Why Gen Z Loves This Millennial Band

The younger generation's love affair with Coldplay says a lot about the changing nature of fandom

- Soumya Gupta

Nothing exemplifies Coldplay for Sandesh Shetty like their 2002 heartbreak ballad The Scientist, although the 23-year-old Mumbai-based chartered accountancy student first heard it more than a decade later. "After I got the internet, I sort of went down a rabbit hole and downloaded all of Coldplay's songs on my laptop," he told Mint. "I used to hear them repeatedly while doing my homework—2016 was also the year Coldplay visited India and Mumbai for the first time. It was the first time such an event was happening, at least in my lifetime."

The British rock-pop band, led by 47-year-old frontman Chris Martin—most fans would be hard put to name the other members—is performing in Mumbai and Ahmedabad this month as part of their Music of The Spheres world tour. Barring a few in the ₹25,000 slab in Ahmedabad, there are no tickets to be had. Indeed, tickets are being resold online and in private groups at double and even 10 times their original price.

Hotel rates are soaring in both cities on the days Coldplay will be performing. Fans have been forking out tens of thousands of rupees on tickets, travel and stay in Mumbai to watch the concert live. And they're not just thirty-somethings keen to relive the music of their Y2K teen years. Indeed, many of those attending weren't even born when the band was formed in 1997. So, why is Gen Z willing to spend so much on what is arguably a millennial band, one that came into being at a time when rock & roll was still the dominant music genre globally? And what does the surge in live concerts here tell us about the longevity of music and the changing nature of fandom?

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