Snow Patrol review: ‘A visually-pleasing & well-executed show’

After Snow Patrol stepped onto the stage and performed a rendition of the upbeat and acoustic guitar-driven ‘Take Back The City’, the engaging presence of Lightbody took over as he encouraged the audience to sing along. From there, the tone was set for a performance that was visually pleasing, audience-friendly, and well-executed from a band of seasoned professionals.

In Lightbody, the band has a frontman who is charming, charismatic, comedic, and incredibly talented. Throughout the evening, Lightbody made the Co-Op Live feel like an intimate setting as he played conductor on hits such as the aforementioned power ballad ‘Run’ and made repeated quips about giving the audience “mixed messages” when asking them to sing along to the riff-driven ‘Open Your Eyes’ and the tenderly delivered ‘Shut Your Eyes’.

Midway through the set, Lightbody dedicated ‘Talking About Hope’, which combines the light touch of an acoustic guitar with a gentle piano part, to pianist, keyboardist and guitarist Johnny McDaid, who is performing whilst banged up. Less than two weeks ago, McDaid underwent surgery after trapping his hand in a train door in Dusseldorf. Remarkably, he played a show on the same night and hasn’t missed a single show.

On stage, it was a visually spectacular performance in regards to the production values. The visual of a digitally-generated tree growing and disintegrating before developing into a tornado as confetti resembling leaves fell from the sky during an epic performance ‘The Lightning Strike’ was a particularly noteworthy moment in the set. Dedicating ‘Set Fire To The Bar’ to Martha Wainwright, the singer made a virtual appearance on the backing screens to harmonise with Lightbody in a moment that felt cinematic-esque.

As the three-piece closed out the first part of the set, timeless classics such as the powerful love ballad ‘Chasing Cars’ and as Lightbody asked, "Will you sing it Manchester?” The Co-Op Live “Burst into life” before ‘You’re All I Have’ proved to be a fitting finale ahead of the encore.

After returning to the stage for the encore, Lightbody signed photos for a fan before declaring the band would “balance it up a bit with a new one and an old one” as they closed out with the catchy and anthemic ‘But I’ll Keep Trying’ and the synth-heavy ‘Just Say Yes’.

In addition to Snow Patrol, Nina Nesbitt certainly earned herself some new fans after a hugely impressive opening set. Highly regarded as a singer-songwriter, Nesbitt has opened for the likes of Lewis Capaldi, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and Stevie Nicks during the latter’s shows in the UK and Ireland last summer. Her sound is predominantly acoustic-led and blends emotive lyrics and mesmerising vocal melodies with elements of indie-pop, Americana, country, and folk. Tracks such as the reflective ‘Mansion’ takes time to build and layer as strings and piano parts fill the atmosphere; ‘Parachute’, which touches on being an introvert in a world of extroverts, and the nostalgic and anthemic ‘I’m Coming Home’ are among the highlights from Nesbitt’s set.

As evidenced by the band’s tour across the UK being completely sold out and their first UK No. 1 album in 18 years with the release of last year’s ‘The Forest Is The Path’, Snow Patrol are just as popular as ever, and they are still putting on tremendous shows.