Coldplay kicked off their UK summer shows last night at Craven Park in Hull, and have started the initiative to give ten percent of their proceeds from the Hull show as well as their upcoming Wembley shows to the Music Venue Trust.
This help comes after the Music Venue Trust have been campaigning for a £1 levy on every ticket sold to a concert at arenas and stadiums to go back into grassroots. The grassroots music industry helps emerging artists as well as employing more than 28,000 people.
In an interview with NME, Chris Martin shared his thoughts on how the band were very lucky to “grow up in a place where there was a lot of opportunity for unknown people to become known or to get experience.”, highlighting the importance of wanting to help grassroots venues to give emerging artists and opportunity to get experience.
Mark Davyd, CEO of MVT, praised Coldplay for their initiative. He described them as “the perfect example of a UK band who came through the grassroots circuit on their way to worldwide stadium-filling success.” He also said that they are “recognising the artists and promoters that are struggling more than ever to build their own careers.” by going beyond the £1 levy and helping the grassroots venues that helped them in their journey to selling out stadiums.
In 2023, 125 grassroots venues permanently closed, which represents the loss of 4,000 jobs, over 14,000 events, and over 190,000 opportunities for emerging musicians to perform, so the support from this will help stop grassroots venues closing which will allow more people to access live music.
Coldplay are known for supporting initiatives with their shows running on renewable energy as well. Their shows on this tour are a world first when it comes to stadium shows as they use solar, wind, and kinetic energy to power the shows. In addition, a satellite stage is used at each show which is powered by members of the audience dancing on kinetic flooring and using power bikes.
In support of Coldplays’ 10th album ‘Moon Music‘, the band kicked off their run of 12 stadium shows last night in Hull.
Coldplay will also become the first act to ever play 10 nights at Wembley Stadium, breaking the records of Taylor Swift and Take That.
