Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland of Coldplay are set to perform an intimate Christmas charity gig in London this December, following a successful show at Hackney Church last year which raised over £350,000 for Crisis, the homeless charity. The performance is scheduled for Wednesday, 3 December, and will see the two musicians return to the historic venue, where they previously held legendary festive concerts in 2011 and 2015.
The concert will raise funds for Crisis, which offers life-changing services to help people across Britain escape homelessness, as well as for War Child, a charity that supports children affected by conflict.
Tickets for the event will be available through a prize draw, which is now open and will close at 11:59pm GMT on Monday, 17 November. A total of 150 winners will be selected randomly, with each receiving a pair of tickets. As the tickets are strictly non-transferable, winners will need to present photo ID to gain entry.
Coldplay currently have no other live performances scheduled, following the completion of the latest leg of their Music of the Spheres world tour. The tour, which began in March 2022, included a headline set at Glastonbury 2024 and became the highest-grossing rock tour in history, earning over $1 billion. In January, the band performed the largest stadium show of the 21st century so far.
This summer, the band held a record-breaking 10-night residency at London’s Wembley Stadium. During the penultimate show, Martin revealed that the Music of the Spheres tour would continue with “138 more shows to go”. He teased: “We have a break coming up, and we’ll announce shows for 2027 soon. But we only have two more this year, and then we’re going to go make something really special that we’ve been working on for years. But shush… it’s a secret!”
The “special” project Martin referred to could be one of Coldplay’s final two studio albums. In an interview with NME surrounding the release of the band’s latest record, Moon Music (2024), Martin confirmed that the band’s catalogue will conclude with 12 albums. He suggested the band’s final LPs may take longer than expected, with the release of their 11th album likely to be delayed.
The 11th album, according to Martin, will be a musical, which could push the final Coldplay record (titled simply Coldplay) into 2026 or beyond. Martin admitted that the idea of moving on from the band’s recorded music was difficult for him, hinting that their eventual retirement could be an emotional one.