Dave loved his Elbow so much he felt compelled to write about it……..
When tickets came out for elbow at The Apollo it was a no brainer. My favourite of 8 previous gigs rests at the Apollo back in 2008 for The Seldom Seen Kid tour where Elbow got right under my skin and has stayed since. The best ever Manchester band at the best venue. And, after being brainwashed since birth and seeing them at Glastonbury last year my eldest boy, Theo, wanted to go to celebrate his 8th birthday. With the age of an Elbow audience ranging from 8 to 80, I had no qualms in taking him. Wanting to see elbow over Nintendo games will do for me. Erasure was my first gig at 16!
Having arrived early to get a drink and see a bit of Black Rivers who sounded pretty damn good we awaited the mighty Elbow. Friends Trish (a seasoned Elbow goer) and Chris had also joined us. Chris, a rock and Status Quo aficionado knew one Elbow song but, when a friend couldn’t come, jumped into the fray.
‘Are we nearly there yet?’ was replaced by ‘are they nearly on yet?’ as Theo waited. As long as they played Lippy Kids he’d be going home happy.
After seeing them at the arena tour last year for the release of The Taking Off and Landing of Everything I was hoping for something more stripped down and raw. After being a slow burner for me their latest album is Elbow’s best to date but I’d been listening to Asleep in the Back and Cast of Thousands recently and the set-list for tonight blew me away. The divine lyrics of This Blue World ‘while three chambers of my heart beat true and strong with love for another, the fourth is yours forever’ set us on our journey for the night.
Fly Boy Blue/Lunette thumped then drifted into old friend Fugitive Motel, Superb. The Bones of You followed, and sent Trish into an ethereal trance, touched by her favourite song. Then, as I quickly sat down after a toilet dash, the bombshell: One Day Like This, a third of the way through the set? My bladder was full but had I returned only for the encore? Slipped into the middle of the set-list was perfect as expectation became anticipation and songs blended from the early years to present. Powder Blue, Real Life, McGreggor, Bitten by the Tailfly and then The Birds. The latter never fails to get the hairs standing on the back of my neck, even with a false start.
Guy Garvey then informed ‘This one’s for the ratchy bastards here’. Theo’s not quite old enough to be a ratchy bastard yet but I told him his favourite was on the way. Theo sang every word like he knew what it was like to steal booze and hour long hungry kisses. He’d be going home happy.
Hearing The Take Off and Landing of Everything into Newborn was the highlight of the night for me. It took the evening to new levels and I took the baton off Trish for an ethereal trance moment.
As the encore approached Guy Garvey lied there’d be no more and that their agent Geoff was to blame. Geoff got the jovial jeers before the band were back for Grounds for Divorce and My Sad Captains.
Leaving the Apollo tonight were two old fans, one young fan and a new fan. Chris would be taking a break from Quo for a while. What a perfect waste of time.
– Dave Warne