Coldplay somehow managed to top Natalie Imbruglia and Craig David by bringing out Alan Partridge – aha! – onstage for their penultimate Wembley Stadium show.
Acting icon Steve Coogan appeared as his beloved comedy character in London, joining the band to perform a timely cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’.
And as this was Partridge, there was plenty of jokes. His red jacket comically had ‘Snow Patrol’ stitched onto the back, while he also joked about the meaning behind Bush’s classic song. “Because it can’t just be about running?” he pondered.
Partridge, Chris Martin and co. also covered the ABBA hit ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’. Jacob Collier and nicole Lawrence also made appearances on piano and pedal steel guitar respectively.
Last week, Natalie Imbruglia joined Coldplay onstage to pay tribute to the late Olivia Newton-John, who died earlier this month at the age of 73.
The Australian singer and the band performed ‘Summer Nights’, sung so memorably by Newton-John in Grease. Imbruglia took on the role of Newton-John’s Sandy, with Martin handling John Travolta’s part of Danny. While onstage at Wembley Stadium, Imbruglia also performed her own classic hit ‘Torn’.
Imbruglia has been surprising audiences a lot recently. She joined pop superstar Olivia Rodrigo onstage – again in London – last month to perform a duet of ‘Torn’.
Love Pop?
Get the latest Pop news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“She’s the most fantastic singer, and she sings one of my favourite songs of all time,” gushed Rodrigo while introducing Imbruglia. She later bowed at the singer’s feet as the song came to an end.
Coldplay were also recently joined by none other than Craig David at two of their other Wembley Stadium shows this month. They performed David’s ‘Live in the Moment’ and stone-cold classic ‘7 Days’ onstage together.
The band have some more shows on the U.K leg of their global tour before they head to South America next in September (see full dates here).
For more on this topic, follow the Pop Observer.
