Coldplay To Perform Grand Opening Concert At Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena Oct. 22

– Coldplay CPA

Coldplay will perform its first live arena show in nearly five years as the grand opening artist at Climate Pledge Arena at Seattle Center – the first net-zero carbon certified arena in the world – on Oct. 22.

It’s a rare opportunity to see the Chris Martin-fronted band in an arena setting. With the exception of a brief appearance at the iHeart Radio ALTer EGO show at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., in January, 2020, the band has played strictly stadium shows since 2017.

Among Coldplay’s last full shows reported to Pollstar before the COVID pandemic shutdown were Nov. 14-15, 2017 at Estadio Unico Ciudad De La Plata in La Plata, Argentina, where it played two sold-out shows in front of 98,196. Its last North American shows, during the same 2017 worldwide tour, were Oct. 8, before 51,308 at San Diego’s Aztec Stadium; Oct. 6, before 60,218 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.; and Oct. 4 in front of 44,547 at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

More notably, Martin in a 2019 interview told the BBC Coldplay would put touring plans on hold as it investigates how to make its concerts more sustainable.

“We’re not touring this album,” Martin said. “We’re taking time over the next year or two, to work out how our tour can not only be sustainable [but] how can it be actively beneficial. “Our next tour will be the best possible version of a tour like that environmentally,” he continued. “We would be disappointed if it’s not carbon neutral. The hardest thing is the flying side of things. But, for example, our dream is to have a show with no single-use plastic, to have it largely solar powered. We’ve done a lot of big tours at this point. How do we turn it around so it’s not so much taking as giving?”

Scott Roth / Invision / AP – Coldplay
Coldplay performs at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Aug. 1, 2017.

Climate Pledge Arena fits that bill as a zero-carbon certified arena, making the opening all the more apropos.

The seven-time Grammy Award-winning band was revealed as the grand opener with a light show from the former Key Arena’s historic rooftop. Oak View Group, Pollstar’s parent company, won its bid in 2017 to remodel the Emerald City arena. Climate Pledge Arena, located at Seattle Center, is the complete redevelopment of a historic landmark, originally built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.

The concert marks the official reopening of 15,500-capacity Climate Pledge Arena, which will also be home to the NHL’s expansion Seattle Kraken and WNBA’s Seattle Storm, and comes one week after the release of Coldplay’s hotly-anticipated ninth studio album, Music of the Spheres, Oct. 15.

Tickets go on sale Sept. 15 at 10 a.m. PST via Ticketmaster, which is also utilizing its Verified Fan system. Fans who register by 9 a.m. PST on Sunday, Sept. 12, will receive a code and l have access to purchase tickets before the general public during the Verified Fan Presale on Tuesday, September 14th from 10 a.m. PT through 10 p.m. PT.

Amazon Music is also bringing the show to fans around the world through a livestream on Prime Video for all customers with or without a Prime membership; on Twitch, and on the Amazon Music app. Amazon is the name sponsor of Climate Pledge Arena, a name chosen “as a regular reminder of the urgent need for climate action,” according to the announcement.

The arena will be the first net Zero Carbon Certified arena in the world operating on 100% renewable energy. It will also be a functionally zero-waste building from day one and will be eliminating all single-use plastics by 2024.

Kara Hurst, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide sustainability at Amazon, says of the naming rights agreement, “Last year, Amazon secured the naming rights to the historic arena originally built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, and named it Climate Pledge Arena as a regular reminder of the importance of fighting climate change. We are excited to see this building come to life as a beacon for climate action, and look forward to welcoming Coldplay for a special night filled with hope and optimism.”

Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke adds, “We’ve embarked on what some may say was an impossible journey to turn this historic landmark into a world-class net Zero Carbon certified arena that’s first of its kind. This is why we’re so excited to have Coldplay who wholeheartedly believes in and supports sustainability efforts, be the first to play in the building for what will be a night to remember.”

Opening for Coldplay will be Grammy-nominated twin sisters, We Are KING, who are also featured on the band’s upcoming album.

The concert will be the first public show at Climate Pledge Arena as a part of a weeklong opening celebration across the Seattle Center Campus. Other opening week festivities include the VenuesNow Conference, hosted by Oak View Group, Oct. 21-22; Climate Pledge Arena ribbon cutting ceremony, Oct. 21; Coldplay concert, the global grand opening of Climate Pledge Arena, Oct. 22; Seattle Kraken’s inaugural home opener marking its first season, Oct. 23; Climate Pledge Arena community open house and the Amazon Harvest Market presented by The Climate Pledge, Oct. 24. Additional opening week details and events will be shared in the coming month.