Coldplay’s Hull shows lead to call for city-wide festival
There are calls for a festival to be organised in Hull in celebration of the upcoming Coldplay tour dates in the city.
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Chris Martin and co announced two huge stadium shows in the city’s Craven Park Stadium earlier this week (September 17), as well as a run of dates at London’s Wembley Stadium. Marking their only UK and European shows of 2025, they’ll take to the stage next August in support of their upcoming 10th album ‘Moon Music‘.
The Hull shows will be their first-ever concerts in the city, and the band have allocated 50 per cent of tickets to the gigs to local fans with HU, YO, DN or LN postcodes.
Now, there are calls for the city to organise a music festival in celebration of the gigs.
Paul Lakin, the chief executive of Hull KR, the rugby league club that owns Craven Park, told BBC News that the gigs were “on another level” to anything held in the city before, “with Coldplay bringing their full and same production that will be inside Wembley Stadium. Nothing will be scaled back.”
AUGUST 2025 LONDON & HULL DATES ANNOUNCED
Exclusive first ticket access to fans who order Moon Music from the official Coldplay UK or EU Stores, at https://t.co/G2iiva4kgH (inc those who already have).
These are the only UK/European cities where the band will perform next… pic.twitter.com/ZnDlgyfJyp
— Coldplay (@coldplay) September 17, 2024
“What we need to do as a city is absolutely embrace it – which I know we will – and possibly even create a festival of music for the week,” he said.
Hull was awarded UK City of Culture in 2017. Now, with Coldplay announcing huge shows in the city, Mike Ross, leader of the Liberal Democrat-led city council, has said it “demonstrates how the city has become a culture and tourism destination,” per BBC News.
“Hull is a city of great music culture and so we’ll be working closely with Hull Kingston Rovers and others to see how we can make this a really exciting moment for the city that’s remembered for years to come,” he said.
Coldplay’s UK tour dates are:
AUGUST 2025
18 – Hull, UK, Craven Park Stadium
19 – Hull, UK, Craven Park Stadium
22 – London, UK, Wembley Stadium
23 – London, UK, Wembley Stadium
26 – London, UK, Wembley Stadium
27- London, UK, Wembley Stadium
30 – London, UK, Wembley Stadium
31- London, UK, Wembley Stadium
While announcing the shows, the band also made a promise that 10 per cent of their proceeds from the gigs would be given to Music Venue Trust, in a bid to help support grassroots venues around the country.
The band first teased the news of a tour last week with posters in the Dublin Castle in Camden – the location of the band’s first gig under the name ‘The Coldplay’.
Now, the shows come on the heels of them headlining this year’s Glastonbury, and in celebration of their upcoming 10th album ‘Moon Music’.
On the environmental side of things, the band have promised a “world first for a stadium show”, and will be powering the Wembley shows’ production with 100 per solar, wind and kinetic energy – collected at the venue and elsewhere in the UK – and delivered by a specially-designed electric battery system. One of the satellite stages at each show will be fully powered by energy generated by the audience via kinetic flooring and power bikes.
Promising another “world first for a stadium show”, Coldplay will also be powering the Wembley shows’ production with 100 per solar, wind and kinetic energy – collected at the venue and elsewhere in the UK – and delivered by a specially-designed electric battery system. One of the satellite stages at each show will be fully powered by energy generated by the audience via kinetic flooring and power bikes.
After the general and pre-sales, Coldplay will make a limited number of ‘Infinity Tickets’ available for the shows via Ticketmaster at 12pm on Friday November 22, affordably priced at just £20 per ticket but limited to two tickets per purchaser and must be bought in pairs.
In other Coldplay news, the band’s ‘Music Of The Spheres’ tour recently became the biggest rock tour of all time, grossing $945.7million and selling 8.8million tickets since it began in March 2022. The shows have been praised for “setting a new standard” when it comes to an eco-conscious approach to live music, thanks to a slew of sustainable initiatives introduced by the band.
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Laura Molloy
NME