Oxfam celebrates 15 years working with Coldplay

The 2017 leg of Coldplay’s Head Full of Dreams tour – which arrives in Montreal on Tuesday, August 8 – marks 15 years of Oxfam working with the band. In that time, more than 60,000 Coldplay fans have signed up to support Oxfam campaigns to highlight unfair trade practices and the plight of refugees.

Coldplay has been among Oxfam’s most high profile and vocal supporters, using their worldwide success to help Oxfam campaign on all five of their tours in more than 50 countries.

Frontman Chris Martin first travelled with Oxfam in 2002, when he went to Haiti. Since then he has visited coffee farmers and other projects in India.

“As a band, we’re really proud to have had Oxfam on the road with us for the past fifteen years,” Martin said. “It’s given our incredible fans the chance to show their support for campaigns from Make Trade Fair to supporting refugees.”

Oxfam first joined Coldplay on their 2003 A Rush of Blood to the Head tour, followed by the 2005 Twisted Logic tour, their mammoth Viva La Vida World Tour in 2008/9, and the Mylo Xyloto tour in 2012. Thousands of volunteers have been recruited in each country to talk to fans at the concerts.

In 2016 Oxfam campaigners launched the Stand as One campaign to highlight the need to help and protect people forced to flee conflict and disaster. So far 32,000 Coldplay concert goers have signed up to the campaign.

“The tour is an important way to mobilize Coldplay fans in Canada and around the world to demand their governments do more to help more than 65 million people forced to flee their homes,” said Melanie Gallant of Oxfam Canada. “It’s heartwarming to see people at these concerts inspire each other to stand in solidarity with refugees.”

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