Coldplay, Pavarotti and Italy: story of a great love
Life will reserve for him an extraordinary future, marked by global success: what he will achieve with his band, Coldplay, among the greatest pop phenomena in the history of music, as well as 100 million copies sold thanks to hits that will resonate in stadiums all over the world. But now Chris Martin is a twelve year old boy which he has never yet poked his nose out of Exteriora delightful British town, capital of the county of Devon, partially destroyed by Nazi bombing during the Second World War and then reborn around its cathedral.
He attends the Exter Cathedral School and in the afternoon, after finishing his lessons, he follows the .choral singing course. Has a myth. That he's not exactly the same as other kids his agewhether it is Robert Smith of The CureOf Bono Vox of U2 or another rock star who doesn't climb the charts, that one Paul Gascoigne who wore the Tottenham shirt in 1989. Chris Martin's idol is called Luciano Pavarotti: “I fell in love with singing while watching all the programs about Pavarotti on TV: I was obsessed with him. I was struck by knowing that she never stopped studying, at least three hours a day, until the very end. This shows that, if you put in the effort, you can become the best,” confessed the Coldplay frontman in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2008, on the occasion of the release of the album “Viva la vida or death and all his Friends”. Even before collaboration with the violinist Davide Rossi for the same “Viva la vida”destined to represent one of the turning points in the band's career, the many performances in our country, the special relationship with the Italian public (also demonstrated by the almost instant sold out of the four dates on 12, 13, 15 and 16 July at the Olympic Stadium in Rome), The Chris Martin and his Coldplay's connection with Italy starts exactly from here.
Chris Martin and his idol Luciano Pavarotti they have never metbut who knows whether his friend didn't tell the Coldplay frontman some anecdotes about the great tenor, who passed away in 2007 Sugar, who, as is known, recorded “Miserere” with the Modenese artist, a collaboration from which the “Pavarotti & Friends” show series arose. Last year, on the occasion of Coldplay's second show at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, the singer surprisingly dueted with the Emilian bluesman on the notes of “Diamond”, after the latter had recorded a cover of “The scientist” in 2021: “Hearing the whole audience singing along with us was a very strong moment that I won't forget.
After the concert, when I was already in the car, I received this beautiful message from Chris Martin: '.Zucchero, our brother forever. Thank you so much for being here today'. All this is called 'soul', 'love' and 'respect', which should always exist not only between artists but above all between human beings,” the voice of “Diavolo in me” said about the surprise. The following evening, still in Milan, Chris Martin and his companions called another Italian artist on stage, Elisa. Together they sang “And yet feel”: “The power of music was released and spread everywhere and immediately transformed into beauty. From this concert I will always remember the enchantment I experienced, the love, the inclusion, the positive vibrations, the conscience and the profound connection”, commented the Friulian singer-songwriter. And if at Maradona's Naplesa few days earlier, Chris Martin he surprised everyone by singing “Napule è” by Pino Daniele (“Ve vulimm bene”)in Milan he instead intoned “O my beautiful Madunina”.
With the four Roman shows scheduled for next month The number of performances collected by Coldplay in Italy during their career will rise to 33between concerts, hosted on TV programs (such as “Che tempo che fa” in 2005 or “X Factor” in 2021) and showcases: “For me playing live in your country is like having an orgasm,” Chris Martin said.
It was the summer of 2000 when the British band visited the Peninsula for the first time ever, for two shows hosted on 14 and 16 July at the Scaligero Castle in Villafranca di Verona (when the news reached them shortly before going on stage that were first in the rankings in England) and in Piazza Pertini in Misterbianco, in the province of Catania. All true. Coldplay had released their debut album “Parachutes” four days earlier, in the wake of the hits “Shiver” and “Yellow”. Italy, among European countries, is at .fifth place in the ranking of the nations in which Chris Martin and his companions have played several times. “For us, Italy is a fundamental country. It's like being in paradise“, they say. Speaking of paradise. One of Chris Martin's favorite films is the masterpiece of an artist who, with his readings, managed to rediscover huge audiences' passion for the Divine Comedy. We are talking, of course, about Roberto Benigni: “'It's a Beautiful Life' is my favorite movie. So much light and so much darkness, together. Just like in life“.
The city where they performed most times is Milan, with fifteen steps. But the two dates at the Maradona in Naples must have represented something special for Coldplay, if on their passage to Neapolitan soil the band even wanted to create a short film. Titled “Everything passes – A tribute to Naples by Coldplay”, directed by Stillz, director and photographer of Colombian origins already alongside Bad Bunny and Rosalía, the short contains some clips of the two concerts and images of the city. There is also a performance by a young musician from Campania, Raiareal name Pasquale Raia, originally from Scafati (the city that gave birth to Neffa, so to speak), born in 1996, who
in Piazza del Plebiscito he sings “The scientist”: “It was morning and I was working on one of my songs when the call came from Coldplay's entourage. They were looking for a singer who could sing one of their songs on the street for a secret documentary that I clearly shouldn't have told anyone about. At first I didn't believe it, only when I arrived on set did I realize the situation, or rather the beautiful dream I was living in. I still can't believe it happened to me, it was and will remain one of the most beautiful experiences of my life,” she says.
At the Olimpico in Rome on 12, 13, 15 and 16 July there will be a total of 240 thousand spectatorsready to make the Capitoline stadium an open-air karaoke to the tune of the various “Viva la vida”, “Yellow”, “A sky full of stars”, “Fix you”: “We love Italy. We've always had fun playing, there's a wonderful audience, fantastic food, beautiful people… And beautiful women”. For the Roman homage, after the Neapolitan one to “Napule è” and the Milanese one to “O mia bela Madunina”, the bets are already open: the tribute to the Eternal City on “Arrivederci Roma” is very popular, but who knows, maybe Chris Martin will come up with an unlikely cover of Antonello Venditti's “Roma capoccia”. It makes you smile just to imagine him singing: “Rrroma caposciaaa der muonno 'nfame”.
