PolarMonkey

oooh!!! i spy with my little eye...Simon's singing. topless. with a pair of grey jeans/pants. :wink3:

no worries. :) it's common to be confused or mistaken about whether they're Northern Irish or Scotland. even the reviewers/journalists get it wrong. Gary, Jonny & Nathan are from Northern Ireland. & their newest addition Johnny McDaid too. but Pablo & Tom are from Scotland. then add to that the fact that Gary formed the band when he was studying in Scotland & they were based in Glasgow for a while. & these days most of them are based in London. probably easier just to call them "British". ;)

ermmm...to clarify, they aren't actually playing at the Olympics ceremony itself. the event they're going to be part of is a BT organised gig in Hyde Park on the day of the Olympics opening ceremony where there'll be big screens to also watch the opening ceremony. 1 of my colleagues was 1 of the first to point out that technically Snow Patrol aren't 100% Northern Irish...funnily enough. since he is the last person in the office (or even the world!) i would've expected to know this. haha & technically speaking still, because of SP in a way, Scotland are represented twice ;) (officially Scotland's representative at the gig is Paolo Nutini).

"mkII" usually refers to the 2nd version of something...so i suppose he means the 2nd version of Editors now that they are less 1 band member. i could be wrong tho.

if you're buying it just because of COITD, then just bear in mind that the other songs don't sound like COITD. maybe check out the other songs online, like watching the music video or posted audio, video, gigs (some of the songs have been played live already) stuff first?

they will. i'm 99.9% sure of it. they've played it at all their live/full gigs in the UK so far (i.e. Shepherd's Bush, Q Awards) & always as the closer of the main set. & it is AMAZING live! :dance: :dance: :dance: In The End is the 3rd single in UK/Europe & i think the rest of the world also, but in the US it's New York.

i saw Jamie N Commons supporting Snow Patrol for the Q Awards Show & the guy's got a great bluesy voice. he was the 1st support act, but clearly stole the show from the 2nd support act (RAMS Pocket Radio) as just about everyone was talking about him after the gig. his stuff's got quite an Americana feel to it tho, so we were quite surprised when he told some Americans who'd asked where he's from that he's local, i.e. a Londoner! (on top of the fact that most of us thought that "Jamie N Commons" is the name of a band) :dozey: Michael Kiwanuka was 1 of the support acts at Chris & Jonny's Little Noise Sessions...pretty good voice & very chilled out tunes. tho i personally liked Ben Howard more between the 2 guitar playing singer-songwriters playing that night. Spector i quite like after seeing them support Kaiser Chiefs (again at the Q Awards Show). tho i think i'm doomed to forever think of them as "the Harry Potter band" as their lead singer seriously looks like Harry Potter, right down to the glasses. all he's missing is a lightning scar! :P but otherwise, they play some broody, moody songs with an 80s feel imo. fave song from their set was Chevy Thunder. Ren Harvieu was one of the supports for Elbow's Little Noise Sessions & i have to say i didn't really get into her songs. not really my cup of tea. she did have a very strong powerful voice. but perhaps the sound was waaaaay too high for her set, but my ears hurt & i ended up having to use earplugs...tho that's not really me dissing her singing. i just can't really take very high shrill voices. she did an alright cover of Roy Orbison's Cryin' tho. don't really remember her other songs.

i'm from Malaysia...which is near enough to Singapore (which i did live & work in for a while). i'm not going as i'm now based in UK, but i think my sis is going. we 1st saw them live in Malaysia headlining the MTV World Stage...tho i think the M'sian crowd kinda scared the lads off. Serge wrote a rather weird & kinda sarcastic comment in the West Ryder tour programme about the experience from that gig. :dozey: i wouldn't blame him, tbh...most of the crowd were actually there for the band just before them (The All-American Rejects). :rolleyes: i love AAR too, but i feel for Kasabian...must've been awkward!

