The Taking Back the Cities Tour was a concert tour by Northern Irish alternative rock band Snow Patrol in support of their fifth album, A Hundred Million Suns (2008). The band visited numerous arenas internationally from 2008 throughout 2009. The tour was the collective name of many smaller tours and festivals Snow Patrol played in support of their album. The tour has spanned 9 legs and had over 150 shows. The tour commenced on 26 October 2008 with the band playing a short whistle-stop tour of four capital cities.
The tour has seen the band visit continents like Europe, North America, Australia and Africa. The band has mainly toured as a headlining act, though they have also supported Coldplay and U2 on their respective tours. Tour dates have included a number of summer rock festivals. Often, the band's set on tour has included playing the sixteen-minute-long "The Lightning Strike" in full, though sometimes only the first part is played.
Keyboardist Tom Simpson said that the band wanted to tour Asian countries like Singapore. They have not yet done so because they wish to give justice to the UK and Ireland as they feel they've been "neglecting them". He also said that there's a possibility of Snow Patrol touring Asia in 2010. Lead singer Gary Lightbody has written on the band's website that they'll be returning to headline their own mini-festival at Ward Park next year. He has also revealed that it will be one of few concerts they'll play in the UK and Ireland in 2010, as they intend not to play any festivals and only "special occasions".
The show The lighting for the tour was done by UK lighting company HSL, which also supplied the crew. HSL previously worked with the band for their tours in 2006 & 2007. The lighting on the tour is based on the concept of "creative synergy", which employs four visual mediums – lighting, digital lighting, video and movement. The initial ideas came from the band itself, who pitched them to Davy Sherwin, lighting & visuals director. Sherwin had previously worked with the band on their tours in 2006 & 2007. He came up with a simple arrangement of LED and moving lights, which he felt went well with the music of the album. A metalwork layout of five trusses running upstage/downstage was then added, referring "sun rays" from the album title. The trusses are hinged down at upstage end, so they are freely movable into the performance area. After the design was finalized, Sherwin started to program the show on an ESP Vision visualizer system. He then recorded every song onto a hard drive, and made QuickTime movies of the lighting scenes. These were used by Robin Haddow (live visuals director) and Blue Leach (video director) to program the screen looks, colors and effects, referring to Sherwin's cues. They rehearsed the show for six days at Wembley Arena. In live concerts, Sherwin, Haddow and Leach work together to ensure all four cues (lighting, digital lighting, video and movement) work properly. Sherwin and Haddow operate two WholeHog 3 consoles each, and Rupert Reynolds works the Kinesys system, which produces the effects. The tour is the first ever to use Barco's digital moving lights.
Lighting gear
26-point Kinesys automation system 8 columns of Barco O-lite video screen (13.5 ft. high) 4 Barco DLM 1200 digital moving lights 5 lighting pods 20 Vari*Lite 3500 Wash fixtures 36 Martin Professional Atomic Colours 34 Robe ColorWash 2500E ATs
28 V*L 3000 Spots 20 i-Pix BB4s 5 BB16 blinders 5 4-cell moles with scrollers 6 2-lites with "eyelids" 4 Robert Juliat Ivanhoe 2.5K follow spots 2 WholeHog 3 consoles (+1 backup)
The Snow Patrol concert on the Irish TV Series Other Voices 8 marked the first time optical burst switching technology was used in the transmission of a live concert. Fans were provided a live high-definition streaming of the concert at the Benners Hotel, nearby the venue St. James' Church, among various other locations that were connected to a fiber optic network. The link could also be picked up in Wi-Fi spots on PDAs, laptops, and mobile phones. This instance was aimed to demonstrate the new technology, which was invented and developed in Ireland.
Tickets Tickets for the Taking Back the Cities Tour were initially available to only those who signed up for the Snow Patrol mailing list on or before 2 October 2008 due to the intimate nature of the four shows. Members chosen received an e-mail with a pin-code which was needed to access their tickets. A week later, a small competition was announced for fans in the US, where fans were required to sign up to enter. For the last two tickets, Xfm teamed up with Snow Patrol. The winners were chosen via a lucky draw. Winners, and a friend travelled with the band on their private plane and got to attend all four shows. They were provided with a video camera to capture the events. The captured footage was later put up exclusively on the band's MySpace. The prize included round-trip airfare to and from the US, transportation and tickets to all four shows. The tickets were priced at £22.50 each. The Xfm tickets were bagged by Michael Green and his girlfriend Etly. Michael later wrote a review for Xfm describing his experience. Ticket holders also received artwork at the concert, and instructions on how to download highlights of the shows, which were made available the next day of the concerts.
