Indeed Snow Patrol has come a long way since the 1999 CMJ 
Music Conference in NYC. Singer Gary Lightbody polled the MSG audience of 5000 asking if anyone was present at their Brownies club (now the Hi Fi bar) performance 8 years earlier. He was quick to follow with the humorous spurn,
You’re liars, no one was there.
This evening was different. An attentive crowd of UK/Irish expats, crossover hipsters, Uptown iPodders, and what seemed like weathered faces from the 60s Brit Invasion all gathered to laud the international acclaim won by Snow Patrol. Some 4 million records sold worldwide, Lightbody and crew are gainfully employed and still humble despite their mainstream embrace by ubiquitous media powers such as “Grey’s Anatomy”. Filled with anecdotal stories about the definition of “skint” and Silversun Pickups’ drunk nature, the show was at ease and free of posturing. Complemented by ice fog and soft strobes, generally the experience was one of suspension inside a lofty soundtrack of melodic conformity.
Without fail the band had thousands standing on cue to sing along to “Chasing Cars”, a global hit anthem touting romantic collusion in the vein of Bowie’s “Heroes”. At the song’s close, the music and vocals dutifully dropped out leaving the fans to participate in that all too familiar, collective roar,
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world.
