Coldplay’s Chris Martin with Michael J. Fox at Glastonbury Festival. Screengrab from BBC Music
Michael J. Fox may be strapped in his wheelchair, but that didn’t stopped him from jamming with Coldplay, whose concert headlined this year’s Glastonbury Festival in England.
The “Back To The Future” star was a surprise guest introduced by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin in a set before the end of their performance.
As Martin began his freestyle guitar music, he made the introduction to “legendary Michael,” as Fox was being wheeled in onstage with his own orange and white guitar, much to the delight of fans.
“Now here’s another legendary Michael. With his Chuck Berry riffs and the way he punched Biff, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Michael J. Fox,” said Martin, referencing the actor’s role as the electric guitar-plucking Marty McFly who threw a punch at his antagonist Biff Tannen in the Back To The Future” series.
Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1991, stayed onstage towards the end of the band’s last set where he jammed and strummed his guitar as Martin performed his hit “Fix You.” The actor even kicked his foot high in the last strains of the song, just in time for the fireworks to go off.
Before the end, Martin gave a special shoutout to Fox, who he credits for their band’s rockstar status.
“Thank you so much everybody. Especially thank you to the main reason why we are in the band, it’s because we watched ‘Back To The Future.’ So thank you to our hero forever, and one of the most amazing people on earth,” he said, as Fox waved to the jampacked audience.
Coldplay also paid tribute to Fox on its Instagram account, thanking him for “making [their] dreams come true.”
Another Michael honored
Prior to Fox, Martin also paid tribute to another Michael in the venue: Sir Athelstan Joseph Michael Eavis, who started the first Glastonbury festival, and responsible for bringing in numerous names from the music industry to their family-owned farm in Somerset, making it an annual musical spectacle.
The Glastonbury festival is dubbed the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world, after which it has become a template for all the festivals that came after it.
Eavis, a dairy farmer who was knighted as commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2007 for services to music and charity, was shown on a wide screen as Martin gives his accolades.
“Hold on, wait a minute. Look who that is. It’s the living, total 100-percent legend. Hello, Michael,” the Coldplay frontman said, before diving into his acoustic singsong melody that he is known for.
“Sir Michael, I just want to thank you, as humans go to the best of all sorts. You’re a musical charmer, you’re the world’s greatest farmer who ever got knighted wearing shorts,” he said as the crowd shrieked wildly.