On the second Gothenburg stop of their current Music of the Spheres tour, Coldplay surprised fans with a pared down version of the Backstreet Boys’ 1997 hit “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).” As seen in a video of the performance, Chris Martin sang the hook with the entire stadium accompanying him.
The cover appeared towards the end of their 25-song set. It wasn’t only the concert-goers who were elated. The boyband took to Instagram earlier this week to express their excitement over the tribute. “Buzzing from @coldplay’s cover of Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)! Truly an honor,” they posted along with a clip of Martin singing.
The performance is likely to have been a tribute to Swedish pop song masterminds Max Martin and the late Denniz Pop, with whom Coldplay worked earlier in their career. The duo wrote and produced “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).”
The night before, during their first concert at Gamla Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Coldplay paid tribute to Elton John, who wrapped his monumental five-year Farewell Yellow Brick Road concerts — signaling his end of the road as a touring artist — at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. The artists connected across Sweden via live video, which they broadcasted at their respective concerts on July 8.
Coldplay was in the midst of performing “Rocket Man” at their own show, when frontman Chris Martin called out to John, as seen in fan footage from the show.
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“Elton, can you hear us, from Gothenburg?” Martin said as screens displayed John at his own show in Stockholm. “Here we are in Gothenburg with everybody here, waving hello. Can you see us, Mr. Elton?” John then responded with a smile, “I can see you.”
“Elton, we want to say from all of us here, from all the fans and all the artists that you’ve loved and inspired and helped, we just love you so much,” Martin said. “We’re so grateful for everything you’ve done for us, everything you’ve done for the AIDS Foundation, every time you’ve been kind to anybody, everything you’ve done for LGBTQ, everything you’ve done for fashion and eyewear, everything you’ve done for sexiness and love… Everything you’ve done for music… The thousands of shows you’ve done, we love you so much.”
