St Pauls Cathedral - May 26th Ticket giveaway!

Just thought I'd drop a line to tell of the amazing and wonderful evening this was at St Pauls.

What a breath-taking and atmospheric place for the first of its kind in The Crypt.

The band and the sound were amazing, so clear. So much so that Guy had to tell his girlfriend off who was standing to the left of the stage as he could hear everything she was saying, during a number, so a polite Shhhh was in need. LOL.

The band looked very relaxed and very at home. Guy said at one point his throat was not great and therefore liquid refreshment was needed. Though they didn't look like too many had been had beforehand.

The setlist was as follows:-

Mirrorball
Open Arms
The Night will always win
Great Expectations
Rochdale Girl
Grounds for Divorce
Switching Off
The River
One day like this
Lippy Kids
Dear Friends

Scattered Black and Whites (Encore)

Their version of Open Arms had been re-worked especially for the occasion. A lot more softer/accoustic version which I really enjoyed. A couple of guys next to us decided to join in the chorus which didn't sound great, but Guy looked and gave a wink in our direction.

Highlights were Switching Off, The River, Great Expectations and of course SBAW.

Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones made an impromptu appearance much to the excitement of folk around! I think lots of the bands friends and family were there too, Guy kept smiling at familiar faces in the crowd.

My only bug-bind is I only wish these competitions/events were made available to the real die-hard Elbow fans. It felt very much like a corporate event with nibbles and free wine, beer all night. When they played One Day Like this everyone went mad, of course! Still nonetheless this didn't detract from what was an "Absolute" (see what I did there!) amazing evening, certainly one not to forget.

There were cameras recording the event so whether that will become available who knows but Absolute Radio are broadcasting I know, correct me if I'm wrong, on the 5th June which will be one not to miss.

Icing on the cake was Scattered Black and Whites for the encore which was very poignant I felt. Always been up there as one of my "many" favourites. Also on the way out of the Cathedral, spotted Guy casually talking to a couple of folk and so wandered over to say hello. As I remember I turned to jelly and spoke complete gibberish and forgot to get a photo in all the excitement. He threw a few "Thank you very muuuch's" our way so I was obviously showering him with compliments in my moment of quivering wreckness.

I took a few pics and will post later, I do have a minute or so of the re-worked Open Arms version which I will try to upload too.

So all in all a wonderful evening. Can't believe how lucky I was to have the invite given to me. A huge big thank you to you, you know who you are!

Swwwwooon......

Thanks for the review Lynne, glad it all worked out!
Would be nice to see the audience clip and photos in that venue, I don't suppose many were being taken with the cameras filming there anyway.
What were the audience like? was there much other singing along or was it more reverent? I know mitchy didn't manage to get there, unfortunately (but do know of two long time fans who I found out yesterday, did manage)...wonder if anyone else trying last minute did?

(I enjoyed my night at the Icarus club. My friend was swooning over the bassist, lol! and the quality of music from the other bands there too was excellent)

Lynne wrote:

Just thought I'd drop a line to tell of the amazing and wonderful evening this was at St Pauls.

What a breath-taking and atmospheric place for the first of its kind in The Crypt.

The band and the sound were amazing, so clear. So much so that Guy had to tell his girlfriend off who was standing to the left of the stage as he could hear everything she was saying, during a number, so a polite Shhhh was in need. LOL.

The band looked very relaxed and very at home. Guy said at one point his throat was not great and therefore liquid refreshment was needed. Though they didn't look like too many had been had beforehand.

The setlist was as follows:-

Mirrorball
Open Arms
The Night will always win
Great Expectations
Rochdale Girl
Grounds for Divorce
Switching Off
The River
One day like this
Lippy Kids
Dear Friends

Scattered Black and Whites (Encore)

Their version of Open Arms had been re-worked especially for the occasion. A lot more softer/accoustic version which I really enjoyed. A couple of guys next to us decided to join in the chorus which didn't sound great, but Guy looked and gave a wink in our direction.

Highlights were Switching Off, The River, Great Expectations and of course SBAW.

Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones made an impromptu appearance much to the excitement of folk around! I think lots of the bands friends and family were there too, Guy kept smiling at familiar faces in the crowd.

My only bug-bind is I only wish these competitions/events were made available to the real die-hard Elbow fans. It felt very much like a corporate event with nibbles and free wine, beer all night. When they played One Day Like this everyone went mad, of course! Still nonetheless this didn't detract from what was an "Absolute" (see what I did there!) amazing evening, certainly one not to forget.

There were cameras recording the event so whether that will become available who knows but Absolute Radio are broadcasting I know, correct me if I'm wrong, on the 5th June which will be one not to miss.

