Snow Patrol / White Lies / Cashier no 9

Huge commercial giants Snow Patrol hit Manchester's MEN Arena for a sell-out performance to plug the release of new album 'A Hundred Million Suns'. I couldn't work out whether I was more excited to see Snow Patrol or the support White Lies as I took the somewhat dangerous descent to my seat. As the arena began to fill and the beer vendors with their ghostbusters-like beer backpacks satisfied the thirst of the thronging crowd, I sat and waited for the nights amazing events to unfold.

Cashier No 9 were the first support act to grace the MEN stage. This promising young Belfast band released their first debut single '42 West Avenue' late last year. Their music, a really interesting mix of pop, rock, indie, country and eletronica, was tight and great. I found the lead vocalist's voice slightly annoying, but that didn't really matter as his vocals were practically inaudible! They left after playing 'Goodbye Friend', their best song of the night, met with warm applause from the crowd.



Next up were bound-to-be-huge White Lies. If you haven't heard of them, or their broody indie pop music, where have you been?! Dressed from top to toe in black, their look almost reminiscent of Kraftwerk, they were bathed in atmospheric light from four free-standing spotlights as they paraded huge tracks from their No 1 debut album 'Like To Lose My Life' and new single 'Farewell To The Fairground'. My stand out tune for the night had to be 'Unfinished Business' with its amazing organ-like synth backdrop. There's something dark, almost gothic or vampiresque, about this band that make them refreshingly different. With strong resonant vocals and fantastic music filling the arena, I found myself staring intently throughout the whole set! The MEN crowd were totally in awe too.

MEN was rammed to the rafters with indie-pop Snow Patrol fans by this point, who spent years in obscurity before hitting the big time in 2003 with 'Run', and their 2006 album 'Eyes Open'. The SP devotees didn't have to wait long before the night's extravaganza of special effects burst forth and a black backdrop with white out text shouting 'Take Back The Cities' greeted their eyes. When Manchester appeared on the city list, a massive roar erupted and the crowd were whipped up into a frenzy as Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Paul Wilson, Tom Simpson and Jonny Quinn filled the stage.



SP kicked off with their latest single from 'A Hundred Million Songs', 'If There's a Rocket Tie Me To It'. Thought provoking lyrics, huge sound and the charisma of quirky, jerky front man Lightbody shone from this point on. Arena filling favourites like 'Chocolate' and 'Hands Open' quickly followed. All of this was taking place as the stunning backdrop continuously rose and fell, with images to match the artwork cover of 'A Hundred Million Songs' and live video feeds of the group lighting up the stage.

'Spitting Games' and 'How To Be Dead' really got the crowd behind SP, but Lightbody disappeared during 'The Golden Floor' whilst we were treated to a fabulous instrumental, almost like a huge SP jamming session. Then all went quiet.



What happened next was truly remarkable audience participation antics. There, right amongst the swarm of thousands was Lightbody, donning an acoustic guitar and offloading his microphone to audience member Danielle to sing 'Run' from 'Final Straw'. Unfortunately, the lyrics were interspersed with laughter from Lightbody (as all Danielle could do was scream like a Banshee). He eventually had to tell her to "Chill Out", although everyone saw the funny side of it! The front man SP Pied Piper then got the lights to go out and the whole arena to shine mobile phone lights and belt out "Light Up! Light Up!" to the end.

After a quieter, unmemorable section of the set, 'Shut Your Eyes' saw the crowd being prompted by Lightbody to sing "Shut your eyes and sing to me" again and again, with a predictable girls versus boys showdown going down well amongst the eager spectators. Next followed huge 'Chasing Cars', one of the most memorable songs of the 21st century, which saw everyone out of their seats, raised hands in the air and every word being chanted.



I couldn't believe my luck when Troy (playing acoustic guitar) and Miriam burst on stage to sing my personal favourite Set The Fire on The Third Bar' alongside Lightbody. 'Crack The Shutters' and 'Take Back The City', new songs, had an anthemic quality about them. They acted as fantastic foot stamping, bass throbbing, singalong prequels to the gig finale 'Open Your Eyes' where lights dropped down onto the stage and everyone got to their feet and danced. As the set ended you could see the crowd roaring with appreciation on the backdrop as the band exits momentarily.

With obvious chants for "More, More", a white voile dropped dramatically from the sky and shielded the stage from view, ready for the encore. After a message about the next song, 'Lightning Strike', a red star / paper origami shape is emblazoned on the voile which bursts into hundreds of millions of coloured origami shapes that swirled hypnotically in time to the music. Lightbody can just be seen through the voile, which dropped away for the last song of the night 'You're All I Have'.

The audience seemed subdued though, as if they didn't get the encore and why SP hadn't saved the best till last. Perhaps the set was a bit too experimental and arty for their liking, but I have to say it was entirely memorable, hugely enjoyable and illustrated just why SP fans love their music and lyrics so much.

FUTURE GIGS