It’s not often that Coldplay, one of the world’s biggest bands, agrees to play backing vocals to a one-time boy band heart-throb like Gary
Barlow of Take That. Take That were one of Britain’s most successful groups in the 1990s and have topped the charts again since reforming. The event was in support of the War Child charity, which aims to protect children living in the world’s most dangerous war zones. It has just released a compilation album, Heroes. Coldplay put behind it the disappointment of the BRITs, where it was nominated for four awards but won nothing, to play to 2,000 people at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. “The band to see at the moment is Take That,” said Coldplay’s Chris Martin. “We’ve just come back from Japan and lost all the BRITs. It’s been a shit day, quite frankly,” he joked at the end of a set where the band played a string of hits including Yellow. The finale of the concert was a rendition of The Killers’ All These Things That I’ve Done sung by the band itself, Coldplay, Barlow and Bono, lead singer of Irish rockers U2.
The concert was the highlight of the night for many fans and journalists who had been at the BRIT awards earlier, where Welsh singer Duffy won three awards, including the coveted best British album accolade.