Tickets for the UK & Ireland Arena Tour initially went on pre-sale exclusively from the official website from 31 October, 9 am until 1 November midnight. Tickets for general sale started from 7 November, 9 am. The tickets were priced £30 and £32.50 and a booking fee of £3.00/£3.25 was charged. Tickets could be obtained through services like Ticketmaster and Trinity St. Direct for UK & Ireland customers. Three pairs of tickets for the show at SECC in Glasgow on 24 February were given away in a last minute competition on the band's website. In mid-February, Trinity St. Direct ceased trading. Tickets for the shows had not yet fully dispatched. In an official statement, however, the company stated that they would ensure delivery of all outstanding orders.
On the Australian Promo Tour, Snow Patrol's promoter Frontier Touring Co. employed a strict ticketing policy because of the shortage of tickets for the one-off show at the 1,350 capacity Metro Theatre. General sale tickets were available through phone, website, or the venue box office one day before the event (18 November) from 9 am and could only be purchased with a credit card. One card holder could only buy two tickets, and the system was designed such that it'd reject attempts of subsequent bookings that bore the same e-mail, phone number or address. The buyer received a confirmation number at the time of booking and not the physical ticket itself. There were other ways of obtaining tickets too. Snow Patrol's official website held a small competition for members where ten pairs of tickets were up for grabs. Universal Music Australia also ran a competition for fans where they had to buy the album or the single "Take Back the City" from iTunes or JB Hi-Fi and write in telling a reason why they needed to see the band. Winners received tickets for front row and centre. On 19 November, 12 pm (the day of the concert), wristbands were made available at the venue. To obtain the bands, a photo ID, the credit card used for purchase and the confirmation number were required. The ticket purchaser and a friend had to arrive together with all proof to be wristbanded. As the show was for people in the 18+ year old bracket, a photo ID was necessary to ensure the attendee was old enough. The tickets were priced at $66 and were non-exchangeable nor transferable. Anyone with a tampered wristband was refused entry.
The Australian V Festival tickets went on pre-sale for 24 hours, from 19 November, 9 am. Pre-sale for Snow Patrol's official website members began on 25 November, 9 am EST. General tickets went on sale from 28 November, 9am. Tickets for the side-shows went on pre-sale exclusively for official website members from 20 February, noon. General sale began from 23 February, 9 am EST. Tickets for the free ShockHound concerts on the US Tour were available exclusive through their website from 21 November, 10 am, PST. Members of Snow Patrol's official website also had the chance to grab the final 20 tickets for each of the shows by answering a question on the website.
Tickets for the Oxegen Festival initially went on pre-sale exclusively for Oxegen.ie members from 25 February 2009. General sale began from 6 March. The tickets for T in the Park went for general sale from 27 February. They could officially be obtained through phone or from Ticketmaster. The tickets were priced at £72.50. Tickets for the UK V Festival went for sale from 6 March, 10 am. Tickets for the iTunes Festival were not available for general sale. Tickets could only be won by entering a competition, which could be found on iTunes' Facebook page. The official website later held a competition as a "final chance" for fans to win tickets to the event. Tickets for the show at The Rockhal were priced at €35 each (standing). Tickets for the BBC Children in Need concert could only be won by a ballot. Interested fans were required to register on the Children in Need website, between 16 October 2009, 7 am (BST and 20 October 2009, 12 pm (BST). The people whose names came up were notified by e-mail, and were allotted a maximum of two tickets, each priced between £50–£100. Since it was a charity concert, all profits from sales of tickets and recordings went towards the organization. For the Versus Cancer concert, tickets were priced at £32.50 and were available from Ticketmaster, See Tickets and Ticketline. Proceeds from the concert went to local charities in Manchester, with the Christie Hospital being one of beneficiaries.
Tickets for the European leg of the tour went up for sale from 25 February. They could be obtained from online outlets like Ticketmaster, Oeticket and Eventim. Additional European shows were announced later. Tickets for the Denmark and Switzerland show went up for sale from 6 March, and those for the France show from 9 March. The prices ranged from €29 to €41.25, depending on the venue.
Tickets for the shows that will see Snow Patrol support Coldplay were released between 14, 21 and 23 March. Note: Moved PHP page Tickets were priced between $35.00 to $97.50. For the shows supporting U2, field level tickets were priced at $55, and approximately 10,000 tickets per show costed $30. The price points were $30, $55, and depending on the market, $90–95 and $250. Tickets for the sideshow could only be won through a competition organized by BNN. Though 15 pairs of tickets were initially announced as prizes, 48 winners were announced, who were notified through e-mail.