Indie alternative Northern Irish Scottish power pop/ rock band Snow Patrol released their eighth album the `The Forest Is the Past` last September, their first in six years and an album about time, home, love, death, life. They hit Birmingham in the latter part of their UK & Euro section of a tour in support of the album prior to heading to America and Canada. It`s then back here for open air shows and festivals so a busy year and the first without the departed members of bassist Paul Wilson and drummer Johnny Quinn. I last saw the band as part of their `Take Back the Cities` tour promotion of `A Hundred Million Suns` as special guests on U2`s Elevation Tour in the Stadion Śląski in Chorzów, near Katowice, Poland in August in 2009.
The title track from the latest album is piped through the pa with the album artwork and the band`s name enveloping the big screen as the band take to the stage and head straight into `Take Back the City` a dreamy song in adoration of singer Gary Lightbody`s hometown of Belfast which has this packed audience joining in with the chorus “whoa whoas.” The pounding `Chocolate` follows but it’s the introspective ballad `All` from the latest release that almost silences the arena with its breathtaking intensity.
`Set The Fire To The Third Bar` recorded with Martha Wainwright has her superimposed in a pre-recorded video on the big screen which perfectly syncs the dual vocals of both singers. `Run` which was really the groups breakout number and gave them mainstream success had phones lighting the arena.
We enjoy a couple of measured tracks from the latest release with the reflective `The Beginning` and thoughtful `Taking About Hope` with `The Lightning Strike (What if this Storm ends)` cleverly incorporated in-between.
Gary Lightbody dedicates `Shut Your Eyes` to band mate Johnny McDaid who trapped his hand in a train door in Germany, had to undergo surgery but played the show in Düsseldorf the same night and plays piano and guitar tonight with his right hand still bandaged. This superbly constructed ninety minute show closes out with what for me are the band`s biggest songs with `Chasing Cars` a song made for a stadium singalong and `You`re All I Have` with it`s hook lines of “It’s so clear now that you are all that I have” and “Give me a chance to hold on” which had all and sundry joining in as the arena erupted into a mass of unbridled euphoria.
The remaining trio of Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, and Johnny McDaid along with touring musicians Ben Epstein on bass and Ash Soan on drums are encouraged to return and share a two song encore with `But I`ll Keep trying` and the alluring `Just say Yes`.
It’s been nearly sixteen years since I last saw Snow Patrol and then they seemed to be on the cusp of something big but tonight was really a masterclass in how a stadium show should be although we were in a fifteen thousand plus sold out arena. There were visuals casting live images of the band and audience onto the big screen and the heart featured on the album cover was combined into some of the videos displayed on the screen. They have songs that are heart-rending, reflective, anthemic and many that will encourage and persuade you in singing along to.
Arena come stadium shows can feel a little isolating and remote but this was the polar opposite and I came away positively heartened by what I’d not only witnessed but participated in. I can only hope and pray that I don`t leave it so long before I see this band again.
