Snow Patrol overcome a bout of writer's block and that the songs written for the new album were scrapped before being replaced by new "mind-boggling" material. On 28 January 2018, the band's social media announced the upcoming release of their seventh studio album, entitled "Wildness", which was released on 25 May 2018. The promotional video simply showed lead singer Gary Lightbody floating on a raft with a piano and seemingly trying to phone someone who is engaged. The success of Snow Patrol has influenced the thriving Belfast music scene positively. This includes Lightbody, who returned to the city and now lives there.
Taking Back the Cities Tour and sang lead female vocals on "Set the Fire to the Third Bar", which originally featured Martha Wainwright. On 9 March, Gary Lightbody & Nathan Connolly appeared as guests in Iain Archer's set at the Ulster Hall, Belfast, which was hosting "Do You Remember the First Time?" a one-off event by BBC Across The Line. Lightbody wrote a blog about the other artists that appeared at the event later. The last show of the tour had the band's friends & family and the Northern Irish Football squad in the 9,000 strong audience. The band played to an estimated 200,000 fans