At a recent show in Gothenburg, Sweden, English pop superstars Coldplay led the crowd in a rousing rendition of the Backstreet Boys’ 1997 hit, “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).” Played during the last quarter of their set, between an acoustic version of “In my Place” and the track “Humankind” from their most recent album, lead singer Chris Martin begins by playing around on the piano to arrive at the iconic melody line.
Then, to confirm this wasn’t an accident, he softly sings ‘everybody…’, by which point, the entire stadium has worked out what’s happening and begins to sing along in full voice. Martin continues into the verse, with small piano interludes, as the crowd joins in with call-and-response participation on the “yeah”s.” By the time he gets to the title line, the crowd are belting it out along with him. Check out the cover below.
