Call it magic!
It happened, you guys. Coldplay came to India and it was all that their fans ever wanted. It all started with Hugh Evans and Global Citizen, an initiative that is a blessing to all Coldplay fans in India, and two month long action journeys that led all of us to The Global Citizen Festival India. On 19th November at the MMRDA Grounds, BKC, 80,000 people gathered to celebrate music and their mutual love for the first ever Coldplay concert in India. It was a beautiful night indeed.
When the gates opened at 10:30 in the morning, fans were standing in queue in their respective zones awaiting their turn to get inside and witness history being made. The festival was not only about Coldplay, it was an initiative to make the world a better place to live in. Many Bollywood celebrities gathered around to entertain and discuss issues that matter with the crowd who has won their tickets through taking action on the Global Citizen site.
At 1:30, the festival commenced with a special performance by children presented by Book A Smile, a BookMyShow initiative, followed by a dance performance celebrating Maharashtra. The hosts, Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra welcomed Arijit Singh whose soulful voice had the audience grooving. He sang all his songs including his recent hit Channa Mereya, which sounded even more better live. The first international performance was by Demi Lovato, who looked absolutely stunning and performed gracefully in the scorching heat. She totally rocked the stage with Confident, Heart Attack and Cool For The Summer.
Shankar Ehsaan Loy, the dynamic trio were a delight to watch. The best part of their performance was however Breathless, and Shankar killed it once again. Amitabh Bachchan performed the poem from Pink, and once again with Farhan Akhtar singing Yaari. Farhan had a solo performance too where he sang Sindbad the Sailor and Rock On title song which had the audience dancing to his tunes. Ranveer danced to the songs of Befikre and Bajirao Mastani, setting the stage on fire with his energetic moves.
Jay Z rapped to the tunes of Chhaiya Chhaiya and a Punjabi number along with some of his own hit songs like Empire State Of Mind. He was absolutely stunned by the energy of the crowd and said “you guys are beautiful” multiple times. A R Rehman, the man who needs no introduction, sang Tu Hi Re, Hamma and Dil Se. Sonakshi Sinha and Shraddha Kapoor stunned the crowd with their singing talent too. East India Comedy made the ambiance light hearted with their incredible jokes and puns. Shah Rukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and Freida Pinto introduced the band everyone was waiting to watch for ten hours and finally, the moment came.
The stage blacked out and everybody was hooting “Coldplay, Coldplay”, until finally we saw Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland and Will Champion ready to ablaze the stage with their 90 minutes performance. The crowd could not hold it together when the moment finally came, and 80,000 together cheered for their favourite band in the world. Chris thanked India and Mumbai was gathering together in such huge number and performed with supernatural energy that couldn’t be measured. They performed all their songs but the most incredible part of their performance came in the end.
Coldplay and A R Rehman jammed together for Maa Tujhe Salaam with Chris Martin singing Vande Mataram which was out of this world. Nothing could control the happiness of the crowd when he did that. He also sang the chorus Channa Mereya followed by A Sky Full Of Stars and their last song, Up & Up. Everybody there showed their love to the band by switching on their flashlights and putting it up in the air. They all jumped with Chris Martin, danced to Coldplay’s tunes and helped in reaching 250 million lives with their actions. History was being made there.
It was indeed a PARADISE.
