Russell HughesSnow Patrol @ Newcastle Metro Radio Arena 5/12/2018
Snow Patrol might have had all the graphics under the sun and big production and set up, but this was still a gig played to a half filled Metro Radio Arena and a crowd suffering from a mid week slump.
Whether a hump day lethargy had caught up with folks or the Newcastle vs Everton game kept people at home is impossible to tell – but this show was quiet.
The point of Snow Patrol, really, isn’t the massive guitar bits. You don’t listen to them for the headbanging or huge solos. You go to Snow Patrol for their ability to crate unique singalong tunes that unite a crowd and a room full of strangers. You see them to create uplifting moments that can’t be created in real life. That’s the point of them. That’s why you see them live. But on Wednesday night that was missing for too much of the show.
On record the band have a remarkable ability to creating songs that sound similar and tweaking them all so they become exciting and different. On stage that translates to the band employing funky set design, lighting and videos of Martha Wainright signing along on Set Fire To The Third Bar.
But when this band get it right, it all comes together in an explosion of pure heart warming bliss. Run was the song that gave the band their big break thanks to Radio 1 and Jo Wiley, and you can see the pure joy on Lightbody’s face when he sings it.
The lead singer exudes quirky charm the entire night, forgets words to songs, has to start tunes again and misses falsetto lines now and again – but immediately owns up to it and with every slip up the love for him grows.
Snow Patrol have a new album to peddle so this was always going to be a gig packed with songs off it – but the highlights were, and always are going to be, their old stuff. Chasing Cars, Just Say Yes, You’re All I Have. These are the songs people want to hear, and they went wild for them.