Coldplay completed their record-breaking four-night run at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City Stadium on Tuesday, marking the largest and longest series of shows by a major international artist in the UAE. According to Live Nation Middle East, 200,000 fans attended the sold-out performances, surpassing the nearly 69,000 people who attended Ed Sheeran's two sold-out concerts at Dubai's Sevens Stadium last year.
This achievement solidifies Coldplay’s status as one of the UAE's favourite live music acts. The band has a history of large performances in the region, including their 2016 New Year's Eve concert at Abu Dhabi's Etihad Park, which drew a crowd of 40,000. Their UAE debut in 2009 was equally memorable, featuring a rain-soaked set-in front of approximately 20,000 fans at Emirates Palace.
The British band’s recent visit to the capital was part of their Music of the Spheres World Tour. One of the largest rock tours of all time, it has already grossed more than $1 billion since launching in Costa Rica in 2022. Its arrival in the UAE necessitated an immense logistics operation, including park-and-ride shuttle buses from various locations across Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Additionally, fan zones were established and sensory rooms were created to accommodate individuals with sensory needs, including autism and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Committed to making the tour “as sustainable as possible”, Coldplay have introduced several innovative initiatives at all shows. These included using solar stations, a kinetic floor that generates energy from the crowd’s movements, and providing free water to discourage the use of single-use plastic bottles.
All these carefully crafted plans wouldn’t have resonated without the stunning production and brilliant performances from the band, delivering sets combining their latest tracks with beloved classics.
The National's review of the opening night highlighted the production values of the show, particularly the use of their wristbands which light up to “create cascading waves of purples and blues in time with the music.” Song selections were carefully curated to generate a number of emotional crescendos, from the tender combination of Yellow and My Love to the euphoric hits like Something Just Like This, My Universe, and A Sky Full of Stars to close the set.
With each of the 178 shows on the tour selling out, securing tickets to the Abu Dhabi performances was no easy feat. When tickets officially went on sale in September, The National reported long online queues, with more than 1,000 fans waiting at a time. A select number of Infinity tickets – available at all stops of the Music of the Spheres Tour, costing as little as Dh74 and assigned randomly – were quickly snapped up in November. A final tranche of tickets was also released a week before the concerts began, adding to the anticipation.
Abu Dhabi residents Marcos and Maria Mascolli managed to secure tickets for Tuesday’s show, but were seated five rows apart. “It was not ideal, but we still enjoyed it,” Marcos told The National. “We saw them 12 years ago and that was an awesome show, so we knew we had to come again.”
Dubai resident Lara Zawaedi praised the band’s inclusive approach. “I was standing in the general admissions section and since I am not too tall I had to tip-toe a lot to see many parts of the show,” she said after Tuesday's performance. “But it didn't matter because they did a great job of making us all feel valued. It was such a great concert.”
India is the next stop on the Music of the Spheres tour, with five shows scheduled across Mumbai and Ahmedabad from January 18 to 26.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
MATCH DETAILS
Chelsea 4
Jorginho (4 pen, 71 pen), Azpilicueta (63), James (74)
Ajax 4
Abraham (2 og), Promes (20). Kepa (35 og), van de Beek (55)
Company%C2%A0profile
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EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
Profile
Company: Libra Project
Based: Masdar City, ADGM, London and Delaware
Launch year: 2017
Size: A team of 12 with six employed full-time
Sector: Renewable energy
Funding: $500,000 in Series A funding from family and friends in 2018. A Series B round looking to raise $1.5m is now live.
WRESTLING HIGHLIGHTS
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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Friday's schedule at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
GP3 qualifying, 10:15am
Formula 2, practice 11:30am
Formula 1, first practice, 1pm
GP3 qualifying session, 3.10pm
Formula 1 second practice, 5pm
Formula 2 qualifying, 7pm
