Impact of the Music of the Spheres World Tour

Publications have widely documented and analysed the environmental, cultural, economic, commercial and philanthropic influence achieved by British rock band Coldplay with the Music of the Spheres World Tour (2022–25).

Described as a media phenomenon, the concert run marked their return to live entertainment after the COVID-19 pandemic and was said to be responsible for a shift in public attitude towards them, further illustrating the impact the group have on popular culture.

[5] The announcement also included a series of environmental plans developed in two years with help from sustainability experts; they were aimed at reducing CO2 emissions by 50% in comparison to their previous tour.

[8] Alex Duke from Impact said the band were "redefining the rulebook" in a world that "desperately needs radical climate action" and praised them for bringing environmental issues to the forefront of international music news through a pioneering endeavour.

[9] In an article for Vogue Scandinavia, Doris Daga observed the tour set the bar for how artists could contribute to mitigate their environmental impact and complimented the band's transparency on "the reality that no [show] will be carbon negative in 2022".

[10] According to Lucy August-Perna, the sustainability director of Live Nation, Coldplay's proposal helped to "build on the framework [the company] had been developing over the past five years on their tours and venues".

[11] Writing for Veja, Amanda Capuano commented that the concert residency template used by Coldplay on the tour schedule underscored a trend previously seen with Adele and Harry Styles, where musicians with sizable demand are traveling less due to an increased interest in logistics, quality of life and mental health.

[18] He accused the company of "cynically using [the band] to greenwash its reputation", since biofuels were supplied to the tour while they had links to deforestation; therefore, the partnership should be discontinued to give priority to better solutions.

[18] SumOfUs' Eoin Dubsky criticised the ties with BMW and concluded the group needed to take greater care while doing their diligences, as the multinational was lobbying to prevent the European Union from establishing a deadline for vehicles to be carbon neutral.

[21] After a team led by professor John Fernandez at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) collected data from the concerts and compared it to the A Head Full of Dreams Tour (2016–17), publications reported that Coldplay have managed to reduce their CO2 emissions by 59% so far.

[26] In June 2023, BBC News interviewed senior cleansing officer Samantha Thomas about waste from concerts and she noticed that after the band performed at Principality Stadium, streets were significantly cleaner than other events.

[32] Discussing the impact of the tour on La Gaceta, Pablo Hamada considered it a media phenomenon which brought a wave of positivity beyond the shows, as Coldplay became a prominent topic of news coverage and online engagement in the places they visited.

[34] Writing for The Times, Mark Beaumont noted that the group's dedication to live spectacles allowed them to convert even "the most cynical hacks" into admirers, regaining respect and credibility in all quarters.

[63] Coldplay then triggered a different occurrence at the 2024 Glastonbury Festival: mobile virtual network operator Vodafone registered 258 gigabytes of data uploaded throughout their set, which is equivalent to 74,000 high-resolution pictures.

[65] Novel Bamukmin, the Deputy Secretary-General of PA 212, declared the tour should be cancelled in Jakarta because the band endorse the LGBT community,[65] while Nasrudin Hassan from the Malaysian Islamic Party condemned them for promoting a culture of "hedonism" and "deviance".

[73] Aleksandar Brezar told Euronews that, despite its long history, the style is derided by critics for using "crude language and banal lyrics", being comparable to rap and reggaeton because all three emerged from marginalised groups and became mainstream.

[83] Conversely, Live Nation's Bruce Moran lauded the band for "the most spectacular run through Latin America ever", as their numerous performances broke records in nearly all countries visited.

[79] Interviewed by Billboard, Bruno Del Granado from CAA said that Coldplay's success and the founding of new arenas proved there was no longer an excuse for artists to avoid the territory.

[88] Moreover, Fahmi Fadzil revealed that the government of Malaysia will enact new legislation to monitor and control transactions in the secondary market after tickets for Kuala Lumpur were traded at disproportionately high values.

[89] Bloomberg News affirmed that the government of Indonesia decided to simplify and digitalise their permits because the band had numerous extra dates in neighbouring capitals, but not in Jakarta.

[90] Following the sales for their concerts in India, which attracted 13 million people,[91] a public interest litigation seeking fair access to admissions and strict regulations to prevent price gouging was filed in the Bombay High Court.

Hotels with a view for Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica in San José were fully booked after their concerts sold out, since people began to search for different ways to still see them.

[108] Marketing agency Hello Monday held a contest to give away tickets for the nights in Barcelona and drew over a million comments on social media, along with 80,000 new clients on their exclusive platform.

[125] In the United States, the band worked with public transport companies in four cities to grant affordable rides, improving the turnout by an average of 59% on concert days.

[130] Tembici and the British Embassy held a contest draw giving tickets to people who presented environmentally friendly ways to arrive at the group's performances in Brazil.

[132] In Gothenburg, visitors earned free public transport to Ullevi after being consulted by members of the Green City Zone project, which outlined travel behaviour to reduce CO2 emissions from large-scale events.

[136] Webjet informed that flight bookings to Melbourne and Sydney rose by 47% and 44%, respectively, because of the band,[137] while Qantas claimed they were the reason behind a major uptick in airfare prices.

Referencing the performances at Estadio River Plate, the government of Argentina established the "Coldplay dollar", an exchange rate of the American currency which was used for international live events.

[146] Premier Roger Cook added that Coldplay have successfully established an itinerary model where the city can be included as part of the Asian tours carried out by other acts.

[160] In Newark, participants helped with United Community Corporation's Sky Full of Stars Carnival and Distribution, an event where residents earned free groceries, COVID-19 vaccines and access to mortgage assistance.