*lol* i'm fairly sure i made that face too... :P ...& this face (but not at a chameleon in a pink dress!)

i've taken to referring to this alternate video as the "Gary fan service version". i could sit & stare at his face all day, but as a music video i prefer the original video. BUT if i'm ever in the mood to sit & stare away at nothing/nobody except Gary.............................. :sneaky:

Bradley Quinn...he has like THE best job ever!!! :D & if this "supergroup" shot was his idea, then HE THE MAN! :wacky:

can't wait too...to see the lads again + properly meet you this time! you're gonna love the new album's songs live! :D :dance: ahahahaha...yeah! that spare has your name practically printed on it already...& to quote another Star Wars line...or 2... (cos it's a very SP thing... ;p): it is your destiny! :sneaky: join me (& Aurelie) & together, we will rule the galaxy as Polar Teddies! :P i was there once for Boyzone (yeah yeah...i'm a fan of them. so there. :P) last February actually (oh, wait! this is my "it is your destiny" moment! :stunned: ) & it's a massive venue. but it's also quite a self sufficient indoor venue...if only cos it's kinda in the middle of nowhere in relation to the rest of London...there's restaurants, a Starbucks (very important for me ;)), & priority/perks for O2 customers *ahem*likeme*ahem*...& more importantly: queuing is indoors. or covered anyway at least.

^^ THIS!!! :D just a few more hours...i have the leak, but i'm trying very hard to still hold out until the arrival of my physical copy too. tho FE is Zane Lowe's 'Record of the Week' & he played a few songs off the record, including 1 not played at the gigs (In The End), so i kinda have heard most of the album already by now. :P & can't wait to watch the DVD of the Reworked Tour gig at RAH...even tho i wasn't at that specific gig. but it's always great to have some reminder of that tour (my 1st SP gig & the day i met 4/5 of them...& fell in love with the lads! haha :wacky: :D :wacky: ). btw, Virginie, i'm gonna say it again + steal Aurelie's line: c'mon over! join us in the Dark Side...we have cookies. & Tim Tams also. ;)

say whaaaaaat??? still no word on when mine's shipping to me!!! :bigcry: & album the listening party is tonight! ...a wee bit gutted that there was no London venue/date, but then Fallen Empires is unleashed to all on Monday anyway. :dozey:

^^ for the DVD...should it be region locked...you can always watch it on a computer using VLC Player. it will play all region DVDs w/o you needing to use up your preciously limited region change allowance. having unwittingly heard a few of the new songs already (kinda hard not to listen to them when they play the songs at their gigs... ;) ), definitely am excited for the album! & how time flies! it's out next week...SQUEEEE!!! :dance: was great to see the interviews they did for the EMAs...Gary & Nathan were clearly very happy & excited for Belfast in the weekend leading to Sunday night. loved how Gary kept mentioning young/indie Northern Irish bands at interviews. & as always, Bradley's photos (all frigging 110 of the!!!) were simply magnificent! :wacky: that soundcheck/impromtu gig looks awesome from Bradley's photos! & to think Gary, the band put it out there on his Tumblr/their Twitter as an open invite to anyone who's free & in the area to just drop by for the soundcheck....ngngngngngngngngng :bomb: :bigcry: :wacky:

i can only hope ticket touts out there don't have the same idea as you... :uhoh: this system worked out fairly well for the Empire gig as the sign up link was kept fairly hush hush & under wraps with The Eskimos telling the SP fan forums not to distribute the link openly. but mainly as it was combined with the very strict ticketing system on event day. but the Empire is a 2,000+ capacity venue...the ticketing system won't be feasible for arenas. it was a pain to get tickets to the recent Q Awards gig as it is & all came down to luck at the pre-sale, imo.

