During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the Coldplay frontman called Hugh Evans, the CEO of Global Citizen, for whom he curates the Global Citizen Festival, with something new to pitch. 'Wouldn't it be incredible,' Evans recalls Martin saying, 'if we could do the first-ever halftime show for the World Cup'' Evans agreed, and connected with FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the organization's headquarters in Switzerland to sell him on Martin's plan. He didn't need to. Infantino had already had a similar idea'and was a Coldplay fan. 'So he actually had already independently decided that he wanted to work with Coldplay and that he wanted to achieve this dream,' Evans says. The result of those conversations, set to take the pitch during Sunday's World Cup final between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium, is a massive but just 11-minute-long show featuring Justin Bieber, Madonna, BTS, and Shakira. They'll be joined by Coldplay and a chorus from Staten Island's PS22 school,...
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