Snow Patrol & OK Go @ Bender Arena
Friday night D.C. welcomed a fresh face, an old friend, and a foreign band with a peculiar fascination with hands, eyes, and lights.
We walked in to American University’s Bender Arena catching only the tail end of the Silversun Pickups' set to find the bleacher seats completely filled. It was as if the concert goers were forced to attend some lecture rather than voluntarily choosing to buy tickets to a show. Maybe they were just waiting for Snow Patrol to play “Chasing Cars”? While certainly this was not the case for everyone, we couldn’t help but wonder why else anyone would sit so far back in the room of such a large arena. Neither could OK Go, who took the stage next in front of a giant video screen.
Led by St. Alban’s graduate Damian Kulash, the Chicago-based band found much of their popularity through their videos. “A Million Ways” quickly rose up in the YouTube ranks, soon followed by the viral treadmill antics of “Here It Goes Again”. But don’t expect an awesomely amateurish choreographed dance routine on stage. OK Go opted to go with the flow and incorporate more videos into their set, streaming bizarre paisley images across the screen. In between songs, we got an almost too close-up look into Damian’s nostrils with the carefully positioned mic-cams. He reminisced about his days in D.C., including a Red Hot Chili Peppers show at the very same venue, as his ominous looking oddly stretched head towered over the crowd. It was really amusing but a bit distracting as we found ourselves occasionally watching the screen more than the stage.
Photos by Kyle Gustafson. Click here for photos from all three bands.
But his casual and quirky conversation with the audience brought us back to earth, and had us waving our hands up in the air during his orchestration of a wave, which as he mentioned was very appropriate for a sports venue. They played quite a bit off their latest album, Oh No. This included their most recent hit single “Here It Goes Again,” which he said they had only just discovered had been covered by a children’s CD known as Kidz Bop, who perhaps were unaware that song was written about an enormous hangover. For the “old people” (sitting in the back bleachers) they performed a cover of Electric Light Orchestra’s “Don't Bring Me Down,” a jab at those sitting down but a treat nonetheless. And what sort of viral video-inspired show wouldn’t include a cell phone lighter song, the majority of which undoubtedly recorded half of the show and uploaded to YouTube the next day. While you search for those, check out the band’s latest video for “Do What You Want” – which they dubbed as the next in their line of great music videos. The wallpaper happy video wasn’t displayed on the screen, but giant inflated promo tubes rose out from the sides of the stage in their final song of the night.
The theatrics didn’t stop there. People began to actually stream down out of their seats during the rather longish wait between sets. Why did it take so long to set-up? Because we were all about to experience more than just music, it was time for the Snow Patrol light show extravaganza.
A spiral of red flashed from the back curtain laced with tiny bulbs over a smoky black stage as Gary Lightbody and the band stepped out for "Spitting Games." It was the perfect artificial starry atmosphere for their music, setting the mood for what would turn out to be a visually amazing set with only a few minor sound issues. During the first few songs, there appeared to be something wrong with the volume on the microphone and Gary was making hand motions to the sound guy. The arena’s acoustics were surprisingly not that bad, but while the band sounded great, his voice seemed a little strained. There was virtually no chatter during the beginning, but as he noted later, he was feeling very “mute.” This didn’t stop him from gradually winning over the crowd with his quirky and hilarious Irish banter as he progressively got more comfortable with the crowd.
He dedicated nearly each song throughout the night, including one to the AU girl’s swim team, who left their “swimming costumes” and a love note out for him to see in the locker room. He listened to the fans, chatting back and forth and declared himself to be unintelligent, unfit and uncool. Admittedly copying OK Go, he had everyone in the room hold up their cell phones during the song he acknowledged that many people were here for, “Chasing Cars.”
But this was followed up by two of the real highlights of the evening. A girl named Valerie brought a sign to the show asking Gary if she could sing “Set the Fire to the Third Bar” with him on stage. Apparently this is a regular thing at their shows, which only Valerie seemed to know about. We were pleasantly surprised (as was Gary) by this girl who did a near perfect rendition of Martha Wainwright’s vocals. And their performance of “Make this Go On Forever” was one of the best songs of the night, a powerful anthem that suited the packed arena. Many of the songs off of the new album contain repetitive choruses that work well live, on songs like this one and “Open Your Eyes,” which they saved for the encore.
They completed their hour and a half long set with the first single off of Eyes Open, "Hands Open," that had everyone throw their hands up into the air with Gary and ending the night with an upbeat energy filled room. For a band famous for its serious, emotion packed ballads (such as Final Straw's "Run" and "Grazed Knees"), they balanced their act well with a live show of high intensity and lighthearted humor.
Snow Patrol Set List:
Spitting Games
It's Beginning to Get to Me
Chocolate
Headlights
How to Be Dead
Grazed Knees
Chasing Cars
Shut Your Eyes
Set the Fire to the Third Bar
Somewhere a Clock is Ticking
Make this Go on Forever
Ways and Means
Run
You're All I Have
Encore:
Finish Line
Open Your Eyes
Hands Open