Twenty One Pilots on Coldplay: “You Can’t Not Like Coldplay, I Think it’s Illega”

At Twenty One Pilot’s recent show at Los Angeles’ The Forum, the pair of alternative rockers covered Coldplay’s “Yellow.”

Tyler Joseph, the vocalist of Twenty One Pilots, went on to speak about Coldplay, who played the stage right before.

“Do you know how many people I texted saying ‘I’m sorry, I’m busy watching Coldplay open up for me? Do not disturb,” he said. “Can I just tell you, several years ago, Chris Martin called me on my cell phone. It was one of the coolest things anyone in the industry ever did. I think up until that point, I hated everyone – except for Josh (Dunn).

“But he called me and he left me a voicemail – yeah, I ignored him,” he continued. “Unknown number, went to voicemail and I remember where I was when I first heard the voicemail. He said, ‘Hey, it’s Chris Martin from the band Coldplay’, like if he’d just said Coldplay, I wouldn’t have known what he meant. He said, ‘I just want you to know that I love your music, man.’ I texted him, ‘who’s this?’”

“This is just off the cuff and I’m sure they’re long gone, doing their thing, but I wanted them to know they’re big influences on us and it’s an honor to be playing on the same bill as them,” he added.

This is not the first time Twenty One Pilots has covered a Coldplay tune, as they took on “Clocks” during their 2021 tour.

Drummer Josh Dunn previously spoke about how inspiring the band has been for their own musical journey: “Ever since I first heard them I was hooked. And I don’t know what it was exactly. I think those guys and their creativity and their personalities is something to look up to and be inspired by.”

“You can’t not like Coldplay, I think it’s illegal,” added Joseph.

Photo credit: Sterling Munksgard, Brian Friedman / Shutterstock.com