Eyes Open Tour
The Eyes Open Tour was a concert tour by Northern Irish–Scottish alternative rock band Snow Patrol in support of their fourth album, Eyes Open. The band visited numerous international venues from 2006 through 2007. The tour is the collective name of many smaller tours and festivals Snow Patrol has played in support of their album. The tour officially commenced on 14 February 2006 with a "secret gig" called SG#3.
The tour saw the band visit continents like Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. The band headlined on almost all dates, and various acts supported them throughout. The tour was however, marred by cancellations mainly because of vocalist Gary Lightbody's throat problems and bassist Paul Wilson's shoulder injury. Additionally, other events happened with all other band members, but no dates were affected. Drummer Jonny Quinn broke his arm, but no shows were cancelled as Graham Hopkins pitched in to take up drumming duties. Keyboardist Tom Simpson was arrested for drug charges, but was released in time for the next concert. Guitarist Nathan Connolly sprained his ankle and foot, but sat through shows until the injury healed. The band visited countries like New Zealand and Mexico for the first time and played their first concert in Southeast Asia during the course of the tour. The Eyes Open Tour also introduced the Tour Reporter feature, where fans were given the chance of covering their local concert.
Snow Patrol finished the tour, which went on for a year and a half, in September 2007 in Australia. The full tour spanned 214 dates and had 37 cancellations.
Tickets
Secret gigs and charity shows
Snow Patrol's official website initially offered tickets for the secret gig SG#3 to registered members on the forum. It was later announced that a limited number of tickets would be made available at Virgin Megastores, Royal Avenue, Belfast, Northern Ireland on 4 February 2006 at 9am. Tickets for SG#4 were only available to members of Snow Patrol's official website through an e-mail which contained all details. Winners received a non-transferable SMS ticket to their mobile phones. This SMS message was deemed invalid if forwarded. Additionally, these mobile tickets were the only way into the concert.Tickets for Nottingham's Rock City went on general sale via the Rock City Box Office on 5 May 2006. Tickets were priced at £22.50 each. The official website ran a pre-sale for members. During the North American Tour of February–April 2007, the band played an intimate show for friend Diana Gualda. Tickets for this show went on general sale on 8 February 1pm via Ticketmaster. Tickets were priced at $30.
Tickets for the show at Live Earth were not available for general sale. Fans were required to register within a three-day period, starting 13 April 2007 at 12:00pm. The winners were chosen through a ballot, and they received an SMS containing details on how to obtain their tickets. Each ticket was priced at £55. The official website held back a few tickets for its members, which were given out through a pre-sale.
;One-off shows
Tickets for the show at KOKO were available for pre-sale from 25 January 2006, 9am from Snow Patrol's official website for 24 hours and were limited to four tickets per person. The pre-sale password was posted on the forum half an hour before the sale. Any remaining tickets went on general sale on next morning from Gigsandtours and were priced £17.50. Later, the band's official website held a competition to give away the last two tickets. All 1,500 available tickets were sold out in less than ten minutes.
There were no tickets for the in-store performance at the Virgin Mega stores, Dublin. Entry to the concert required a wristband that could only be obtained from the store at 9am on the day of the gig. They were given out on a first come first served basis. The official website held a last minute competition for members to give away the last 100 wristbands. Tickets for the one-off O2 concert went on sale 18 May 9am and were priced at £25. They could be obtained from the Xfm Xchange, the Xfm Online Ticket Shop, Ticketmaster and Seetickets. For the secret O2 show, the band held back 1,000 tickets from general sale, and gave them away to the website members for free. Members were sent an e-mail containing details on how to win the tickets.
;Festivals
Tickets for the Heineken Green Energy Festival went on sale on 10 February 2006 and could be purchased from Ticketmaster. They were priced at €34.50 each. Tickets for T on the Fringe went on general sale from 5 May 9am and those for Marlay Park from 12 May at 9am. Pre-sale of tickets for Marlay Park went on till 10 May. Tickets were priced at €44.50 and could be obtained from Ticketmaster. Fans, later, were also given the chance to win tickets through a competition where they were required to answer a question. A similar competition was also held to give away one ticket for T on the Fringe. It was later announced that more tickets were released, which could be obtained through Ticketmaster.
