Elbow – Brighton concert report

ELBOW + THE WAEVE – BRIGHTON CENTRE 7.5.24

For most of my teenage years, my family and I would always watch our favourite Glastonbury shows when the time came round: performances of ELO, Radiohead, Coldplay and LCD Soundsystem were on constant repetition around the house… but none more so than Elbow’s 2017 show. I was always captivated by the comforting stage presence of one Guy Garvey, manning his ship through post-Britpop beauty.

After meeting at Bury College, the core line-up of Garvey, brothers Craig and Mark Potter, Pete Turner and Richard Jupp (who departed the band in 2016), formed under the name Mr. Soft, before changing to Elbow seven years later in 1997. Since then, they have curated a loving fanbase that continue to celebrate records like ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’, ‘The Take Off And Landing Of Everything’ and their latest release ‘Audio Vertigo’. Now, since I was 16, Elbow had been one of my bucket-list bands to see live somehow… and now, I can tick them off my list after catching a monumental performance at the Brighton Centre on Tuesday.

Opening for them were The WAEVE, a relatively new project formed by partners-in-crime Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall, self-described as a liquid meeting of musical minds and talents’. The pair met briefly in 2004 before becoming more familiar with each other 16 years later at a show at London’s Jazz Cafe raising money for victims of a warehouse explosion in Beirut. This led to an exchange of song ideas and a melding of appreciation for each other’s Piscean astrology and a mutual ambivalence towards Britain, with the band’s name incorporating the old English spelling structure. Their debut self-titled record came out in early 2023 and has received critical acclaim, with Coxon and Dougall being brought along for the Elbow tour ride with their backing band of violinist and saxophonist Charlotte Glasson, bassist Joe Chilton and drummer Thomas White, notable for his work with The Electric Soft Parade. The band opened the set with ‘Can I Call You’, a desolate and Western atmosphere that reminds me a lot of Nick Cave’s ‘Murder Ballads’ era, with its ride-led rhythm and sparse instrumentation. Before long the track increases in pace and dynamics, so much so that it even causes some speaker distortion…! Unfortunately, this was not the only technical fault of the set as the band had to abandon their track ‘Kill Me Again’, due to synthesizer issues!

This did not put any spanners in the works however, as the band recovered graciously on the track ‘Drowning’, a song that holds a well-arranged display of sound, solid key changes and a tense and ominous presence. A relatively newer song, ‘City Lights’ has a very 80s new wave vibe that gives the impression of if Prefab Sprout took ‘The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and made it nocturnal and less light-hearted (also Graham’s vocal performance here is superb)! ‘Sleepwalking’ opens with some soft electronic percussion and dense string samples before Rose’s voice reverberates through the room. This track has a very strong dynamic progression that makes for some of the most gratifying moments of the entire set. Next, ‘Song For Eliza May’ sees an instrument change, with Graham spending a bulk of the song on a mandolin and Charlotte on a violin, culminating in a heavy folk tinge. The band have a wonderful knack for arrangement which comes through powerfully on this song in particular. ‘You Saw’ sees some airy, but tense high end vocals from Rose atop a hypnotic motorik drum groove that acts as the song’s driving force. The compressed clusters of strings coupled with the repeating lyric “out of the darkness” leads to some marvellous moments leading us out of the set. The closing ‘Durantia’ is by far the strongest song of the set; sinister and cathedral in aura, the final leg of the track climbs into a disorienting climax of cascading guitar lines and syncopated sax.

The WAEVE:
Graham Coxon – lead vocals, guitar, saxophone, harmonica, mandolin
Rose Elinor Dougall – lead vocals, keyboards
Joe Chilton – bass, backing vocals
Thomas White – drums, backing vocals
Charlotte Glasson – violin, saxophone

The WAEVE setlist:
‘Can I Call You’
‘Kill Me Again’ (aborted)
‘Drowning’
‘City Lights’
‘Sleepwalking’
‘Song for Eliza May’
‘You Saw’
‘Durantia’

thewaeve.komi.io

The stage is cleared to make way for an assortment of keyboards, horns, violins and percussion that make the backbone of the instrumentation for Elbow’s performance. Shortly after 9pm, the Mancunian five-piece, plus six backing multi-instrumentalists and vocalists, are welcomed to the sounds of cheers and applause for the opening ‘Things I’ve Been Telling Myself For Years’. This song is a sparse, but hypnotic introduction to the set, with Guy Garvey being backed by his choir to his right and Mark Potter providing a wild and electrifying guitar solo towards the end. New-boy drummer Alex Reeves demonstrates his unique rhythmic virtuosity on the track ‘Lovers’ Leap’ with its skipping drum rhythms pulling the song through, making me feel like I’m on the run! A classic two track run from ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ comes next, starting with ‘The Bones Of You’ where Guy delivers his lyrical sermon to the audience before guitar textures overwhelm the bridge and a rhythmic climax reminds me of Talk Talk’s ‘Spirit Of Eden’, a comparison that I feel Guy would appreciate! Of course, ‘Mirrorball’ is another classic, with two titular reflective globes, glistening from each side of the stage underneath the song’s shimmering musical passages of violins, pianos and ride cymbals.

