Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin had a message for the tens of thousands of fans who turned up to watch the band perform in Thailand last Saturday night.

He really, really wants to play in China.

“I promise we’ll play in China one day,” Martin said to the screaming crowd when he invited two lucky fans up on stage. He selected the duo, from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, after spotting their banner in the crowd.

“All I say is I promise we’ll play in China one day,” Martin said, before launching into the band’s 2015 hit, “Up and Up.”

“Up and up, don’t ever give up. China loves Coldplay,” he sang.

The crowd went wild.

The moment, captured on camera and confirmed by CNN staffers who were in the audience at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium on February 3, has become a huge talking point for the British band and their fans as they wrap up their tour of Asia.

Martin had the same message for crowds in Tokyo in November – and even went further, hinting that the band lacks the approval of mainland Chinese authorities to perform there.

“You know, we can’t get the permission (to play in China),” he told concertgoers.

“Coldplay loves China… Please, universe! Let us play in China!”

CNN has reached out to Coldplay and their representatives, and China’s Culture and Tourism Ministry for comment.

China’s live music industry has risen rapidly to become one of the world’s largest in the past decade and for some foreign musicians, making their mark in the country remains a career goal.

Chris Martin and Coldplay aren’t alone in wanting to serenade mainland Chinese audiences. Others, like Jon Bon Jovi, have in the past made their interest in touring the country quite known.

In 2015, the Bon Jovi frontman took Mandarin singing lessons to cover a famous Chinese love song for Valentine’s Day – a shrewd PR move that won him praise and new Chinese fans.

But the American rock star took a shot to the heart when organizers announced the cancellation of his band’s shows scheduled for Beijing and Shanghai that year.

Bon Jovi’s management did not address media queries at the time but social media users speculated the decision may have stemmed from the band’s 2009 video for “We Weren’t Born to Follow,” which featured imagery of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. Others also pointed to a 2010 Bon Jovi gig in Tokyo that featured images of the Dalai Lama – Beijing’s bete noire – on the stage background.

Two Bon Jovi gigs in the Chinese territory of Macao, which is governed under a separate system from the mainland, did however go ahead in 2015.

American pop rock band Maroon 5 were also forced to cancel shows in Beijing and Shanghai in 2015. No official reason was given but many speculated that permits had been pulled over a band member wishing the Dalai Lama happy birthday on social media.

Similarly, promoters for Oasis said they were forced to cancel mainland China shows in 2009 after authorities reportedly discovered a member of the British rock band had played at a Tibetan Freedom gig two years earlier. The rest of the band’s Asia tour, including a concert in Hong Kong, went ahead as planned.

But it hasn’t always been this way. Once a firm fixture on international tour circuits, especially in the run-up to and after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which presented the Chinese capital as a coveted stage venue to the world and signaled China’s prowess as a political, economic and cultural superpower.

Much has changed since then, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping ushering in what many analysts say is a more authoritarian and internationally isolated era.

China also closed its borders for most of the Covid-19 pandemic and while it has since reopened, staging concerts remains no easy feat.

Logistical challenges like securing visas, obtaining permits and official approval, play a major role in the decision-making process for bands and their management.

As a result, Chinese fans – like the duo Coldplay invited up on stage – must often travel overseas to catch some of the world’s biggest stars, with concerts in locations like Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur often having sizable Chinese contingents.