The Mission: Impossible actor played the tambourine on the upbeat single
Coldplay tapped Simon Pegg for a live performance of the band’s song “A Sky Full of Stars” on Tuesday night. The British actor joined the band on stage at Wembley Stadium in London to showcase the hit, released in 2014.
Frontman Chris Martin invited Pegg up during the later part of the 23-song set. Although Pegg didn’t sing the track, he did play tambourine. The actor shared a photo of his instrument on an Instagram Story with the caption, “Rejoined the band.” He previously performed the song with Coldplay in 2022 at Wembley.
Pegg has dubbed himself an honorary member of the rock band and has regularly collaborated with the musicians. In 2009, he played the harmonica on “Trouble” during another Wembley show and in 2021 he introduced the band before their show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
Speaking on England’s The Late Late Show earlier this year, Pegg explained that he has been friends with Martin since very early in the band’s career. “I used to get up and play harmonica, but that’s so nerve-wracking because you can hit a bum note,” he noted. “You can’t hit a bum note on a tambourine. So if [Martin] asks me to come onstage, I say, ‘Yes, but it has to be the tambourine!’”
Coldplay are currently in the midst of a 10-night run at Wembley Stadium. The band will perform tonight, with the following show on Aug. 30. The lengthy stand concludes on Sept. 8.
The group’s Music of the Spheres tour gained notoriety over the past month after Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and the company’s chief human resources officer, Kristin Cabot, were caught on the jumbotron in Boston in an intimate embrace. Byron later resigned. Martin recently commented on the incident during a show in Hull, England, saying the band didn’t plan to stop including the “Jumbotron Song” in their set.
“We’ve been doing this a long time, and it is only recently that it became a… yeah,” Martin said before trailing off. “Life throws you lemons and you’ve got to make lemonade. So, we are going to keep doing it because we are going to meet some of you.”
