Coldplay dedicated their last song ‘Til Kingdom Come’ to David Bowie at their post BRIT Awards concert in aid of War Child on Wednesday night (24.02.16).
Frontman Chris Martin announced he was singing the emotional track – which begins "Steal my heart and hold my tongue, I feel my time, my time has come. Let me in, unlock the door, I’ve never felt this way before" – for the Ziggy Stardust legend, who passed away at the age of 69 in January from cancer.
The 38-year-old star first recalled that he had wrote the hit – which features on their 2005 album ‘X&Y’ – with the late country music legend Johnny Cash in mind and joked he offered it to One Direction, Adele and Justin Bieber before the late Cash, even though none of those trio of artists were releasing music at the time.
Speaking directly to the crowd, he began: "One Direction? They said no. Adele? She said no. We offered it to Justin Bieber and he said no, so we kept it for ourselves.
And added: "The truth is this, it was written for Johnny Cash, and this is dedicated to Johnny and David Bowie, and all those people that we really miss. This is about love lasting forever."
Coldplay opened the BRIT Awards earlier in the night with a colourful rendition of ‘Hymn For The Weekend’, but chose to begin the intimate show with ‘A Head Full of Dreams’.
The crowd sang in unison with the band – which also includes Jonny Buckland on guitar, Guy Berryman on bass and Will Champion on drums – as they stormed through a string of familiar hits including their breakout track ‘Yellow’, ‘Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall’, ‘Clocks’, ‘Charlie Brown’, ‘Hymn for the Weekend’ – which features on their latest album ‘A Head Full of Dreams’ – and fan favourite ‘Fix You’.
The night took an uplifting turn when Chris, 38, took to the piano and sang ‘Viva La Vida’, ‘Adventure of a Lifetime’ and ‘A Sky Full of Stars’.
The group have had a busy few weeks after they performed at the prestigious Super Bowl half-time show in the US, so the star took the opportunity to thank the team around Coldplay – who picked up the Best British Group at the BRITs.
Chris said: "We’re so proud to be here working with War Child so thank you to War Child. Thank you to all of our team who have been working so hard over the past few weeks with the Super Bowl and the BRITs.
"I don’t know if you’re having fun but it’s so fun for us to just play a concert and we haven’t done a concert for a while and it just feels wonderful, and we couldn’t ask for a nicer occasion. So thank you very much."
Famous faces who joined War Child and O2 to watch the headliners perform included ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ judge Alesha Dixon, ‘Game of Thrones’ star Maisie Williams, Welsh actor Luke Evans and singer Conor Maynard.
Revellers were delighted to be treated to a special menu of cocktails by Italian liqueur Disaronno, such as their ‘Sky Full of Stars’ tipple, created especially for the event.
Coldplay perfrom dedication to David Bowie
