Who did not shed a tear when the world’s most – allegedly – uncool rock superstar, Chris Martin, brought out his “hero” Michael J Fox for “Humankind” and “Fix You ” during what can only be described as an epic Coldplay headliner performance at Glastonbury on Saturday night? The wheelchair-bound Back to the Future superstar sat playing guitar along to his frontman friend’s infective optimism before a global audience – for the first time, the headliner was streamed around the world. That watching world chorused “I’m not crying, you’re crying”. It only makes the opprobrium, derision and animosity directed towards Coldplay all the more bizarre.
So, who decides who is cool and who isn’t? On X, there were plaudits for the performance, but there were also the predictable and puzzling haters : “Coldplay is for people who don’t like music” or an “enemy of music” tweets. That’s news to the astonishingly huge Glastonbury crowd, the watching millions in tears around the world, and my two daughters sending me Pyramid Stage videos from “one of the best gigs” of their lives. Coldplay has always been derided.
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