Remember When Coldplay’s Chris Martin Stepped in for Bono After a Bike Accident?

In December of 2014, U2 further solidified their humanitarian efforts towards the AIDS epidemic. Starting in the late 1990s, Bono and U2 became frequent supporters of the epidemic and have shown their support through various charity concerts, auctions, and the founding of the organization, RED. Well, on December 14, U2’s World AIDS Day RED concert in Times Square transpired, but instead of Bono, another musician known for his philanthropic and humanitarian efforts stepped in, Chris Martin.

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Roughly a month before the December 14 show, Bono was in a bike accident in Central Park on November 16. The accident resulted in a laundry list of injuries, including fractures to his facial orbital socket, left shoulder blade, and left elbow. Given the injuries, Bono underwent several major surgeries and, as one might imagine, was unable to perform at Times Square in December 2014.

While nobody was surely thankful for Bono’s injuries, his absence from the show left the way for a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between U2 and Coldplay’s Chris Martin. Furthermore, this collaboration was fairly full circle, as Coldplay and U2 had and still continue to refer to U2 as a major inspiration. Nonetheless, here is how Chris Martin stepped in for U2.

“U2 Minus 1”: Behind Chris Martin’s One-Night Stint With U2

After confirming that Bono was not able to take part in the New York City benefit concert, U2 wrote on their website at the time of the show, “Friends have stepped in to save U2’s surprise World AIDS Day (RED) performance, which was jeopardised by Bono’s November 16 bike accident in Central Park.” In response to the accident and the addition of new performers, U2 renamed the show “U2 Minus 1 – Live in New York Tonight.”

Chris Martin’s stint with U2 is about as brief as brief can get, as the Coldplay frontman only performed two songs with the band. Particularly, Chris Martin stepped on the stage and sang the U2 hits “Beautiful Day” and “With or Without You”. Comically, Chris Martin scored a t-shirt that read “SUBSTITUTU2”.

As stated previously, this was not just a major moment for the public, but also for Martin himself, as U2 had greatly influenced Coldplay’s career up to that point. In addition to Martin’s help, U2 also had some help from none other than “The Boss,” Bruce Springsteen, who sang “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”.

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