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Spectator
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Ultimately hard to resist: Elbow reviewed
Our relationships with bands are often very like our relationships with people. Some are pure and lasting love. Some start promisingly but spoil. Some are quick, thrilling flings, others a more meaningful yet distant connection. Elbow are the kind of band you enjoy having a pint with every few months. Not always the most exciting company, perhaps, but smart, convivial and good hearted. Thoughtful. Reliable. They might arrive – bang on time – for your latest rendezvous armed with a funny story about a beleaguered colleague, but they're unlikely to announce they're running off to Brazzaville with the intern. You know where you are with Elbow – in this instance, a shallow concrete amphitheatre in Glasgow's leafy west end. The Kelvingrove Bandstand has been successfully hosting shows for a decade as part of the Summer Nights series which runs throughout August, and which this year rather leaves Edinburgh International's offerings during the same period in the shade. Depending on one's mood, Elbow's music can land anywhere on a spectrum between a tad boring and quietly ravishing. In such a bucolic setting, there was always a fair chance of the latter winning out over the former. Their big, enveloping sound – the core five-piece band was filled out with additional backing vocalists and horn players – elegantly filled the evening air on songs such as 'The Birds', 'The Seldom Seen Kid' and the gorgeous 'Lippy Kids'. The last of these is the ultimate in Elbowism: tender, knowing, literate, at once terribly sad and oddly uplifting. Tracks such as 'Her To The Earth' and 'Things I've Been Telling Myself For Years' from last year's number one album Audio Vertigo held their own alongside more established favourites. And while the default setting was a kind of stately drift, there were moments when the music became agreeably gnarly, as on the thundering 'Good Blood Mexico City', the surging 'Adriana Again', and the churning bluesy groove of 'Grounds For Divorce'. For all the musical craft, Elbow would be a little lost without vocalist Guy Garvey, who is in many respects the quintessential modern indie star, with a show on Radio 6 Music and a programme on Sky Arts (From The Vaults). The sense of existing familiarity between him and his audience was used to good effect. Folk musicians would traditionally introduce each song with a short primer on provenance. Garvey tended to do the same, placing each tune in its emotional context. Now and then it felt like Stephen Fry fronting a BBC Proms tribute to Genesis. By the time the set reached the closing duo of 'My Sad Captains' and 'One Day Like This' – Elbow's best-known song by a mile, and comfortably one of their least appealing – the feeling of happy communality in the cooling air was ultimately hard to resist. It was nice to catch up. Let's do it again sometime. Karine Polwart is a singer, songwriter and storyteller rooted in Scotland's folk community. In recent years curiosity and a collaborative spirit has taken her work into interesting new areas. In 2016, with composer and sound designer Pippa Murphy, she wrote an acclaimed one-woman piece, A Pocket Of Wind Resistance, staged at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh. Several other cross-genre projects followed. Polwart has collaborated again with Murphy on Windblown, which premièred during the fringe with a short run at the Queen's Hall. Emerging from her spell as artist-in-residence at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, the show mixed song, poetry, spoken word and movement to tell the story of the enormous sabal palm tree which stood in the Gardens for over two centuries, quickly outgrowing its original glass house. In 2021, the already ailing 60ft palm was chopped down to make way for extensive renovations. From this central narrative trunk Polwart, admirably supported by pianist Dave Milligan, wove a moving and quietly mesmerising spell that touched on loss, lockdown, endings and new beginnings. The recurring lyrical theme – 'For the time is nearly over' – built up to assume the power of an incantation. The folk-inflected music and nature-infused words were beautiful, and Polwart's command of all aspects of the performance exemplary. As a new work by one of the most significant creative figures currently working in Scotland, here's hoping Windblown scatters to other realms soon enough. It already feels like it might become a fascinating new friend.
