Coldplay teams up with Verve singer

Coldplay were joined onstage by former Verve singer Richard Ashcroft at Live 8 today (July 2).

Continuing the theme of duets and collaborations which earlier saw Paul McCartney and U2 open the concert with 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', Ashcroft joined the group for a version of his former group's hit 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'.

Speaking to the 200,000 strong crowd, Coldplay singer Chris Martin said: “This is the greatest song ever written” before bringing the Verve man on.

Following the show Ashcroft said: “It was Chris' idea - it was poetry. It felt right to be here singing this song on this stage.”

The performance came in the middle of a three song set which also included Coldplay's 'In My Place' and 'Fix You'. During 'In My Place', Martin sang a little of Status Quo's 'Rocking All Over The World', the track that opened Live Aid 20 years ago. He also paid tribute to Bob Geldof declaring him a "hero of our times" for his fight against poverty and his organising of the show.document.write(unescape("