Chris Martin’s Coldplay Performs New Songs, Classics at Glastonbury (Video)

Chris Martin's Coldplay Performs New Songs, Classics Glastonbury (Video) — The sleepytime band’s front man, Chris Martin, met West in 2006 at the famed Abbey Road Studios, where the former recorded a radio session and the latter was working on the *Mission: Impossible III* soundtrack. They joined forces on the fly and started to jam. Two years later, Martin went on to contribute vocals to “Homecoming,” a single off West’s 2008 album, *Graduation*.
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On Saturday, Coldplay headlined the second day of this year’s Glastonbury Festival in the U.K.

“Thank you for having us and thank you for coming to see us,” frontman Chris Martin told the crowd at the Pyramid Stage according to U.K. mag Gigwise. “Hope we exceed your expectations and sorry for playing some new songs – some day they will be your favorites.”

Following U2’s headlining performance on Friday, Coldplay — which had been on an extended hiatus in 2009 — took the stage the following night to try out their new material, including “Major Minus” and “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.” (U2 even covered Coldplay’s “Yellow” during its Friday night set.)

They opened their set with a musical teaser, the theme from Back to the Future, then the new track “Hurts Like Heaven” accompanied by a fireworks display. They also performed the song “Everything’s Not Lost,” off of Coldplay’s debut album, which the band had not played since 2005. Martin also noted that it was their opening song the first time they played Glastonbury.

A reviewer for The Guardian wrote: “it didn’t matter that [Coldplay] needed two shots at new song ‘Us Against the World,’ or that it was a bit sappy. … And despite front-loading the set, they kept plenty in reserve, ‘Viva La Vida’ winning the prize for most joyous sing-a-long, at least until ‘Clocks’ kicked off the encore. A victory that few predicted. Who knew a band this big could sneak up on people?”

“Coldplay, and there [sic] lightshow, were phenomenal. Lit up the entire stage and field. Ace. #glasto,” a Twitter user named Andy Touch (@andytouch) wrote.

Coldplay are pros at headlining Glastonbury. Saturday’s set marked the British band’s third headlining performance. They previously performed at the event in 2002 and 2005.

On a VH1/BBC broadcast of Coldplay’s set, Martin’s wife Gwyneth Paltrow along with power couple Beyonce and Jay-Z could be seen singing along from the side of the stage.

Watch Coldplay’s performances of “Yellow” and “Fix You:”