Win tickets to see Snow Patrol at Newcastle Arena

We have three pairs of tickets to give away for their show at Newcastle Arena on December 5, which is the opening date of their UK & Ireland tour.

The eight-date tour follows the release of album Wildness earlier this year.

Speaking about the record, which marked the band’s return to the charts, lead-singer and songwriter Gary Lightbody said: “There are many types of wildness, but I think it can be distilled into two: the wildness of the modern age, all its confusion, illogic and alienation and a more ancient wildness.

“Something primal, alive and beautiful that speaks to our true connectivity, our passion, our love, our communion with nature and each other. This is the kind of wildness the album is centered around. The loss of it. Trying to reconnect with it. To remember it.”

Since their 1998 debut, Songs for Polarbears, Snow Patrol has racked up a number of critical and commercial accolades, including 15 million global album sales, 1+ billion global track streams, five UK Platinum Albums, and are Grammy, BRIT Award and Mercury Music Prize nominated.

After their Fallen Empires tour ended in 2012, band members – which also include multi-instrumentalist Johnny McDaid, guitarist Nathan Connolly, bassist Paul Wilson, and drummer Jonny Quinn – decided to take a step back from the band, and focus on their own projects.

Gary Lightbody continued his work with his Tired Pony side project with members of Belle and Sebastian, R.E.M, Reindeer Section and Fresh Young Fellows and moved to Los Angeles to begin writing songs for movies (including This Is How You Walk On for 2017’s Gifted), and doing a number of high-profile co-writes with Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Biffy Clyro, and One Direction.

Taking this extended break from Snow Patrol proved to be a source of inspiration, and writing songs that were not pulled directly from his own psyche helped heal what Lightbody considered to be not so much writer’s block as life block.

•Snow Patrol play Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, on December 5. Tickets are available from www.snowpatrol.com

•To be in with a chance of winning one of three pairs of tickets collect the tokens in the paper today and tomorrow and return them, along with your full contact details, to Snow Patrol Competition, Katy Wheeler, Johnston Press North East, 2nd Floor, Alexander House, 1 Mandarin Road, Rainton Bridge Business Park, Houghton, Sunderland, DH4 5RA by October 29. Entries are shredded once the competition is drawn and not passed on to a third party.