LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) – It’s not often that Coldplay, one of the world’s biggest bands, agrees to play backing vocals to a one-time
boy band heartthrob like Gary Barlow of Take That. 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 the disappointment of the BRITs behind them, 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. Take That were one of Britain’s most successful groups in the 1990s and have topped the charts again since reforming. "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, which started late on Wednesday, was the highlight of the night for many fans and journalists who had been at the BRIT awards earlier. Welsh singer Duffy won three awards including the coveted best British album accolade. War Child has billed Heroes, its fifth record, as "the ultimate covers album".
Fifteen young acts were selected by established names in rock ‘n’ roll to perform one of their own songs.