Irish-Scottish band, Snow Patrol, caused a stir in the community when they announced that they were stopping by Kuala Lumpur for their stripped-down show. Snow Patrol Acoustic was held in KL Live on the 30th of August 2019, presented by U Mobile.
The unplugged gig featured only two of the band’s usual roundup; frontman Gary Lightbody and guitarist Nathan Connolly. Their show included an opening act from Ryan McMullan, a rising Irish artist, who also played the keyboard for the show later the night.
Fans were buzzing hours before the show started, mainly due to how this was the band’s first visit to Malaysia. After waiting for 25 years, it seems like a few hours worth of waiting time was pretty much nothing. Once they flocked the inner space of KL Live, only minutes separated them from seeing their favourite act in the flesh.
Ryan McMullan took the stage with a grin before plunging right into it. It was a very strong opening, with his soulful voice effortlessly getting everyone into the mood of the night. Paired with the romantic lighting, it was easy to fall in love with the lad as he crooned to the crowd. His singing style echoed distinctly of Ed Sheeran, but it was mainly his wit and charm that got the crowd swooning. One of his songs even featured a sample of “Maniac” by Michael Sembello.
Before McMullan performed his final song, he mentioned how he was selling some merchandise outside of the venue. “I’m poor, you know,” he joked, which earned quite a few chuckles from the crowd. After pushing for sales a bit more, he rocked out one last time before Snow Patrol finally came out.
As the cheers reached its peak, Gary Lightbody and Nathan Connolly took their places on stage (joined by Ryan McMullan on the piano) as they began playing the intro to “Chocolate”. The crowd went feral, singing along passionately to every word. However after 2 more songs in, Lightbody smiled sheepishly about messing up “This Isn’t Everything You Are”. “Sorry, we’re not very well organised,” he said with a laugh before starting from the top again.
Lightbody turned out to be quite a talkative fella, despite his quiet demeanor. After warming up to the crowd a bit, he mentioned how McMullan actually joined the tour as a last minute thing – which involved him learning 17 Snow Patrol songs within the span of a week.
As the crowd gasped at the statement, Lightbody joked that it could be either a punishment or a blessing depending on what you think of their music. After gaining a few laughs from the crowd, the show continued on.
However it was during “Don’t Give In” that the crowd noticed how Lightbody was struggling to sing comfortably. He then admitted that he was diagnosed with a throat and chest infection earlier today but was adamant on not canceling tonight’s show. Fans were very touched by the sentiment and were more than happy to sing along to help him out where he couldn’t.
The singalong of the night was loudest with “Run” and “Chasing Cars”. Though it was expected, considering how they are the most popular songs by the group, it was really touching to see how brightly Lightbody lit up (pun intended).
Despite how bad his voice got as the show progressed, the man fought on. It was partially amusing to his facial expressions as he tried to pull it off but ended up failing to suppress the sheepish smiles and awkward laughs when he messed up.
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He got the crowd to sing the refrain for “What If This Is All The Love You Get” and even went as far as miming out the lyrics to help them singalong. Despite it all, Snow Patrol managed to perform a full setlist (with cuts to certain tracks) and 2 more songs as an encore for their Malaysian fans.
As a final hurrah before wrapping up their premature South East Asia unplugged show, the band members expressed their gratitude to how reactive and empathetic the crowd was.
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Overall, Snow Patrol’s debut gig in Malaysia was a success. Personally we’re a bit upset that “Set The Fire To The Third Bar” got axed from the setlist, but it was still worth every bit to see how touched Lightbody and Connolly were to see a whole crowd of people from the other side of the world belting out all the words to a song that came out in 2006.
