19th October 2008 - Elbow at Glasgow Academy
Not long after The Charlatans I was at the Academy to see Elbow. I had caught them at the Connect festival in August and I was hugely impressed. They played what must have been a pretty identical set-list at the Academy and although it wasn't really music to dance to or sing-a-long to, it was certainly music to appreciate and get lost in. Elbow clearly take a great deal of pride in their music. They are creative and inventive, playful and thoughtful, in an era where many bands copy the NME's latest fave band and stick with that.
Elbow are riding on the crest of a wave just now after winning the Mercury Music Prize and that showed in their performance. Guy Garvey was brimming with confidence, a far cry from when I first saw them supporting New Order in Manchester. He was happy to talk to the crowd, raise a glass and toast them and get his band into a huddle to start off the magnificent 'Weather To Fly'.
The reception that 'One Day Like This' received was predictable, but still emphatic. It lifted the crowd and took them to a place warmer than a cold night in Glasgow. But it was the groove of 'Grounds For Divorce' that got the crowd really going. A very enjoyable gig.
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