The Lightning Strike
Encyclopedia
"The Lightning Strike" is a song from alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol are an alternative rock band from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Formed at the University of Dundee in 1994 as an indie rock band, the band is now based in Glasgow...

's fifth album A Hundred Million Suns
A Hundred Million Suns
A Hundred Million Suns is the fifth album by alternative rock band Snow Patrol. The album was written by Snow Patrol and was produced by long time producer Jacknife Lee who has previously produced albums for Bloc Party, R.E.M., and U2. The songs were recorded through the summer of 2008 in Hansa...

, and appears as the last track on the album. The lyrics to the song were written by lead singer Gary Lightbody
Gary Lightbody
Gary Lightbody is an Northern Irish musician and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol.- Early life :...

 and the music was composed by Snow Patrol. The song is composed of three smaller songs, and at sixteen minutes eighteen seconds, it is the longest the band has written yet.

The song has an elaborate live performance where a specially made animation is played simultaneously as the band performs the song. Most of the video features origami, which is the main artwork for the album and its singles. The song received a mixed reaction when the album was released, and though the band were praised for playing it live, the general feeling was that it wasn't a right choice, with one critic calling it "self indulgent".

In 2011, the first part of "The Lightning Strike", "What If This Storm Ends?" appeared in a trailer for the upcoming war movie Act of Valor
Act of Valor
Act of Valor is an upcoming 2012 American war film directed by Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh, and written by Kurt Johnstad. It stars Alex Veadov, Rosalyn Sanchez, Nestor Serrano, Emilio Rivera and actual active duty U.S...

.

Conception and interpretation

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

, lyricist Gary Lightbody revealed the song was conceived after he was caught in a heavy storm one night in Glasgow: "I was pretty terrified - 150-mile-an-hour winds, trees falling down. But we went outside the house, and it was also just thrilling. There was this howling wind, but it felt like silence, as if our senses were being too bombarded to cope with what was going on. So the record was born out of that feeling, of two people having a protective shell around each other. I'm not saying there's not darkness in there still, but it's happening from outward factors more than inward. Maybe things are terrifying, but they're beautiful, too. The world is extremely surprising."

In August 2008, Lightbody joked about the song in a press release on the band's website, which revealed the track-listing for the then unreleased album: "The last song is sixteen minutes long and by far the longest we've ever done. Don't be frightened though, it's great. Although for now you'll have to take my word for that and I'm pretty biased I have to say." At the time of the release of the album, SP.com posted a section featuring Gary Lightbody discussing the new songs, which was initially a Lightbody interview to RTÉ
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...

. The interview revealed that the song was initially three different songs. However, the band felt that they "worked so well together it was obvious they belonged in one place". He elaborated more on the fact in another interview with The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...

: "Just in case anybody gets frightened that we have a 16-minute song, it's a song in three parts, that we really wanted to be married together in a strange ceremony. I don't have the concentration span to write a 16-minute song. I get bored easily. But each song of the three seemed to explain the other one a lot better and they were all written around the same time and so I guess it's an unusual way of presenting them."

Recording and production

The three songs are "What If This Storm Ends?", "The Sunlight Through the Flags" and "Daybreak". "What If This Storm Ends?" was recorded at Olympic Studios, London and features brass choir. The second part, "The Sunlight Through the Flags" is set on the west coast of Ireland. The last part, "Daybreak" was recorded at Hansa Tonstudio
Hansa Tonstudio
Das Hansa Tonstudio is a recording studio located on Köthener Strasse in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Germany. Amongst English-performing musical acts it used to be known as 'Hansa Studio By the Wall', 'Hansa by the Wall', or 'The Great Hall by the Wall' in reference to the fact that it was...

s in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, where David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

 recorded "Heroes" in the 70s and U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

 Achtung Baby
Achtung Baby
Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 19 November 1991 on Island Records. Stung by the criticism of their 1988 release Rattle and Hum, U2 shifted their musical direction to incorporate alternative...

in the 90s. Lightbody commented that "Daybreak" "was really affected by Hansa": ""Daybreak" has that Krautrock hypnotic sway to it, and heroes-type guitars swooning over the top", and it made a fitting end to the album.

