Live Review: Snow Patrol, Steve Smyth

With his wild hair, overgrown beard and an enthusiastic delivery that often verged on the aggressive, Steve Smyth at times appeared more like a crazed vagrant than a singer-songwriter. His eccentricity is so well channelled through his music though that his whole soul is thrown into every song. His treatment of the powerful A Hopeless Feminist was so rough that he actually broke two strings during it. In contrast, at times he stepped away from the microphone to call out unamplified whilst his vocal became positively sweet during the delightful Stay Young. It was an incredible performance of unabashed freedom and sincerity that won over a lot of new fans, this writer included.

Last time they toured here, Snow Patrol did the arena tour extravaganza. This time it was with a scaled back three-piece playing in much more intimate surroundings. Following a very low-key wander on stage, frontman Gary Lightbody commented that Australia was the only place they would play such a stripped set. When he then launched into Dark Roman Wine, accompanied only by keyboard, it was immediately clear that any void in the intensity of the full band sound would be more than compensated for by the depth of his resonating vocal. At times Lightbody seemed to wrap his voice around his songs, particularly those with which he had a personal attachment – such as Belfast in Take Back The City or to his father where the beauty of his sentiment was magnified in Lifening. It also exposed the sheer lyrical beauty of Run with its emotional pull and the poetry of old song An Olive Grove Facing The Sea. Sarah Blasko joined them on stage for a beautifully transparent Set The Fire To The Third Bar.

Not that an 'acoustic set' meant that everything was subdued though. The break-free chorus of This Isn't Everything You Are resembled an arena singalong by the end and Lightbody took on Open Your Eyes as if he was playing to a stadium. Unfortunately the theatre ushers didn't see it the same way and had a constant battle throughout trying to prevent anyone from having a dance. Lightbody's comment, “What's the deal here, are people not allowed to stand? There's not going to be a riot for fuck's sake!” being typical of the relaxed banter he enjoyed throughout the show.

With a history of doing Australian band covers on their tours, the audience was treated to a keyboard-intense version of AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long, but it was Chasing Cars that got the biggest reaction of the night. It may have been half a band, but it was far from a halfhearted performance.