Gig Review - Snow Patrol The O2 11-Feb-2012

So gig reviews are a bit thin on the ground on the blog these days - since I don't have as much "disposable income" as I used to and also frankly less bands on tour I'd like to see.  Anyway this was this years first gig for the family Furtheron.  Daughter-of-Furtheron, Mrs F and I went off to The O2 last night to see Snow Patrol.

Venue - The O2 is good for us since it is a simple schlep up the A2 into the car park - I've heard people moan about the cost of the car park but if we were going to say Hammersmith it'd cost us a lot more with train fares and that is even now with me on a season ticket and able to get the other two discounts. We arrived early enough to get a meal in and join the queue to get in just before the doors opened.  We didn't have the greatest seats due to us booking a bit late but we were up in the Gods but on the front row - so no one in front and almost in line with the stage so look down and along.  Venue was warmer than I'd half expected give the freezing temperature and the fact that frankly the dome is simply a big marquee as D-o-F pointed out.

Support was from Plastic Rose, a young Irish band who were pretty good but let down with equipment issues and clearly just bowled over to be playing a venue like the O2 - their last gig in London had been to 15 people!  Everything Everything up next, now good sound, great vocals at times but poor at others, great musicianship but ... I don't get them at all.  It all seems to need something else for me but D-o-F liked them.

Snow Patrol were imperious.  From the moment they took to the stage, sound was excellent (esp given where we were sat), playing brilliant, they had the crowd on their side from the word go and delivered an excellent one hour forty-five minute set.  They now have a catalogue that enables them to pull hit after hit out and from Final Straw to Fallen Empires they aired pretty much what you'd expect but they did it really, really well.  A band that understands dynamics (I could learn from these myself on that one) many songs deliberately build into storming climaxes but also they know when to take the instrumentation down, engage the audience or just relax in a quieter phrase or two.

I was mightily impressed I have to say - it has to have been into one of the top 10 gigs I've ever been to easily.   Having seen this lot master the anthemic ballad tunefest I wonder how Coldplay will compare when we see them at Arsenal later this year - frankly this lot were a might tough act for anyone to beat in this genre on last nights performance.

For guitar nuts - all bass was the Rickenbacker 4001, most of Gary's work was on his trusty Fender Tele Deluxe, with one acoustic and one on a Grestch I couldn't name and Nathan used a couple of Les Paul Customs (black one and a tobacco sunburst), I think three different Telecaster Customs and a Gretsch duo-jet (I think, Gretsch is not my strongest brand guys!) oh and a Jaguar for the single before last.

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