Review of Elbow at The O2 – March 31st
Review by Kevin Donnellan
Photos by Alessio Michelini
Guy Garvey has been presented with a hat by a girl in the crowd. He sticks it on his head and heads off to start another song. But he’s called back, there’s a note in the hat. The girl got it from him at an Electric Picnic a few years ago. So she wanted to give it back along with a nice thank you note “…a hat for a song Mr Garvey.” It’s a lovely moment, but in a way not surprising. A lot of the crowd have been on a long journey with Elbow; Mr Garvey’s a friend now.
Elbow are now in the rarefied category of bands that can fill an arena without it being a comeback tour. And they’ve come the long way around to achieve that. But unlike, say, Kings of Leon and Snow Patrol they haven’t attracted any sniping from the sidelines for pulling this feat off. Musical differences from those bands aside, maybe it’s because they are both perfectly suited to arena status while being completely unassuming about getting here. They’re like you’re mates that are in a band, except they’ve achieved actual success. As comfortable as they look up onstage in the O2 you could also imagine them playing a friend’s wedding.
After a very early set by Villagers (which I sadly missed) the main act stride onstage, out of the Hogwarts style digital picture frames. It’s 8.45 and clear that there will be none of this one hour set nonsense. “There’s going to be a lot of this cheesy interactive shit tonight” declares Guy Garvey as he instructs the crowd to wave their hands. Of course he loves it though. And the crowd loves it. Even those of us too self-conscious or sober to take part until later.
Coming up to 20 years together as a band and here Elbow are playing to an adoring audience as they finish up their tour. Where to start? Well there’s Guy’s effortlessly powerfu,l but emotive voice. There’s the just-different-enough-from-the-studio-versions-to-be-interesting performances of an impressive back catalogue. There’s the constantly coming and going string section. The superb lighting, with a giant disco ball thrown into the mix at one point. And that’s before we even get to Guy Garvey’s brilliant way with an audience.
His quips are spot on,”This is our last song…well maybe its not.” His pantomine-ish cajoling for louder singalongs and better arm waving is done with just the right amount of tongue placed in cheek. “You’re better than Glasgow, but not as good as Cambridge…I’m just saying.” His matter-of-fact explanations of song lyrics are endearing. “Now a song about telling your friend off.” This is a man who has experienced enough dingy, half-empty venues to appreciate the fun that can be had with a large, appreciative audience.
The fans that have been with Elbow since the start probably get most out of it but for us latecomers there’s plenty to enjoy. ‘Grounds For Divorce’ is probably the highlight, possibly the best ode to an ill advised session ever. But ‘The Bones of You’ and ‘Neat Little Rows’ also work a treat. Aside from the two singles from ‘Build a Rocket Boys’ we’ll probably need to wait for festival season before there are proper sing-along moments with the new stuff.
Towards the end of the night the band gather around the piano that turns into a bar (really) for a cocktail. They raise a glass to each other and to us (the ‘Hat Girl’ gets a glass too, hopefully she won’t try and return that at a future gig, it could get messy). The tours at an end and it looks like they couldn’t be more satisfied. ‘Weather to Fly’ and ‘Open Arms’ end the main set beautifully. Then it’s time for a three song encore that finishes (surprise!) with ‘One Day Like This’. The songs ubiquity may have dulled it’s impact when you hear it on the radio but bands could waste careers trying to write a song that can end a set so perfectly. And that’s it. Everyone heads off, presumably delighted, and we can just hope they’ll be back for more in the summer.
