“We’ve been in queues for Taylor Swift tickets. This should be easier,” a friend said the night before. Big concerts in India are few and far between. Sure, music festivals are slowly but surely picking up, and we have a lot more acts coming in, but a Coldplay concert, specifically the Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025, is truly a rare event – an ‘Adventure of a Lifetime’, if you must. Coldplay last visited India in 2016 for a concert that older millennials fondly remember with much joy.
It has been a day since what will now be referred to for years to come as ‘Coldplay ticketing Sunday,’ and the Internet is divided. There are those who have managed to secure tickets, in disbelief, and the wary acceptance of those who have not been as lucky. Many others are in denial, expressing their frustration on reels and tweets and wondering if anyone has actually secured tickets at all.
In the lead-up to Sunday when the ticketing was to begin, many fans meticulously memorized the seating charts, analyzed several reels detailing which would be the best seats to book, and made plans across cities for group bookings. There were some pertinent questions raised across groups – how would we log in through our mobiles and laptops and still manage to stay in touch with each other if one of us got through? Do we all get on a Zoom call and let it run in the background? If we only got two tickets instead of four, who would we politely ask to leave?
Despite such extensive preparation in place, it was not long before everyone arrived at the screaming realization that the path to the adventure of a lifetime would be an adventure in itself. While ticket bookings were expected to begin at noon, chaos ensued when the ticketing portal BookMyShow crashed, seemingly unable to handle the influx of people logging in to try their luck. Even through the chaos, the memes flew fast, with numerous references to Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ being turned into “fix it”. When the ticketing began a few minutes later and people got into the virtual queue, they found themselves waitlisted in the thousands, or even in lakhs. A third show was added as well, giving fans another chance to try their luck with tickets.
Chennai-based Ashwin Radhakrishnan, who managed to book a ticket for his friend, attributed his skill, and luck to booking tatkal tickets for trains regularly. “I have a great strike rate and have sort of gotten used to the system. We keep trying until we get it. A friend challenged me to book a ticket for her, and I managed to get her a standing ticket for the second day of the concert,” he said.
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A sudden change in the number of tickets allowed per person, from eight to four, threw many concert plans into jeopardy right before the ticketing began. For Pooja Hemalatha from Chennai, the Coldplay concert was a part of a larger plan – a friendship pact involving a larger group.
“When I got into the queue for tickets, there were lakhs of people ahead of me. It was a stroke of luck, though, that an extra show was announced, and I managed to get into the queue for their third concert. I was at position 6,450 and managed to secure standing tickets for the final day,” she says. The booking, though, involved quite a bit of strategizing on her part – logging into multiple devices from different IDs, having friends log in at different places and try their luck as well, and figuring out quick payment options ahead of time.
A BookMyShow spokesperson said that nearly 13 million (1.3 crore) fans logged in to try for tickets. “Today is a landmark moment in India’s live entertainment history as we saw true fandom, overwhelming love, and incredible excitement on BookMyShow for Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India,” they said, on Sunday.
BookMyShow and BookMyShow Live further mentioned that they worked hard to ensure every fan had a fair chance to secure tickets, providing clear, step-by-step booking guides and maintaining transparent communication through all official channels. “We implemented a queuing system to manage the overwhelming demand and addressed issues caused by suspicious and malicious traffic within minutes, causing a brief delay but ensuring minimal disruption for genuine fans. Due to the unprecedented demand, a third Mumbai show was added shortly thereafter, which also received a fantastic response,” they added.
In the aftermath of it all, discussions surrounding what is gearing up to be India’s biggest musical event in the next few months show no sign of dying down. The road to the concert has only just begun for many, with trains and flights, and hotel bookings next on the agenda.
As fans gear up for the highly anticipated event, the frenzy over securing tickets highlights the growing enthusiasm and demand for international music acts in India. Coldplay’s upcoming concerts mark a significant milestone in the country’s live entertainment history, promising to deliver a memorable experience for all who attend. The preparations, challenges, and excitement demonstrated by fans are a testament to the band’s unparalleled popularity and the increasing appetite for live musical performances in India.
