Coldplay pay musical tribute to Gene Wilder

As most fans will know, a Coldplay show rarely consists of only Coldplay songs. Whether it’s Chris Martin feeling like doing a cover, a surprise celebrity guest joining them on stage (just last week, James Corden join the band for a rendition of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’), or a musical tribute to someone who recently passed away, Coldplay is always up for it.

On August 29th the band, that’s currently on their worldwide A Head Full of Dreams tour, stopped by the Pepsi Center in Denver. The news of the tragic death of actor Gene Wilder broke earlier that day and of course Coldplay was more than willing to pay a little musical tribute to the actor best known for his role as Willy Wonka in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.

The band decided to play a little bit of ‘Pure Imagination’, the song that famously featured in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. And looking at the lyrics, it’s easy to see why it was this song the band chose to perform. With lines as ‘There is no life I know / To compare with / Pure imagination / Living there, you’ll be free / If you truly wish to be’, the song is a perfect fit to pay homage to Wilder.

You can watch a short video of the performance below.