With the Oasis reunion sucking up most of the media oxygen this summer, it’s easy to forget that another huge UK act – Coldplay – are also embarking on their own record-breaking run of shows.
The Gallaghers are playing seven shows at Wembley, but Chris Martin and co are outdoing them with a 10 night run at the stadium from 22 August 22. Now, to coincide with their residency, and to commemorate the 25th anniversary of their breakthrough hit. Yellow, the group have been honoured with a piece of public art.
It’s Yellow 25, an outdoor installation that has painted the 58 steps from Wembley Stadium to the nearby Arena an array of different shades of, well, yellow. The installation has been put together in association with Pantone and, using the firm’s colour matching system, the steps start off with pale, muted tones, building to deeper, more luminous golds “to reflect the song’s progression”.
Claudio Giambrone, the Head of Cultural Programming at Wembley Park, sounded made up with it. In a statement, the man who curated Yellow 25 said: “Yellow is a colour that stands out. It’s light, energy and hope. It lifts your mood. That’s what we wanted to bring to life with this installation. Wembley Park is shaped by music and shared experiences, a place where energy is always in the air. So this felt like the right fit. We’re proud to have worked with Pantone to turn that feeling into something people can see, walk through and remember. And we hope Coldplay will be as proud as we are of this tribute to a song that has touched so many hearts in its 25 year history.”
And obviously, the people from Pantone were keen to wax lyrical about it, too: “Pantone’s process involved more than matching colour to mood. The team considered saturation levels, tonal depth and the space between each hue to reflect the dynamic movement of the music. The installation mirrors the song’s structure, step by step, turning lyrics and melody into a visual path.
“The result is something quiet but open. Whether you know the song or not, the colour invites you in. It speaks to hope, warmth, devotion and light. These are feelings that are shared and universal.”
It’s fair to say you don’t get this sort of stuff with Oasis.
This isn’t the first piece of public art commissioned by Wembley to commemorate a landmark run of shows – just think of the Auras mural that marked Taylor Swift’s residency at the stadium. You can see Yellow 25 until September 30 when it will be recycled and transformed into “practical items” like street cones, which if nothing else is consistent with Coldplay’s environmental ethics.
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