 "Coldplay's final India concert: Chris Martin celebrates Republic Day, sings 'Vande Mataram'")
“Happy Republic Day, India!” Coldplay frontman Chris Martin greeted the crowd as he kicked off his final performance in the country at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium where he touched many hearts by singing the patriotic anthem “Vande Mataram”.
It looked like a confetti of lights had spread throughout the stadium as fans switched on their flashlights to groove to the band’s tune in their last concert in India, which is being streamed live on Disney+ Hotstar.
The atmosphere inside the Narendra Modi Stadium, which has a capacity of over 1.25 lakh, was electric with excitement as the show kicked off exactly at 8 pm.
Martin, dressed in a sea blue T-shirt and a jeans, began by performing “High Power”, which made the audience sing with the song with him in unison. And then came two other hits — “Adventure of a Lifetime” and “Paradise”.
Taking a break from back-to-back tracks, Martin then addressed the audience in Hindi and thanked them for turning up in large numbers from different corners of the country.
“Dhanyawaad pyaare dosto. Aap sab ka bohat swagat hai hamare show me. Aap sabka bohat dhanyawaad ki aapne hume yaha perform karne ka mauka diya. Ahmedabad me aake bohat hum bohat khushi ho rahi hai. Aur namaste aap sabko jo hume live stream par dekh rahe hai,” he said and was met with huge cheers from the audience.
“That is the every Hindi word I ever learned in my whole life. So thank you,” Martin said, before switching to Gujurati briefly.
Martin also greeted Indian fans on the occasion of India’s 76th Republic Day.
“We are so happy to be here, so grateful to be here. Happy Republic Day to everybody in India. We know how lucky we are to play in your beautiful country, especially on a day when all the planets are aligned and we have the best audience in the best stadium in the whole wide world,” he said.
The singer took a break from his playlist to briefly hum a few lines from music maestro A R Rahman’s 1997 patriotic track “Maa Tujhe Salaam”.
Martin kept the energy high by constantly engaging with the crowd and taking time to read the signs they held up. He also noted the song requests that the audience had put up and assured them their favourite tracks are on the way.
He performed on tracks “Yellow”, “Charlie Brown”, “All My Love”, “Clocks”, “People of the Pride”, “Hymm for the Weekend” and “Viva La Vida”.
While performing the track “Everglow”, Martin invited a young couple on the stage to sing the song with him. He said they are on stage to represent every concert goer.
The show marks the Chris Martin-led band’s concluding performance in India as part of their ‘Music of the Spheres World Tour’. They have already performed at three soldout shows in Mumbai earlier and had their fourth concert in Ahmedabad on Saturday. 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.
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