After blagging myself a couple of tickets to this gig from Beat 106 I was pretty damn excited – I make no secret of the fact that I love Snow Patrol, and I reckoned that I could get away with being horribly drunk and knowing whether or not it was a good performance from the band. Living up to my own and everyone else’s expectations, I did get horribly drunk and had a fantastic night!

On arriving at the Exchange we were firstly entertained by the breakfast DJs playing us some happy songs to get us in the mood for a birthday party! We headed to the venue and on came the first guests of the night, Delays. The set was fabulous, with ‘Nearer than Heaven’ making this lil lady a smiley lil lady very early on. Current single ‘Lost in a Melody’ was brilliant too, showing off their great combination of electropop and mildly rocky beats. Me being me, and me being halfway to inebriation, was dancing away like a thing possessed by this stage. Delays really impressed both myself and a lot of other people I had met who weren’t too familiar with their music, while some diehard fans just beside me informed me they had indeed played a great set.

After setting the tone for the night, they were closely followed by a tired Snow Patrol who had just come from Stirling Castle and the Children In Need gig. The set list kicked off with ‘Wow’, which sounded just as fantastic in a stripped down set as in its usual setting, although lead singer Gary Lightbody appeared disappointed in some technical problems with his guitar. After the beautiful ‘Chocolate’, the set then began a trip into second album ‘When Its All Over We Still Have To Clear Up’ with ‘One Night Is Not Enough’. As ever it was executed perfectly and the band were on top form. ‘Final Straw’ and the most recent release, ‘How to be Dead’ were next up, ‘Batten Down the Hatch’ was chilled out and showed a side of Snow Patrol many fans haven’t encountered. The crowd loved the show and the response to each song was increasingly supportive.

The set took an upbeat turn with the darling of advertising executives – ‘Spitting Games’ – and the crowd wholeheartedly joined in with the ooooh-ing at the appropriate times. I have to admit that by this stage it could have been perfectly silent in the room and it would still feel loud, but that might have had something to do with my two mates and I belting it out ourselves. The set finished up pretty spectacularly with the definitive Snow Patrol hit, ‘Run’, and somehow Lightbody and co once more looked surprised that people were singing the chorus back to them.

As ever I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the gig. However I was gutted to find that the set list had one of my favourite tracks, ‘An Olive Grove Facing the Sea’, included, but for some reason (presumably the technical problems faced by Lightbody’s guitar) it was cut. Nonetheless, the set was excellently received and everyone appeared to thoroughly enjoy themselves!

Following the gig, it was back to the bar area for some fantastic music from Fraser Thomson and Paul Harper, of Beat 106, who kept the crowd dancing and drinking until the early hours. Overall it was a fantastic way for a radio station to celebrate a birthday – live music, dancing and drinking for the listeners.

It emerged at this point that my head wanted to conduct some experiments. The question it appeared determined to answer was, firstly, how much lager a drunk girl could spill while dancing with her pint(s); how slippery it would make the laminate floored dancefloor; and how long it would take her to realise. Answer? Rather a lot; extremely; and not long at all.

And so, in spite of my sore bum and now perfect impersonation of Jane Torvill on speed, Friday night's gig was a rare opportunity to hear Snow Patrol stripped down, and a fantastic precursor to the How To Be Dead tour, which kicks off in Belfast tonight (Monday 22nd) and finishes its shows on the 23rd December.

Review by Marie-Clare Kelly

www.beat106.com
www.snowpatrol.net
www.thedelays.co.uk
Watch Delays' video for 'Lost in a Melody' on our downloads page