By now, I think I have written countless times in my journal that I simply cannot go to every single show and still maintain my sanity. So when Coldplay announced their massive 10 night residency at Wembley Stadium, I knew right away I could not do all ten. I decided to pace myself and picked a few of the last shows.
Leading up to the trip, I was so slammed with work that I was literally hand stitching my second Moon Music replica jacket on the plane while flying over to London.
The moment I landed and made it to the flat, I had an instant hit of deja vu. Standing right there in the room was a brand new, life sized cardboard cutout of Tom Cruise. But this time, it was current day Tom, who, coincidentally, was also actively running around London filming at the time, based on everything I was seeing on the news. I knew right then that this trip was going to be another classic.
After dropping my bags, we decided to head out and grab some food. As we were walking around, the skies opened up and it started pouring, so Oz and I ducked under a few building overhangs to stay dry. Out of nowhere, and of all the places in a massive city like London, we bumped right into our good friend Hayley! Running into a close friend completely by chance set the perfect tone for the rest of the week.
Photo by: @hayleystjames
That night, we headed over to Wembley for my first show of the run.
Fake 10 Downing Street
The next day was a show day off, which meant it was time for my first ridiculous idea of the trip. I decided we should take cardboard Tom, dressed in a Moon Music jacket, over to Downing Street and ask if they would let him in. Well, “fake” Downing Street, at least. It ended up making for a hilarious photo shoot and brought a ton of smiles to everyone walking by.
A Wild Night Out with Cardboard Tom
Later on, our friend Jannie encouraged us to take Tom out for a proper night on the town and see how far we could push the joke. We ended up shooting a whole photo series staging a wild night out with him, including a shot of Tom behind the bar channeling his inner Cocktail era.
Dingwalls and the Guitars
Because of a local transit strike, a lot of dates and travel plans had to be shuffled around during the week. But one of the absolute biggest highlights of the entire trip was getting to attend my friend Ian’s ColdplayXtra event at Dingwalls in Camden.
Ian has worked tirelessly for years, not just to bring fans the latest news and updates, but to genuinely build a community and host incredible events that bring people together. Having watched him build this from the early days of the Coldplay Atlas Project into what it is today, I know firsthand that it is essentially a full time job. It’s amazing to see what he has created.
Since Dingwalls is such a historic venue, Oz offered to bring a couple of iconic pieces from his personal collection to display at the event. A few days prior, Oz and I went to pick up two specific guitars: Jonny’s Viva La Vida guitar, and a Mylo Xyloto tour guitar used by Chris.
Carrying these ultra rare instruments all over London was pretty comical, mostly because the flight cases were absurdly heavy! Along the way, we decided to stop by the official Coldplay pop up shop that was running during the Wembley residency. Standing in the middle of a packed store holding two actual pieces of Coldplay history, without a single person inside realizing what was in the cases, was a pretty funny moment.
The Xtra event at Dingwalls did not disappoint. The huge highlight of the night was that Debs Wild was in attendance. Debs is the person who originally discovered Coldplay, which is something every fan is grateful for. But on a personal level, I am always aware that if she hadn’t signed them, our entire friend group, and thousands of other fans around the world, would probably never have met. I would never have met Oz, Ian, or so many of the people who mean the world to me today. Beyond bringing us the music, she fundamentally changed all of our lives. On top of this, Debs happens to be the one of the kindest and most thoughtful people.
To make the night even more special, I was fortunate enough to be included in her updated book, Life In Technicolor: A Celebration of Coldplay (Fully Revised & Updated). A photo I took at the Amman, Jordan gig a few years ago made the cut for the new edition! It is such a privilege to be featured in it, and Debs personally signed a copy for me backstage at the event. I already owned and gifted the original version over the years, but this second edition packs in so much more history right up to the present era. I highly recommend this book to every fan.
Photo by: @verodonocik
As I am flying home and scrolling through my camera roll, I noticed something interesting. Across this entire tour, I have taken very few photos of the actual concert. Ever since Costa Rica, I realized I was having way more fun just singing, dancing, and enjoying the moment instead of experiencing it through a screen. I think the current state of social media and the world made me regress back to what originally made me love these shows in the first place, which is simply living in the moment.
So looking through my phone now, I don’t have many shots of the band on stage. Instead, my camera roll is filled with ridiculous photos of cardboard Tom Cruise in the crowd, and great memories with the friends who made the week special.
At the end of the day, this Wembley run was all about catching up with those people, sharing a lot of laughs, and adding a few more unforgettable stories to the collection.
