Coldplay were joined onstage by Simon Pegg at London’s Wembley Stadium last night (August 26) – watch them perform ‘A Sky Full Of Stars’ together below.
Yesterday saw Chris Martin and co. play the third show of their record-breaking 10-night run at Wembley, where they delivered a career-spanning, 23-track set.
To finish the third act of the concert, frontman Martin invited the band’s longtime friend Pegg to assist them on their Avicii-produced 2014 single. The actor (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, Mission Impossible) played the tambourine on the live rendition of the hit.
Pegg later shared an image of his instrument on Instagram Stories, captioning it: “Rejoined the band.” He also posted a brief clip of his view from the stage at Wembley Stadium during the performance.
The actor, who has been called an “honorary member” of Coldplay, appeared with the band on the same track at Wembley in 2022. The previous year, he introduced them at their intimate gig at Shepherd’s Bush Empire – where he recalled first watching the group live 21 years prior in support of their debut album, ‘Parachutes’.
Simon Pegg on tambourine duty tonight. #ColdplayWembley pic.twitter.com/wqtJcEczUq
— Neil (@neilenore) August 26, 2025
POV: You’re Simon Pegg playing tambourine with Coldplay at Wembley #ColdplayWembley • simonpegg pic.twitter.com/teZv45oNen
— ColdplayXtra (@coldplayxtra) August 27, 2025
Simon Pegg on tambourine for A Sky Full of Stars tonight #ColdplayWembley pic.twitter.com/wfJLiQYWDd
— Neil (@neilenore) August 26, 2025
simon pegg was playing at coldplay’s concert last night?? how cool 😭 pic.twitter.com/JC6AIOxeza
— love, sarah (@KeptinOnZeBridg) August 27, 2025
Last summer, Pegg was spotted enjoying Coldplay’s headline set at Glastonbury 2024 with Tom Cruise, Gillian Anderson and Mission Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie. He also performed with the group at Wembley Stadium in 2009.
Speaking to NME at Glastonbury 2022, Pegg recalled a previous visit to Worthy Farm in 2016 when his daughter joined Coldplay on the Pyramid Stage.
“On her first Glastonbury she sang backing vocals with Coldplay,” he explained. “Chris Martin is an old, old friend and [my daughter] Tilly’s godfather. He invited her up on stage with his kids and their friend to sing the backing vocals on ‘Up&Up’. I was an incredibly proud dad that day.”
He added: “I have been able to go backstage a few times here with Coldplay through knowing Chris. But it is more fun to be out and enjoying the festival. You get a weird detached version of the festival [when you’re backstage].”
Speaking on The Late Late Show earlier this year, Pegg told Patrick Kielty about his history with Coldplay, and watching them at an early show with Toploader. “My wife, Maureen, is a music publicist, and she was looking after Toploader,” he remembered. “We went along, I met Chris – he’d seen something I’d done on TV, like Big Train, I think it was.
“And I’d seen the video for ‘Yellow’ on MTV. And we just got chatting, and we became friends. And that friendship’s lasted ever since then.”
He continued: “I used to get up and play harmonica, but that’s so nerve-wracking because you can hit a bum note. You can’t hit a bum note on a tambourine. So if [Martin] asks me to come onstage, I say, ‘Yes, but it has to be the tambourine!’”
Coldplay will return to Wembley Stadium tonight (August 27) ahead of further concerts at the venue on August 30, 31, September 3, 4, 7 and 8. They played two stadium gigs in Hull last week, following an intimate acoustic performance from Martin at a Yorkshire pub.
For Coldplay’s UK dates this year, £1 from every ticket sold is being donated to support grassroots venues.
