Atop the charts in the U.K., the five-piece indie rockers impress at times, but seriously lack range
Coldplay is on a much-deserved hiatus after touring the world this year, but their spirit appears to be living on in the form of Scotland-based Snow Patrol.
The indie rockers, who actually hail from Northern Ireland and have been around slightly longer than Coldplay, performed to a full house at the Electric Factory Saturday night. But as hundreds of girls pined for the lads with the sensitive songs, it was all a bit too similar to their British counterparts - from slightly dorky frontman Gary Lightbody right down to the lighting.
There is, however, one big difference between the two: Coldplay is far more talented. They've got far better songs and a frontman (Chris Martin) with a far better voice.Comparing Snow Patrol to one of the biggest bands in the world may not be exactly fair - they're still a pretty good band in their own right. And their latest album Eyes Open, may be their best work yet. That said, there's not a whole lot of range from song to song, which is even more noticeable in their live performances.
Take methodical verses all sung around the same tempo over slow, driving strum patterns, follow with sentimental chorus and repeat. It's not that it's entirely bad, it's just that after 45 minutes it gets, well ... boring.
Which is odd for a band who showed they're capable of mixing it up a little with their 2001 album, When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up. Of course from their setlist, you'd have no idea they've been around that long because it was comprised entirely of material from Eyes Open and 2004's Final Straw.
While they're able to get by on a nice chunk of very good songwriting in the form of the usual hits - "Spitting Games," "Chasing Cars," "How to Be Dead" and "Run" - the rest is mostly indistinct filler.
An energetic Lightbody does his best to sell it all and plays the part of frontman well, but when your material is average, your voice is average and your band is average, you're an average band.
A recent review described Snow Patrol by calling them Coldplay with cojones. They'd be lucky to be Coldplay without cojones.
Source: http://www.zwire.com
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