Coldplay are coming back to Abu Dhabi. The British band are set to bring their hugely successful Music of the Spheres World Tour to Zayed Sports City Stadium on January 11. Promotors Live Nation Middle East confirmed it will be the only stop in the region for the band, who have been playing at some of the world’s largest music venues – including to more than 100,0000 people at this year’s Glastonbury festival in the UK – as part of the tour.
Fans can now sign up for access to pre-sale tickets on Coldplay’s official website, which will be available online at noon GST on September 25. Fans can also register for pre-sale tickets on the Live Nation Middle East website, which will go on sale at noon the following day. All other tickets will be available from noon on September 27 on the Live Nation Middle East website.
Coldplay will return to the UAE on the back of their Music of the Spheres World Tour, named after their ninth album, which they have been playing in stadiums since 2022. It is the band's most extensive tour to date, having played in front of more than nine million people in more than 30 countries. According to trade publication Billboard, it is the biggest rock tour of all time and has already grossed more than $945 million.
The tour is also notable for its sustainability efforts, aiming to minimise the group's carbon footprint. The band have made several eco-conscious decisions, such as constructing stages from low-carbon, reusable and recycled materials; using low-energy LED lighting; minimisation of private flights; and setting up kinetic dance floors in venues where the movement of the audience will be registered and converted to energy contributing to power the show.
Sustainability efforts
Coldplay have kept fans and peers aware of their progress by sharing annual reports tracking the tour's sustainability efforts. According to the most recent update, issued in June, Coldplay reported the direct CO2e emissions from the first two years of the Music of the Spheres tour are 59 per cent lower than their previous stadium tour in 2016/17 on a show-by-show comparison.
For two years before the launch, the band engaged the services of consultant Paul Schurink, the founder of Zap Concepts, to co-design a sustainable world tour. Speaking at the XP Music Conference in Riyadh in 2021, Schurink said the band even focused on the nature of the setlist, which is purposely packed with up-tempo numbers, such as hits Viva La Vida and Sky Full of Stars, to literally keep the energy high on the kinetic dance floors.
the founder of Zap Concepts
"We do a full inventory of the show in that every single [piece of] equipment that has a plug on it is known by us so we can know how much energy is needed," Schurink said. "Once we know we can then bring exactly enough energy to have maximum efficiency. And that's another thing that is underestimated, in most events, the total generation capacity – whether diesel or grid connections or whatever – are three to eight times more than that is needed.”
Coldplay's coming concert continues their love affair with Abu Dhabi, having played in the UAE capital three times previously. These included two New Year's Eve gigs in 2011 and 2016, at the Abu Dhabi Corniche and Etihad Park respectively, as well as their rain-soaked debut performance at Emirates Palace in 2009. They also performed at Expo 2020 Dubai in 2022.
The show also marks the first stand-alone concert at the Zayed Sports City Stadium since George Michael and Alicia Keys's sold-out show in 2008.
