Coldplay frontman Chris Martin recently talked about the band’s headlining set at Glastonbury, which included a special guest: Michael J. Fox.
Chris Martin opens up on Michael J. Fox
During an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to promote Coldplay‘s new album “Moon Music,” Martin shared his thoughts on Fox. Fox joined Coldplay on guitar during the song “Humankind,” and stuck around for a touching rendition of “Fix You.”
Fox, who has been battling Parkinson’s Disease since 1991, was in a wheelchair for the performance. “The main reason we’re in a band is because of ‘Back to the Future,’” Martin told the audience. “So thank you to Michael, our hero.”
He recalled the moment and said: “I think there are certain things for people your age and my age which are so imprinted on us in terms of what made us dream of doing this job, and one of those things for me is Michael in ‘Back to the Future’ … It’s so trippy to me that we get to play with him because it just feels like being 7 and being in heaven, that’s what it feels like. Of course, he’s so inspirational as a person, and then he was Marty McFly.”
Coldplay’s surprise appearance at Glastonbury wasn’t the first time Martin and Fox had played together. Martin had previously brought him out as a special guest during Coldplay gigs, and the two also performed a duet in 2013 at the gala for Fox’s Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. However, Martin still can’t believe it.
“The first time I played with him was at a charity show, and I asked him if we could do the two songs from ‘Back to the Future’ and he was so sweet. In the middle of ‘Earth Angel,’ he started looking at his hand like it was disappearing,” Martin recalled, referencing a famous ‘Back to the Future’ scene.
“Maybe people watching are too young to remember now, but that hand disappearing is everything.”