Music

Snow Patrol in London

It's certainly not the type of space you'd realistically hope to find Snow Patrol, with two million copies of their last album sold and a new single eyeing the number one slot in Sunday's chart. The band's last London gig sold out in 10 minutes, for God's sake. They play stadiums with U2 and get mobbed in New York. Fans haven't had the chance to get this close to them since they were honing their performances on the indie circuit's grubby venues, when most of us weren't paying the attention we should have to their first three albums.

Yet here they are literally five feet in front of us, and with no huge stage or darkened room to hide them. There's no such thing as closer. Gary checks out the stunning glass roof curving above him. "If you lot wanna go f**ckin' nuts," he says. "that'd be amazing."

Snow Patrol exclusive footage

Check out exclusive video from Snow Patrol's Vodafone TBA gig at Floral Hall in Covent Garden, London.

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No sooner said than done. Snow Patrol are straight into 'Wow', all relentless rhythm guitar and beefy bass. It wasn't even a single from 'Final Straw' but it's the perfect track to turn the Opera House foyer into a foot-stamping, arm-waving sound machine. It's only a 50-minute set and there's no time to mess about, so it's straight into 'Chocolate' - all pounding drums, huge riffs and Gary's trademark regret-fuelled lyrics of messed-up love softly sung over the top. (This is the straw/ final straw in the / Roof of my mouth as I lie to you / Just because I'm sorry doesn't mean / I didn't enjoy it at the time). Even in the context of heartbreak, Gary grins his broad 'I've done something naughty' grin and the crowd whoops along.

"This is an old one," he announces. "Will you all go 'oooooh-ooh-ooh'?" Obediently we do. "Oi," he quips, "I'm not a ghost!" By the time we reach the outrageously catchy chorus of 'Spitting Games', even normally sullen guitarist Nathan Connolly is smiling ear to ear. You might have heard the song 100 times too many, but somehow you can't help joining in. Snow Patrol's radio-ubiquitous 2004 singles feel massively, refreshingly raw when played whites-of-your-eyes close like this. The band is getting right back to its roots - even in the most salubrious venue they've ever seen.

"It's been fantastic. They were wonderful. It really got me in a good mood. The venue was great and you could see everything."
Louisa, London

"They were really good - you could hear them all talking and everything. My favourite bit was when they played 'How to be Dead'."
Pip, Sheffield

"Sure it's a long way to come but I definitely want to do more gigs like this. Small crowd. Beautiful venue. I'm a massive fan and I love the new album."
Jeremy, Australia

But there's no "oh-just-play-as-the-stuff-we-know" vibe here. This is the perfect occasion to let a few friends in on the new material - and Snow Patrol aren't wasting it. The set's third song is the first from new album 'Eyes Open': "It's beginning to get to me". And Gary cheekily asks who's been sneaking online to download the new material. There will be plenty more culprits after this performance: Produced by Garret 'Jacknife' Lee (U2, and SP's last album) the new songs have everything you'd hope for. There's more delicious lyrical misery, huge chiming guitars and whopping choruses, yet it's somehow also more delicate, richer and more complex.

There's even a choir (on loan from Gary's side-project, The Reindeer Section), who turn up the volume on 'Hands Open' (foot-stomping single material), 'Shut Your Eyes' (dreamy, gentle and vocals-led, with lush electronic twiddles from new keyboardist, Tom Simpson) and 'Make This Go On Forever' (a lachrymose ballad whose drums thrum slowly under the multi-voiced chorus like the theme in a recurring argument).

If that makes for beautiful, heartbreaking listening, then so does the classic Ivor Novello-award winning 'Run'. Despite its lighters-in-the-air familiarity the track sounds freshly tearjerking when played this intimately. Thank God Gary can't stop grinning.

To finish, we've got the choir storming back on stage for the new single, 'You're All I Have': more oooh-ooh-oohs, a pounding bassline and 'heavy radio rotation' written all over it. "Gimme a chance to hold on..." sings Gary in his warm, Celtic timbre, "...under your skin feels like home." Boy, those lyrics are gonna get you every time. By the time this one's faded from the airwaves Snow Patrol will be well and truly locked into stadium status. They deserve it, but the rest of us will really miss afternoons like this.