Elbow

21 Oct 2008

Having seen Elbow at the Carling Academy and being totally blown away with them I was expecting this to be a very good night and it was, fantastic in fact. They were brilliant but more on that later.

First up was the support band or more specific the support artist as there was only one. Step forward Jesca Hoop. Anyone who missed her missed a couple of treats. Firstly before she came on we got a glimpse of Elbow front man Guy Garvey as he came on to announce her arrival and “big her up”. Secondly Guy rejoined Jesca on stage to perform one of her songs. Thirdly she had a beautiful voice which when combined with her acoustic guitar playing was a joy to behold. Those who missed out on her performance missed a treat. Although Jesca said she lived in downtown LA I couldn’t decide if she was American or not as she seemed to sing with a Bjork style Scandinavian accent. The acoustics of the The Sage lend themselves to her style of music and her voice and guitar playing were as clear as crystal just like listening to it on headphones.

No sooner than Jesca had left we were getting ready for Elbow. After a short interval the stage hand flashed the torch to signal the start, the lights dimmed and the band came onto the stage to take the now familiar pose for the opening number “Starlings”. Wow the acoustics of the venue led themselves to Elbows orchestral style of music with the 4 piece string section really coming across as crisp and detailed. It’s difficult to pick out any one number I enjoyed the most but I think I’d have to pick “One Day Like This” because you get to sing at the end. Not that I can sing, cut out all the noise and just leave my voice and you’d run for cover. But the two songs that stick in my mind as particularly benefiting of the venue was “Newborn” and “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver”. Other songs I can remember being played were “The Bones of You”, “Mirrorball” (complete with the lighting affect), “Grounds for Divorce”, “Weather to Fly” (another sing-along-song), “Some Riot”, “Leaders Of The Free World” but there were many more which I’m not familiar with having only briefly listed to their back catalogue. In what seemed no time they reached their last song and it was time for them to go off after playing for about 90 minutes. Everyone wanted an encore and we chanted, clapped and stamped our feet until they came back on to do another 3 songs. The encore was polished off with the final song being “Scattered Black and Whites”. This had been a fantastic gig in one of the best (acoustically) venues in the country. Guy Garvey makes a perfect front man because he can engage the audience which he did throughout the gig chatting and sharing a joke or two. I get the impression that the rest of the band are happy to take a back seat and let him get on with it. We even sang happy birthday to the drummer, Richard. But one thing strikes you about this band and that is they look like ordinary blokes, there’s no attitude. I was disappointed that they didn’t do “Grace Under Pressure” and or “The Fix” but I can’t grumble. Nearly 120 minutes of Elbow was well worth it. One thing I think the band found strange was the fact that the audience were sitting for most of the songs but I enjoyed that as it was far more relaxing.

Next up is this rogue’s gallery, Motorhead, Saxon & Danko Jones at the Carling Academy Friday 7th November 2008.