Critical reception of the live performance has been generally mixed as well, though the band has been praised for playing it. Contactmusic.com reviewed a Snow Patrol concert at the M.E.N. Arena on 7 March 2009. Though it called the song "ambitious by anyone's standards" and praised the animation calling it "impressive", it felt the song wasn't the best choice for an encore. WalesOnline's Paul Rowland wrote a review of the gig at Cardiff International Arena the next day. He praised the song, calling it a "three-movement epic". He reported that, though the song was a welcome change in the encore, some fans did not appreciate it and headed home: "After all, they'd already heard "Run", and the traffic's awful this time of night". The same happened at a free gig at iTunes Festival 2009 at The Roundhouse in London. In "The News", Chris Jefferies reported that the band had to play the song to a "half-empty crowd", but had praise for the band saying "there is much, much more to this band".