Gary Lightbody told a frighteningly over packed Ulster Hall that he was emotional, thinking about starting a band 30 years ago this very month. Oh he’s the only one in the band left and they were then called Shrug but he is a Bangor boy standing in front of a Belfast crowd feeling the love and pride we have that Snow Patrol are world beaters from our wee place. We sang every word, helping Lightbody out on the odd occasion.
I was feeling emotional myself. Our mate Jonny joined Shrug as they became Polar Bear around 1997. They struggled for years, another mate Iain played with them too before their third record Final Straw gave us Run. Jo Wiley endorsed and played it and suddenly they sold out the Mandela Hall and then unbelievably The Ulster Hall.
I was a University Chaplain and my students were now big fans. I told them that I had been told I’d be on the Guest List for The Ulster Hall but I didn’t fancy going out. My daughter was tiny… and I am a shy introverted in real life. My students were aghast.
It would be the last time that I would have seen Snow Patrol in such a small venue until now. In recent years its been they have been filling the SSE on multiple nights. In Snow Patrol terms this was a pub gig.
My feelings got all tangled up with this Snow Patrol history when the support band took to the stage. I’ve been following The Florentines since Gary Lightbody name checked them in an interview that I did with him at the 4 Corners Festival in 2020.
They are all rock strut with very accessible melodies and just coming out of their teens they took me back to 1992 when I was an amateur manager for the aforementioned Iain Archer, whose band included one Jonny Quinn. I was moved into moments of nostalgia.
The emotional pile up doesn’t end there. This was the first time I had seen Snow Patrol without Jonny Quinn. Jonny and bassist Paul ‘Pablo’ Wilson left the band officially earlier this year and, whatever the public statements of mutual agreement, there is a ragged rip in Snow Patrol dynamics. I am sure I would have made it to Snow Patrol fandom eventually but the subjective interest via Jonny was my initial hook.
Of course through friends like Iain and Jonny and another mate Davy I have gotten to be one degree away from Gary Lightbody, culminating in that memorable evening when I had his attention and his mine in a public conversation. So like a friend of a divorced couple I was still rooting for him, smiling inside at his 30 year career and where it has brought him to tonight.
We are in this more intimate space because we are celebrating the release day of Snow Patrol’s eighth album. It is all about the upping the hype around a new record but is also a treat for fans, like the Stockmans here as a family singing the songs we have been singing on car journey playlists all of my daughters’ lives.
And Snow Patrol delivered. Jasmine feared too many songs off The Forest Is The Path that she wouldn’t know but actually it would seem that she’ll have to go to the SSE in February for those songs. This was a set list rehearsed for the summer festivals and perhaps more limited by having to bring in a brand new rhythm section.
The smaller venue made everything louder and more visceral. Take Back The City, about Belfast itself was explosive (maybe not the best choice of words). Crack The Shutters and Run in as early as song number 4 had the joint bouncing and almost hoarse early on.
All we got from the record we were launching were All and The Beginning and the fans were already singing even those. I keep forgetting just how many bangers this band have. Chocolate, Don’t Give Up, Shut Your Eyes, Heal Me. I could go on. Of course there is Chasing Cars too to take the roof off, a balcony bouncing.
In the guest seats in that balcony, Jimmy Nesbitt was throwing shapes and singing his head off while band member Jonny McDaid’s partner Courtney Cox sat as though unmoved. I imagine that below her too cool for Central Perk demeanour was a deep thrill at how popular her man’s band is as she soaked up a Belfast crowd.
Just Say Yes is a staple Snow Patrol closer these days and I hope it is not lost on the crowd that we are all screaming it out in a city that is renowned for saying No! What really grabbed my soul was the piano only reverent quiet of What If This Is All The Love You Ever Get. I’ve used it in communion and it is perhaps a hidden reason whey we love Gary Lightbody. He’s been there, knows the hurt and sings into our catharsis and healing:
What if it hurts like hell
Then it'll hurt like hell
Come on over, come on over here
I'm in the ruins too
I know the wreckage so well
Come on over, come on over here.
Tonight, 30 years in ,he took back his home city and left us wanting more. See you at the SSE in February!