It was producer Jacknife Lee
Jacknife Lee
Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...

's wish to record at Hansa Studios. The band specifically chose to keep the song the last track on the album. In an interview, Lightbody said "We felt like it hopefully leaves you wondering 'what's next', making you want more". In an interview to Glide magazine, Nathan Connolly
Nathan Connolly
Nathan Connolly is a Northern Irish musician, who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Snow Patrol.-Early life:...

 spoke of the band's desire to not sound like their earlier work, but still maintain their "melody and honesty". The song grew out of the band trying to progress musically. He also felt that the song requires repeated listening to grow on you.

Live performances

"The Lightning Strike" has an elaborate live performance, with the band playing the song in the backdrop of a projection screen, on which a specially made video is played simultaneously. The idea for the video was conceived by Gary Lightbody. Snow Patrol's tour video director Blue Leach
Blue Leach
Blue Leach is a video director. He is the winner of the 2009 TPI Video Director Of The Year Award. He has recently directed shows for the Taking Back the Cities Tour for Snow Patrol. Other recent projects include R.E.M., directing the live album R.E.M. Live their first ever 2 CD/DVD in a career...

 collaborated with production company Atticus Finch to create the video, which represents Lightbody's idea to represent the world as origami. Finch brought Undabo Studios into the project to "help develop an origami style of modeling and texturing" that appears on the album artwork for A Hundred Million Suns.

The video's theme uses a colorful visual language; the birth and development of a star, spiralling galaxy and its millions of pieces, which flow smoothly into each other. Formation of space, birds, animated rockets, satellites, fishes, havens, oceans, boats, cities, landscapes, rainbows, cars and planets and many other visual impressions; A Snow Patrol 'CGI origami' gig where the band members themselves perform as origami figures. The video was made using Autodesk Softimage and took about three months to make. It consists of 24,000 frames of animation and is played of a 60×40 ft. projection screen in live performances for the first 6 minutes, which then moves to LED screens suspended behind the band. Director Blue Leach later won the "TPi Award" in 2009 for his work with Snow Patrol, among others.

The Taking Back the Cities Tour
Taking Back the Cities Tour
The Taking Back the Cities Tour was a concert tour by Northern Irish alternative rock band Snow Patrol. It was launched in support of the group's 2008 album A Hundred Million Suns. The band visited numerous arenas internationally from 2008 throughout 2009. The tour was the collective name of many...

 has generally featured "What If This Storm Ends?" as an encore, and the full song has usually not been played, though it has been known to make appearances. It finally made its live debut during the UK & Ireland Arena Tour, where it was played regularly. It also made appearances during the following European leg, though it was not played on all dates. The song was not played during the shows with the band supporting Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

 on the Viva la Vida Tour
Viva la Vida Tour
Viva la Vida Tour was the fourth concert tour by English band Coldplay. The tour was in support their fourth studio album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. The tour was a massive commercial and critical success visiting Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australasia...

 and U2 on the U2 360° Tour
U2 360° Tour
The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. It was named for a stage configuration that allowed the audience to almost completely surround the stage...

.

Release

The song initially appeared on the album versions of A Hundred Million Suns. On iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

, the song is labeled 'album-only', making it inaccessible for individual purchase.

A live MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

, recorded during the UK & Ireland Arena Tour of February–March 2009 was gifted to fans as a free download on every ticket purchase for the Reworked Tour of November–December 2009. Each ticket came with a special code that enabled the download.

The full sixteen-minute animated video for "The Lightning Strike", which was previously unavailable saw its official release as a part of Up to Now
Up to Now
Up to Now is the first compilation album by alternative rock band Snow Patrol. The album features tracks spanning Snow Patrol's fifteen year music career, including tracks from The Reindeer Section, a side-project/supergroup involving musicians from all over Scotland...

, the band's third compilation album. The video can be found on the Bonus DVDs of the Digipak
Digipak
Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company.-Features:...

 and Box set releases of the album.

Track listing

  1. "What If This Storm Ends?" – 5:10
  2. "The Sunlight Through the Flags" – 4:17
  3. "Daybreak" – 6:51

Reception

The song received a generally mixed reception at the time of album release. Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

called it "dramatic". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

was quite positive about the song, saying "the band distinguishes itself from the post-Coldplay pack with a flair for arrangements that almost justifies the grandiosity of 16-minute epics like "The Lightning Strike"". PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...

