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ONE love, blood, life
[SIMG]http://forum.interference.com/gallery/data//585/11265SnowPatrol1-sml.jpg[/SIMG]
By Carrie Alison, Editor
2007.03
Currently one of the biggest bands in the world, Snow Patrol is often pelted with the assertion that they have no balls, by cynics and taste-making music bloggers alike.
Why does being lyrically abstract, or a drug-addict, or Canadian or bookish with a side-swept haircut and funny glasses make a band more edgy, ballsy and relevant over another? On the contrary, Snow Patrol does have balls, and here’s why: they make perfectly lovely, fuzzy, spacey rock music for any occasion, and vocalist Gary Lightbody’s beautifully resonant pitch always goes down smooth, in an age where style is praised over substance. (The Horrors, anyone?)
No doubt on a victory lap since the stratospheric catapult they experienced with the inclusion of “Chasing Cars” on the season two finale of “Grey’s Anatomy” last May, Glasgow’s sensitive road warriors brought along help this time on Monday night with two buzz bands: California’s Silversun Pickups, and video band extraordinaire OK Go.
The former band, which can crudely be described in short form as a “baby Smashing Pumpkins” on every level, and led by the charmingly charismatic Brian Aubert, could have easily drowned on the Theatre at Madison Square Garden’s stage. Their relative, and arguable, inexperience and lack of stardom could have eaten them whole and spat them out. What transpired was a delightful set full of delicious album cuts like “Rusted Wheel” and current radio and video hit single, “Lazy Eye.” This is a band to root for.
OK Go, on the other hand, is not new to attention and fame, although they were new to the Theatre, as lead singer Damian Kulash, pointed out, before beseeching the crowd to “do the wave” in celebration. Fresh off winning the Best Short Form Music Video Grammy for "Here It Goes Again," famously featuring choreographed, synchronized treadmill tomfoolery that begat a YouTube sensation, there was a question as to whether or not the band could rock without a camera pointed at them. The quartet fired back in the affirmative, gamely bringing its hyper hybrid of ZZ Top meets late-career Lenny Kravitz meets Fountains of Wayne to a grateful audience. Choice cuts included the aforementioned video hit, “A Good Idea at the Time,” new single “Do What You Want” and “Get Over It.”
Having seen the “Eyes Open” tour three times now, I couldn’t think of anything else Snow Patrol could dazzle me with, any other tricks they could pull out of their adroit, well-traveled, well-oiled hats. I didn’t anticipate the visual power of their newly-acquired curtain of lights, or the genuine sweetness of a guest singer in place of absent songbird Martha Wainwright, currently recording her new album in Canada. Lightbody paid loving tribute to Wainwright by calling her “the greatest female singer of our time.”
Ushering the evening with a playful “Spitting Games” punctuated by glittering red lights, plowing through a convincing “It's Beginning to Get to Me” and a heartwarming “Chocolate,” it occurred to me that a lyric in the latter song might be the reason for Snow Patrol’s detractors, other than the absence of a cellist, or whatever the other six members of Arcade Fire play: “On my knees I think clearer.” Surely the ladies love that, and love to think guys mean something like that, but those who prefer more obtuse sentiments might balk.
(Photo credit: JCP for Interference.com)
A surprisingly mellow, but nonetheless crowd-pleasing “How to be Dead,” and a gentle “Grazed Knees” gave way to Lightbody’s trademark comedic banter. Shortly before “Chasing Cars,” Lightbody noticed a girl with a sign in the audience that indicated she had flown from Glasgow and was now “skint,” or, rather, broke. The affable singer wasn’t sure what the girl wanted, but offered to have a “parade of girls” onto the stage, with bassist Paul Wilson and guitarist Nathan Connolly naked for effect.
Our sign-wielding lass would appear two songs later for “Set the Fire to the Third Bar.” Her name was Emma, and, apparently had, in Lightbody’s gleeful estimation, “the best voice of the tour.” He then related, wincingly, a story about a recent go at the torridly sexy ballad in New Jersey with a female fan that didn’t know the words to the song, and didn’t care to look at them, or him.
(Photo credit: JCP for Interference.com)
It was the grand performance of another “Grey’s Anatomy” co-opt, the tumultuous ballad “Make This Go on Forever,” that made me wish that the Patrol would release this as the last single from the album instead of “Open Your Eyes.” “Run” predictably lit the room up with its heart-wrenching tone. Looking around I noticed audience members in tears, arms aloft; you had to wonder what they were going through, what they were reliving or surviving in their heads to the song.
Nearing the show’s end, “You’re All I Have” sealed it for me, however, as I came to a realization: Snow Patrol has balls because of their innate, utterly genuine, exquisite ability to touch the heart, the soul and the psyche without being cloying, derivative, or afraid to admit that like the rest of us, they too are unlucky in love, not always nice, or sober, or for that matter, right.
