If you want to see Coldplay these days, you can expect to share the experience with thousands of other fans in a stadium or arena. But last Sunday (August 7) a couple of hundred—that’s right, hundred—lucky people got the chance to witness a very different kind of Coldplay gig when the band took a break from its “Head Full of Dreams” tour and performed a 15-song set at the intimate Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, NY.
The “secret” gig, sponsored by Sirius XM satellite radio, was staged only for winners of a contest and other invited guests (among them Jon Bon Jovi, Jimmy Buffett who served as a bartender with John McEnroe, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Christie Brinkley). Subscribers were told only that they could win tickets to a show at an undisclosed New York location, along with transportation and lodging. The venue was not divulged until after the contest winners had been chosen.
Locals in Amagansett, a small town in Long Island’s Hamptons with less than 2,000 residents, knew something unusual was happening when police and fire marshals began cordoning off the area around the 250-capacity club hours before the 6 p.m. start time, according to a report in the East Hampton Star. The band, meanwhile, remained holed up at a coffee shop across the street until police escorted them to the stage.
Coldplay singer Chris Martin apparently chose the tiny Stephen Talkhouse because he is familiar with the area, having shared a house in Amagansett with his ex-wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
Martin told a Sirius XM host that he was excited to play a gig in a small club. “To come back and play a tiny bar is very humbling and it also reminds us not to take the big shows for granted, and to be appreciative of anybody who shows up because there was a time when we couldn’t fill this building,” he was quoted as saying.
The Stephen Talkhouse opened in 1987 and, despite its size, has hosted not only local and regional acts but dozens of A-list classic rock artists over the years, including Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Sting, Van Morrison and Buddy Guy. The club is named after a Native American of local renown.
Tickets for Coldplay’s “A Head Full of Dreams” tour are available here and here.
