Coldplay Bass Player Missing For Australian Tour

Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman was missing from the first show of the band’s Australian tour last night (30 October) due to illness.

For the first time in their career, Coldplay performed without all four members on stage. Rather than doing something like cancelling the show, the show went on. Coldplay’s co-producer and engineer, Bill Rahko, took Berryman’s place, and, according to setlist.fm, wore an alien mask throughout the show.

We hope Berryman recovers quickly and can join his bandmates for the remaining dates of their Australian tour (another three dates at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium and four shows at Sydney’s Accor Stadium).

On Instagram, the band said of Berryman’s absence, “Thank you, Melbourne. Tonight was the first time in our band’s history that we’ve played a show without all four members onstage. Guy was taken ill unexpectedly just before the show. Thank you for carrying us through it.”

Despite the weird factor of not having Berryman on stage, Coldplay put on a hell of a show, playing three songs from their newly released album, Moon Music, and four from 2021’s Music Of The Spheres.

As well as new songs, they played the hits, such as The Scientist, Yellow, Clocks, Sparks, Paradise, Charlie Brown, Viva La Vida, and more. You can check out last night’s setlist here.

Coldplay’s current Australian tour began last night and follows their most recent visit to the country in 2023, where they played two exclusive shows in Perth.

Here’s what The Music reviewer Sam Mead had to say about the band’s first Perth show: “The energy is unreal - it’s like sitting in your front room with 60,000 other friends, listening to Chris [Martin] and the boys set your house on fire in the best way possible.”

Mead also called the show “a pure spectacle of a live performance”, praising the band’s punchy, hard-hitting grooves and journey through their rich 26-year-old catalogue.

For this Australian run, Coldplay have been joined by special guests Emmanuel Kelly, Ayra Starr, and Shone.

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