For more information on Silversun Pickups, OK Go and Snow Patrol, please visit the following links:
http://www.silversunpickups.com
http://www.okgo.net
http://www.snowpatrol.com
By Carrie Alison, Editor
2007.03
Currently one of the biggest bands in the world, Snow Patrol is often pelted with the assertion that they have no balls, by cynics and taste-making music bloggers alike.
Why does being lyrically abstract, or a drug-addict, or Canadian or bookish with a side-swept haircut and funny glasses make a band more edgy, ballsy and relevant over another? On the contrary, Snow Patrol does have balls, and here’s why: they make perfectly lovely, fuzzy, spacey rock music for any occasion, and vocalist Gary Lightbody’s beautifully resonant pitch always goes down smooth, in an age where style is praised over substance. (The Horrors, anyone?)
No doubt on a victory lap since the stratospheric catapult they experienced with the inclusion of “Chasing Cars” on the season two finale of “Grey’s Anatomy” last May, Glasgow’s sensitive road warriors brought along help this time on Monday night with two buzz bands: California’s Silversun Pickups, and video band extraordinaire OK Go.
The former band, which can crudely be described in short form as a “baby Smashing Pumpkins” on every level, and led by the charmingly charismatic Brian Aubert, could have easily drowned on the Theatre at Madison Square Garden’s stage. Their relative, and arguable, inexperience and lack of stardom could have eaten them whole and spat them out. What transpired was a delightful set full of delicious album cuts like “Rusted Wheel” and current radio and video hit single, “Lazy Eye.” This is a band to root for.
OK Go, on the other hand, is not new to attention and fame, although they were new to the Theatre, as lead singer Damian Kulash, pointed out, before beseeching the crowd to “do the wave” in celebration. Fresh off winning the Best Short Form Music Video Grammy for "Here It Goes Again," famously featuring choreographed, synchronized treadmill tomfoolery that begat a YouTube sensation, there was a question as to whether or not the band could rock without a camera pointed at them. The quartet fired back in the affirmative, gamely bringing its hyper hybrid of ZZ Top meets late-career Lenny Kravitz meets Fountains of Wayne to a grateful audience. Choice cuts included the aforementioned video hit, “A Good Idea at the Time,” new single “Do What You Want” and “Get Over It.”
Having seen the “Eyes Open” tour three times now, I couldn’t think of anything else Snow Patrol could dazzle me with, any other tricks they could pull out of their adroit, well-traveled, well-oiled hats. I didn’t anticipate the visual power of their newly-acquired curtain of lights, or the genuine sweetness of a guest singer in place of absent songbird Martha Wainwright, currently recording her new album in Canada. Lightbody paid loving tribute to Wainwright by calling her “the greatest female singer of our time.”
Ushering the evening with a playful “Spitting Games” punctuated by glittering red lights, plowing through a convincing “It's Beginning to Get to Me” and a heartwarming “Chocolate,” it occurred to me that a lyric in the latter song might be the reason for Snow Patrol’s detractors, other than the absence of a cellist, or whatever the other six members of Arcade Fire play: “On my knees I think clearer.” Surely the ladies love that, and love to think guys mean something like that, but those who prefer more obtuse sentiments might balk.
(Photo credit: JCP for Interference.com)
A surprisingly mellow, but nonetheless crowd-pleasing “How to be Dead,” and a gentle “Grazed Knees” gave way to Lightbody’s trademark comedic banter. Shortly before “Chasing Cars,” Lightbody noticed a girl with a sign in the audience that indicated she had flown from Glasgow and was now “skint,” or, rather, broke. The affable singer wasn’t sure what the girl wanted, but offered to have a “parade of girls” onto the stage, with bassist Paul Wilson and guitarist Nathan Connolly naked for effect.
Our sign-wielding lass would appear two songs later for “Set the Fire to the Third Bar.” Her name was Emma, and, apparently had, in Lightbody’s gleeful estimation, “the best voice of the tour.” He then related, wincingly, a story about a recent go at the torridly sexy ballad in New Jersey with a female fan that didn’t know the words to the song, and didn’t care to look at them, or him.
(Photo credit: JCP for Interference.com)
It was the grand performance of another “Grey’s Anatomy” co-opt, the tumultuous ballad “Make This Go on Forever,” that made me wish that the Patrol would release this as the last single from the album instead of “Open Your Eyes.” “Run” predictably lit the room up with its heart-wrenching tone. Looking around I noticed audience members in tears, arms aloft; you had to wonder what they were going through, what they were reliving or surviving in their heads to the song.
Nearing the show’s end, “You’re All I Have” sealed it for me, however, as I came to a realization: Snow Patrol has balls because of their innate, utterly genuine, exquisite ability to touch the heart, the soul and the psyche without being cloying, derivative, or afraid to admit that like the rest of us, they too are unlucky in love, not always nice, or sober, or for that matter, right.
For more information on Silversun Pickups, OK Go and Snow Patrol, please visit the following links:
http://www.silversunpickups.com
http://www.okgo.net
http://www.snowpatrol.com
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