British band Coldplay joined in on India’s Republic Day celebrations by surprising fans with a rendition of Vande Mataram. During the final India show in Ahmedabad on January 26, frontman Chris Martin took a break from his high-energy performance and serenaded the audience with a melodic piano version of India’s patriotic hymn.
The singer followed this with a short performance of A. R. Rahman’s 1997 hit Maa Tujhe Salaam, before resuming the concert with Charlie Brown from their Mylo Xyloto album.
Luckily, for those who missed out on tickets, the show was streamed live on Disney+ Hotstar, making it a worthwhile experience for those watching at home.
This is not the first time that Martin has surprised his fans with this song. During the band’s last visit to India nine years ago for the Global Citizen Festival, Rahman joined them on stage and performed Maa Tujhe Salaam together.
Coldplay performed a total of five shows in India in the span of nine days – three shows in Mumbai (18, 19, and 21 January), and two shows in Ahmedabad (25 and 26 January).
Martin’s concerts in India have been nothing short of extraordinary. The 47-year-old singer amazed the audience by speaking in Hindi and Gujarati during the Mumbai and Ahmedabad shows. He also gave a special shoutout to the King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan during a Mumbai show and frequently mentioned Indian cricketer Jasprit Bumrah during his performances in all his shows.
Bumrah was present at the concert last night and Martin sang a personalised song for him:
"Jasprit, my beautiful brother,
the best bowler in the whole of cricket,
We do not enjoy,
watching you destroy England,
wicket after wicket after wicket".
He followed it with clips of Bumrah dominating the England batting line-up in their 2024 Test series.
Coldplay has now checked off two countries from the Asian leg of the tour. After their performances in the U.A.E. and India, the band will next head to Hong Kong in April.
