Snow Patrol, Glasgow review: 'moderate self-flagellation'

Opening a set with the lyric “I love this city tonight” is a smart way to ingratiate your band to respective audiences around the globe. No matter that Snow Patrol’s 2008 hit Take Back the City was actually inspired by frontman Gary Lightbody’s love for Belfast; Glasgow was convinced he was singing to them. This was, after all, the city in which Snow Patrol spent their formative years and Lightbody described returning to its rainy streets as “like being baptised”.

This was an upbeat opening salvo from a band known for the romantic angst and moderate self-flagellation of their lyrics. In the Hydro, however, even their most morose wallow became a communal act of catharsis as Lightbody turned over portions of the songs to the fans, eliciting a chorus of female voices on Called Out in the Dark.

Coincidentally, their breakthrough hit Run was inspired by a power cut in Glasgow. A quarter of a century later, its soaring chorus command to “light up, light up” was taken up by the crowd in lusty chest-beating style and Lightbody could have given their other maudlin anthem, Chasing Cars, over to the audience in its entirety.

These were the commercial big guns of the set but Lightbody delivered his most soulful vocal at the start of Make This Go On Forever – which very nearly did, swelling and ebbing in waves across a number of false endings.

Songs from their latest album The Forest is the Path were introduced sparingly. All featured a mild expression of intense feelings while the brand new But I’ll Keep Trying, from the forthcoming deluxe edition of the album, was spry U2-lite pop/rock. Edge-y guitar licks and big reverberating chords punctuated the rest of a set which ended on the positive party note of Just Say Yes.