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Top of The Mountain (103.7) KMTT: Mountain Music Lounge features 'Snow Patrol' (Video)
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By Greg Roth SME / SMI
Last week, Seattle Music Examiner made a climb up KMTT The Mountain and chatted with music radio goddess, Shawn Stewart.. The read the full interview click the link below...
Top of The Mountain (103.7) KMTT: meet Shawn Stewart, Music Director and on air personality
"Snow Patrol's" Gary Lightbody takes time out to pose with fans after Mountain Music Lounge performance Photo: Greg Roth SME/SMI
This week, SME headed back up "The Mountain" , to attend the "Mountain Music Lounge" featuring 'Snow Patrol'. Today’s article takes fans inside one of Seattle’s premier music radio stations for some wonderful music and great company.
About 30-40 fans had the opportunity to play hooky from work, school or whatever, at least for a few hours, to break bread with other Mountain Music fans, while sharing tales about their musical passions.
Afternoon air personality John Fisher, graciously chatted with fans and engaged in an informal Q&A session shortly before leading the folks into the "Mountain Music Lounge” for a mini acoustic concert, courtesy of Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody. The singer/songwriter took time out out of his schedule to come up the street from the Paramount Theatre to sing, play and have his picture taken with fans after the gig. Snow Patrol was in town to play a show at the historic Seattle theatre this past Wednesday, October 14th.
The show...
Lightbody, dressed in jeans and a light blue sweater and sporting what looked to be a couple days of stubble, came armed with an acoustic guitar and an Apple computer onstage. The computer served as a teleprompter for song lyrics. With self mockng a smile on his face, the artist shared with the audience that sometimes he has trouble remembering the words to his songs. He then launched into one of the group’s classic and Mountain listener favorite’s “Run”. The sound quality and acoustics in radio venue were superb. This enabled fans to hear a quality, passionate and haunting version of one of the bands more popular numbers.
On air personality John Fisher, asked Lightbody if while on tour, he gets the opportunity to explore the various cities he is visiting. The artist said that sometimes visiting various cities can be reminiscent of a background in a “Scooby Doo” cartoon, alluding the fact that after a long tour, all of the cities can start to look the same, if one doesn’t get out explore the local sites. When asked by Fisher if he ever finds himself getting lost while exploring, Lightbody profoundly replied with quick wit: “That's the most important thing that you have to do, getting lost...because then you get found again then it's like a spiritual thing, it is the closest thing I will get to finding God I think, finding myself back at the hotel"
Lightbody shared with the audience the admiration he has for one of his favorite writers, Seamus Heaney an Irish poet, writer and lecturer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. The artist then sang tribute to the writer with a moving version of “Reading Heaney To Me” . As Lightbody strummed his instrument, playing some beautiful dissonant chords, he crooned the beautiful melodies, dripping with rich lyrical content, in his smooth trademark, Irish brogue. The number really captivated the audience, including this writer.
The artist then shared a little of the band’s 15 year history with the audience. Lightbody also spoke of a song the he wrote specifically for Gwen Stefani, as well as performing his "punky" version of the Beyonce’ tune "Crazy in Love" live on Radio One. In addition, the singer / songwriter spoke about the band's compilation disc, "Up to Now".
Lightbody performed “15 Minutes Old”, "Take Back the City" and "Crack the Shutters". For Snow Patrol fans, it had to be a real treat to hear some of their favorite tunes from an artist that KMTT has championed over the years, stripped down to the core, with just the singer and guitar.
You can tell a song is great if...
It has been said here before but what determines a great song, in this writers opinion, is when one can strip away the production, instrumental augmentation and perform a number with just a vocal with guitar and /or piano. Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road" (performed Live at the Roxy Theatre in 1975), is a perfect example. The fact of the matter is that all of the numbers that Lightbody played for Snow Patrol and Mountain music fans all worked beautifully within an acoustic context in "The Lounge".
You can hear the actual performance of yesterday's show on KMTT's official Mountain Music Lounge page. For a little journey into the "Mountain Music Lounge", featuring interviews with fans and a great Q&A session with show host, John Fisher, check out the below video...
Next week, Seattle Music Examiner climbs back up "The Mountain" to cover "Train" and Brandi Carlile. As they say in radio, stay tuned...
Other links and Sources...
Seattle Local Music Examiner is making a climb up The Mountain (103.7 KMTT)
Seattle radio station KMTT releases "Live from the Mountain Music Lounge (Volume 15)"
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