Coldplay frontman and Global Citizen Festival Curator Chris Martin interacted with his fans on Instagram Monday afternoon, performing some of the band's greatest hits live to kick off "Together At Home," an ongoing virtual music series to unite people around the world during the current coronavirus pandemic.
Martin started off the session by greeting the tens of thousands of fans who tuned in and addressing the reason behind the virtual concert.
"The right thing to be doing is staying home ... and not buying too much toilet paper," Martin said.
While social distancing, the public health practice of reducing close contact in order to slow the spread of the virus, is a necessary component of containing the COVID-19 outbreak, it can leave people feeling isolated and anxious.
That's why Global Citizen, the World Health Organization (WHO), and a group of exceptional artists launched this online music experience — to bring people together around the world and ask them to take action by calling for more funding to the WHO and supporting its historic COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
Hello everyone. I hope you and your family are safe and healthy. If anyone feels like chatting and listening to some music, I’m going to do a livestream on the Coldplay Instagram in about 30 mins (1pm in LA / 8pm in London). love CM #TogetherAtHome
— Coldplay🌙☀️ (@coldplay) March 16, 2020
Taking song requests from his fans on Instagram Live, Martin opened the mini virtual concert with "A Sky Full of Stars," followed by "Trouble" and "Viva La Vida." Over the course of the 30-minute performance, he played nine songs — at one point, he even started to teach viewers how to play "Life on Mars" by David Bowie.
Throughout the broadcast, Martin sent out a series of positive messages to his viewers and sent good thoughts to those directly affected by coronavirus, from Italy to Iran to the United States, and more.
"We’re all one family ... Everyone’s praying for everyone, I hope," he said.
As the broadcast came to a close, Martin urged his viewers to visit GlobalCitizen.org to learn more about how to tackle the coronavirus pandemic through our new campaign, Together At Home.
He then invited John Legend to be the next performer in the "Together At Home" concert series.
Legend, who was also tuned into the show, responded in turn by commenting with multiple thumbs-up emoji, so fans can expect another great performance on Tuesday.
Martin closed with a performance of "Fly On," and thanked his fans for tuning in.
"I send you love," he said, as the livestream ended.
You can see all of Global Citizen's COVID-19 coverage here.
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