Wasn't there, but read all about it the next day. Snow Patrol, the Scottish-Irish quintet whose mid-tempo ballads have surfaced on prime-time dramas like "Grey's Anatomy," played the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco last night. Aidin Vaziri, the reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle, said the band "felt a bit like Coldplay, minus a billion dollars."
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What began as an indie act a decade ago has finally come into its own, especially because of the heavily downloaded hit, "Chasing Cars," which includes couplets like:
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"Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads.
I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own."
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Vaziri then wrote, "Playing in front of its biggest American audience to date, what the band lacked in grace it made up for with goose bumps. Mixing starry-eyed melodies with emotional storm clouds, [some songs] seemed interchangeable, yes, but at the same time evoked the wide-screen grandeur of classic U2. Each song felt massive, and the group's confidence in the material allowed it to toss off "Chasing Cars" midway through the set without fear of clearing the room.
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"If anything," Vaziri continued, "the show felt like a celebration. The dance moves, the bad jokes, the sound of 7,000 voices singing back the words (from "Chasing Cars"), "If I lay here, if I just lay here/Would you lie with me and just forget the world.""
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On the Internet site www.top40.about.com a reviewer notes, ""Chasing Cars" is a beneficiary of the growing tendency of TV series to extend their branding through attachment to songs played on the show. The happy occurance of [the song played on "Grey's Anatomy"] meant it got a boost onto the pop charts and pop radio--and this introduced a effortlessly beautiful true gem of a love song to pop audiences."
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The review continued, "Lead vocalist Gary Lightbody [pictured here] has the perfect instrument to convey the power and emotion of his words. He has strong enough vocal chops to hold his own against the surge of backing guitars, but wisely avoids vocal histrionics that could break the song's spell. It's no surprise that Lightbody has said "Chasing Cars" is 'the most pure and open love song' he has written."
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The phrase "chasing cars" came from Lightbody's father, in reference to a girl Lightbody was infatuated with. "You're like a dog chasing a car," said his dad. "You'll never catch it and you wouldn't know what to do with it if you did."
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On September 13, 2006, the song (the third single from Snow Patrol's fourth album, "Eyes Open," originally released on July 24) finally soared in the digital music charts to become the most downloaded song on the U.S. iTunes music store, just one day after the DVD release of the second season of "Grey's Anatomy."
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After chart rules were changed in January, 2007 to allow all downloaded songs to enter the charts--whether or not there was also a physical copy of the song available--"Chasing Cars" re-entered the chart at number 9. Also of note, the 7" single version of the song plays at 33 rpm instead of the normal 45 rpm (although the fact that the label states '45 rpm' indicates this was a mistake).
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For some excellent back-and-forth discussion about "Chasing Cars," go to the website www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858583922.
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