Ward Park Part 3/3 – Lisa Hannigan and Snow Patrol

June 21, 2010 No Comments

Words By: Matt Wheavil   Photograpy: Gary Moore and Matt Wheavil

The Crowd were starting to build up, to the point that looking behind, I could barely make out a horizon past the sea of people.

Unfortunately for me, a couple of loud drunken lads had made their way up to where I was and immediately shouted to the girl in front of them “When’s Sh*t Patrol on!?”

I quite stupidly wrote this down and they noticed, proceeding to harass me for the next 20 minutes. Although the insults weren’t too bad (“Alright Editor guy!” or “Yeo Matt Damon!”) my lesson was learned – never let anyone know you’re a journalist on the job, especially at the alcohol fuelled end of a festival.

Still, they made one funny observation, that the floor reminded them of Mario Kart because it was made of chewing gum and bottles, then describing themselves as ‘Beavis and butthead on acid’ – this might well have been true.

I decided the best course of action was to stop giving them attention they wanted and turn to a sensible looking Snow Patrol fan, called Stuart, who was with his wife.

Where are you from?

“Originally from here but also Australia… I lived in Australia for 40 years but I’m back home now”

What did you think of the show so far, General Fiasco and Band of Horses?

“Brilliant… Band of Horses are good, I liked them, first time”

They’re like from a different era, 60s or 70s…

“70s, yeah, they’re sort of like confederate civil war boys with their beards.”

They had that kinda vibe, I never thought of that, that’s really cool!

“Yeah, they got that sort of, get down to a civil war and let’s have a bit of a fight. With all those tattoos around their neck, how could they be any different?”

Yeah that’s a really cool observation; their music was very powerful, like a war on stage with everything shaking. Is that your kinda music?

“Well, I like them but Snow Patrol’s my kinda music… saw them before in the Odyssey”

Wow what was that like and so this your first time at Ward Park?

“Brilliant, brilliant, first… well last time we were here we were outside… enjoyed the atmosphere”

How do you feel right now?

“Very excited, looking forward to it, looking forward to this next girl too… Lisa, she should be good too”

And at about that point, Lisa Hannigan came on in a snazzy blue top, followed by a classy troupe, including a fiddle player, double bass player, banjo player and percussionist.

There was a definite Celtic flavour from the outset with the music soaked in gentle, soothing melody – a total contrast to Band of Horses, very chilled out.

Lisa’s voice resonated beautifully; the fiddle player sent shivers down my spine with her heartfelt lead parts standing out above the exceptionally tight band, who were all comfortable and confident with their instruments.

For me it was a performance you could immerse yourself in – purely stunning. Unfortunately however, that didn’t translate to the entire audience in this festival setting.

While many were transfixed, nodding appreciatively and feasting on the quality of music present, other observers around me looked restless and impatient. Perhaps Lisa Hannigan would have been better placed earlier in the set.

Still, I personally loved Lisa’s show, which felt intimate and even had a bunch of young lads in front of me swaying most of the way through – clearly moved by what they were hearing.

There was a hypnotic quality to Lisa’s performance and when she picked up an acoustic guitar, she could finger pick with the precision and charisma of Eva Cassidy or carry the energy and class of KT Tunstall.

The band really enjoyed themselves on stage too, displaying a lot of chemistry, especially the fiddle and banjo player who dueled with each other as comfortably as a glove.

Lisa Hannigan really is an eclectic and engaging act, but ultimately would have been better placed in a more intimate venue, enjoyed over a few pints.

When she and her band left the stage, they received a warm applause but somehow still milder than deserved – not everyone clapped and I even overheard someone say “That was sh*te” – obviously just here for Snow Patrol and lacking a little maturity or possibly taste.

The tension now began to build and feeling knackered at this stage after such a long stand, I decided to distract myself by interviewing a couple of eager looking lads before the Snow Patrol frenzy started.

It turned out one of them had been very unlucky and lost their phone down a portaloo earlier,

So is your friend gutted about that?

J: “Yeah he’s offered me £20 if I go back and retrieve it for him, do you think it’s worth it?”

How much was the phone, was it an iPhone?

J: “No,  an LG…

…Do you think it’s worth it if I go in with my hat for £20?”

I dunno, you’d still have to wash your hands immediately… What did you think of Lisa Hannigan there?

N: “Really good voice, the instruments were interesting”

It was nice to hear that they appreciated Lisa’s talent, despite the loss of phone.

