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SNOW PATROL
Hearts and strings
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Snow Patrol have been churning out gritty, amp-buzzing rock since 1994, when frontman Gary Lightfoot met founding bassist Mark McClelland at the University of Dundee. Briefly calling themselves Polar Bear before adopting their current name, the duo joined forces with drummer John Quinn to record two albums for Jeepster Records, home to the sensitive indie pop of Belle and Sebastian. After achieving limited success in Glasgow and Belfast, the band exploded stateside with the release of last year’s Final Straw (Polydor). So it was no surprise to find them looking bright-eyed and even downright giddy as they took the stage a week ago Saturday before their adoring fans at a sold-out Avalon. Never mind their reputation for angst-ridden pop anthems and bleeding-heart lyrics — they seemed to savor every minute of their whirlwind. With new bassist John Wilson in tow, they opened with the heartache-dripping anthem "Chocolate." Lights flickered and drums thundered with reverb as Lightfoot crooned, "This could be the very minute I’m aware I’m alive/All these places feel like home." With rhythm guitarist Nathan Connolly belting spot-on harmonies at his side, Lightfoot throttled from the explosive "Wow" to the calm and collected "Same," pausing only to fetch a roar from the audience by mentioning the Red Sox. Tucked away behind Connolly, keyboardist Tom Simpson rounded out the proceedings with an array of fuzzy electric pianos, driving synths, and colorful string arrangements. Snow Patrol aired a handful of promising new tracks from an upcoming album (reported due early next year) in addition to all but one from Final Straw. Highlights included a charged "Spitting Games" and a climactic version of the radio single "Run," which Lightfoot introduced as "a song about love, and about caring so much that it breaks your fucking heart." It was a broken guitar string, however, and some off-key pre-recorded vocal harmonies, that tripped up him on the encore, "Tiny Little Fractures." But that was a minor glitch in an otherwise celebratory evening.
BY ADAM GOLD
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