Concert Reviews
Coldplay brought the crowd to their feet, with everything from their newer synth-pop of “Music of the Spheres” to slower 2000s hits. They also brought The Weirdos.
Coldplay, featuring frontman Chris Martin, brought love and nostalgia to a steamy Gillette Stadium. Anna Lee
July 16, 2025 | 1:25 PM
7 minutes to read
Coldplay, with Ayra Starr and Elyanna (and The Weirdos), Tuesday, July 15, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough.
On Tuesday night, Gillette Stadium really did turn into a sky full of stars — and fireworks.
Coldplay transported the audience through space and time, as the band seamlessly traveled through their discography, ebbing and flowing from their newer synth-pop of “Music of the Spheres” to slower 2000s hits.
The band appeared on the floor of the stadium, walking toward the stage steps at 8:54 p.m., starting off strong and upbeat with “Higher Power” and “Adventure of a Lifetime” to get the crowd quickly on its feet. They followed two openers: Ayra Starr, a Nigerian-born Afrobeats singer, and Elyanna, a Palestinian and Chilean artist whose music intersects Arabic sounds and R&B.
The set was split into four acts — Planets, Moons, Stars, and Home — with each guiding listeners through a cosmic journey of soul-searching, connection, and love.
Lead singer Chris Martin brought that high energy down with “The Scientist,” as its sincerity and heartfelt lyrics echoed through the crowd. The audience sang with one collective heart and voice, especially with the older hits like “Viva la Vida” and “Yellow.”
These are songs that most of the audience (mostly an older Gen Z and millennial crowd) have felt deep in their soul for many years already, and probably already sang in the shower too many times. You could feel both the pain and passion from everyone around you, as they belted with Martin to the beat of Will Champion’s powerful drumming, alongside friends and loved ones. I could even feel the stadium ground shake beneath me.
This three-year tour has grossed over $1 billion, making it the highest-grossing rock tour ever. And as a member of the audience that night, you could feel in your bones that history was being made.
Here are the most memorable parts of the night.
Martin poked fun at Gillette, recalled Boston memories
During the third song of the set, “The Scientist,” as Martin sang wholeheartedly while accompanying himself on piano, he thanked the crowd for their support and offered some digs at Massachusetts traffic and the location of Gillette Stadium.
“The audience in Massachusetts must have superpowers,” he sang, “because they can survive the street in all this heat. They sat in traffic for so many f—ing hours.”
Although Gillette is known as a “Boston” venue, even England-born Martin knows that the stadium is in the middle of nowhere.
“I know it’s such a pain to get there and thank you for being here. For this beautiful stadium 75 hours from civilization.”
Martin recalled when Coldplay played 24 years ago at the Boston River Rave, a hard rock festival held at Gillette’s predecessor, Foxboro Stadium. They performed on a revolving stage, and the reaction from the crowd was not as kind as Tuesday night.
“Everyone was booing and throwing sh— at us, and we said, ‘You know, it looks like we’re going to be massive in Boston,’” he laughed. Then he led into another fan favorite song, “Sparks,” which unlike that time in 2001, was met with overwhelming screams of excitement.
The stadium sparkled, but the ‘spheres’ didn’t stand out
Every member of the audience wore a light-up wristband, and yes, wristbands are a common concept in many large-venue concerts these days.
But on a clear night, without a cloud in the sky, it was more than a cool nod to special effects. The colors and lights were stars that danced in the audience, bringing their songs to life and creating a sea of luminescence that moved to the music.
The set decor was minimal for most of the show, with only the usual moving graphics on screen behind them. But there were heavy amounts of twinkling lights, confetti, and firework displays, plus occasional flames, that made it stand out.
(It’s probably worth noting that for a concert that focused so much on sustainability, they launched a lot of fireworks that night. They were beautiful though, I’m not complaining.)
Coldplay lit things up good Tuesday night in Foxborough. – Anna Lee
Toward the beginning of the set, the stadium crew released many big inflatable balls for people to throw around in the standing room area on the floor. From the side, it looked like a ball pit that wasn’t filled quite enough. They all somehow ended up near the stage and then suddenly disappeared. It never even reached my side of the stadium. Occasionally I’d watch the other side toss the remaining three or so up.
At the end, there were some multicolored planets brought out that moved almost like a solar system, not for tossing or bouncing like the balls from earlier. This would definitely count as more spheres, but didn’t feel as intergalactic as maybe they intended.
For a tour called “Music of the Spheres,” I did expect a better plan for the spheres.
