‘Our brother, we miss you’: Coldplay delivers moving tribute to Shane Warne with emotional performance

British rock band Coldplay has delivered an emotional tribute to Shane Warne, dedicating a song to the late cricket legend during a recent show.

During the band’s performance in Melbourne on Wednesday, October 30 frontman Chris Martin took a moment to express how much he missed Warne before launching into the song Sparks as a tribute.

“Let’s play this for Shane and his family, OK?” he told the crowd.

“Our brother, we miss you. Every time we come to Melbourne, it used to be time to hang out with Shane and all the Warne family.

“I don’t want to talk about it too much or I’ll start to cry.”

Warne passed away at the age of 52 while holidaying on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand on March 4, 2022.

Warne’s management released a statement at the time acknowledging the tragedy.

“Shane was found unresponsive in his villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived,” the statement said.

Earlier this year friends and family came together to pay tribute to the late sporting icon, two years on from his sudden passing.

In a post to Instagram, Warne’s daughter Brooke shared a series of photos depicting cherished memories, family gatherings, and snippets of Warne’s life beyond the cricket pitch.

“2 years today Dad,” she wrote at the time.

“It’s been the slowest and quickest 2 years without you. I feel like you were just here being silly with us and talking about how good the new season of Peaky Blinders is and we will watch the next episode together when you come home.

“Life really doesn’t make sense without you here. We try and do you proud every day. I miss you, i love you forever.”

 

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In addition to Brooke’s heartfelt tribute, the cricket community and fans around the globe also took to social media to remember the spin king on the sombre day. Messages, memories, and anecdotes poured in, with fans sharing their favourite Warne moments and reflecting on the immense impact he had on the sport.

Warne, widely considered one of the greatest bowlers in cricket history, played his first Test match in 1992 and took over 1,000 wickets in Tests and One-Day Internationals over the course of his career. Warne’s 708 Test wickets from 145 tests was the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket until 2007.

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack recognised Shane’s incredible sporting achievements by naming him as one of its Five Cricketers of the Twentieth Century alongside fellow cricket icons Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs and Sir Vivian Richards. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2013.