ah...& there we have a problem. i'm traveling that time in January. i haven't booked my tix/leave, but i don't expect to be in London then. :disappointed: (well, admittedly, only partly as i'll either be back in Malaysia celebrating Chinese New Year or in Dublin for SP *guilty face* )

thanks, guys! have to attribute the great photos overall to my new Canon IXUS camera...i'm no Bradley Quinn! ;) & yes, it was an amazing day overall Virginie! :hug: agree with you about how down to earth he is to just walk over to the venue. probably took the tube over to Kentish Town for all we know. :) & yes...it was the same Swedish girl with the banner at the Shepherds Bush Empire gig (from the conversation between her & some of the other ppl post gig). her banner got Gary talking quite a bit about how the "dance monkey" quote is now haunting him at every interview they're doing now. he told her later that it was the main highlight of the night. haha ...for the record, he's got no idea himself what an "inner dance monkey" is supposed to be. :laugh3: SP Reading List Gary recommended this book to us (as there was a girl who'd actually bought the book & asked him to sign it) [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grab-Me-Tightly-Knew-Way/dp/0060882980]Grab on to Me Tightly as If I Knew the Way[/ame] ...he thinks everyone should read it & it has the best title ever. :D & Tom had a book with the title "Why Me?" (which i thought was funny) :lol: & am fairly sure is this book [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Me-Important-Emails-Servant/dp/1780270097/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319991660&sr=1-3]Why Me?: The Very Important Emails of Bob Servant (Bob Servant 3)[/ame]

they need to play a gig in London...i can't really afford to go off to Berlin at the moment. :P

yup. was front row kinda between Gary & Nathan (but more towards Nathan's side). :smug: i got there around 2pm-ish...cos i wanted to have a proper lunch 1st since i hadn't had anything to eat. friend was there since around 1pm & there were already about 5-6 ppl queuing. i am SO happy i could get the day off so that i could queue when i did now... :wink3: :wacky: the security guard on duty that day was awesome! at some point he came & assigned us queue numbers so that we could leave the queue to go get something to eat or just warm ourselves up somewhere. as long as we got back to the queue before 6pm so that he could make sure we get our spots in the queue back as we were worried about pissing off those that show up if/when we leave the queue. & after the gig, he offered those of us waiting for the band mints & told us what time the last trains from Kentish Town were, what night buses we could take back (if he knew) cos he was quite sure they wouldn't be leaving anytime before midnight.

my pix from the night & here's a fresh live track off Fallen Empires played that night that i recorded... :D [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17Tqz_Abv0g]Snow Patrol - Lifening (Q Awards gig, HMV Forum London - 27 Oct 2011) [/ame]

these guys are SO good live!!! especially last night!!! :D i'm now undecided about whether Empire or Forum gig was better, tho i think sound wise Forum definitely won out thinking back. & i am convinced that Fallen Empires will be their best since Final Straw...the lads are all just so proud of the album & excited about it as it is when you talk to them about it. & it's not even out yet! & i think it's awesome that Gary just walks openly/casually to the venue, bag slung over his shoulder, like he's just one of us gig goers! :wacky:

actually, that isn't always the case. each region has their own release date, which may/may not be same as the UK/US release date. band's got German 2012 dates sorted...when in the world are the UK dates going to be announced??? *sigh* oh, well...am seeing them tomorrow anyway. :dance: :D can i assume that's for the video? or is it for me being a good girl? ;)

i'll try to rip it in HD & post the link up here...or rather, the MM area (better correct myself before Anna comes in here with her whip. ;p ) actually, does anyone know who exactly this VEVO thing is? practically every major band, artist has a "<artist/band name>VEVO" account on YouTube, it looks legit & all but it's region specific...yet never really says what regions it's available in. :thinking: edit: here we go...in HD glory :)

same director, but a very different video altogether (imo) [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Gljs8Y3Q8]Snow Patrol - This Isn't Everything You Are[/ame] loving this song even more with each listen...& think Fallen Empires is going to be one helluva album from the lads, once it sees the light of day. can't wait! :)