Snow In Summer

It might be some contractual agreement he has with God, but Gary Lightbody always seems to be in a permanently good humour. Today, he would seem to have as good a reason as ever, as his band are about to embark on a summer packed with festival appearances.

“It’s something that we’ve always wanted to do. We’ve never had a full festival calendar, we’ve just done a few, but it’s really only been Ireland and Scotland with any regularity until now. This year we’re going to Portugal, Germany, Spain, Japan, Australia – it’ll be great”.
Is there not a danger that all these places begin to blur into one?
“No, I can remember something from every gig we’ve played in eight years. I forget that I’m supposed to be places, I forget people’s names but I can always remember gigs, they’re pretty special.”
With the success of both ‘Run’ and The Final Straw catapulting them into the big league, this set of shows should see them facing huge crowd after huge crowd.
“I hope so! I don’t know, I have nightmares about it. We’re headlining one of the stages at T In The Park up against The Pixies and I have this recurring vision that we’re going to play to an empty tent. I’d certainly go and see The Pixies over us. I guess we’ll be playing to more people than we’ve ever played to in our whole career in this summer period.”
He agrees that it’s strange that it has taken Ireland so long to get a festival of the stature of Oxegen.
“It’s odd because they’re the most passionate audiences of anywhere in the world, now I can definitely see that. Ireland is so steeped in musical history and every kind of artistry that it’s strange that it’s taken so long to get a festival that we can be proud of. Féile was good but it wasn’t on the scale of any of the main ones. Oxegen is just fantastic.”
What are his favourite memories of the bash?
“Memories are a little hazy, but The Frames last year were just staggering. I’ve always loved them and finally they looked like the band they were always meant to be. They came on as conquering heroes; people were in tears standing beside me. It was very hard not to be emotional.”
And this year? Anyone he’s particularly looking forward to seeing?
“The Shins are my favourite band but they’re playing the different day to us. Otherwise, Franz Ferdinand, who would you believe I’ve never seen live yet. I can’t wait, I just love that band.”

Snow Patrol play the Ticket Stage on Saturday 10 July