Coldplay almost made a fool of themselves at Glastonbury 1999

THE Coldplay they play at Glastonbury Festival for 25 years now, working his way up from the bottom of the bill to becoming the event’s headliner several times.

However, this “journey” risked not even starting or at least starting with a bad impression that would perhaps have weighed on their future. In fact, Chris Martin recently recalled that way back in 1999 the band risked losing their place in future Glastonburys.

Coldplay, who would eventually become what they are now, with hundreds of millions of records worldwide and the biggest arenas in cities around the world packed, were late for their first festival concert in 1999 edition, where they were scheduled for June 27, 1999 New Bands Tent during the lunch time slot.

“The hunger to go there was so great,” Martin said, recalling the band’s first performance in the BBC documentary, “Coldplay: Our Glastonbury”.

“Our first time, I think, was probably bringing in a not-so-good amp with a drunk tour manager who obviously didn’t even know what he was doing.”

Like many people attending the festival for the first time, Martin was immediately struck by its scale, but the band had very little time to take it all in.

In fact, the risk of watching the festival as simple spectators and no longer as protagonists was high because the band arrived late, they were also stunned and lost in the grandeur of the place and they succeeded (perhaps also thanks to the fact of having had a “lean” set) per second to start playing.

Despite the risk, the “beardless” Coldplay certainly impressed Emily Eavisorganizers of the festival, who was a big fan of the group’s first EP, so asked them to play an additional benefit show for the family.

From that point on, Coldplay had a good relationship with the family, which was only expanded through multiple appearances on the Pyramid Stage, where they delivered stellar performances. They performed on the Glastonbury main stage in 2005, 2011 and 2016.

Martin sees Glastonbury and the farm as a place of inspiration and goes there when there are no festivals to get inspiration. “Even when I go there without a festival,” he said, “it feels like a place to center what we stood for.”

Coldplay will headline the festival again on Saturday night.

The lineup of their performances at the 1999 Festival

Careful Where You Stand
No More Keeping My Feet on the Ground
Shiver
Spies
Brothers & Sisters
Bigger Stronger
Only Superstition