Gig review: Snow Patrol at Connexin Live, Hull

“We haven’t been here in a while,” Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody professes, his tousled black mop buffeted by an unseen breeze as he peers across the floor, up to the bustling bleachers at the back of Hull’s Connexin Live. He chuckles drily. “It’s cold out there, isn’t it?”

It certainly is, and to compound matters, multi-instrumentalist Johnny McDaid is walking wounded after shutting his hand in a train door, complete with subsequent infection. It is a testament to the Dundee-formed band's robust professionalism that they do not let it get in the way of a good time on this frigidly apt night.

Here behind last year’s first number one album in almost 20 years, The Forest is the Path, it is business as usual. Now a three-piece – Lightbody, McDaid and guitarist Nathan Connolly, ably backed by touring hands – they deliver a consummate 90-minute show that occasionally transcends its robust slickness with something that goes beyond their radio-friendly strengths.

Lightbody cuts a craggier figure these days, but his voice has mostly regathered its mellowed power after a battle with alcoholism and subsequent sobriety left him straining on their last arena run six years ago. He holds up well throughout, from the mid-tempo opener Take Back the City through the clear highpoint of Run, a sweeping weepie that remains the band’s unequivocal showstopper.

It is in the other textures and flourishes that Snow Patrol manage to elevate their live experience throughout. Called Out in the Dark, arguably their most underappreciated hit, is transmuted here into widescreen cinematic synth-rock, while All, with its twinkling piano and soaring insistence, is pure post-U2 emotionalism.

At one point, an opaque projector screen is draped across the front of the stage with a kaleidoscopic array of hues; Lightbody appears to be caught in the middle of a leaf tornado as they soar through The Lightning Strike.

Late on, the singer spots a young fan in the crowd holding up a sign. “You want to play Chasing Cars with us?” he asks, bemused, and then gives a shrug. “Yeah, all right.”

Moments later, their unexpected guest is on stage with an acoustic guitar, cheered on by the crowd, rocking out with the best of them. As he leaves, all three members hug him and share a delighted grin. Earnest to a fault, they may be – but that’s still plenty to deliver a good time.