Elbow returned to Melbourne for the fourth time last week as part of their biggest Australian tour to date.
Elbow. Photo by Ros O'Gorman
Playing over two packed nights at Melbourne’s Palace Theatre, the band were received as musical heroes, playing a set list that heavily leaned on their last two albums.
The show kicked off with their eight minute monster song ‘The Birds’, during which they proudly wore their prog influences on their sleeves. While the song starts off quietly, after a small time singer Guy Garvey’s voice explodes into a glorious soaring chorus that catapulted the band and audience into a frenzy of emotion that wouldn’t let up for the remainder of the show.
Leaping back to their 2008 Mercury Music Prize winning album ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’, the band slowly, but powerfully made their way through ‘The Bones of You‘ and ‘Mirrorball‘ showing off their famous restraint as they worked their way through the intricacies that make them such a great band.
Garvey managed to get the whole audience following his lead as he sang “Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh,” as if we didn’t know what song was about to follow. After what seemed like an eternity, Garvey sang “I’ve been working on a cocktail called Grounds for Divorce” and the band launched into the song, with Garvey jumping on some extra drums during the chorus.
It was time to slow things down a little, and the audience didn’t seem to mind. ‘Great Expectations’, ‘The River‘ and ‘Lippy Kids‘ were just a few of the slower songs the audience were happy to be taken on a ride with.
A pleasant surprise for the evening was ‘Station Approach‘ during the encore from the band’s underrepresented 2005 album ‘Leaders of the Free World’, but regardless of what you thought of the show leading up to the end, it was the closing song ‘One Day Like This‘ that ensured everyone was leaving the building with a massive smile on their face, even if my companion did turn to me during the song‘s climax to point out that “they may as well have called this song ‘Vitamin D’”.
As a long-time Elbow fan, I would have liked to have heard more from ‘Cast of Thousands‘ and ‘Leaders of the Free World’, but a set almost entirely consisting of songs from ‘The Seldom Seen Kid‘ and ‘Build A Rocket, Boys!‘ is nothing to complain about.
I can’t wait to see the band back in the country next time.
Oh, and here’s a heads up for you. Guy Garvey was kind enough to sit down and have a chat with us at Undercover during the afternoon before the gig. Stay tuned to our “videos” page. It will be up there soon!
The set list for Elbow at The Palace Theatre, Melbourne, July 27 was:
The Birds (from ‘Build a Rocket Boys!’, 2011)
The Bones of You (from ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’, 2008)
Mirrorball (from ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’, 2008)
Neat Little Rows (from ‘Build a Rocket Boys!’, 2011)
Grounds For Divorce (from ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’, 2008)
The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver (from ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’, 2008)
Great Expectations (from ‘Leaders Of The Free World’, 2005)
The River (from ‘Build a Rocket Boys!’, 2011)
Lippy Kids (from ‘Build a Rocket Boys!’, 2011)
Weather to Fly (from ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’, 2008)
Open Arms (from ‘Build a Rocket Boys!’, 2011)
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Starlings (from ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’, 2008)
Station Approach (from ‘Leaders Of The Free World’, 2005)
One Day Like This (from ‘Build a Rocket Boys!’, 2011)
