There is nothing steamy about Coldplay.
Even if their name didn’t draw the mind’s eye toward an orgy gone awry, the British rockers’ weepy piano ballads and Netflix original series soundtrack epics have about as much place in the bedroom as “Cbat.” The grand scale of megahits like “Clocks” and “Viva La Vida” is the antithesis of intimacy. Frontman Chris Martin and former partner Gwyneth Paltrow even managed to drain the heat out of breaking up when they popularized the term “conscious uncoupling” to describe their split.
All this is to say, a Coldplay concert in 2025 seems like the last place to take a part-time lover. Which is maybe what Astronomer CEO Andy Byron was counting on. The tech honcho was caught on the kiss cam during a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium in Boston, swaying with his company’s head of hiring. Byron, who is reportedly married, quickly dove out of the frame as she spun away and tried to cover her face. A nearby employee of the same company appeared visibly embarrassed.
(Astronomer, for the record, is an AI software company valued around $1.3 billion.)
“Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy,” Martin said, over MOR strumming.“Holy s**t. I hope we didn’t do something bad.”
Coldplay’s Chris Martin accidentally exposes astronomer CEO Andy Byron having an affair with his HR chief Kristin Cabot. pic.twitter.com/GMa2g0EiK3
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) July 17, 2025
The moment went mega-viral. We have to imagine the sound of a messy affair in progress travelled across the country to Pacific Palisades and hit Stevie Nicks‘ ear like glass shattering and a screaming guitar. As social media marveled at the potential end of several relationships with millions of dollars at stake, Nicks and her one-time partner Lindsey Buckingham shared a pair of cryptic messages that hinted toward a possible reunion of their pre-Fleetwood Mac group.
Nicks shared a handwritten note with the words “and if you go forward.” Buckingham followed with a post of his own scrawled “I’ll meet you there.” In a bit of almost certainly unintentional harmony, the words they shared while the world discussed Coldplay come from the Buckingham Nicks track “Frozen Love.”
Every summer comes with its own viral vice, whether its the hedonistic cocaine use of last year’s neon-green, Charli XCX-fueled boom or overspending on concert tickets back in Taylor Swift’s “Eras” era. Sure, the sudden appearance of two central members of Fleetwood Mac alongside the viral story of an affair is just a coincidence. But let’s take a page out of Byron’s playbook and go for it. We’ve found a new bad decision to rule the season, and it’s infidelity.
Will illicit affair summer be similarly merchandised within an inch of its life? Will upstart politicians rush to be branded philanderers? Are Coldplay concerts the new hot place to meet your para-para-paramour? Only one way to find out.
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