snō pə-trōl
September 27th, 2006 by Will
It just isn’t very easy to describe how good something is, is it? Saying that another concert was “awesome” or “fucking great” or whatever doesn’t really serve to differentiate it from any other good show. Or to paraphrase:
Those three words
Are said too much
They’re not enough
So I guess what I’ll say is that this is definitely my favorite band (and I only have one of those, as opposed to my handful of “favorite” DJ’s and my couple dozen “favorite” songs…). And tonight was the first time I saw them live. And they did not disappoint. And at one point I was contemplating going on ebay when I got home to try to score better tickets for tomorrow’s performance.
It wasn’t one of those perfect performances where I just know that there can’t be a better experience. Like the first time seeing BT or PVD or Junkie. So the Snow Patrol concert that I want on my deathbed hilight reel is still to come.
But it was most definitely that great awakening experience where all these personal little songs — you’ve only heard on your iPod that feel as private as the very thoughts in your head — you suddenly discover are loved and shared by hundreds of other people right there with you, and even more amazing is the very source of the songs right there on stage.
And that source, the frontman Gary Lightbody… well in a sense doesn’t reality always get it exactly right? The voice, the poetry of the lyrics, the feeling of the songs is so smooth that you almost fall into the trap of expecting the smoothest bloke out of the UK that you’ve ever seen. The kind of guy that could walk right in and steal the heart of every girl I know that loves Snow Patrol music.
But reality was more clever than that — he’s actualy rough and awkward in all the right places. He’s got the gawky arm positioning problems that all of us skinny guys have. Like you know how in big emotional moments guys with skinny arms have them all folded up near their body like a cricket’s leg? Gary is prone to do that whenever he doesn’t have his guitar to focus his hands on. I love it. He’s there face to face doing the most beautiful duet I’ve ever heard (guess what my favorite Snow Patrol song is!) and visually he’s spazzing out. His voice is a little rough too. Lots of uneven changes, volume shifts as he runs back and forth on stage between lines. I loved that even more.
Because all the little imperfections make it so REAL. The imperfections frame the perfect feeling in the middle of the music. Like a quantum particle is never perfectly THERE, but all of its imperfect probabilities frame its perfect conceptual position.
And the duet! I guess I’m just too resigned to most musicians on tour never having their guest vocalists with them. So what a wonderful surprise when Martha Wainwright herself skips out on stage and lets loose. She’s actually touring with them as an opening act I guess, and Gary’s plug of her album absolutely worked on me. I think they got the song names crossed up on that album though, because “Make This Go On Forever” is all I’m ever thinking during it. But life and love are too short, so songs must be too.
I’m miles from where you are,
I lay down on the cold ground
I pray that something picks me up
And sets me down in your warm arms