Arriving onstage unfashionably early by a good two minutes, beers in hand and raising a cheers to the audience, Elbow begin their third and final night at Hammersmith Apollo (despite selling out arenas last year) without a bang, but with a wave of lingering strings before the atmospheric, lullaby-like opener, ‘This Blue World’.
It’s all very fitting for a band who are difficult to categorise. While huge anthems ‘One Day Like This’ and ‘Grounds For Divorce’ have been sung back from voices in their tens of thousands, from Glastonbury to V Fest, there are moments when Elbow’s slippery rhythmic stories are more like Bellowhead than fellow festival favourites Coldplay. Although tonight’s crowd consists of a much more middle-class bunch, Guy Garvey fails to put on any airs and graces: “At some point this evening, please remind me, I have the best story you’ve ever heard,” he announces, which does turn out to be one of the best stories ever heard, featuring an out of work actor, a French maid and an unflushable poo.
And from one mixed bag to another, Garvey introduces ‘Fly Boy Blue / Lunette’ (“A song containing air traffic, babies, smoking and drinking… What else is there?”). While his professionalism during the tracks (almost classical at times, assisted by a small string and brass section) never fails to slip, his in-between banter is flawless; perhaps not the pub landlord figure but the long term, slightly bearded barman of an inn that was hipster before the phrase was coined, more likely to be found with a warm ale, collecting the stories of the characters that visited, and with a little more freedom of speech than someone in charge.
The aforementioned ‘One Day Like This’ arrives surprisingly early, and although the audience only singalong is expectedly spine-shiver inducing, the choruses where Garvey commands “harmonise!” are something else. Whether there is a particularly well-trained bunch in the room, or its acoustics are beyond flattering, it’s a moment that seems to surprise the audience and band alike, and yet it’s difficult to think of another track which could provide it.
Unorthodox in length and lyrics, the favourites continue with ‘Switching Off’ (about which memory you’d choose at the end of your life, given the chance), ‘the birds’, which seems to soar above a storm before diving into it, and recent single ‘Real Life (Angel)’, with the very slightest hint of disco in its beat. ‘lippy kids’ sees an impressive audience whistle-along (and choir for “build a rocket boys”, naturally, with the track dedicated to the late string-section member, Vince) while ‘The Take Off And Landing Of Everything’ blends Eastern European beats with a splash of ‘80s indie.
It’s been a decade since their take off, and their landing should be some time away – these are undoubtably timeless tunes – but there’s also a feeling that this isn’t Elbow’s everything. They rarely write “hits”, and the standard singalongs are rare, but there’s something about the band that appeals to the masses, both the festival fashionistas and the 50-something teachers, which should see their everything shared between many more venues, whether outdoors, in arenas or even from the barstool of a candle-lit, cobwebbed pub. Because there’s something organic and grounded about Elbow’s sound, but it’s one that’s presented stunningly.
Words:
Dan Bull
@danbull7609
Images:
©Robert Gershinson 2014
Dan Bull
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