' response was very positive. Reviewer Ross Langager called the song "a 16-minute, three-movement celestial metaphor of operatic grandeur and overwhelming beauty." He further praised the song, saying: "Linked together by alike synthesizer bedrocks of gradually increasing warmth and brightness, the song-cycle progresses from silver-lined dark clouds to hints of dawn before finally settling on a lovely, sun-drenched morning. But even when faced by such an inexorable process of hopefulness, Lightbody has to temper the surge of light: "Slowly the day breaks/Apart in our hands"." The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

s Andy Gill had mixed feelings about the song. He said that the song was an attempt to "broaden the band's style". He called it ambitious and felt that "its incorporation of minimalist techniques, glockenspiel, brass colouration and shoegazey guitar textures" made the song "lengthy". He made comparisons with Coldplay, calling the band "self-absorbed" but said Snow Patrol were "more bearable". Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

's Joshua Love reviewed the song negatively, writing that it seemed as if the band was "striving to be taken more seriously", by "stringing together three ponderous, already-overlong songs and calling the impenetrable result a 16-minute stand-alone epic "The Lightning Strike"." He further wrote that the band's wasn't talented enough to do justice to "these newer, more artful ambitions."

Critical reception of the live performance has been generally mixed as well, though the band has been praised for playing it. Contactmusic.com
Contactmusic.com
Contactmusic.com is a Leeds UK based entertainment magazine/webzine. The site was launched in April 2000 by a small team and has now expanded to 12 fulltime staff and many freelance contributors from across the globe...

 reviewed a Snow Patrol concert at the M.E.N. Arena
Manchester Evening News Arena
The Manchester Evening News Arena is an indoor arena situated in Manchester, England. It is adjacent to Manchester Victoria station near Corporation Street...

 on 7 March 2009. Though it called the song "ambitious by anyone's standards" and praised the animation calling it "impressive", it felt the song wasn't the best choice for an encore. WalesOnline's Paul Rowland wrote a review of the gig at Cardiff International Arena
Cardiff International Arena
The Cardiff International Arena was opened on 10 September 1993, by Shirley Bassey, in front of 5,500 fans. On 1 March 2011, the Cardiff International Arena was officially renamed Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, after the car sales company with a branch in Newport bought the naming rights to the Cardiff...

 the next day. He praised the song, calling it a "three-movement epic". He reported that though the song was a welcome change in the encore, that some fans did not appreciate it and headed home: "After all, they’d already heard Run, and the traffic’s awful this time of night." The same happened at a free gig at The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England, which has been converted into a performing arts and concert venue. It was originally built in 1847 as a roundhouse , a circular building containing a railway turntable, but was only used for railway...

 (at the iTunes Festival). In The News' Chris Jefferies reported that the band had to play the song to a "half-empty crowd", but had praise for the band saying "there is much, much more to this band."

Durham21
Durham21
Durham21.co.uk, or d21 for short, is an independent online newspaper and lifestyle magazine for students from Durham University.Averaging over 38,000 pageviews per month, durham21 is the current Student Website of the Year at the NUS National Student Journalism Awards, having also won the award in...

's Ian Church covered the next gig on 10 March at the Metro Radio Arena. He reported that for the encore, a large semi transparent sheet was dropped in front of the stage, to project the animation. He said that it was "surprising" the band chose to play the "practically unknown" song, but reported that "it somehow managed to capture those watching" but a few fans were left complaining about the song choice. Journal Live also covered the concert. Helen Dalby wrote that it was "interesting" and "different" for the band to play the song, but she wasn't "entirely sure it quite worked". She felt the song might have worked if it was played earlier in the set. Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...

s Amira Hashish covered the last concert at The O2
The O2 arena (London)
The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the centre of The O2, a large entertainment complex on the Greenwich peninsula in London, England.With a capacity of up to 20,000 depending on the event, it is second largest...

 and wrote a positive review about the performance of the song, though she felt to song(s) was "lesser known". But, she felt the band brought them to life, and though it was "a little self indulgent", the band could be forgiven. James Cabooter of Daily Star, who covered the show at Bloomsbury Theatre wrote that the newer material (including "The Lightning Strike") was deeper and more mature sonically. The song was used in an episode of In Plain Sight
In Plain Sight
In Plain Sight is an American dramatic television series on USA Network. The series revolves around Mary Shannon , a Deputy United States Marshal attached to the Albuquerque, New Mexico office of the Federal Witness Security Program , more commonly known as the Federal Witness Protection Program...

in 2009.