Tickets for the Eden Sessions were priced at £30 and were made available from Edenbookings. For Get Loaded in the Park, tickets were available through Ticketmaster. There was a special £20 early bird ticket scheme as promotion. Tickets for BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend were given out free via a draw through Radio 1's website. Tickets for Tennents ViTal went on general sale on 12 May 9am. They could be obtained online from Vital06.com, by telephone or in person from Virgin and Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets for the Isle of Man Festival were available only through the Islands Box Office or could be purchased by phone. The tickets were priced at £32.50 each. Tickets for the Splendour in the Grass side-shows were available from Ticketek and Ticketmaster. Tickets for the Isle of Wight festival on 21 February 2006 via VirginRadio, and tickets were made available from usual ticket outlets like Ticketmaster 22 February 9am. Tickets for T in the Park went on sale on 24 February 9am. They could be purchased through Ticketmaster. Snow Patrol's official website held a competition to give away two tickets for T in the Park. Fans were required to create a video to the soundtrack of Signal Fire. Tickets for the V Festival went on general sale on 1 March 9am. They could be purchased through Ticketmaster.
UK and Ireland tour, 2006
Tickets for the UK and Ireland tour of 2006 went on general sale on 8 February 9am and were priced at £17.50. Tickets could be obtained from Seetickets except for the Glasgow show which was through Ticketmaster. The Dublin date went on general sale 10 February, and tickets were priced at €34.50. Tickets could only be obtained from Ticketmaster. A competition was also held, where fans could enter and win tickets. The winners were announced through a draw. Tickets for the final dates at the Ulster Hall went on sale on 18 February, and were priced between £19.50 and £22.50. They could only be obtained from Ticketmaster. Additional tickets for the shows at The Forum were later released, which could be obtained through Seetickets. For the additional date at the Wembley Arena, the official website members were given the opportunity of a pre-sale. Tickets were priced at £23.50. General sale began on 21 May 9am, and tickets could be obtained through Ticketmaster and Seetickets. Later, extra seats for the 2 shows at Wembley were released. Tickets could be purchased from the venue's box office through phone or online, through Seetickets and Ticketmaster. After the Wembley date, another date for the Odyssey, Belfast was added. Tickets for this date went on sale on 22 August 9am via Ticketmaster. When tickets for the show sold out within three hours, an additional date was announced. Tickets for this show were made available on 22 August, and could be obtained through Ticketmaster.US tour, 2006
Tickets for the seven-date US Tour of 2006 were made available through different online services like Ticketmaster, Ticketalternative, Ticketweb, through tickets for the San Francisco and Boston shows could be purchased on venue. General sale of tickets for the US Tour in May began on 8 April. Pre-sale, exclusively for members had begun a few days back. Pre-sales for later shows were held over the course of the next few months. General sale tickets could be obtained through Ticketmaster.European tour, 2006
Tickets for the Vienna, Utrecht and Zurich shows on the European Tour of 2006 went on general sale on 21 July and those for the Copenhagen show, and all the German, shows on 28 July. Again, members on the band's official website were given the opportunity to purchase tickets early via a pre-sale.UK & Ireland Winter Arena Tour
Tickets for the UK & Ireland Winter Arena Tour went on pre-sale to website members on 10 May 9am and continued till 12 May 9am. Tickets were limited to a maximum of 4 per household. General sale began as soon as the pre-sale ended. For the additional Wembley date, which was later added, the official website ran a pre-sale where tickets were priced at £23.50 each. General sale began on 21 May 9am. Tickets could be obtained through Ticketmaster and Seetickets. For the added Scottish show, the website ran a pre-sale exclusively for members. Tickets went on general sale on 14 July 9am. They could be obtained from Ticketmaster and Seetickets. The tickets were priced at £22.50 each. For the show at Bournemouth, the official website ran a pre-sale for members on 14 July 9am. The pre-sale ended as soon as tickets went up for general sale, which began on 17 July 9am. Tickets could be obtained through Ticketmaster and Seetickets and were priced at £22.50. Tickets for the Manchester show went on general sale on 20 October 9am. Tickets could be obtained through Seetickets, and were priced at £23.50 each. The tickets for this show sold out in 38 minutes, so another show was added. The other Manchester show's tickets were made available for general sale on 20 October. They could be obtained through Seetickets and Ticketmaster, and were priced at £24.00 each. Extra tickets for select dates were released after the tour had begun, which could only be purchased online. For the show at The Point, tickets went on general sale on 22 August 9am, and could be obtained through Ticketmaster.European Tour, 2007
Tickets for the European Tour, which saw the band playing in Germany went on sale on 20 November 9am via Kartenhaus.de. An additional Dutch date was later added, and tickets for the show went on general sale on 25 November 9am. Tickets for the show could be obtained from Easyticket.nl.