Coldplay preaching peace and love to Charlie Kirk is all well and good. But would it hurt artists to take a stand? | Elle Hunt

<p>At Wembley, Chris Martin exhorted the crowd to ‘send love anywhere you wanna send it’. But half-hearted word salad won’t stop the rise of hate</p><p>I don’t mind committing to record that I am a fan of Coldplay. A Rush of Blood to the Head, Parachutes and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/jun/06/popandrock.shopping">Viva La Vida …</a> are legitimately good albums. And Fix You remains a tearjerker despite decades of overuse in medical dramas.</p><p>Yet, if your taste is better than mine, you may not know that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/aug/19/coldplay-review-chris-martin-craven-park-hull">they’re on tour</a>. On my Instagram stories, at least, there has been a conspicuous absence of Coldplay posts, compared to the wall-to-wall coverage of the Oasis reunion shows (though I’m not convinced Oasis have more good songs in their catalogue).</p><p>Elle Hunt is a freelance journalist</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/20/coldplay-charlie-kirk-chris-martin-wembley">Continue reading...</a>