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One privilege of the band’s new-found prominence is the opportunity for bringing their favourite smaller bands to larger venues. Garvey proudly welcomed The Acorn as support. The Ottawa-based five-piece’s charming half-hour set displayed positive hints of Fleet Foxes’ vocals and similar instrumentation to that for which Sufjan Stevens is well known.
Elbow’s arrival on stage was characteristically heralded by the recorded opening of ‘Starlings’, their all-female string quartet adding enticing backing vocals before the band joined for a blast of trumpets. Guy Garvey has a genuine talent for evoking a great emotional response with the simple imagery of his lyrics, and ‘Starlings’ is a fine example, with talk of “marriage in an orange grove” and “spinning and diving like a cloud of starlings” enlivened by his flawless delivery.
Against a backdrop of their Rubik’s cube album cover, it was The Seldom Seen Kid that provided most of the set’s content. ‘Mirrorball’ made use of the Academy’s huge disco ball, ‘Grounds For Divorce’ saw Garvey let loose on a pair of drums brought to centre stage, and the full version of ‘Weather To Fly’ was complemented by a stripped down reimagining of the song, which preceded it.
Sheffield being the hometown of collaborator Richard Hawley, it was welcome, if unsurprising, when Hawley joined the band on stage for ‘The Fix’, his distinctive vocals and guitar sound adding to the song’s noir story-telling.
Older songs played included ‘The Stops’ (about “wishing someone well, when you want to chop their head off”), ‘Switching Off’ and the stunning ‘Newborn’, played by the whole ensemble with a great musical and emotional sensitivity.
Aside from the music and lyrics, Elbow’s live strength comes from Garvey’s banter with the crowd. Here, more than ever, he engaged with any hecklers, and a technical hitch went by unnoticed as his anecdotal style (telling stories of band members’ parents, meeting Richard Hawley and festivals) shifted the crowd’s attention.
‘One Day Like This’ closed the main portion of the set, and got far and away the most enthusiastic response from the crowd. Streamers were fired across the venue as the song reached its singalong climax, before the band left the stage briefly. On returning to the stage, the lighting slowed down and the band became stationary for the hypnotic ‘Scattered Black and Whites’ to close the encore.
The Acorn: MySpace / Elbow: Official Site | MySpace
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