Coldplay Won’t Tour Until It Becomes Sustainable21.11.2019

The popular band wants to play only plastic-free shows, where electronics is powered with solar energy.

Coldplay’s latest LP, Everyday Life, will be released in Poland on November 22. The tracks featured on the band’s ninth studio album are inspired by real-life stories Martin heard in BBC reports and elsewhere. These included the stories of an 18-year-old gardener from Kabul facing the hardship of war or a Nigerian composer from the 1930s who lived in a leper colony and dedicated his life to writing hymns and anthems. Portions of the album have already been released to the public on three singles, Orphans, Arabesque, and Daddy. Despite the upcoming release, however, Coldplay members have decided against taking the album on tour. 

"We're not touring this album," frontman Chris Martin told the BBC. “We’re taking time over the next year or two to work out how our tour can not only be sustainable, but how it can be actively beneficial.”

The initiative was well received by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Gareth Redmond-King, the organization's head of climate change efforts, praised Chris Martina and his bandmates:

“It is fantastic to see world-famous artists stepping up to protect the planet.We all have a responsibility to lead by example in the face of this climate and nature crisis—inaction is not an option.”

The British band’s last tour, A Head Full of Dreams (2016–2017), during which it performed for over 5.4M fans on 122 stages across four continents, involved a tech crew of 109 people. The tour also made use of 9 buses and 32 trucks. The band is well aware that curbing the excess associated with touring will take some getting used to.

"Our next tour will be the best possible version of a tour like that environmentally. We would be disappointed if it's not carbon neutral.The hardest thing is the flying side of things. But, for example, our dream is to have a show with no single use plastic, to have it largely solar powered,” Martin added.

The band will, however, make one exception when it comes to touring—currently, the musicians are in Amman, the capital of Jordan, where they will play two shows that will be livestreamed on YouTube. Both will take place Friday, with the first slated to begin at sunrise, and the other at sunset. The band wanted to play where very few artists have a chance to perform—the very center of the globe. On November 25, Coldplay will also appear at the Natural History Museum in London. All of the proceeds from the show will go toward environmental organizations and charities.