overlap

When I'd bypassed the door last sunday, I'd rather missed out on the front door experience. This time I joined the queue to find myself lined up waiting to get metal detectored into a gig for only the second time in my life, the first being somewhere altogether more well known for riotous behaviour. I may be living a very sheltered life, but this tickled me immensely and brought to mind the 1979 film The Warriors in which the phrase 'Warriors, come out to pla-aay!' features as an incitement to engage in some serious gang violence. Elbow are from Bury, which should be explanation enough. Support Jesca Hoop was introduced by Guy Garvey, and despite this warm recommendation, a single acoustic guitar and vocal performance was always going to struggle to occupy a crowd waiting for a flavour of the moment, eighteen year overnight success that has the touts outside only asking for people wanting to sell. Jesca's vocal style is somewhere between Julie Fowlis and Carina Round in terms of using the voice as an instrument rather than a mechanism to communicate via the lyrics. Since I particularly go for lyrical content, I can't say I'm a newly converted fan, but she tried hard to overcome the crowd's impatience even if it was really only the duet with Garvey that caught their imagination. Nice enough, but not really my thing. Elbow start with everyone on stage playing trumpets, and with second song Bones Of You they beat the crowd around the head with current single familiarity. It's like your favourite half dozen friends bursting through the door at a party you were concerned might not be the best, and effectively turning down the lights, sticking your favourite records on the stereo and loading in a couple of crates of your tipple of preference. In many ways Guy Garvey resembles less the moment's airbrushed and photoshopped new big thing, and more the landlord of your local where every night is a good night. The booze theme is amply referenced by the fact the merchandise stall is even flogging hip flasks, though after taking a huge slug from a bottle of water between songs, Garvey comments that the stage is a booze-free zone till the gig is done. This is a gig that very much sits in its own moment in time. I'm reminded of seeing The Darkness on the same stage, at a point where they really could do no wrong. Watching Garvey prowl around his mike stand, rocking forwards like a big old pop bear is watching a band who have everything under control and who know exactly what they are doing. It would be unfair to say they are cruising, rather they are performing at a consistently high level and deserve every prize they get. I'm just glad I caught them before a crowd of a thousand and some, big enough to get all the lights out of storage but keep the show feeling intimate rather than the several thousand arena crowds that are surely just around the corner. Nice.

Labels: Elbow, gigs, Jesca Hoop