Elbow in Liverpool 2014. Photograph by Mr. Darren Moore.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
For many inside the Liverpool Echo Arena it may well have been the first opportunity to see Elbow in such a setting. The enormous roofed space in which has held so many great concerts since it first opened its doors to the public in 2008 now reverberated and swayed to the atmospheric delights employed by Elbow.
Performing these gigs on the back of their latest album release, the thought could have been that the band may have started to let go of their other albums, nobody would blame them as time must inevitably move forward but this is Elbow and there is always time to nod to the songs that put them in the place where they stand now. A group that can make deeply personal lyrics, the everyday and the obscure sound so relevant to each individual fortunate enough to be in their company for the evening.
Opening the evening with the tracks Charge, The Bones Of You and Fly Blue Boy/Lunette set the scene for a great evening’s entertainment. It also showed what citizens of every town and city can do. No matter how big or small, how expensive or delightfully free an event is, the more people that get out and about to witness life as it happens, the less power certain television companies and perhaps Governments have over. Music delivered in this form has the power to stir the imagination and must be grasped before the feeding of music really does become extinct.
The evening was emotionally commanding, dominant surely in everybody’s minds as the band took the rollercoaster of thoughtful character to enjoyable heights. Tracks such as New York Morning, Great Expectations, The Birds and Grounds For Divorce were accomplished pieces of art and gave the date an extra special meaning. For the people of Liverpool, this week of all weeks in such a commemorative year, it was the perfect musical partner to enjoy.
How you handle the encore break is one of those musical interludes that can send an audience into mock apathy. Everybody knows it coming; everybody understands that, barring the gig having been an unmitigated disaster to the point where the vocalist has forgotten every single lyric and the bass player has stormed off in a huff, the band will come back on to do a couple of more numbers. It can lead to a boring moment or two, but with Guy Garvey’s deep Lancashire dry humour and patient style he got the audience in a playful mood by turning their mock derived jeers and very audible delivered boos and making a game of it and also making the audience believe something new. By getting them to hiss, boo and cheer one after another the gentle sound of the Mersey River at High tide could be imagined lapping at the feet of everybody in the crowd. It was a stunning effect and so very Guy Garvey.
The evening played out to great thunderous applause as the tracks Starlings, the superb and wonderfully performed Lippy Kids and the gorgeous One Day Like This all confirmed what many in the audience already knew, Elbow are just a fantastic band to appreciate both live and in the studio.
As one of the band’s lyrics suggests, to sit and be overawed, to plainly be struck by the immensity of the voice and music that Elbow have at their disposal, is just the most perfect waste of time. Faultless, unspoiled and immensely satisfying, Elbow are a band in which to derive great pleasure from when the world is going much too fast the for civilised world to understand. Elbow must be considered lyrically superb and an astounding band to watch live.
Ian D. Hall