Snow Patrol proves luminous as ever in an uplifting night at the Wiltern
Roy Jurgens on
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Returning to Los Angeles after their spell opening for Ed Sheeran at the Rose Bowl last August, Snow Patrol took back their rightful status as headliners when they visited the Wiltern Theater on Tuesday night. The show was the finale of their 21-date tour, which celebrated 25 years as a band as well as their seventh studio album, “Wildness,” released in 2018.
Often compared to Coldplay, their saccharine brethren from across the Irish Sea, Snow Patrol crafts similarly anthemic tunes. What they don’t have is Coldplay’s insufferable messiah complex. Snow Patrol won’t rip your face off. They don’t “rawk.” What they do is connect, and if you’re open to it, transcend. They have that innate ability to make melancholy seem inspirational. They replace intensity with earnestness. It is this emotionally manipulative magic that makes them a luminous live act. If you are able to drown your cynicism in the bathtub and tap into your innocence, a Snow Patrol show is quite the ethereal and rapturous experience. This is big music, designed for an emotional response, with shimmering guitars, sing-along choruses and vaguely declarative lyrics, set to the drums of a conquering army.
Should you not be able to drown that cold lump of cynicism, a Snow Patrol show will come across as painfully calculated, formulaic, paint-by-numbers arena pomp, designed to evoke the churchy feelings previously reserved for Springsteen and U2 shows. It’s in the eyes of the beholder.
Lead singer Gary Lightbody comes across as that kindly bloke you’d like to have a pint and watch a bit of footy with. Unfortunately, it was too many pints that led to Snow Patrol’s relative five-year absence from touring and recording. Lightbody cited depression and drink as reasons for a downward spiral that led him into a crippling period of inactivity. Throw in his father’s battle with old age, his lack of confidence, and the whole (keyboardist/guitarist) Johnny McDaid/Courtney Cox tabloid love story and you’ve got enough material for a whole season of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Now three years sober, Lightbody credits martial arts and meditation for saving him and thus saving the band. They hadn’t been completely dormant, however, as Lightbody appeared in a duet, “The Last Time,” with Taylor Swift and McDaid collaborated with everyone from P!nk to Sheeran to James Blunt. And then there was this, that’s Lightbody, a Bolton soldier, second row, to the left.
Snow Patrol’s set is as pro as it gets, all the right notes, all the right beats, the gorgeous swells, the tension and release, the ascending and descending arpeggios, grandiose lighting, cinematic projections, pristine sound, everything in its right place. It is everything a snobby music critic sneers at and everything the fans love. They’re one of those acts where one comes to the “oh yeah, I love this song” realization several times throughout the show, not initially remembering how many hits they’ve written, songs like “Chasing Cars,” “Take Back the City,” “Run,” “Chocolate,” “Open Your Eyes,” “Eyes Open,” “Shut Your Eyes” and on and on and on about the eyes. Four songs off “Wildness” made the setlist, and they fit in seamlessly; “Life on Earth” was particularly rousing and “What If This Is All the Love You Ever Get?” was particularly poignant.
Lightbody is an affable and endearing frontman, personable almost to a fault. You don’t come to a Snow Patrol gig for danger. You come for a cuddle, which is exactly what many in the Gen X crowd were doing. In a world fraught with anxiety and political and economic tensions, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Photos by Roy Jurgens
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