25 years after their debut at Glastonbury Festival, Coldplay returned to headline the 2024 edition of the UK’s premier live music event. With an audience of more than 200,000 people and a guest-star-studded lineup—including British rapper Little Simz, Nigerian Afrobeat legend Femi Kuti, and Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox—the performance was an energetic celebration of the band’s past, present, and future.

Behind the scenes, RF engineer and Mission Control Ltd. Director Ali Viles faced an unprecedented challenge: delivering wireless audio for Coldplay and their 50+ guest performers on a scale never attempted at the festival. The complexity of the production, combined with Glastonbury’s dense RF environment, required an innovative approach to spectrum management and coordination. Viles collaborated with audio equipment manufacturer Sound Devices, alongside Solotech and Adlib, leveraging the Sound Devices A20-SuperNexus Wireless Receivers to handle the high channel count and ensure seamless audio coverage across the massive Pyramid Stage setup.

Coldplay’s record-breaking global stadium tour has already presented complex RF environments, with performances in stadiums of 60,000 to 80,000 fans per night. However, Glastonbury 2024 introduced additional challenges—a global live-streamed outdoor performance, a vast festival site with over 1,000 RF carriers in use, and tight production schedules requiring absolute reliability.

“Coldplay holds themselves to incredibly high standards when it comes to delivering performances like this,” said Viles. “Outdoor festivals are extremely volatile for wireless equipment, and at Glastonbury, with its high density of RF users, we faced challenges we don’t typically encounter on tour.”

In addition to RF interference from other festival users, Viles had to negotiate additional spectrum access with Ofcom, the UK’s radio licensing authority. “At first, Ofcom told us our RF needs were simply not possible,” Viles recalled. “Most radio mics and in-ear monitors (IEMs) operate between 470 and 698 MHz, and that spectrum was already saturated. We had to find additional spectrum blocks and secure exclusive access to make the show work.”

Once the additional spectrum was secured, Viles needed hardware that could operate beyond traditional radio mic and IEM tuning ranges. That’s when he turned to Sound Devices’ Astral series and their proprietary SpectraBand technology, which offered vast tuning capabilities.

“It was still early days for SuperNexus, but its wide tuning range opened up solutions that no other brand could provide in a single package,” said Viles. “Designing a system around SuperNexus hardware allowed us to maximize frequency agility, giving us confidence that we could adapt on-site if needed.”

Working alongside Sound Devices RF Application Engineers Gary Trenda and Cody Heimann, Viles designed a system using three A20-SuperNexus receivers, providing wireless coverage across the entire stage and wings.

The system used HexVersity mode, offering six-antenna diversity across the licensed spectrum above 1000 MHz. “With over 1,000 RF carriers in use across the festival, frequency agility was pivotal,” Viles explained. SuperNexus’ Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTSA) allowed continuous monitoring and rapid response to any spectrum changes, ensuring flawless performance.

Remote control capabilities via NexLink also enabled instant transmitter adjustments, eliminating manual resyncing and making setup extremely efficient, both during rehearsals and live at the festival.

For Andy “Baggy” Robinson, Sound Devices Vice President of Sales, Coldplay’s Glastonbury performance highlighted how SuperNexus could redefine RF for live productions.

“Having been tasked with impossible gigs myself, it was incredible to support Ali in overcoming this RF challenge,” said Robinson. “The way the Coldplay team fully utilized SuperNexus was truly impressive.”

For Viles, the performance marked a breakthrough moment for RF in live touring. “The show went seamlessly,” he said. “We were able to monitor and adjust settings remotely, even while performers were wearing their transmitter packs.”

Beyond Coldplay’s tour, Viles sees SuperNexus shaping the future of live sound. “When planning tours, we constantly weigh weight, cost, and flexibility,” he explained. “The SuperNexus system replaces 150 kilos of hardware with a single 1U rack unit, while delivering better performance. That’s a huge advantage—not just for efficiency but also for sustainability, something Coldplay is deeply committed to.”

Ultimately, Coldplay’s Glastonbury 2024 performance was a landmark moment for RF engineering. “Many people have little understanding of RF and the complexity of delivering an event of this scale,” said Viles. “Being able to utilize SuperNexus at this show was a game-changer. It worked brilliantly, and I can’t wait to push it even further in the future.”