Teenage kicks started blasting out of the speaker cabinets and suddenly the atmosphere lifted. Balls flew around; crowd surfers surfed and toilet roll tubes were chucked about, creating a real buzz and sense of intense excitement.

At this point I didn’t even realise I was stood in front of 45,000 people, all in suspense, looking forward to Snow Patrol with more anticipation than children on Christmas Eve. It felt great to be there, sharing the moment with ecstatic fans at the front line, many of whom had waited since 2007 to witness the band at Ward Park for only the second time.

And then, as darkness began to settle, on came Snow Patrol and the place erupted. I even dropped my Dictaphone and just managed to retrieve it before the band dived straight into ‘Open your Eyes’ – a good choice as everyone immediately responded, singing along joyously.

The biggest grin I’ve ever seen widened across Gary’s face as he looked into the crowd with utter disbelief. When the opener came to a close he yelled, “we’re back in Bangor!” – the rapturous cheer erupting from 45,000 lungs in response was deafening… and thrilling.

Take Back the City was next, which saw Gary jump into the crowd, provoking everyone in front of me to lunge forward in an attempt to lay a finger on Northern Ireland’s very own rock-star. It felt as if Lightbody was a giant magnet, and this was no less the case during ‘Shut Your Eyes’ when he conducted the crowd to sing the chorus with a nice touch – asking the right side and left side to compete with each other in turn, before declaring sarcastically “I think it was a draw.”

Everyone’s faces looked as awed as the band themselves, especially apparent when after the fourth song, ‘Hands Open’, Gary shouted, “Wow!… Wow!… WOW! ….” Pausing briefly afterwards before declaring, “Some of the other amazing bands have already said this tonight. Just to tell you absolutely factually, the last really, really big gig in Northern Ireland was U2 – they played to 40,000. This is bigger!”

The crowd reacted with an earth-shattering cheer and Lightbody soaked it in, “This, Ladies and Gentlemen, us on the stage and everyone in the audience are experiencing the biggest gig in Northern Ireland in history!”

Another 45,000 yells and the band slowed the pace with ‘Crack the shutters’

The electric atmosphere in the crowd during the opening few songs has to be one of the most sensational feelings I’ve ever experienced – it didn’t seem to matter who was on stage – being part of Northern Ireland’s largest gig in history carried a sense that we’d finally come of age and could bury the past as a troubled province.

It felt like a very large family, especially when Gary Lightbody dedicated ‘You Could be happy’ to his niece and ‘Run’ to his parents – probably the two most emotionally affecting highlights, the thousands of voices surrounding me producing a passionate word-perfect choir.

The new song, Big Broken, was clearly tailor made for the event, with everyone instantly responding to the chorus, “We’re all in it together” and a look of utter amazement struck Lightbody’s face as he sung the lyric, ‘We don’t have to live in fear any more’.

Finally, Lightbody adorned a Northern Ireland football shirt for the encore and Snow Patrol ran through ‘Chasing Cars’, ‘Just Say Yes’ and ‘You’re All I Have’ – I felt, even after 9 hours of standing at the front of such a hefty crowd, that I didn’t want it to end.

As they left us with celebratory fireworks to enjoy, Snow Patrol proved that Northern Ireland would have benefitted significantly from a new stadium and that music on such a large scale has no boundaries or barriers. The magnitude of emotion and passion in the crowd atmosphere made for a fantastic night (whatever you think of Snow Patrol) and I wish there could be more like it at home.

One of my post gig interviews with Claire, born in Bangor, pretty much summed the day up:

So what did you think of that?

“I thought it was absolutely fantastic. They are my favourite band, they were before and they so are now.”

What did you enjoy the most about the gig?

“Being so close to Gary Lightbody who’s my absolute hero”

He was great tonight wasn’t he?

“He was just absolutely awesome, I met him yesterday. He’s such a lovely guy and they’re just so nice, down to earth people and Bangor are so, so proud of them”

How did you meet him yesterday?

“Well I came down here and I saw their sound-check and I went to the sound barriers and then I went to the barriers and waited for them and he came along and I shouted his name and he came over and I got pictures with him and he had a chat with us and he’s just amazing and the whole band are amazing… They’re so down to earth and lovely genuine guys and they love their fans and they love their home town and they just write amazing stuff and… it was the best night of my life.”

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