How Ahmeda-bad got so good!

You might think wersquore from the UK but wersquore actually from Ahmedabadrdquo joked Coldplayrsquos joyous frontman Chris Martin towards the finale of his first concert at Narendra Modi Stadium on January 25 2024Having spoken a bit of Gujarati Hindi earlier Martin introduced his bandmatesmdashJonny Buckland on guitar Guy Berryman bass Will Champion drumsmdashas residents of Ahmedabad with detailed descriptionsaddresses of where in the city theyrsquore fromAnywhere else the sheer sense of recognition of those locations would have local audiences cheer on madly in unison I felt the response kinda mutedThe reason is most of Coldplayrsquos fans at Modi stadium were in fact not Amdavadis not even GujaratisTrue for Coldplay in Mumbai too Wherein apparently only about 30 per cent of the crowd was from Maharashtra 25 per cent Mumbai 1517 per cent Karnataka chiefly Bengaluru another 15 to 17 per cent from NCR Delhi Gurugram NoidaAs Ashish Hemrajani from the producerspromoters and ticketing app BookMyShow put it to CNBCTV18rsquos Shereen Bhan ldquoThe situation in Ahmedabad was even more different The lsquotransactorsrsquo ticketholders came from every single state and Union territory in India Only 15 per cent from Gujarat 85 per cent outsidersrdquoI see these stats in realtime on Indian rail That is on my 140 am special Coldplay train from Ahmedabad to Bandra Terminus in Mumbaimdashthatrsquos already had three gigs of the London bandThe coaches tattered ACIII tier and chaircars seem prehistoric Food is of course off the table Aisles are packed down to coachattendantsrsquo berths Nobodyrsquos complainingThese passengers wouldrsquove first arrived at the dry Ahmedabad attempting to score liquor permits for pregaming at the concert Which takes half a day sometimes if it arrives at all Bootleggers are probably better optionsChris Martin had to face no such issue Hersquos a teetotaler I could spot empty whiskey bottles around the parking lot of ND Mall threefour kilometres from Modi stadium which is the marathon distance many wouldrsquove undertaken beforeafter the showAs with religion Indians take entertainment seriously enough to strugglesuffer for it They always have I wasnrsquot at Coldplay because they were in Ahmedabad But because I already was for a family functionThat said do we know anything from living memory like the quartermillion nomadic intercity backpacking Kumbh Melalike phenomenonmdashmaking Coldplay in India the worldrsquos largest ticketed concert in history in 2025Howrsquos that I donrsquot know Hence asking aloudItrsquos a band that debuted in 2000 when millennials were still on Walkmans But Internet had largely exploded So did social media about half a decade later and thatrsquos my first guessIt places Coldplay among the first retro top bands to acquire relevance simultaneously between generations as they dropped albumsmdasheven collaborating with Noel Gallagher Oasis at one end to BTS at the otherThis happenstance of a continually refreshed SpotifyYouTube playlist skipped equally huge classic rock groups say U2 or Roger Waters Pink Floyd Irsquove been to Mumbai concerts of both They were largely for the country of old menwomenYou could see everyone from kids including my 14yearold nephew to geriatrics although mostly 30somethings fair genderratio for Coldplay in Ahmedabad Each with their own memories recent or distant For whatrsquos music if not core memoryIt probably helps that soulful songwriter Martinrsquos messagingmdashleading the cheeriest band ever with great compositionsmdashis largely on fellowshipcamaraderie both real and cosmic I know itrsquos genericBut itrsquos in the generic that universal love resides Getting too specific gets you on the edge of the debatably political Like those rages against the machine that we usually identified with rock bands back in the dayDoes this enduringly mainstream legacy then explain how Coldplay live is several times taller than them on the currentweekly music charts NoColdplay simply know how to put on the greatest show Surely yoursquove seen their Insta reels Theyrsquove been on lsquoMusic of the Spheresrsquo tour since March 2022It feels unreal as you step into the stadium with over a lakh fans wearing LED wristbands changing colours with every song as balloons and heartstarshaped confetti envelope the air throughout a tight act where Martin interacts individually with some audiencesHe makes you feel special You wanna be there Even if to say you were The FOMO feels right This vibe is beyond musicBesides tourism plus pilgrimage I think Indians have lately travelled between cities mainly for bigticket cricket Not a surprise that when Martin teases Ahmedabad crowds with an early exit nobody yells the usual ldquoOnce morerdquoThey go ldquoColdplaaaay Coldplaaayhelliprdquo Exactly like ldquoSaachiiin Saachiiinhelliprdquo Narendra Modi is also a cricket stadium Irsquom gonna attribute some of this hithertounseen enthusiasm to a postpandemic worldYou go to any big city in the worldmdashhaving noticed this from Satildeo Paulo to Singapore London New York Mumbaimdashstreets on weeknights seem significantly quieter than they were before COVID19 Even fewer people in theatres for regular moviesThis doesnrsquot mean they prefer being indoors It shows they value their going out more It has to be something truly special Tickets disappear in seconds then As do tables at beyondexpensive restaurantsclubsPrices locationscities donrsquot matter Thatrsquos Coldplayeffect Templatersquos set Wersquoll witness moreMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14 Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper