XFM Manchester on 13th April

As said in the Elbow e-mail from the 3rd, they performed an intimate gig at their recording studio in Salford and in case we have some curious minds as to what we should be expecting when it comes to the music, a review has been writen up here. In case you don't feel like clicking an external link, the review is below. I'm beginning to like the fact that they're getting more press opportunities with the new label, it means more live material for the fans to listen to and the exposure that they're receiving might just mean that 2008 is their year.

Quote :

Elbow @ Blueprint Studios
Sam Breen
4/ 4/2008

BURY-based indie underdogs showcase their forthcoming tour in familiar surroundings.

For an exclusive one off concert, Elbow agreed to perform to an intimate crowd of devout Xfm-listening fans, family and some local industry types.

The venue (Blueprint Studios) as the crowd are informed, was used for the recording of Cast of Thousands and Leaders of the Free World. Standing in the main studio - a stark reminder of Manchester’s industrialist past, with its huge ship-beam ceilings and red-bricked walls – it seems clear how Elbow have drawn inspiration from it.

Whether it’s the heat, the draped windows or the anticipating crowd, the sense of claustrophobia, a recurring theme in Elbow’s output, is tangible.

On walks the band trumpets in hands, they blast lone notes into the sky; It’s flashy, glamorous and highly effective. Elbow look match fit on the improvised stage. Kitted out in their young-creative-type shirts and suits they look, perhaps appropriately tonight, as if they’re playing a family function.

Singer, Guy Garvey is on great form tonight. With his strained quasi Peter Gabriel voice, lyric “We kissed like we invented it” arches over the crowd in Garvey’s fatigued, yet austere delivery.

Popstar

For ‘On A Day Like This’ Garvey plays the working class popstar, arm outstretched wielding an aluminium rod he strikes it elaborately with a drumstick, as though he were mining the coke, before mustering the crowd in a mass sing-a-long.

The most overwhelming feature of tonight’s performance is how neatly the new material sits in between older material; holding it’s own, it expands and drives the group’s repertoire.

Highlight of the evening came in the subtle, ‘Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver.’ Starting a little rough ‘round the edges, it picked up momentum through a slick chord change and raised the bar of expectations.

For ‘The Fix’ Richard Hawley, the tracks hired gun, props himself up onstage next to Garvey. The pair clearly get along, but in such intimate surroundings their air of rapport seems overcooked and needy, provoking a series of unbearable banter. Such theatrics should perhaps be reserved for bigger audiences.

Unfortunately, the unjustified sense of ‘Coldplay imitation’ on a playful rendition of Grace Under Pressure continues to haunt the track’s strengths and blurs the groups advances since it’s release in 2003.

As Garvey sips some throat tonic to preserve his vocals, the band drive on into the next song - the feeling that they’ve got a long journey ahead is inescapable.

The show will broadcast across the Xfm network on Sunday 13th April.

cheers, interesting article.

That was cool to read, thanks for that mate.

What gets me is that One Day Like This is consistently being referred to as On a Day Like This. It came up as that on media player as well!

good point

It's been showing up a lot as 'On A Day Like this' and it probably has something to do with the leak being mislabeled and no one bothering to look up the correct title.

ah, that makes sad sense. bummer!

Great post, thanks for this!