Gary Lightbody industry, specifically how music is obtained by consumers. He questions the public's motive to buy the songs which they have already listened to, and blames Myspace for it. Of Snow Patrol, Lightbody has said that all albums they managed to sell in the early days were from touring, as there were no unauthorized copies of their music available then. He believes if the current state of the industry continues, it would become impossible for bands starting out to become full-time. Despite this, he observes that the band might not have survived if they had been successful early in their career,
Gary Lightbody as they would have subsequently taken that success for granted. Lightbody is known to keep his personal life private. Lightbody is passionate about football, is a supporter of Manchester United and has been known to support both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland national football teams. This is supported by the song "Lifening", in which he sings the lyrics "Ireland in the World Cup, either North or South". He is a fan of the , particularly Wolverine, and owns a stack of comics. He bought several comics as a kid and has some that he has never opened, hoping