Gig: Snow Patrol @ Festival Hall 20/02/07

After a string of sweltering days Melbourne had decided to cool down a bit, as is the way with things here. It is a pity nobody told Festival Hall. If the Palais was steaming hot, Festival Hall was a veritable oven. Not that it really mattered. It could have been worse. We could have had the flu, just like every member Snow Patrol.

I don't know if it was the flu or the sound desk but the guys the first three tracks they played were terribly loose and rather uninspiring. Thankfully (and to prove there is some kind of literary providence out there) they really hit their stride about halfway through 'Run'.

After four tracks off their previous album, I was beginning to wonder if Snow Patrol had even released Eyes Open. Gary had nattered with the crowd about Melbourne's heat for a while, he piped up with something like, "Here's a song you might know, I don't remember the name of it or what it is about." which was pretty much his introduction for every song for the rest of the night. Then he kicked off with tracks off their new album. The change in quality was instantaneous. It was almost as if they had forgotten how to play their older stuff.

Not that most members in the crowd really minded. It seemed that most people had come along for the new stuff and when the boys kicked off with The Theme From Grey's Anatomy 'Chasing Cars' it was obvious that there was a stand out number in the collective consciousness of the audience.

From then on it didn't even matter that Gary wasn't able to hit many of the high notes due to the pesky flu, they rocked anyway. Melbournian Laura Jean pressed herself into Martha Wainwright's shoes and joined the band on stage for 'Set Fire To The Third Bar'. She did a brilliant job, so brilliant a job that I am going to link you to her *cough* myspace *cough* page here.



By the time the band left the stage, they hadn't really left much to perform for an encore. They returned with 'The Finish Line' (I think, I can't recall at the moment and I can't find the fucking setlist again - fans just aren't as fanatical as they used to be), which finished with a few nods of the head and the acknowledgement that they were going to plough into 'Hands Open' despite the danger to Gary's voice. I'm glad they did because it was easily the best song of the gig.

As much as I loved the gig, it was an absolute blessing to step outside into the cool air. A fantastic night. I was a bit miffed that they didn't play anything from When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up but they seem to have left their pre-Final Straw days behind them.