‘A regular sweaty old man’: Martin endeared himself to the audience
Coldplay gave some ticketholders more than just a show. He gave many of them starstruck memories, spotlighting and bringing up audience members.
More importantly, you could tell Martin cared about his fans beyond the “I love you all!” that we’ve typically seen at concerts. They cared in a more nurturing way that didn’t feel performative.
He asked many times throughout the set whether everyone was okay. He stopped the set twice even to check on people in the crowd to make sure that they weren’t dying of heat exhaustion or needed medical attention. (Turns out one of those instances was a proposal! Not an emergency.) Martin even performed a whole verse in sign language himself.
He also brought up a group of four teens and had them sit next to him to sing “In My Place” because he liked their sign that referenced it. At one point he fully aimed the mic at one of the teens and she just sang in awe, alongside Jonny Buckland’s melodic reverbed guitar. You could tell it was surreal for her.
“See, up close I’m just a regular sweaty old man. I look better on TV,” Martin said right before he started singing. “But I’m so happy you’re here, and you brought a beautiful sign.”
He threw people onto the Jumbotron, from normal New Englanders with cool shirts and hair styles, to U.S. veterans, to the players of the Savannah Bananas who just played at Fenway Park. And he sang wholesome short improv riffs for them.
“Well look at the Savannah Bananas, we all just want to say hello,” he sang. “Thanks for coming tonight, making us all feel alright, and thank you for dressing all in …”
“YELLOW” the crowd sang in unison.
There were too many alien references
There were a couple times where the performance veered into overkill.
One time involved alien masks. We get it, Chris, we are supposed to embrace our differences, and the message was clear with his shirt that read, “Everybody is an alien somewhere.” I don’t know if trying to look like Mike Wazowski from “Monsters Inc.” was really necessary to drive that point home.
Luckily, this was quickly turned into a more entertaining situation when he brought up a security guard and put the mask on him instead. Suddenly the guard was busting out dance moves like he was the star of the show — and the crowd went wild.
The second time was when the Muppets showed up — sorry, The Weirdos. This is an alien puppet band, created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, that is signed to Atlantic Records. They’ve performed with Coldplay since 2022 throughout this tour, with Martin claiming that they’re a “band that we’re trying to help out.”
Don’t get me wrong, lead singer Angel Moon’s vocals were powerful, but Coldplay’s choice to tour with puppets only added visual confusion to the performance, the same way the alien masks did. And it looks like many Coldplay concert-goers in past years felt the same.
Martin gave a send-off message of love
On top of the love he showed to his fans throughout the night, he briefly mentioned some major current events happening in the world, all captured in the message of love for all. Martin asked his audience to put their hands up to the sky and aim them at the screen, telling us that we’re going to send out love to the world.
“You can send this to your sister or your brother or your cousin. You can send this to Russia and Ukraine. You can send this to the Holy Land of Palestine and Israel. You can send it to the White House. You can send it anywhere you want to send it. The people you don’t agree with but you want to love anyway.”
After a countdown from three, fireworks flew into the sky.
Fireworks lit up Gillette Stadium throughout the night at Coldplay’s July 15 performance. Anna Lee
Twenty minutes later at exactly 11 p.m., the concert ended with “feelslikeimfallinginlove,” more fireworks, and three words on the screen: Believe in love.
It was a humid July night, with 80-degree heat in a packed-in, sold-out stadium. Yet somehow it reminded me of the holidays, like Christmas in July.
Coldplay’s songs themselves are already nostalgic and comforting — the way it feels around family reunions — and coupled with the twinkling lights and the band’s warm kindness throughout the night, it was like the sweaty summer equivalent of Christmas cheer.
And during that time of year, love is unquestionably present.
Setlist for Coldplay at Gillette Stadium, July 15, 2025
Act I: Planets
- Higher Power
- Play Video
- Adventure of a Lifetime
- Paradise
- The Scientist
Act II: Moons
- Viva la Vida
- Hymn for the Weekend
- In My Place
- Charlie Brown
- Yellow
- ALL MY LOVE
Act III: Stars
- Human Heart
- People of the Pride
- Clocks
- WE PRAY
- Infinity Sign
- Something Just Like This
- My Universe
- A Sky Full of Stars
Act IV: Home
- Sunrise
- Sparks
- The Jumbotron Song
- Play Video
- Fix You
- GOOD FEELiNGS (with Ayra Starr)
- feelslikeimfallinginlove
Kelly Chan
Kelly Chan is a content producer at Boston.com. She designs multimedia content on-site and across social media platforms, and experiments with new ways to engage readers.
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