Music Blogs

Chris Martin called it "the greatest encore ever seen" and he might just have been right. Earlier this week, Coldplay, The Killers, U2 and Take That teamed-up for a spectacular one-off show in London, which made all the other post-BRITS bashes look like Allen Stanford's next birthday party. Of course, only charity could bring such a herculean pop'n'roll line-up together, with War Child the eminently deserving inspiration and benefactor from Wednesday evening's concert, as they celebrate their 15th birthday and look to promote the new "Heroes" album.

The record sees a stellar cast of music's greatest icons (Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, The Clash, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen etc) select a track from their back catalogue and nominate a contemporary artist to rework it. Beck, Lily Allen, Scissor Sisters, Elbow, Franz Ferdinand and Duffy are amongst those to feature, with proceeds going to kids in war-torn countries across the globe and looking to give them a chance to rebuild their lives.

The gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire provided another outlet for publicity and fundraising, as Martin commented: "We couldn't have imagined that we'd make this work. The fact that the money raised from tickets have enabled War Child to extend the reach of their work is astonishing." Meanwhile, Killers' singer Flowers called it "one of the most exciting gigs we've ever played", after his band, Coldplay, Gary Barlow and Bono brought the curtain down with a rendition of "All These Things That I've Done". However, the highlight for many was surely earlier in the evening, when Chris Martin proved he has absolutely no shame with this rowdy, all-star rendition of "Back For Good".



For more information on War Child, visit www.warchild.org.uk.