Chris Martin recently sat down with Conan O’Brien, recalling how one of his very first haters now became an avid Coldplay fan who showed up at every gig they got.
The frontman was discussing his early career as an aspiring young rocker, and the topic drifted to how two completely opposite incidents happened in the same month and reflected his entire career in a nutshell. Chris recalled performing an original song at a school concert long before fame and ultimately getting booed by an older drunk student.
A short later, he got booed; Martin performed at another event where he met the father of another famous rocker, and the older man praised him by predicting that he would be pretty successful. These two incidents happened in the same month, showing how the singer both faced backlash and appraisal from the crowds long before fame came into play.
Martin then disclosed how the drunk guy, who hated on him in his early career, showed up backstage in 2009 while the act toured Australia and made a habit of appearing at every one of Coldplay’s shows to show support or… as Conan joked, continue booing them among larger audiences.
The singer recalled his early shows, receiving both hate and support in the same month, and how a hater evolved into a superfan:
“You just reminded me that in the same year, two things happened, which was a total microcosm of how my whole life has turned out. I played an original song in a school concert and got booed off by a drunk boy in the year above… and at the same time, this dad of a friend who had been in a pretty successful band in England, he came to see a concert.
And I played another song, and he said, ‘You’re gonna be massive.’ This almost happened in the same month. Funnily enough, the drunk guy showed up backstage in Australia in 2009 and now comes to all of our shows; he might still be booing, but there’s more people around him. I don’t know why he’s there, but he’s there.”
It might be cliche to say this, but the path to success could be filled with different challenges, and any aspiring young rocker might face both backlash and support from the audience at the same time. The important thing is not to give in to negative reviews and do your best to move on and improve. Chris excelled in that, and seeing a former hater becoming an ultra fan was undoubtedly satisfactory.
