Many fans strive to get a spot on the show lineup for an artist they love. In the case of university professor Felipe Schadt, 34, he did this 11 times, at Coldplay concerts in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba.
Born in Jundiaí (SP), Schadt had a goal: to get Chris Martin, the lead singer of the band, a guitar as a gift. For this, he made a sign that read: “Chris, I came from Mars. Can I have your guitar?”.
“This new album and this tour are themed around the universe, other planets, galaxies, aliens. Then I played with that and took on this character who came from Mars to ask for the guitar,” he explained to CNN.
The decision to go to the 11 shows happened by accident. The more shows the band confirmed, he bought.
“You know that thing about who goes in one goes in two, who goes in two goes in three? I was doing that and suddenly I started to take it as a personal challenge: I go to all Coldplay shows in Brazil.”.
According to the teacher, since the first show, the singer has already interacted with him, despite the gift having been given only in the last performance, which took place on Tuesday (28).
As he was always on the grid at every show, he became a familiar face for the band and the entire crew. Therefore, interactions only increased: “He would point at me, sing to me, call me ‘my brother’ [meu irmão, em inglês]”, said.
In this last performance in Brazil, Chris Martin, walking down the catwalk while finishing the song Yellow, passed by the fan and greeted him with a fist in each hand.
“He plays the song and always, at the end, runs all over the catwalk, makes the final chord there, leaves the guitar and returns to the main stage for the new song that he will sing”, he describes. “This time it was different. He went to the end of the catwalk, played the final chord, but he didn’t leave the guitar, he brought it with him”.
But Martin couldn’t take the strap off the guitar to hand it over: “What I understood was that he was going to take it off because he had a transmitter that they use to transmit the audio from the guitar to the soundboard, he couldn’t hand it to me with that, and couldn’t get it out,” he said.
Back on stage, the vocalist handed the instrument to a roadie and pointed at Felipe. After a few minutes, the professional delivered the guitar inside a case.
“It was very special what he did, the way he did it, and the concern he had in giving a gift to a fan”, he praised.
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gift from U2
Chris Martin’s guitar will become a memorabilia, says the professor. “It will join Bono’s glasses, lead singer of U2, which I also have”, he reported.
Felipe is also a fan of the Irish band and, in 2017, he was on the schedule for the three shows in Brazil. In the third, the vocalist took off his glasses during the song One and handed it to his hand.
“The guitar will now stay with the glasses on the wall in my living room where my piano is and my memories of the concerts I went to, the adventures I take with my music idols”.
Would you do it again?
“I don’t know if I would,” he laments. “I think I’m already privileged enough to have done it with U2 and gotten Bono’s glasses, done it with Coldplay and gotten Chris Martin’s guitar.”
Going to every show and being on the grid comes with sacrifices. “It is very tiring, it is very exhausting. My body is tired and my immunity is very low because you don’t eat right, you don’t sleep well. But there is no lack of desire”, he confesses.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