Scotsman
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Elbow, Glasgow review: 'good company'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Elbow, Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow ★★★★ Elbow frontman Guy Garvey has a lot of charm and stage presence for a man who looks like Ed Balls shopping at Homebase. But that, of course, is all part of this Greater Manchester band's mass appeal. They're unassuming everymen with big romantic bear-hugging hearts. No wonder they're so successful. I get it. In a world overstuffed with earnest peddlers of arena-sized 'anthems', Elbow are clearly so much better at This Sort of Thing than most of their peers. They mean it, man. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It helps that Garvey is a good lyricist who, broadly speaking, belongs to a lineage of working-class northern songwriters which also includes Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker (but not Noel Gallagher). During the first of three sold-out nights at Kelvingrove Bandstand they were embellished by two backing singers and a three-woman brass section, who at one point performed a warm 'n' woozy snippet of Gershwin's Summertime. The baroque strings which occasionally adorn their records were handled by the keyboards (Elbow are like a Tindersticks you could take home to meet your mother). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Their default setting is nocturnal rain-swept ballads - set highlights The Birds and Lippy Kids are quintessential Elbow - but they do 'rock' at times. Adriana At Last, with its surging, swirling chanted chorus, suggests they're familiar with the bonkers '70s concept album 666 by Greek prog-rockers Aphrodite's Child. And Garvey - who also works as a BBC 6 Music presenter - is an avuncular pro who chats to the crowd like they're sat in his living room.
Wales Online
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
A night with Elbow at Cardiff Castle, goosebumps and all
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info I'm a bit guilty of not really making the most of the live music we have in the capital often enough. This summer, as is becoming the norm, there's something for everyone in terms of gigs in Wales' capital. Sting, Will Smith, Stevie Wonder, Stereophonics? Oh, and a group of fellas from Manchester, you might have heard them mentioned. But the one I knew I wanted to see was Elbow partly because they're the exact sort of band the venue calls out for. As part of this summer's TK Maxx presents Depot Live at Cardiff Castle they were joined by The Coral and Billie Marten. From superstar gigs to cosy pubs, find out What's On in Wales by signing up to our newsletter here Elbow were preceeded by Snow Patrol the night before, and you can read that review here. This night, there was a weather warning for thunderstorms and there was a mass arrival of ponchos and waterproofs required partway through the set. I'd listen to Guy Garvey in most places. His haunting, effortless voice is, many years of music in, nothing short of lovely. The castle really is a special venue and suited them down to the crowd. The last time I went to one of the Depot Live gigs at the castle I saw a Faithless DJ set and it lends itself to a jump around just as much as a sway to Elbow. In a set just shy of two hours, Elbow performed 20 songs, mixing old and new. Starting with 2008's Starlings, he quipped some of the material to come would be older than some audience members. Next came Lovers Leap. Other tracks included Lippy Kids, Magnificent, Kindling, Mirrorball and Seldom Seen Kid. But they could only close with One Day Like This, a song so beautiful, even the rain stopped in time for us to enjoy it in all its glory. Garvey apologised for his voice being not 100% but it wasn't noticeable from where we were. It was never going to be a raucous gig, but even the most mellow of tunes were brought to life by the band, with a seemingly endless supply of instruments and vocals to boot. Garvey knew how to get the crowd growing, a vocal warm up for the final, goosebump-inducing number was a lovely touch. An effortlessly talented band who seem to still love what they do, one day like this a year really would see me right. The other TK Maxx presents Depot Live at Cardiff Castle gigs are: June 13 Elbow with The Coral and Billie Marten June 20 Jamie Jones and Chris Stussy June 25 Maribou State with Jitwam and Anish Kumar June 26 The Script and Tom Walker June 28 Sting and The Lilacs and Sophie Grey July 8 The Human League with Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey and Blancmange July 10 James and Shed Seven and Jamie Webster July 13 Rag 'n' Bone Man and Elles Bailey July 19 Rock the Castle - Funeral for Friend, The Blackout, Punk Rock Factory and more July 20 UB40 Ft Ali Campbell with Bitty McClean and Reggae Roast Ft Mr Williamsz July 26 Depot in the Castle Jess Glynne Maximo Park, Sigma, Kate Nash, Professor Green, GLC and Blue Dolphin Wranglers. July 30 Fontaines CD with Kae Tempest and High Vis July 31 Pet Shop Boys and Dave Pearce August 1 Faithless with Kosheen and Chicane August 20 and 21 Tom Jones with Stone Foundation August 24 Basement Jaxx with Ezra Collective and Eats Everything August 25 Will Smith with Nile Rodgers and Chic