Icing on the cake was Scattered Black and Whites for the encore which was very poignant I felt. Always been up there as one of my "many" favourites. Also on the way out of the Cathedral, spotted Guy casually talking to a couple of folk and so wandered over to say hello. As I remember I turned to jelly and spoke complete gibberish and forgot to get a photo in all the excitement. He threw a few "Thank you very muuuch's" our way so I was obviously showering him with compliments in my moment of quivering wreckness.

I took a few pics and will post later, I do have a minute or so of the re-worked Open Arms version which I will try to upload too.

So all in all a wonderful evening. Can't believe how lucky I was to have the invite given to me. A huge big thank you to you, you know who you are!

Swwwwooon......

Sounds wonderful Lynne - without checking with a fine tooth comb, it sounds very much like the set that they did at the radio station in Belgium and also in Amsterdam recently. I went in for the comp aswell but obviously didn't get a ticket.

I'll be happy if a slightly bigger setlist includes SBAW, Switching Off and the gorgeous Dear Friends, at Belsonic in August.....

Great to hear you had such a wonderful night The setlist sounds excellent so I'm looking forward to hearing the show on June 5th! And that's a pity it had more of a corporate vibe instead of fans of the band... but regardless it must have been a really nice intimate show. Also brilliant you got to meet Guy afterwards! Looking forward to seeing the photos and the video of Open Arms

Sounds like another brill gig for the lucky peeps !
Would have loved to hear Switching Off live there, must have been immense

Lynne wrote:

My only bug-bind is I only wish these competitions/events were made available to the real die-hard Elbow fans. It felt very much like a corporate event with nibbles and free wine, beer all night. When they played One Day Like this everyone went mad, of course! Still nonetheless this didn't detract from what was an "Absolute" (see what I did there!) amazing evening, certainly one not to forget.

Glad you had a great night. :-)
Your statement above pretty much sums things up. The lack of reviews on this forum shows just how few die-hard fans got to the gig.
Sadly the place will have been full of people who think that 'The Seldon Seen Kid' is Elbow's debut album. I've encountered far too many of those idiots on the last few tours. Upon them playing 'Switching Off' at Llandudno, I witnessed someone saying 'Oh this must be a new one, I don't think much to it at all'. Such a shame that tickets are wasted on these morons... Rant over!

Couldn't agree more, i am STILL vexed that it wasn't for proper fans, imagine the difference it would have made to our lives. One of the reasons i love the band so much is i thought they cared about their fans rather than media luvvies. Oh well, not for me to judge i suppose. I am so pleased at least Lynne got in and had a magical time.

mitchy wrote:

Couldn't agree more, i am STILL vexed that it wasn't for proper fans, imagine the difference it would have made to our lives. One of the reasons i love the band so much is i thought they cared about their fans rather than media luvvies. Oh well, not for me to judge i suppose. I am so pleased at least Lynne got in and had a magical time.

Although I do agree, the thing is; how do you decide who are the real fans? Where do you draw the line and who gets to decide? It's tricky!
I would definitely consider myself a 'real' fan but how would I prove that???
Having said that, I do think it's a shame so few of us managed to get to this very special gig...

So the show will be aired at 7pm on the 5th June. I booked a family meal for my daughters 13th birthday for 5pm that day! The Hotel better be quick, otherwise I'm missing dessert

Cheers for the heads-up

Very much looking forward to hearing the broadcast. Well done to the very few who managed to get in, but not much point us entering the competition, because we wouldn't have been able to get there anyway.

Click on link for more info http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/onair/events/1073-Elbow%3A+Live+music

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23952583-elbows-a-lossless-leader.do
In a crypt underneath St Paul's Cathedral, an experiment that could change the way we listen to radio. It will see a tiny gig by Elbow recorded by Absolute Radio and streamed online in a music format known as Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC).The key to FLAC is what experts describe as a "lossless" format. Most music we listen to, be it on MP3, traditional radio station, is compressed to save space. FLAC, however, contains every bit of information, making it a near perfect way to reproduce sound.

It's beautifuuuuuul !!!

lucky with disease wrote:

What were the audience like? was there much other singing along or was it more reverent?

I think thats been part answered as can hear the audience on the songs they broadcast, and who was referenced. I have been to St. Pauls Cathedral before, I wonder how many hands went up?
Great expectations, switching off, the river were not broadcast?

lucky with disease wrote:

Great expectations, switching off, the river were not broadcast?

Not sure about the audio but they were definitely there on the video-stream...

I listened on my Digital radio, complete with adverts and previous interview sliced inbeteween tracks...will see on video online then, thanks.

Great video,great sound, Great Expectations, Switching Off, The River and Scattered Black and Whites.

Simply the greatest band ever to have walked the earth.

By quite a long way........

What a lovely setlist. In order to make it 'quiet' throughout, I would have placed Newborn, Asleep in the Back & Fugitive Motel in the places of ODLT, Open Arms & GFD. I'm so glad they received the FLAC treatment for this.