Coldplay has finally brought their record-smashing Music of the Spheres tour to Sydney, scratching off the first of four shows at Accor Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park.

Chris Martin and his merry men of music makers performed for just over two hours in the 83,500-capacity, open-air stadium, showing Sydney some love for the first time since they played two shows at Allianz Stadium in 2016 for the Head Full of Dreams tour.

Is it a great show? You bet. While Coldplay’s discography is now so swollen that set lists are almost always going to come with disappointing omissions, the British rockers have done a fantastic job at balancing their newer, more experimental and divisive work with tried-and-true classics like the tear-jerking “Fix You” and the one that started it all, “Yellow.”

It’s also an incredibly unique performance, reimagining even some of the more mundane parts of the concert-going experience in a clever campaign for change in the way these big-ticket concerts operate. It’s a spectacle—there are no less than four fireworks displays— but it’s also an incredibly intimate, highly personalised (for some) homage to peace, love, community and the raw power of live music.

There’s also never been a concert that’s come with so many instructions before. Coldplay continue the tech-forward, conceptual light show they started with 2012s Mylo Xyloto

1. The support acts are worth watching

Gates to Accor Stadium open at 5pm but Coldplay don’t hit the stage until over three hours later. And while Martin and co. don’t pop up until around 8:30pm, the diverse set of support acts do a fantastic job at entertaining the crowd.

Those who rock up early get to see opening act Shone, an interesting hip hop artist from Zimbabwe with a style that plays nicely into the afropop sounds that have informed parts of Coldplay’s latest album, Moon Music. And while he only has a brief moment on stage, you’ll likely see him pop again during the headline show.

X-Factor star Emmanuel Kelly pops up next at around 6:15pm with a commanding stage presence and a captivating voice. The Melbourne-based artist skyrocketed to fame when he was part of the music competition at the age of 18 and is the definition of triumph over tragedy, having grown up in Iraq with his brother, two-time Paralympian swimmer Ahmed Kelly.

Kelly’s music is sweet, sensitive and inspired and his voice carries across the arena with great oomph behind it. If you’re unfamiliar with the artist, it’s worth reading up on his backstory and listening to his songs before the attends. It makes the performance resonate that much deeper, aligning with Coldplay’s infectious message of peace, love and community.

Finally, award-winning Nigerian singer Arya Starr hits the stage around 7:30pm. With inflections of Rihanna’s earlier, more Caribbean-influenced work in her music, the 22-year-old artist dances her way through a fantastic set that, while misaligned with Coldplay’s supersized stadium pop, fires up the crowd perfectly for what’s to come.

To summarise, the Coldplay set times in Sydney are as follows:

5pm – gates
6pm – Shone
6:30pm – Emmanuel Kelly
7:15pm – Arya Starr
8:30pm – Coldplay

2. Getting in and getting out

Tens of thousands of Sydneysiders and visitors will be heading out the Sydney Olympic Park on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Years ago this would spell disaster but the council has does a great job at handling these big events these days.

Your ticket includes free rail travel so the best way to get there is by catching the train. It’ll be busy, and there will be wait times, but the boost in capacity, plus direct services from Central to Sydney Olympic Park helps make it all much less painful.

That said, it’s best not to rush out of the stadium once the concert finishes. Everyone makes a bee-line to the station and you’ll be stuck shuffling in large crowds while trains that stop at Strathfield, Redfern and then Central run every 5 minutes. Make sure you veer to the left side of the station once approaching it from the stadium if you want to go back to the city. If you want to go to Lidcombe, head to the right side of the station.

Like most big events out in Sydney Olympic Park now, there are a few things going on around the area after the concert. There’s a few pop-up concerts, outdoor dance parties, bars open and food trucks galore. There’s plenty of reasons to stick around after the show if you want to wait a bit until the crowds thin before catching the train.

