3/10/2012

Ram's Pocket Radio + Snow Patrol @ Zénith de Paris (7/03/12)

On Wednesday evening I was at Paris Zénith to attend the concert of Snow Patrol. The opening act was assured by Ram's Pocket Radio, a young band coming straight from Ireland which was joined by the talented Shauna Tohill. They remained around thirty minutes on stage, offering us their compositions. Led by the charismatic Peter McCauley, the group knew how to captivate the attention of the public with a sound closes to Fall Out Boy sometimes.
Let 's focus on the Snow Patrol gig in itself. The numerous musicians of the band arrived after an intro kinda long during which a planet swirled on the screen which occupied the bottom of the stage. They opened the set with I' ll Never Let Go and were very well welcomed by the public. Introduced by Gary Lightbody, the leader of the band, Hands Open continued to make the temperature rise in the Zénith! For the occasion he did not hesitate to go closer to his public.
Snow Patrol it's a musicians package, 6 in all. If Nathan Connolly, the guitarist gave himself completely, the others stayed at the back, in the shadow. Quickly Run arrived in the setlist. Useless to say that it was one of the most expected songs of the evening. It filled perfectly its contract, the Zénith sang in accord all the way long!
During all the concert Gary was smiling and communicative, it was pleasant to see! He played with the audience by speaking to us and by inviting us to raise our arms and to sing along. He also made the people who were softly sat in the seats stand up. I have to say that in spite of all Gary's efforts, the public remained rather passive, at least beyond the first 10 rows. Nevertheless, the band developed a certain nearness with his public, the numerous plans on the spectators on the big screen contributing to it. For the anecdote, there was in the room a spectator who apparently had seen the band in the O2 Arena  of London and who wished to let it know. He exchanged some words with Gary about an Irish footballer that came see the band in London.
It was the last concert of the band in Europe, it thus reigned a particular atmosphere. While Ram's Pocket Radio took advantage of their presence on stage to thank Snow Patrol for having chosen them on this tour, these last ones wanted the public to give an ovation to the crew that followed them on this tour.
We had almost 1h30 of show with a well tied up setlist. They mainly interpreted titles stemming from their albums Fallen Empires and Eyes Open as Call Out In The Dark, In The End, Shut Your Eyes or still You' re All I Have. Shauna Tohill also returned on stage to interpret Set Fire To The Third Bar with Gary. Personally I liked seeing Run live but I have even more appreciated to see Chasing Cars. When the tempo accelerated in the middle of the song with guitars and drums, it was a big moment!


The band came back for a 3 songs encore, Just Say Yes closed in beauty the concert. My only regret is the lack of Spitting Games which I would have liked seeing live but as the song says " You can't get always what you want ". To find videos of the concert you can go on Youtube, otherwise here is the  setlist:

Berlin
I'll Never Let Go
Take Back The City
Hands Open
This Isn't Everything You Are
Run
Crack the Shutters
In the End
Set the Fire to the Third Bar
The Garden Rules
Make This Go On Forever
Shut Your Eyes
Chasing Cars
Chocolate
Called Out in the Dark
Fallen Empires
You're All I Have

Encore:
Lifening
Open Your Eyes
Just Say Yes

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