I had a great night on Friday as we saw Snow Patrol at GMEX in Manchester. They were supported by Elbow too so it was great support too. I really enjoyed the night cos whilst GMEX is pretty huge - its a Victorian railway station in the middle of Manchester that has been converted into an exhibition centre - the space is fantastic for gigs. Its very wide which means you can get fairly close to the stage and have an unobstructed view too. It hasn't been used as a music venue for about 5 years, which is bizarre, as I think its far far better than the MEN Arena. Being an all standing venue was also a big plus for me too as you have room to put a few cheeky moves together 
Snow Patrol were really great, and played for over an hour and forty-five mins - I think they had played virtually everything from the two albums, otherwise they looked up for carrying on 
. The only slight downside was that Martha Wainwright wasn't there, but the stand in was almost as good, so its hardly a criticism...
Jane and I went with Jamie and John - it was Jamies Christmas pressie, and John had kept it a secret until we got to GMEX - Jamie thought he was coming to Manchester for a meal, and then (after the Taxi driver was moaning about the traffic for the concert at the MEN) thought we were seeing the Beautiful South at the Arena...and only when we walked into GMEX did he find out. Great surprise all round...
So why the title for this post? Last Christmas Jane's brother asked what she'd like as a present and so she asked for the new Snow Patrol cd - and in a very Peter Kay moment, Stephen did a double take and said, "Snow...? Patrol....?...You've got some funny tastes in music..."
Since then no one in our house can refer to Snow Patrol in any other fashion.