*Coldplay’s kinetic dancefloor helps power some of the concert and reduce emissions (photo: Chris Singh)*

3. You can work for Coldplay (if you want to)

Coldplay want to hire you. They won’t pay you, but they’re taking volunteers. It’s all part of the much-discussed sustainability initiatives for the Music of the Spheres tour.

Coldplay led the charge with cutting-edge technology at concerts over 10 years ago when they debuted light-up LED wristbands for each guest at their Mylo Xyloto tour shows. These days you’ll see artists like Taylor Swift taking similar approaches, positioning Coldplay as a bit of a pioneer when it comes to blurring the lines between “concert” and “experience.”

Now Coldplay have admirably turned their attention towards sustainability. These big, supersized concerts are getting hungrier in their energy consumption, and so finding even novel ways to introduce alternative energy sources is important.

Coldplay love finding new ways to get the crowd more involved in their live shows, so they’ve introduced something called the kinetic dance party that keeps guests engaged while they wait for the band to take the stage.

At the back of the stadium, you’ll spy 15 stationery bikes set up near the sound tents. There are also two trampoline-like energy floors set up that guests can jump on to help generate energy for the concert. These energy floors are made up of 44 sustainable kinetic tiles designed to provide power to the concert. Fans simply have to dance as hard as they can on the tiles, and a neat visual on the big screens show how much power is being generated.

It’s not significant, but it’s enough. Reportedly, Coldplay aim to achieve a 59 per cent reduction in emissions for the tour, which sets an incredible example for other touring acts moving forward.

Anyone that has general admission tickets can head along and dance on the floors or help out on the stationery bikes so we highly recommend getting involved if you feel like a spot of exercise while you wait.

Notably, the big screens also display the total amount of energy produced by other cities on the tour. Gamifying it a bit and turning it into a challenge only encourages more people to get involved. Genius? We think so.

4. Chris Martin looks for signs

While much of Coldplay’s show is highly polished and deftly rehearsed, the band does like to improvise a bit to keep the tour interesting. For the first Coldplay concert in Sydney, this included spotting two young girls with a sign begging Chris Martin to sing one of Coldplay’s most romantic songs, “Green Eyes.”

He obliged. But he also invited the girls up on stage to sit and sing with him.

There are other instances where Chris Martin shouted out individual members of the crowd as well, especially ones holding up signs or spruced up in interesting costumes. If you want to feel a bit more special on the night and you don’t mind a bit of attention (the camera will likely pan to you), we recommend taking a long a creative sign to hold up.

Just be sure not to be obnoxious about it and respect your fellow concert-goers. There’d be nothing worse than spending hundred of dollars to stare at the back of some coloured cardboard.

5. There are only two “swing songs”

Again, given Coldplay’s discography it’ll be almost impossible to include every fan-favourite over their career. But Coldplay’s older, more poignant material has served as the soundtrack for many of life’s ups and downs for millions of people around the world. These are deeply personal songs for a lot of people in the crowd, so it’s natural that some may leave disappointed after not hearing “their song” on the night.

Unlike bands like The Cure and The Roots, always keeping their fans on their toes by changing set lists dramatically, Coldplay follow the more fashionable approach of having a fixed set list for each concert.

Most people heading along to Coldplay already know what to expect. The internet has sucked the element of surprise out of concerts, but there are a few of what we call “swing songs” in the set that the band alternate between on different nights.

The 7th song in the set list will likely be improvised. This is when Chris Martin sang “Green Eyes” in response to a fan request so you never really know what you’re going to get.

The 8th song will be either “God Put A Smile On Your Face,” “In My Place,” or “Charlie Brown” if previous tours are anything to go by. It was the former for the first Sydney show so we can only assume that subsequent shows will switch over to the other fan-favourites.

Other than that, you’re getting pretty much the same as every other stop on the tour. Which is a great thing in general, but bad news if you’re aching to hear classic songs like “A Rush of Blood to the Head,” “Warning Sign” and “Politik.”

Coldplay perform at Accor Stadium on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday this week. Tickets are all sold out.