Snow Patrol announce Belfast date for new tour and first album in six years

The band, comprising the trio of Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly and Johnny McDaid after bassist Paul Wilson and drummer Jonny Quinn departed last year, will release their album, The Forest Is The Path, on September 13.

They have also announced an Ireland and UK tour for February next year, with a date at Belfast's SSE Arena on February 27 after a Dublin date at the 3Arena on February 25.

The new album entitled, The Forest Is The Path, features 12 tracks, with artwork by Gary Lightbody, and is described by the band as “an album rooted in reflection, introspection and interrogation”.

“One of its key building blocks was the idea of love from the distance of time,” said Gary. “I haven’t been in a relationship for a very long time, 10 years or more, so love from a distance to me meant the way a relationship sits in your memory from a distance of, say, 10 years. That’s not something I’d previously thought about as away to write about love. So it’s like, when you’re in love, you’re standing in the lobby of the Empire State Building. When you’ve broken up with that person, you’re out in the street. You can still see the building, but you’re not in there anymore. And when it’s 10 years later, now you’re standing in Brooklyn looking at the Manhattan skyline.”

It’s a theme addressed in the first single,The Beginning. “That’s kind of a summing up of this album,” Gary continues. “It’s a way of looking at various mistakes, any pain I may have caused, from a place where nothing is hurting anymore, except the memory when you pull it back into your mind. The memory itself is full of hurt but everything around it isn’t. You’re holding in your hand this ball of fire, but now you’ve got gloves on.”

Fans who pre-order The Forest Is The Path from Snow Patrol’s store will get access to tour pre-sale. Tickets go on pre-sale on Wednesday June 5 at 10am and general sale on Friday June 7 at 10am.