Coldplay ‘not touring’ new album Everyday Life over climate change fears
For new album Everyday Life, Coldplay say they expect to play just one UK gig, raising funds for the ClientEarth charity.
Coldplay are due to release their new album this week – but it seems the band will not be touring the new material due to concerns over the environmental impact of putting on gigs across the world.
Instead, they are performing two live shows from Jordan on Friday and streaming them live on YouTube, and will play a one-off charity gig at London’s National History Museum.
The UK show to promote the album, Everyday Life, will take place on Monday, with all proceeds going towards the work of environmental charity ClientEarth.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has said climate change is a big concern for the group, and that they want to work out how putting on a tour can “have a positive impact”.
“We’re taking time to see how our tour can be actively beneficial,” the singer told BBC News.
“All of us have to work out the best way of doing our job.”
Martin, 42, said the band “would be disappointed” should any of their future tours not be carbon neutral.
“We’ve done a lot of big tours at this point,” he said. “How do we turn it around so it’s not so much taking as giving?”
The band’s last major tour was for A Head Full Of Dreams, in 2016 and 2017.
Since then, awareness around climate change has risen across the world, with activists such as Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion highlighting the issue.
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Everyday Life is a double album divided into two halves, Sunrise and Sunset, with the Jordan shows in Amman – their first ever in the country – taking place to mirror those times.
Coldplay have said the Natural History Museum gig to perform the songs in Britain is “expected to be the band’s only UK show of the Everyday Life era”.
The album, the band’s eighth, will be released on Friday, with songs inspired by news reports about an Afghan gardener and a Nigerian hymn composer.
Its release comes after the band unveiled the track listing in an unusual way, through classified advert in several local newspapers including the North Wales Daily Post and, in a nod to Martin’s birthplace, Exeter’s Express and Echo.