Snow Patrol, Southampton Guildhall.

STRAIGHT from a Los Angeles flight, via a live session on Radio One, Snow Patrol, pictured, headed to Southampton to play their first gig in the city.

The date came on the back of the smash top ten album Final Straw for the Northern Irish five-piece.

A string of hits including Run, Spitting Games and Chocolate has seen them propelled to the forefront of British pedal rock.

A sell-out Southampton Guildhall audience turned out to greet the band and taste some of the thrashy hysteria first hand.

A dramatic entrance to music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and plenty of silhouette lighting saw them kick off in style.

Lead singer Gary Lightbody knows exactly how to interact with a baying crowd and his strained vocals were faultless.

Yet the momentum was not sustained as the band opted for successive slower numbers, including a few older songs, that, sadly, did induce trips to the bar.

Yet, like all successful bands, Snow Patrol have an anthem and Run is just about as good as an anthem comes. It set them for a frenzied if brief rock encore that left the audience remembering exactly why they liked them in the first place.

The band is keen to get back into the studio to record new tracks - a now popular fan base now cannot wait to see what that time produces.