Snow Patrol – Mitsubischi Electric Hall, Düsseldorf; February 26th, 2012

It’s always a bit strange for me to go and see a band that doesn’t mean anything to me, yet I make it a point to go and see at least one band or artist every year that I have never seen live before. This year my somewhat spontaneous choice was Snow Patrol. I own and like two of their albums, but I have not paid much attention to them in the past two or three years and as far as I recall, their older albums didn’t do much for me. Either way, I like the songs I know, I like Gary’s voice, the show was sold out and I was ready to be surprised.

Arrived about an hour before the doors opened and got in line. Admission was painless and I ended up about 5 rows back in front of center stage. There was conflicting information as to when the show was supposed to start, but we were in for a long wait. At 8 p.m. finally the lights went down and support act “Rams Pocket Radio” walked on stage. They were OK and had some interesting use of drums in their songs, but they didn’t really appeal to me. Listenable, but a bit boring. They only played for 30 minutes then the stage setup was changed.

Finally, a little after 9 p.m. the lights went down and the show started with some pretty images on the screens in the background before the band walked on stage one by one. I watched as the fans greeted them enthusiastically and waited for the concert feeling to come. It didn’t. The show wasn’t bad and I enjoyed the music, but all the time I stayed a spectator, I was not into it at all. I sang along to a few songs and that got me closer to feeling like being there but the final ingredient was missing, even with the most touching songs.

Still, I had fun and there were a few really nice highlights such as Gary going into the crowd, shaking hands and just seeing the happy smile on his face. Also it was drummer Johnny’s birthday and some fans had prepared signs and balloons for him. Gary took the opportunity to dedicate ‘The Garden Rules’ to him, mentioning that this was not on the setlist and he would make him work harder on his birthday. He also said he considered him a brother.

The musicians were all wonderful and I really loved the sound. Gary was in the center of attention at all times, moving about a lot, but bassist Paul and guitarist Nathan had some nice moments in he spotlight too and Johnny was supported by two other drummers with smaller drum, all together providing a great sound foundation.

‘Chasing Cars’ led to a beautiful sing-along by the entire audience and was dedicated to the band’s promoters Sascha and Christian. This is still my favorite Snow Patrol song, but I enjoyed many of the others too. Naturally the songs from the ‘Eyes Open’ album had the strongest appeal to me, because it is the album I know best but I also enjoyed the tracks from ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ and their latest album ‘Fallen Empires’

One of the best parts was when Gary called bassist Shauna from Rams Pocket Radio on stage to sing a duet with her on ‘Set the Fire to the Third Bar’. They both sang beautifully. It really moved me.  The audience loved it and she got to stay for ‘The Garden Rules’ as well. That song was my favorite of the ones I didn’t know before.

With ‘You’re all that I have’ they ended the main set and came back soon for three more songs. With ‘just say yes’ they finally left us. Their set was energetic, the sound was great and the screens were used to nicely underline the songs. Gary made good contact with the audience and did a nice job introducing the songs, while the other band members were mostly inn the background, but still got their chance to shine. Definitely a band worth watching. I enjoyed it.

Setlist 

Berlin
I’ll Never Let Go
Take Back The City
Hands Open
This Isn’t Everything You Are
Run
Crack the Shutters
In the End
Set the Fire to the Third Bar
The Garden Rules
Make this go on forever
Shut Your Eyes
Chasing Cars
Chocolate
Called Out in the Dark
Fallen Empires
You’re All I Have

Encore:
Lifening
Open Your Eyes
Just Say Yes