Patrol storm on through

Last night was the climax of a lengthy, sold-out tour in honour of their number three album, Final Straw. How manfully they rose to the occasion.

That third album was the sound of a band getting a grip on their art and taking the great leap forwards. From the same school of heroic but insistently melodic guitar bands that spawned Franz Ferdinand, they managed to channel Final Straw's energy and subtleties into a live show that was, by turns, thrilling and moving.

Moreover, while always accessible, they stubbornly refused to pander to the lowest common denominator. Frontman Gary Lightbody seemed rather overwhelmed by it all: "We're not used to this," he stammered. "Not used to this at all."

They may have to get used to it. Certainly, they have the unstoppable momentum and feelgood factor that combined to push Travis - Snow Patrol's musical uncles - overground in 1999.

Aided by a superlative sound that defeated all the acoustic hurdles the Electric Ballroom could place in its way, Snow Patrol tipped their hats to disparate sources from Hawkwind's Silver Machine and the guitar squall

of My Bloody Valentine to The Sweet's Blockbuster and the poppier side of Nirvana.

Their breakthrough single, Run, was greeted with almost religious fervour and, towards its end, Lightbody simply gave up and let the crowd do his vocal work. It is, as is all their best work, an anthem of strangely celebratory angst. Their finest moment, however, was the harmony laden How To Be Dead, a track they rarely play. Encouragingly for the future, it was also their most intricate.

As all great bands should, they returned for their encore to the sound of air-raid sirens, before finishing with the Glitter stomp of Tiny Little Fractures. Cannily, although few were sated, Snow Patrol did not return. In years to come, they may look back and regard this as the evening they finally broke through.

Snow Patrol, Everything Everything
The O2 Arena
Peninsula Square, Greenwich, SE10 0DX