- Music
- 26 Mar 09
As the opening strains of ‘If There’s A Rocket Tie Me To It’ fill the O2, rapturous applause ripples through the crowd. The Snow Patrol faithful are out in full force tonight and Mr Lightbody and Co. bask in the glow of an ardent reception before they even begin. When they segue into ‘Chocolate’ the sell-out 14,000-capacity crowd go mental.
Gary himself seems to be in fine form – chatty and joking between songs, and well he should given the heroes’ welcome. All across the floor people are dancing, singing and practically fainting with excitement. It’s a little like being caught up in Happy Clappy Loolah Land – but with better tunes.
The O2 is a massive improvement on The Point and the sound is great – Snow Patrol’s mix of stadium-friendly anthems and melancholy tearjerkers filling the room with ease. The set-list is heavy on old favourites like ‘Eyes Open’, ‘Spitting Games’ and of course, ‘Chasing Cars’. New songs such as ‘The Golden Floor’ and ‘Crack The Shutters’ are greeted with as much enthusiasm, but the highlight of the evening is undoubtedly ‘Set The Fire To The Third Bar’ with Miriam Archer doing a cracking job filling in for Martha Wainwright.
Finally a confession: this reviewer likes Snow Patrol, but doesn’t love them. On the strength of this performance, it might be worth converting.