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Coldplay save best seats for ‘genuine’ fans

By on July 6, 2012

[DS]: Coldplay save the front rows at their gigs for real fans sitting far away, it has been revealed.

The band don’t sell tickets for the best seats at the venues they play, but instead send staff to find excitable audience members who they believe create a better energy for the show by being closer.

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Speaking of correspondence with some fans, a Coldplay roadie wrote on the group’s blog: ”After a bit of email back and forth, it turns out that they were in the front row after being ‘upgraded’ from seats way up the back. The band have done this for ages now.

“It came about after struggling with shows where the seats closest to the stage were often full of just ‘the highest bidders’ and not necessarily the most enthusiastic fans.

“In European standing shows, the front rows are the kids who’ve been outside the venue since daybreak and who’ve sprinted in to get the pole position. Usually by the time the opening acts have finished they’re at fever pitch with excitement.

“In contrast, folks who’d paid astronomical sums for the tickets could often just sit with an arms folded sense of entitlement, emoting ‘Come on then, entertain me, have you any idea how much I paid for this?’

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“So the band don’t sell the tickets to the front few rows anymore. Instead, various crew members are sent out to scan the highest, furthest seats to find folks who look genuinely excited and giddy to be seeing the band. They’re then given tickets to the front row.

“For them, it’s a Willy Wonka golden ticket. For the band, it’s guaranteed energy from the folks closest to them. It genuinely does make the shows better. We’ve all said it many times. How good a show is, is largely to do with how good the audience are. It’s what fuels the whole thing.”

Chris Martin recently described Coldplay as the Manchester United of music, explaining that the group will always encounter negative opinion, despite being one of the most successful music acts in the world.

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