SNOW PATROL LIVE ON LATER WITH... JOOLS

 

From two months out from their new album landing in the stores Snow Patrol are building a media frenzy that suggest the record company might have been disappointed that their last record A Hundred Million Suns though very successful didn’t come near the sales figures of 2006’s Eyes Open. So, as we wait expectantly for Fallen Empires it was great to get a little flavour on their live set on Later With... Jools.

The show started with the leadoff single Called Out In The Dark and live it cut an edgier strut with more Nathan Connolly guitar than the electronic radio friendly sound of the single. The band’s obligatory extra tracks on their compilation Up To Now were very electronic and it could be that as they head more in that direction that their live shows will become more interesting and a live album soon required.

Two of the three songs on the show tonight are already available on the ep. This Isn’t Everything You Are is brand new and is a revelation. This is a profound song of healing and rehumanising the soul that has been damaged by loss; it is full of intensity, mood, poignancy and hopeful pastoral care. Lightbody’s lyrics have always been underestimated and here we see the maturing of his vision of what a song can do.

That same maturity is revealed right across the band as on Fallen Empires was electric and had there been albums available on the press of a red button immediately after this performance sales would have soared. Snow Patrol have never shirked from sharing their limelight with friends and that was on show again. A few drummers added under Johnny Quinn’s awesome pounding of tom toms become a percussive orchestra. Out front and mandolins, pianos and acoustic guitars are building on that rhythm as the one line Snow Patrol melodic style seems to be always waiting for a lift off that never comes. Then it arrives and to Lightbody’s left appears a familiar angelic voice; Bangor’s Foy Vance, whose soulful genius was hijacked by a more plastic pop sheen version in the name of Paulo Nutini, is where he should always have been. Vance has a voice to touch hearts and he adds some beauty to the Snow Patrol choir that explodes like the crescendo that greeted shepherds on the first Christmas morning. This anthemic “we are the light” refrain is enthralling and enchanting capturing all eyes and ears to leave the audience captivated and breathless. November 14^th can’t come soon enough!

Comments

[Moncler Giubbotti]

That was my thought,too.