Glastonbury 2024: Watch Coldplay perform ‘Viva La Vida’
During their headline set at Glastonbury Festival on June 29th, Coldplay brought out all of the stops and tore through their back catalogue, playing songs new and old to the adoring masses, including ‘Viva La Vida’.
Coldplay are veterans of Glastonbury, having made their first appearance in 1999 at the New Bands Tent. Within three years, they had returned to Worthy Farm as headliners, and their latest set cements their status further in the history books as they top the bill for a historic fourth time.
Prior to tonight, the last time Coldplay appeared on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury was in 2016, when they were joined by Barry Gibb and also provided a poignant tribute to the late Viola Beach by covering ‘Boys That Sing’.
Love them or loathe them, Coldplay are a storied part of the history at Glastonbury, and at this stage, they are essentially part of the furniture at Pilton. Even when Coldplay aren’t headlining, there’s a strong chance that Chris Martin will still find a way to make a surprise appearance.
Touching on the band’s special relationship with the festival, frontman Martin told The Guardian in 2016: “Everyone in our band comes from disparate places, but Glastonbury is the one place we all feel we come from.”
While ‘Viva La Vida’ was released when Coldplay were already a household name with experience playing stadiums across the world, the track and its accompanying album of the same title further skyrocketed their flight into the stratosphere.
Although it was the LP’s second single, for many fans, it’s the track they associate most with that era of Coldplay. It topped the charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom back when it took more than going viral on social media to accomplish this feat.
Over the last 15 years, it has been an immovable object in their sets, and fans demand to hear it every time they see Coldplay take to the stage. Fortunately for those in Pilton, they didn’t have to wait too long. Martin led the band through a full-voiced rendition of the classic anthem, with Worthy Farm serving as Coldplay’s backing singers.
Although the track is uplifting and has the energy to light a smile upon over 100,000 faces at Glastonbury, there is a darker meaning to the song. Upon its release, Martin said to Q: “It’s about… You’re not on the list. I was a naughty boy. It’s always fascinated me that idea of finishing your life and then being analysed on it. And it’s that runs through most religions. That’s why people blow up buildings. Because they think they’re going to get lots of virgins.”
Watch the euphoric moment that Coldplay perform ‘Viva La Vida’ at Glastonbury 2024 below.
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