South Korea tops Coldplay's LED wristbands return rate for world tour

Coldplay fans in South Korea have officially broken the record for the highest return rate of the group's recyclable wristbands at the end of each show.

As part of its sustainability efforts for its ongoing Music Of The Spheres world tour, British rock band Coldplay has introduced numerous green initiatives at its shows worldwide, including kinetic dance floors and energy-storing stationary bikes. One initiative that has caused a friendly rivalry between countries is its compostable LED wristbands, also known as Xylobands.

These Xylobands, which are made from plant-based plastic, are given out to attendees before each show. Coldplay encourages concert-goers to return the wristbands after the show so that they can be sanitised, recharged and reused for the next performance.

At the start of each show, a leaderboard showing the top countries with the highest Xyloband return rates is flashed onscreen.

Before the start of Coldplay's fifth show at South Korea's Goyang Stadium on Thursday (Apr 24), the leaderboard revealed that South Korea has achieved a wristband return rate of 99 per cent. This puts the country at number one – ahead of Japan and Finland, both of which achieved a return rate of 97 per cent.

Singapore's return rate was 91 per cent.

Fans in South Korea have since celebrated the achievement. According to an attendee who was interviewed by The Korea Times, "people erupted into thundering cheers as they saw the '99 per cent' on screen before the show".

Coldplay's six-night concert in South Korea, which ended on Apr 25, also saw the band collaborating with members of what has been dubbed "The Big Three Of K-Pop": BTS, Blackpink and Twice.

BTS member Jin made surprise appearances on two nights where he sang his single The Astronaut, which was co-written by members of Coldplay, as well as the collaboration track My Universe.

Similarly, Blackpink member Rose appeared at two of Coldplay's shows where she sang her megahit song Apt with Chris Martin.

Apt has recently become the longest-charting song by a female K-pop artiste on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

On the other hand, Twice appeared at all six of Coldplay's shows in South Korea, singing a mix of old and new hits, including Cheer Up, What Is Love and Strategy.

The nine-member group also unveiled and performed its collaboration track with Coldplay – a remix of the song We Pray.

Coldplay is set to perform in the US next, starting at Stanford Stadium on May 31.