At this year's Global Citizen Festival, Coldplay singer Chris Martin shocked fans by bringing out Ed Sheeran. The two performed a four-song set of their respective careers' biggest songs.

When Sheeran took the stage, the crowd erupted. They began with Martin playing the keyboard and Sheeran on guitar. Sheeran took the first bit, singing the first verse of “Yellow,” Coldplay's signature song.

After the first chorus, Martin said, “All right. That's enough of that,” before they played a rendition of “Shape of You.” From there, they seamlessly segued into “Viva la Vida.”

Halfway through the song, Martin praised the crowd as he and Sheeran played guitar. He thanked them for going to the festival in the rain and also thanked headliner Post Malone for letting them open for him.

“I'd like to say how impressed I've been all day watching you be an incredible audience in the most challenging of circumstances,” he began. “All of you down in the front, and all of you at the back, I was watching there earlier. You're just fantastic. And you make our lives so great. Thank you for being here in the rain and giving it your all.”

The final song they played at the 2024 Global Citizen Festival was “Thinking Out Loud.” Martin returned to the keyboard to play the song as Sheeran sung. Coldplay's Chris Martin and Ed Sheeran embraced after their performance before leaving the stage together.

Coldplay's Chris Martin and Ed Sheeran's careers

Chris Martin has been the lead singer of Coldplay since they formed in 1997. They made a splash with their debut album Parachutes. The album features their biggest song, “Yellow,” as well as “Sparks and “Shiver.”

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A Rush of Blood to the Head and X&Y followed in 2002 and 2005, respectively. This completed the first trilogy of albums the band has released. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends started a new era for the band, charged by the title track.

To date, the band has released nine studio albums with a tenth on the way. Moon Music is the second entry in the Music of the Spheres series after 2021's From Earth with Love. It will be released on October 4, 2024.

Coldplay is also in the midst of their biggest tour to date, the Music of the Spheres World Tour. When it is all over, the band will have performed over 200 shows during the course of it. The tour began on March 18, 2022, and will conclude on September 8, 2025.

Ed Sheeran playing guitar in 2018 on the Divide Tour.
Michael Sears / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Ed Sheeran is also on a blockbuster tour, the Mathematics Tour. It is a celebration of his first six albums, including the recently-released Subtract. He also released Autumn Variations while on tour in September 2023. The tour originally was in support of his fifth album, Equals, before Subtract was released.

After starting the tour in April 2022 in Europe, Sheeran has taken his show across the world. He is set for another European leg of the tour in 2025, which will mark the end of it. The tour will conclude one day before Coldplay's on September 7, 2025, with a show in Düsseldorf, Germany.