Guy Garvey live with Elbow at the Manchester Apollo, 2015 (Photo: Gary Mather for Live4ever)
It’s usually pretty easy to describe Elbow, live or even on record, it’s just a case of throwing around words like grandiose, anthemic, uplifting and so on and so on.
This isn’t meant to denigrate what they do, in fact it’s a signal of just how consistently impressive they are. To have such words of accolade showered on them, so often, that they almost begin to sound humdrum really does say everything there is to say about Elbow.
So the expectation is for good things. Couple this with the fact that Manchester is effectively a hometown gig for Garvey and the boys, it’s expectation city.
What they deliver is impressive; it is also grandiose, anthemic uplifting and so on and so on. Or in simple terms, it is quite brilliant. Hitting the stage, and then the crowd, with a sublime double whammy of the lilting beauty. First ‘This Blue World‘, followed by ‘Any Day Now‘. It’s game over for any naysayers. Two songs in, crowd captivated, job done.
But, in reality this is merely just the start of the party.
They run a full victory lap of their career, taking songs from everywhere, and giving an expectant crowd everything they expected. There’s the majestic beauty of ‘Powder Blue‘ and a thrilling charge through ‘Bitten By The Tailfly‘. ‘Fugitive Motel‘ impresses as much as anything else, and there’s also the now obligatory, and always brilliant, stomp through ‘Grounds For Divorce‘ and a wonderfully impassioned ‘One Day Like This‘.
They just keep churning them out, one after the other. It’s like spending an evening with an old friend you haven’t seen in a long time. Full of reminisces and laughter, it’s so relaxed that you almost wish it would never end.
This night might only be the opener of their four-show residency, but they play as if it’s the final show of a tour. They love every minute, praising the crowd and soaking up the gushing adoration heaped back on them in reply. Which makes for the only unusual dynamic of the evening – the ‘why?’. This is not a new album tour, or a greatest hits tour, or a testing new material tour, or any of the usual promotional nights. Tonight seems to just be about the music.
Elbow @ the Manchester Apollo, 2015 (Photo: Gary Mather for Live4ever)
This slight shift in focus feels a little unusual when you stop and think about it, so Elbow simply don’t stop to let you think about it. With powerful versions of ‘The Bones Of You‘ and ‘Mexican Standoff‘ that are full body blows the real point of the evening proves to be the crowd. Elbow seem to have wanted to put a on a show for the sake of putting on a show, and that is really reason enough.
Overall, it’s still hard to find something to say that isn’t once again referring to them as grandiose, anthemic, uplifting and so on and so on; because, quite honestly, that is what they are, and that’s no bad thing. Live they are comfortable and lithe, the show never sags, and never feels like it’s going through the motions. Everything is full of conviction and emotion; it’s all lain bare – honestly and beautifully. This is a band at the peak of their powers, clear minds and true hearts, a band that speaks to the audience as friends, and plays for them like they are family.
Tonight is just about music and people, Elbow don’t just bring the music – they bring so much more.