Posted June 7, 200718 yr Snow Patrol MUSIC DAVID POLLOCK SNOW PATROL **** KING TUT'S, GLASGOW SCIENTISTS recently conducted a study in which they found it is physically impossible for a band to look more pleased with themselves onstage than Snow Patrol. Their lopsided grins can be directly translated as saying: "We know we're great and so do you - thanks." OK, perhaps that's a little harsh. But the Patrol looked inordinately chuffed to be the focus of mass outpourings of fist-waving singalong affection at this Xfm competition-winners' show. It was probably a far cry from the sparser crowd they had when they first trod the boards in Glasgow at this very venue. To be even more fair to them, the band might be sandwiched in the middle of the road, but very few mainstream guitar outfits in the UK can match them for the sheer melodic joy they fill their very best songs with. The case for was made in sometimes spectacular style here. They have a slew of great pop songs culled from just two albums (the two released since they achieved fame, anyway), and the likes of Chocolate, Spitting Games, Eyes Open, Chasing Cars and the perennially epic Run all add up to a pretty good hit rate. Then there are high-quality album tracks such as Make This Go On Forever and Headlights On Dark Roads. And frontman Gary Lightbody's asking a girl in the crowd, whom he recognised from a gig in New York, to sing the Martha Wainwright parts of Set the Fire to the Third Bar was effortlessly crowd-pleasing. I suppose they have reason to look proud, then. http://living.scotsman.com/music.cfm?id=889952007
