Lytham Festival headliners Snow Patrol greet fans with some of their greatest hits, including Chasing Cars and Run

So much so that lead singer and guitarist Gary Lightbody was keen to say hello to each and every one of the crowd.

The Irish singer/songwriter reckoned it would have taken him the half-hour to greet every single person individually.

Not only that Lightbody also wanted to do likewise when it came to saying goodbye at the end of the evening.

While his tongue-in-cheek gesture brought a sense of humour to proceedings, the floppy-haired performer abandoned the ambitious idea and used the time instead to treat the festival goers to some of the band’s biggest and most famous songs.

With a career spanning more than two decades, since their formation in 1994, the group – which also consists of guitarist Nathan Connolly, Paul Wilson (bass guitar), Jonny Quinn (drums) and Johnny McDaid (piano and guitar) – has racked-up a number hit records.

And they opened up with ‘Chocolate’ – a song from their third album which was released in 2004.

Moving through the gears, the band treated the audience to arguably their biggest anthem “Run”, before performing my personal favourite “Open Your Eyes” which saw Lightbody allow the crowd take over part of the vocals.

As the night-time darkness descended around the stage, the band launched into perhaps its most famous single “Chasing Cars” which was followed by “You're All I Have”.

There was time to wow their fans with an encore of “What If This Is All the Love You Ever Get?” and “Just Say Yes”.

Earlier, they had been supported by singer-songwriter and musician Jade Bird and alt-rock three piece Maximo Park, who proved to be a popular last-minute replacement for Kodaline.