, born in Nazareth and raised in the US, has built an international profile by blending Arabic and western pop. She made history at Coachella in 2023 as the first artist to perform a full Arabic-language set at the US festival.
Coldplay's Music of the Spheres tour concludes in London with three further shows at Wembley Stadium before ending on September 12. Grossing more than $1.3 billion, it is the highest-earning tour by a rock band to date.
