Snow Patrol, Jenny Lewis @Entertainment Centre, Adelaide(01/04/09)

Wed 8th Apr, 2009 in Gig Reviews

If there is ever a case to witness how fickle an audience can be and how quickly an audience can fall off the bandwagon Snow Patrol’s Adelaide show was a classic example. Adelaide is first to bitch and whinge when international acts don’t play our humble city but it helps if people actually do turn up when they do play here.

Top effort to those who did make it but the Entertainment Centre looked quite sparse and bare with black sheets draped over the sides to hide the lack of crowd. This gig probably should have been at Thebarton Theatre and then would have been a sell out.

It is interesting how things do change from when Snow Patrol were riding high globally with the smash hit Chasing Cars from the successful Eyes Open album. After nearly two years and a new album A Hundred Million Suns later, it seems as if fans have lost interest as their new material hasn’t featured in TV series such as Grey’s Anatomy.

The big question that non-attenders will ask will be were they better than last time? I think this performance was on par with the previous tour and the only reason why they didn’t exceed this time round was that the show barely reached seventy minutes in length due to Gary Lightbody’s bout of the flu. He did apologise repeatedly that – œyou won’t get to hear the full range of my voice tonight’. Despite this the band battled on delivering a solid set of greatest hits and bringing tunes off their new album to life.

Early in the peace their were some great moments with the band ripping through Chocolate and Hands Open balanced out with The Golden Floor. You Could Be Happy made for a great change in pace before the part acoustic version of the sensational Run. There is something that really does strike accord with their lyrics capturing the human condition just perfectly.

Lightbody did entertain the crowd with his witty banter and dropping the – œf-word’ a few too many times. A massive roar went up for Chasing Cars and it would have be a crime if it was forgotten from the set list. Their set did finish in a blaze of glory with some massive stadium epics including Shut Your Eyes, Crack The Shutters, Take Back The City and Open Your Eyes.

They did return for an encore that featured What If The Storm Ends and You’re All That I Have, which made for an entertaining evening. I hope that the poor turn out doesn’t deter them from venturing back to Adelaide.

Jenny Lewis was a great inclusion on the bill and was an additional incentive to some to turn up. She was fantastic but her set was far to short as she gave punters a preview of her new album Acid Tongue.

Snow Patrol Adelaide Set List
If There’s A Rocket Tie Me To It
Chocolate
Hands Open
Spitting Games
How To Be Dead
The Golden Floor
You Could Be Happy
Run
Shut Your Eyes
Chasing Cars
Crack The Shutters
Tack Back The City
Open Your Eyes

Encore
What If The Storm Ends
You’re All That I Have