Mitsubishi-Electric Halle, Düsseldorf, Germany
26th February 2012
Snow Patrol, Rams’ Pocket Radio
More than 11 million albums sold, awarded with Grammies, Mercury Prize and MTV Music Awards as well as announcing the giant hit ‘Chasing Cars’ as “Songs of the Decade“, SNOW PATROL count without any doubt as one of the most successful bands of Great Britain and today they were stopping by at the sold-out Mitsubishi-Electric Halle in Düsseldorf…
Rams’ Pocket Radio
RAMS’ POCKET RADIO is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist (he’s playing drums, piano, is writing songs and of course singing) Peter McCauley from Lisburn, Northern Ireland. A free EP named ‘Trajectories’ has already been released digitally on the internet and an album is supposedly to come soon. On stage, Peter was backed up by a full band with Richard van den Bos on drums, Shauna Tohill on bass and Andy Black playing guitar. http://www.ramspocketradio.com / http://www.facebook.com/ramspocketradio / http://www.myspace.com/ramspocketradio
Music & Performance
The band from Northern Ireland welcomed the audience to the night just as the audience loudly welcomed them. I’ve come to learn that his was rather unusual, but in the case of RAMS’ POCKET RADIO was more than justified. An honest and passionate performance was about to rain down on the audience with stirring piano staccato as in freestyle jazz, melodious guitar injections and powerful rhythms, just in songs like ‘Aria’ or ‘Dieter Rams Has Got The Pocket Radios’ and several others from the only released EP. Fun was the most important criteria and the spark quickly jumped over to the crowd who gave the young band a probably memorable time on stage. I for one have to say they were one of the best support bands I’ve seen recently, and that counts for something, cause I’ve seen a lot. 
Setlist
01. 1+2
02. Dogs Run In Packs
03. Sickness The Taste
04. We Could Be Invisible
05. Dieter Rams Has Got The Pocket Radios
06. Aria
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7 / 10
Snow Patrol
The international success for SNOW PATROL didn’t come overnight as with many other bands. They had to work hard for it, though national rose with the third album ‘Final Straw’ in 2003 and the album was certified platinum five times. It was a particular song on their fourth album ‘Eyes Open’ that exposed them to international acclaim: ‘Chasing Cars’. The album became the best-selling album of all time in Ireland. Before the next album would see the light of day the band took a little break after nearly constant touring for their previous albums. So ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ wasn’t out until 2008. Short time after the release, the band kicked off their tour to support the album. On their most recent studio release ‘Fallen Empires’, the band is taking a different direction, leaving widely explored paths. SNOW PATROL is Gary Lightbody (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jonny Quinn (drums, percussion), Nathan Connolly (lead guitar, backing vocals), Paul Wilson (bass guitar, backing vocals), Tom Simpson (keyboards, samples) and Johnny McDaid (piano, rhythm guitar, backing vocals). http://www.snowpatrol.com/ / http://www.facebook.com/SnowPatrol
Music & Performance
Actually I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from SNOW PAROL of which (I thought) I knew just a handful of tracks. A visually impressive introduction got us into the game before the band had even entered the stage, which happened with ‘I’ll Never Let Go’ accompanied by a frenetic welcome by the audience. With a straight beat you got the people moving and Gary’s vocals did the rest to captivate. The hymn to a very special city followed with ‘Take Back The City’ backed by an impressing set of pictures and effects. These three were sort of like the intro leading up to the first highlights ‘Hands Open’. A wonderful chorus and an intriguing melody made you wish it’d never end. During the song, Gary even jumped down from stage and entered the pit, being close to his fans and shaking hands. ‘This Isn’t Everything You Are’ struck calmer tones and was just the right thing for the people to drown inside. Another thing to be added was the birthday of drummer Jonny being mentioned several times. In the front rows you also saw a lot of balloons and birthday wished being written on papers.
Let’s roll forward to one of the band’ more familiar songs, ‘Crack The Shutters’, where Gary asked that the crowd might sing along, and we did. Mostly to the chorus but as loud as they could! For the soulful ‘Set The Fire To The Third Bar’ Gary called out the sole female member of RAMS’ POCKET RADIO, Shauna, to perform the song together with him and since the reaction was that overwhelming, Gary decided to do another song with her that’s not on the officially printed setlist: ‘The Garden Rules’ off the new album! And since it was Jonny’s birthday, they “would play longer anyway”. To ‘Shut Your Eyes’ everyone chanted the main lines in unison. Felt like the entire hall was singing along this time. Well, with the next song we reached THE most famous song of the band, which on this evening was dedicated to a couple (the band’s promoters in Germany) that did its first dance to it after getting married. When ‘Chasing Cars’ started, several people started running to the front all of a sudden to be in the middle of it all! They could have stayed where they were just the same, because everywhere that song was celebrated. 
Even though the show did continue after, quite impressively, and spawned a three encore, this was my personal peak of the show which made me remember again why I started this in the first place: shows like that make all the work worthwhile so thank you guys!!
Setlist
00. Intro (Berlin)
01. I’ll Never Let Go
02. Take Back The City
03. Hands Open
04. This Isn’t Everything You Are
05. Run
06. Crack The Shutters
07. In The End
08. Set The Fire To The Third Bar
09. The Garden Rules
10. Make This Go On Forever
11. Shut Your Eyes
12. Chasing Cars
13. Chocolate
14. Called Out In The Dark
15. Fallen Empires
16. You’re All I Have
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17. Lifening
18. Open Your Eyes
19. Just Say Yes
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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