Elbow

Fresh from the V Festival, where Elbow have been blowing audiences away, the band took to The Corner’s stage in front of a packed and adoring Melbourne crowd. Elbow are a band that have had to work long and hard to get to where they are today, and so it seems, the band enjoy it all the more now audiences are finally ‘getting it’. Maybe it’s the Australian custom of backing an underdog, or maybe the time is just right? Whatever the case, this gig saw Elbow performing in front of a crowd who definitely ‘got it’, and wanted nothing but for the gig to continue long into the night.

Elbow opened with Starlings, the opening track from their highly-acclaimed album, The Seldom Seen Kid. In a time where cheap minimalist musicianship and rehashing sounds of previous eras is all the rage, it is refreshing to see a band as melodically-driven and musically-ambitious bucking those trends. From the first blast of horns, it was instantly obvious that this gig would be something special. Frontman Guy Garvey delivered a faultless performance, before offering the crowd a jovial “cheers” to acknowledge their enthusiastic response. Elbow moved on to The Bones of You, a brooding and driving track that went “straight to our heads like the first cigarette of the day”. Mirrorball followed, which Garvey explained was written the day after he fell in love with the girl he is currently in love with; a beautiful and honest introduction to an equally amazing rendition of the song. The stage simplistically lit with a mirrorball, the band silenced The Corner with their performance.

From there, Elbow moved into their equally strong back catalogue. Leaders of The Free World, about the “bad old days” of George W. Bush’s reign, was warmly received, as was The Stops. Then, the highlight of the set was laid before us. A brilliant performance of The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver. If you’ve not seen the band’s performance of this track at the Mercury Music Prize award night (a prize the band took out), check it out on YouTube. It was flawless, just as it was within the more intimate setting of The Corner. Guy Garvey’s delivery and presence were so disarmingly unassuming, that it is impossible to describe the performance without gushing shamefully.

Any Day Now, from Elbow’s first album, Asleep In The Back, was another incredible highlight, with its lush vocal harmonies and progressive arrangement. Weather to Fly offered Garvey a chance to interact with the crowd, receiving a cheer every time he crooned, “Are we having the time of our lives now?” One Day Like This saw him take things a step further, literally reaching out to the crowd, turning Melbourne’s disaffected scenesters into little children, as they wrestled each other to shake the man’s hand while singing along joyfully that it was indeed “looking like a beautiful day” .

Elbow’s performance at The Corner was something special. As a friend of mine noted, shows like that are an experience and more than just seeing a band. It happens so rarely and is so special, that it is capable of changing us as people, at least on some level. For me, I left The Corner with a stupid smile on my face, singing drunkenly in my friend’s ears, still wanting nothing more but for the gig to continue long into the night.

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