‘Charge’ is described as written from the point of view of an older guy in a younger bar, while sonically, it carries a weight of stellar string passages and organ tones that hold a sense of peace. The ‘The Take Off And Landing Of Everything’ titan that is ‘Fly Boy Blue / Lunette’ is one of Elbow’s strongest songs, both in writing and sonic composition, and it definitely shows here! The first half of the track is rustic in soundplay with horn and guitar lines that run dissonance and fear into the listener’s ears, before a mood change shifts the song towards something uplifting and optimistic, with a blurred projection of Guy draped against the backdrop comforting the crowd. The propulsion of ‘The Picture’ is a more angsty cut from the band, stemming from their latest record ‘Audio Vertigo’ and depicts the perils of the corruption of personal details on the internet. If I were permitted to make another Talk Talk reference for the band, I absolutely adore watching Alex behind the kit on ‘Dexter & Sinister’, bouncing away in a groove like Lee Harris. Multi-instrumentalist Craig Potter gives the song ‘Balu’ a sharper sound thanks to his synth passages, but the ascending chromatic riffs give the song a distinctive bent that works well at this portion of the show!

Following the short piano ballad ‘Puncture Repair’, comes the emotional and weighty ‘Kindling’, the closing track to the underrated ‘Little Fictions’ record from 2017. The very Moe Tucker arrangement of percussion is a joy to hear, plus the audience harmonizing with Guy and the overall gorgeous dynamics let the song bloom into beauty. From a closer to an opener, ‘The Birds’ which opens ‘Build A Rocket Boys!’ is a strong Elbow classic! A more progressive cut, this song is euphoric and wonderful thanks to its natural and gradual builds, twisted organ sounds and inventive rhythmic arrangement. The song ‘Good Blood Mexico City’ is a favourite from the new album, feeling like a golden sunrise in tone, until the thunder arrives in the form of intense musical swells and angrier riffs towards the song’s abrupt ending. The underrated ‘Station Approach’ has the crowd in adoration once more, with its lovely piano chords from Craig and picked folk guitar riffs from Mark. This track builds and builds towards an incredible climax that makes for one of the best moments of the entire set! The audience are reeled in on vocal duties on the track ‘My Sad Captains’ where they proclaim the refrain of “Oh, my soul!” to Guy’s confident elation. Guy preludes ‘Magnificent (She Says)’ (possibly my favourite Elbow song behind ‘One Day Like This’) by stating it’s Paul McCartney’s favourite song… of theirs! Its skipping drums, spacious bassline and cinematic violin passages drive the song forward, leaving the crowd on a tremendous high!

He takes a moment to speak to a 12-year-old fan called Rory, thanking him for singing his heart out for every song, before asking if this was his first gig. Rory replies with “it’s my second!”, before Guy quizzes him for his first, which was Red Hot Chili Peppers (cue Guy appreciating them through gritted teeth). He thanked the crowd for their time, saying “we’ve got one song left, and nothing you can do will make us come back, not even a verse of ‘I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside’”. He proceeds to warm the crowd’s vocal cords up again into forming a D note drone that opens the drinking song ‘Grounds For Divorce’. The song’s fat riff and iconic chant make for some of Elbow’s greatest moments in their catalogue and hearing them live for the first time was marvellous! The now-Elbowless Brighton Centre is suitably flooded with the audience singing the aforementioned ‘I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside’ before they return for a two-song encore. Firstly, the track ‘Lippy Kids’ is a gorgeous drone track, with repeating piano notes and whistling melodies sitting underneath anthemic cries of “Build a rocket boys!”. Of course, it wouldn’t be an Elbow show if it didn’t end on ‘One Day Like This’, which Guy craves some harmonies from the audience for, naturally, myself and my dad were only too happy to oblige from the balconies. A golden end to the show, Guy gives a last round of thanks before leaving the stage with his bandmates to a projection raising awareness for the charity The Trussell Trust, striving to end the need for food banks by delivering food parcels, distributing over 3 million since its inception in 1997.

Elbow:
Guy Garvey – lead vocals, guitar
Craig Potter – keyboard, piano, backing vocals, percussion
Mark Potter – guitar, backing vocals
Pete Turner – bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Alex Reeves – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Elbow setlist:
‘Things I’ve Been Telling Myself For Years’ (from 2024 ‘Audio Vertigo’ album)
‘Lovers’ Leap’ (from 2024 ‘Audio Vertigo’ album)
‘The Bones Of You’ (from 2008 ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ album)
‘Mirrorball’ (from 2008 ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ album)
‘Charge’ (from 2014 ‘The Take Off And Landing Of Everything’ album)
‘Fly Boy Blue / Lunette’ (from 2014 ‘The Take Off And Landing Of Everything’ album)
‘The Picture’ (from 2024 ‘Audio Vertigo’ album)
‘Dexter & Sinister’ (from 2019 ‘Giants Of All Sizes’ album)
‘Balu’ (from 2024 ‘Audio Vertigo’ album)
‘Puncture Repair’ (from 2005 ‘Leaders Of The Free World’ album)
‘Kindling’ (from 2017 ‘Little Fictions’ album)
‘The Birds’ (from 2011 ‘Build A Rocket Boys!’ album)
‘Good Blood Mexico City’ (from 2024 ‘Audio Vertigo’ album)
‘Station Approach’ (from 2005 ‘Leaders Of The Free World’ album)
‘My Sad Captains’ (from 2014 ‘The Take Off And Landing Of Everything’ album)
‘Magnificent (She Says)’ (from 2017 ‘Little Fictions’ album)
‘Grounds For Divorce’ (from 2008 ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ album)
(encore)
‘Lippy Kids’ (from 2011 ‘Build A Rocket Boys!’ album)
‘One Day Like This’ (from 2008 ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ album)

www.elbow.co.uk