Snow patrol are ready to run
SNOW Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody has poked fun at the band's middle-of-the-road image, as the Ulster act get set to embark on a UK tour.
Kicking off this weekend, the hugely popular band are due to play 20 dates, including four nights in Belfast's Odyssey Arena.
Gary was being tight-lipped about what fans can expect from the show, but promised it would be "pretty big".
"I think it's going to be spectacular," Gary said, before joking "and that's not a word that's usually attached to a sentence with the words Snow Patrol in it too often."
The Ulster band, who formed while at university in Dundee 15 years ago, rose to fame with their emotional lyrics, dominated by the themes of lost love and regret.
After toiling in obscurity for a number of years, they broke through with the top five single Run in 2003 and have since sold seven million albums worldwide. The latest tour, which takes in arenas, reflects that they are now one of the biggest bands in the UK.
"We've never really done a massive production show before, and it's not something we've always wanted to do, exactly, but it's something we were curious about," Gary said.
"It's the music people are there to hear."
And he is excited at the prospect of touring: "I'm really looking forward to it, should be tremendous fun.
"Touring in this country is brilliant, and you can do it in two or three weeks.
"Really, travelling is the only tough bit in what we do – anyone in a band that's doing well who says they have it hard is an absolute liar."
Plus Snow Patrol are relishing the opportunity to connect with fans in places they haven't performed recently.
"We wanted to play a bit more extensively," Gary said.
"We'd not done a big tour here since the Final Straw tour in 2003, before Run came out.
"The last time we toured in the UK, we played a lot of toilets, as every band should and indeed have to.
"We really wanted to get back to places like Sheffield and Bournemouth, and Liverpool, where we've not played for a while."
Over the years, the band have become a highlight of the festival circuit – singles Run and Chasing Cars have the ability to turn a crowd of happy punters into a 50,000-strong choir.
"You can never grow tired of that, all those people singing back at you," 32-year-old Gary says.
"The first time it happened was at the V Festival in 2004. No, 2003. Was it? 2004? 2003, I think so. And we played Run," he adds, before pausing for what seems like an eternity with a pained expression.
"I think it must have been 2004," he continues, finally.
"It was the middle of the day anyway, and we were booked for the gig months before Run came out," he said.
"There were 50,000 people watching us at 2pm, it was absolutely ridiculous.
"There was beautiful sunshine and everyone was singing along at the top of their lungs.
"That was the first festival where people went nuts for us, and ever since then every single festival has been ludicrous.
"It's something that will always bring me very close to tears. It's very emotional."
Fortunately Gary doesn't think that night after night of that kind of emotion will get too much for him on the band's forthcoming UK and Ireland tour.
"It's invigorating if anything. I imagine it might be exhausting by the end of the tour, maybe, but at the time, I feel anything but tired.
"We all feel... I don't know, very privileged."
Snow Patrol perform at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast, on March 19, 20, 21 and 23 – there are still tickets remaining for the show on March 23, but the other nights have now sold out.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 14 February 2012
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