It’s a Friday night on Ormeau Avenue, and the Limelight is full of love for the band that turned a generation of young Northern Irish people into music fans. If you grew up in the early 2000’s, there’s a good chance your parents had Final Straw or Eyes Open on the car stereo. The songs are ingrained in our collective memories, the soundtrack to countless childhoods. Tonight, the room is one, and as ‘You’re All I Have’ drifts into life, the Limelight choir prepare to sing their hearts out.
This is the first of two shows Snow Patrol will play in one night, in the same venue, just an hour apart. It’s the final date of their Instore Acoustic tour, organised by HMV and serving as a ‘thank you’ to those who flocked to buy their latest Reworked album. The mood is jovial, the venue probably too small for a band of their stature, but Snow Patrol soak up the intimacy and radiate it back. It’s a stripped back line-up, with frontman Gary Lightbody, guitarist Nathan Connolly, and original member Iain Archer on piano, bringing the songs back to their roots.
Those who have experienced the full live show will know that Snow Patrol are a real rock band. Formed at university in Dundee in the 1990’s, the band formerly known as ‘Shrug’ were once more interested in making you mosh than sing along. The idea of an acoustic set was once an alien concept for the band making Songs For Polar Bears, but over the years Snow Patrol have mastered the art of quiet reflection. Even their edgier songs are given a dreamlike face-lift. ‘Crack the Shutters’ shimmers in the dark, the opening lyric, ‘You cool your bitter warm hands down, on the broken radiator’ hitting home like a poetry reading, while the one-two sucker punch of ‘Run’ (“Our only number one, and we didn’t even sing it!” laughs Lightbody, a nod to Leona Lewis’ X-Factor cover) and ‘Heal Me’ take things to an emotional pinnacle.
In a moment of vulnerability, Lightbody exclaims, “This next song is dedicated to the feeling that we’re better together than apart,” and then ‘Chasing Cars’ takes us right over the edge. It’s an all-encompassing tidal wave, the biggest radio hit of the 21st century so far. The band from Bangor don’t have to play another note, the crowd willing the lyrics to life.
‘I Think of Ö÷²¥´óÐã’ is another highlight, with references to Belfast and Fountain Street provoking huge cheers, before cutting out completely for the final verse. Lightbody’s voice is the lone noise in a silent room.
“The punched-out teeth of Irish history, mistakes were made, let’s leave it there. But there’s one thing we can all agree on…there’s beauty North, South, East and West’.
This gets the biggest response of the night; if this was a seated show, a standing ovation would be warranted. Lightbody works his way around the room thanking people for their time, a final touch of characteristic kindness. ‘Open Your Eyes’ is then tasked with closing a beautiful evening. In just over an hour, Snow Patrol will be back to do it all over again, and you know they’ll be up for it.