Coldplay‘s headlining Glastonbury set was filled with tributes, speeches and covers, and one of the more special of those was a cover of UK outfit Viola Beach‘s posthumous release Boys That Sing.
Four piece band Viola Beach, along with their manager were tragically killed in a car crash in Sweden in February this year.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin prefaced the cover with a heartfelt speech, talking about how Coldplay first played Glastonbury in 1999 in the New Bands tent. He then started to speak passionately about how Viola Beach reminded him of Coldplay when they were first starting out, “a band that just got signed and were on their first tour of the world, and went through a tragic accident.”
They “reminded us of us, and all the other bands that have come through here,” Martin continues. “We decided as a band that instead of playing Heroes tonight that we’re going to create Viola Beach’s alternate future for them and let them headline Glastonbury for a song.”
“This is what would have been you in 20 years,” says Martin, as the crowd begin to cheer, before finishing his speech by urging the crowd to “send [Viola Beach] up the charts tomorrow if you feel like it”.
Viola Beach were then projected onto the screens behind the band and on the sides of the stage with Coldplay playing alongside the recording, with Martin trading verses with Viola singer Kris Leonard.
Watch: Viola Beach & Coldplay – Boys That Sing
Well done @coldplay !
A fantastic tribute. #VIOLABEACH https://t.co/dfRPeTYSzc— William Cranor (@wcranor) June 26, 2016
