He once performed in front of four students in his school common room.

Now guitarist Jim Machin is preparing to take to the stage at the 25,000 capacity O2 Arena in London as support act for Coldplay.

Jim, a former pupil of Simon Langton Boys’ School, plays in the band Domino State.

“If only a tenth of the crowd are in their seats when we’re on it will still be the biggest crowd we’ve played to by a long shot,” he said.

The concert on Sunday, December 14, is a sell-out with tickets being touted online for hundreds of pounds.

Domino State’s appearance means there will be a Canterbury presence in both acts on the bill, as the headliners’ bass player Guy Berryman attended Kent College.

But the local connection is not how the band landed the gig.

“We know Coldplay’s guitarist Jonny Buckland through a family link although I must have seen Guy around in Canterbury,” Jim says.

“We got a text from Jonny asking us if we felt like playing the O2. And after a deliberation of about 0.2 nanoseconds we decided it might not be a bad gig.”

•For full story see this week’s Kentish Gazette