Personnel

Snow Patrol
  • Gary Lightbody
    Gary Lightbody
    Gary Lightbody is an Northern Irish musician and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol.- Early life :...

     – vocals, guitar, backing vocals
  • Nathan Connolly
    Nathan Connolly
    Nathan Connolly is a Northern Irish musician, who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Snow Patrol.-Early life:...

     – guitar, backing vocals
  • Paul Wilson
    Paul Wilson (musician)
    Paul "Pablo" Wilson is a Scottish musician, who is best known as the bass guitarist for Northern Irish alternative rock band Snow Patrol. He previously played guitar in Glasgow band Terra Diablo from 2000–2005. In March 2005, he replaced bassist Mark McClelland in Snow Patrol and switched...

     – bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Jonny Quinn
    Jonny Quinn
    Jonathan Graham "Jonny" Quinn is a Northern Irish drummer, born in Bangor. He is best known as the drummer for alternative rock band Snow Patrol, and was previously a member of bands like The Mighty Fall, The New Brontes and Disraeli Gears. As drummer for Snow Patrol, he has played on all releases...

     – drums
  • Tom Simpson
    Tom Simpson (musician)
    Tom Simpson is a Scottish DJ and musician, best known as the keyboardist of the Northern Irish alternative rock band Snow Patrol. He has been with Snow Patrol as a touring member since 1997 and became a permanent one in 2005. In 2007, he was arrested on drug charges, but was later...

     – keyboards

Other personnel
  • Jacknife Lee
    Jacknife Lee
    Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...

     – producer, mixing
  • Cenzo Townshend – mixing
  • John Davis – mastering
  • Avshalom Caspi – brass arrangement
  • Mo Hausler – brass, choir recorder
  • Phil Rose – brass, choir recorder
  • Exmoor Singers of London
    Exmoor Singers of London Chamber Choir
    The Exmoor Singers of London Chamber Choir is a choir with a strong focus on music by living composers and in particular British composers.In 2007, the choir collaborated with rock group Bloc Party to perform at the BBC Electric Proms, which was broadcast on both BBC2 television and BBC Radio 1....

     – choir
  • James Jarvis – choir director

  • Evgeny Chubykin – horns
  • Jocelyn Lightfoot – horns
  • Kira Doherty – horns
  • Philip Eastop – horns
  • Richard Bayliss – horns
  • Timothy Brown
    Timothy Brown (hornist)
    Timothy Brown is a British horn player, a leading chamber musician and co-principal of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He was a member of the Melos Ensemble in its second phase...

     – horns
  • Colin Sheen – trombone
  • Dan Jenkins – trombone
  • David Stewart – bass trombone
  • Ian Fasham – bass trombone
  • Guy Barker – trumpet
  • John Barclay – trumpet
  • Mark Law – trumpet
  • Pat White – trumpet
  • James Anderson – tuba
  • Stephen Wick – tuba


Undabo Studios
  • Doug Kennedy – director, key creative, animation, composition
  • Simon Brown – key creative, animation, modeling
  • Chris Whittle – modeling
  • Ed Olive – additional modeling
  • Nick Hales – additional modeling, character animation
  • Chris Millsy – character animation
  • Darren Cullis – additional character rigging
  • Hearl Hutchinson – additional character animation

Atticus Finch
  • Chris Richmond – creative director
  • Jim Waters – producer

Splinter Films
  • Blue Leach
    Blue Leach
    Blue Leach is a video director. He is the winner of the 2009 TPI Video Director Of The Year Award. He has recently directed shows for the Taking Back the Cities Tour for Snow Patrol. Other recent projects include R.E.M., directing the live album R.E.M. Live their first ever 2 CD/DVD in a career...

     – director
  • Emer Patten – producer
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