For a band of such quality to have gone relatively unnoticed for so long is somewhat of a travesty. This Northern Irish four piece, now based in indie haven Glasgow, have been trading in quality song writing since the release of their debut album way back in 1998. They’ve done the toilet circuit many times over and if memory serves me correctly had a minor hit single back in 2001. Most bands would have packed it in by now, but Snow Patrol toiled on, and at the end of last year released the great, if at times a bit patchy ‘Final Straw.’ It had the marks of a last gasp career saver (take the name for a start) – beautiful melody, a few up tempo tracks and the obvious trump card ‘Run’, which has undoubtedly transfixed a large number of people many times over this year with its epic proportions.

It looks like ‘Final Straw’ has done the trick. Their music is ruling the airwaves as far as Radio 1, they’re playing a sold out club tour and they’re slowly adopting the role of media darlings, with every critic eager for a slice of their rags to riches tale. Gary Lightbody can’t wipe the grin off his face. He knew all along that as long as people could hear his band, they’d be instantly sold. It’s as if he’s smugly saying ‘I told you so’ to every member of the audience. It’s fair to say that most people here tonight are here because they’ve enjoyed what the new album has had to offer in the way of singles, which is why there’s a lot of old stuff on show - Quite understandably, they want to display to everyone that there’s more to them than that big chorus you heard on MTV2 recently. Take ‘One Night Is Not Enough’ for example. It’s probably their best song, and tonight it sounds amazing amongst all the newer material.

Forthcoming single ‘Chocolate’ sounds like Travis in their heyday, and ‘Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking’ is the closest thing they have to a so called ‘wall of sound,’ and has the crowd in awe for its duration. By the time ‘Run’ is introduced, the lighters are in the air and the crowd are wailing out the chorus. See, all they had to do was release a stadium sized single a few years ago. How hard can that be?

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