So, let's recap: cute rock boys with dry senses of humour and Scottish accents playing guitars and singing awesome songs = a good night.
The lead singer, Gary Lightbody, made me giggle like a charmed schoolgirl - it's partly the accent, and partly because he sounded so natural at drawing the audience in. He chatted to the them throughout the night, with extended riffs about being in Australia and how things weren't what they expected; from the rain ("we didn't think you got that here") to the fact they still hadn't seen any kangaroos ("[Nathan, the guitar player] got punched in the face the other day for saying kangaroos don't exist. Discuss. [longer pause as audience yells various answers] Well, we haven't see any ...ergo."), to attempts at surfing ("Well when I say surfing, I mean swallowing a lot of sea water, but hey, at least I didn't get eaten by a shark.") Also, he plays his guitar and bounds all over the stage like he's possessed.
Onto the music. Gary's voice has been plagued by nodules/polyps, and it was kind of noticeable. He started off by saying "I shouldn't really say this 'cause it's kind of admitting defeat, but I've not been feeling...well, nevermind. My voice hasn't been the the best the last couple of months, so sing along if you know the words." And usually, it meant at the beginning of each song he would sound a little off key and hoarse, but usually by the end it would warm up and become a lot better, apart from the odd high note. The concert itself followed a similar pattern - the energy wasn't quite there at the start, but it really hit its stride after the first few songs and it was so awesome in the songs people knew best when everyone stood up and clapped and danced and sang.
I was estatic when they played my two favourites back to back, especially because Somewhere A Clock is Ticking isn't that well known (as evidenced by the suddenly quieter crowd) but I just love this song and it's weird fluttering and clockwork rhythms behind the falsetto in the verses and the choir-like chorus building and building. What I love about the songs are that they are so melodically dramatic, rises and falls with the emotions while retaining a lush beautiful and catchy sound, and paired with Make this Go On Forever, I think I made a fair few happy squeaks as the beginning chords of each song rang out.
A real crowd favourite was Run, which sounded great and had this crackling energy, and at the end it was just really sweet - they kept playing and the audience just launched as a whole into one last repeat of the chorus and the band just looked so chuffed at the response.
Spitting Games
Wow
Chocolate
It’s Beginning to Get to Me
Headlights on Dark Roads
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Chasing Cars
Shut Your Eyes
How to be Dead
Somewhere A Clock is Ticking
Make This Go On Forever
Ways and Means
Run
You’re All I Have
Open Your Eyes
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