Elbow @ The Roundhouse
October 13 2008 @ The Roundhouse, London.
From the moment we walked in to The Roundhouse we knew it was going to be a special night. You could feel it in the air, the place palpably crackled with expectant electricity. Barely a month ago Elbow won the Mercury Music Prize, a long overdue recognition of the talents of one of Britain most consistently brilliant bands, but this gig sold out way before that, so everyone here has the smug feeling of being on the inside of something special. All that remained was for Guy and the boys to deliver and my word did they deliver. In spades. With knobs on. And a cherry on top.
Suddenly the lights go down and the fever goes up another notch. The ladies of the supporting string quartet take their places at the back of the stage and the familiar arpeggio from the intro to ‘Starlings’ seeps out from the PA. Then swiftly the band take their places, all brandishing trumpets and with a coordinated attack of sight and sound hit the first stab of brass accompanied by a wash of bright white light, and there goes the roof.
Afterwards, Guy offers the crowd a cheeky ‘Is everybody alright?, of course we’re alright, we’re fucking ecstatic!
The songs from ‘Seldom Seen Kid’ deservedly get plenty of airtime tonight, making up half of the set. ‘Starlings’ is rapidly followed by ‘Bones Of You’ and a spinetingling ‘Mirrorball’, punctuated by a belting ‘Leaders Of The Free World’.
One of Elbow’s strong points has always been the range of dynamics between their songs, and this becomes even more apparent live, as they build the audience up with a series of rocking numbers only to bring them gently down again with songs of searing beauty. Then, just as the melancholy begins to bite, they take off again, such that ‘Some Riot’ and ‘Red’ (the oldest song the still play according to Guy) are backed up with ‘Grounds For Divorce’ and then ‘Mexican Standoff’.
Breaking up this onslaught of wonderful songsmithery is, of course, Guy’s banter. This man could be a stand up if he put his mind to it. Not the one liner joke type, but the deeply engaging story type. I could listen to him for hours, never mind the music.
But of course, it is really all about the music, and this is never more apparent than at the climax of the set.
‘New Born’ comes next. How to describe this experience? Mesmerising? Captivating? Coruscating? All of this and so much more. Impossible to put in to words. Find it on You Tube, you still won’t know what it was like unless you were there, but maybe you might, just might, get a flavour of it. Certainly my most thrilling musical moment of 2008 up to that point. Obviously, that was before I knew what was coming.
‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Weather To Fly’ bring the pace back down and allow us to get our breath back and then they go and top everything so far. When the album came out I described ‘One Day Like This’ as something that could be prescribed to depressives, live it’s like 10,000 volts of pure ecstasy applied direct to the cerebral cortex. As the first chorus approaches, Guy launches some kind of bazooka sized party popper in to the crowd and a thousand balloons fall from the ceiling. Suddenly it feels more like we’re at some sort of evangelical church rather than a gig, such is the feeling of euphoric celebration. And then they’re off.
But not for long. The frenzied crowd drag them out once more and they give us three more. The beautifully stripped down ‘Puncture Repair’, the stirringly nostalgic ‘Station Approach’ and then, specifically designed to leave us washed out and bleeding from the heart, ‘Scattered Black & Whites’.
So far My Bloody Valentine has been my outstanding gig of 2008 but, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new leader. This was the sound of a band brimming with confidence and totally happy with where they are at, truly magnificent.