‘Surreal’: Newstalk ZB host meets Chris Martin backstage at Coldplay show

When Newstalk ZB host Matt Heath reviewed Coldplay’s first Eden Park show on radio show The Mike Hosking Breakfast, he had no idea Chris Martin himself could have been tuning in.
Speaking to listeners on Newstalk ZB today, where he co-hosts Matt Heath and Tyler Adams Afternoons with Tyler Adams, Heath revealed how his recap of the band’s opening-night show resulted in him being invited to go backstage ahead of their final concert.
He attended the first show on Wednesday, November 13 and shared his thoughts on air the next morning.
“Chris Martin heard the review, so he got management to reach out to me,” he told listeners.
“Through a series of people, they tracked me down and invited me along to the show on Saturday, and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s very, very nice of them’. I thought I was just going along to the show to see it with free tickets … and then found out that we had friends and family invites.”
That meant he and his partner Tracy got to hang out in the friends-and-family area before the show and mingle with the band members – but it didn’t stop there.
“I met a lovely member of the management team, also called Chris … He goes, ‘Hey, the band want to meet you’. And so –this was just before the show – they lead me and Tracy backstage.
“We go to the area just before the tunnel, before they run on to the stage, and it’s like an army back there putting the show together, because the show is incredible and there’s so many moving parts.
“Then the band come out, and then Chris Martin comes up to me and he gives me a big hug and he whispers in my ear.
“He gives me a cuddle and goes, ‘I heard your review and thank you so much … it really meant a lot. I believe if people do good things and say good things and put love out into the world, I want it to come back in, so I wanted to invite you here, and I just wanted to say thank you to you personally’.”
While his review was “glowing”, Heath did start by describing Martin as “punchable”. “I’m a cynical guy,” he laughed on air.
However, the singer seemed not to take it personally. “He did mention that. He said, ‘I loved your review, even though you described me as punchable at the start’.”
Martin then invited the radio host and his partner to join the huddle with the band and back-up singers as he hyped them up before they headed out onto the stage.
“He said thank you again, gave me a hug and ran on stage.”
Heath was then tasked with helping to throw balloons into the audience as the show started, though he admitted, “I think I messed up the throwing of the balloons at some point. I needed to duck down.”
Looking back, the radio host says it was a “surreal” experience.
“I’ve always loved their music, but after seeing them live, I said in the review, ‘I would follow this guy into battle’ – and I would follow that guy into battle,” he told listeners.
“He can hold 50,000 people in the palm of his hand and everyone’s smiling, and the guy can sing like nothing else.”