Snow Patrol’s Performance Of ‘Open Your Eyes’ From V Fest 2009 Lands On YouTube

Snow Patrol have shared a live performance of “Open Your Eyes” from the 2009 edition of V Fest on YouTube, which coincides with the 20th anniversary edition of Eyes Open, available for pre-order now.

The album will be available on three formats: as a 2CD set, on 2LP Clear Vinyl, and 2LP Gold Vinyl. The CD edition of Eyes Open comes with a bonus disc of live and stripped-back recordings from Union Chapel and live in Berlin, alongside remixes. It also comes with new sleeve notes written by Gary Lightbody. The vinyl editions include all seven b-sides from the era, plus the standalone single “Signal Fire.” Other cuts include fan favorites and the rarity “Perfect Little Secret.” They also come with new sleeve notes by Gary Lightbody.

Eyes Open marked Snow Patrol’s fourth studio album, and the 2006 effort was produced by Jacknife Lee. The band’s Gary Lightbody explained in an interview from earlier this month just how quickly some of the songs were written. “We wrote 10 songs in a couple of hours, over quite a few bottles of wine,” he said, before adding: “It was essentially a session for other people and sometimes, that takes the pressure off because you’re not thinking about how you’re going to record it, or what it means to have that song become part of your life.”

It ended up yielding “Chasing Cars,” which remains the band’s biggest hit to date. As BBC pointed out, in 2019, it was named UK’s radio’s most-played song of the 21st Century. “It’s the song that took us to the whole world….We just followed it along like little ducklings,” he explained. As for “Open Your Eyes,” that song hasn’t done half bad either. As of publication, it’s racked up over 180 million streams on Spotify alone.

As for Eyes Open, the LP was the best-selling album in the UK at the time of its release, moving over one million copies. It also hit No.9 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart and is certified 8x Platinum.

Buy Snow Patrol’s Eyes Open on vinyl here.