Martin fell through a stage trapdoor while performing at Marvel Stadium on the final date of the British band's Music of the Spheres tour on Sunday, with footage of incident going viral on social media.Â
The gasps of thousands of fans can be heard as the rock star stepped backwards into the trapdoor, half disappearing below the stage.
Martin can be heard telling fans "that's not planned" before going on to thank a member of production staff for catching him as he fell, adding: "Holy s***, that was nearly a YouTube moment."Â
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Coldplay (@coldplay)
That staff member was almost certainly a member of the band's touring crew, who had opened the trapdoor to pack away a keyboard at the end of the catwalk, said Roderick van Gelder from the company Stage Safety, having reviewed the footage.Â
"Very specific jobs like that are only done by people who are part of the tour ... scene changes, changing of instruments would always be done by the touring crew," he told AAP.
"You would never leave a trap door open unnecessarily, so he was there waiting to get onto the stage, do his job and then go back under and close it."
In mid-October, singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo also fell through a trapdoor during a concert at another Melbourne venue, the Rod Laver Arena.
As the crowd gasped, she appeared a little flustered and made light of the incident, telling the crowd: "Oh my God, that was fun! I'm OK!"Â
"Sometimes there's just a hole in the stage. That's all right. OK, where was I?"
Australian stage crews had an excellent safety record and incidents such as these were rare, said van Gelder.
"If anything goes wrong, the impact is a lot bigger than a lot of other industries. If Martin or Rodrigo had injured themselves, you would have had to cancel the rest of the concerts," he said.
The Yellow singer continued with the show following the incident and appeared unharmed.Â
Thank you Melbourne! 💛💚 — Coldplay (@coldplay) pic.twitter.com/zs9lk0VAXNOctober 31, 2024
"Thank you Melbourne - we won't ever forget these four incredible nights," Coldplay posted online following the concert.
Coldplay's onstage incident comes after the band secured the biggest opening week for a UK act in the past three years with its 10th studio album Moon Music in October.Â
The album became the band's 10th consecutive chart-topper after it achieved 237,000 UK chart units.Â
The London-formed group are now level with Abba, Michael Jackson and Queen, all having 10 number one albums apiece.Â
Coldplay and Chris Martin have been contacted for comment.
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