Coldplay’s Indonesian Concert Prefaced By Anti-LGBTQ Protests
Coldplay supports inclusion and kindness, and apparently that’s too much for some protestors in Jakarta, who protested their recent concert.
On Wednesday, Nov. 15, Coldplay performed for a massive crowd of tens of thousands in the Indonesian city of Jakarta.
While the group was clearly met with enthusiasm, as the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium was packed, plenty were unhappy that the Grammy winners had come to the nation.
On the day of the show, at least 200 conservative Muslim protestors showed up to demand that Coldplay’s concert be canceled. They made their cries heard near the stadium where the pop/rock act was set to perform that night, chanting and carrying signs that made their points clear.
According to NBC News, some of those placards stated that they felt the group is an LGBTQ “propagandist” that undermines “faith and morals.”
Throughout their years together, the members of Coldplay have been outspoken about their support for various groups of people, including the LGBTQ community. Sometimes, the singer of the band, Chris Martin, will speak about issues important to him and his group mates while in concert. He has also been known to occasionally wave a rainbow flag or wear items that identify him as an ally.
This support is in contrast to the views of some conservative Muslims around the world. Indonesia claims the largest population of Muslims in the world.
Coldplay is busy continuing its Music of the Spheres World Tour, which is in the middle of its Asian leg. The band has a few more shows in November before wrapping up the year. In 2024, the group will return to the continent to perform in cities like Singapore and Bangkok before returning to Europe for another round of concerts.
The international tour started in March 2022 in Costa Rica and has been running fairly consistently ever since. The entire venture is expected to include 165 shows, if they don’t continue to add to their plan. The Music of the Spheres World Tour is already one of the highest-grossing concert treks of all time, and there are still many millions of dollars to be made before the band concludes its run.
The Music of the Spheres World Tour supports Coldplay’s album of the same name. That set was released in October 2021, and it produced the band’s most recent No. 1 single on the Hot 100 with “My Universe.”
The tune benefited from the inclusion of South Korean pop group BTS. Music of the Spheres earned Coldplay a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year and was applauded by fans and critics.
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