Last night at Brooklyn Steel, Manchester, England’s Elbow returned to NYC for the first time since 2017, supporting excellent 2024 LP Audio Vertigo and its subsequent AUDIO VERTIGO ECHO elbow EP5 (from which they played five songs: “Things I’ve Been Telling Myself for Years” “Lover’s Leap”, “Balu”, “Adriana Again”, & “Sober”, all of them bangers), and founding members Guy Garvey on lead vocals, Craig Potter on keyboards/backing vocals & brother Mark Potter on guitar/backing vocals, Pete Turner on hypnotic bass, with longtime touring drummer/new member Alex Reeves, delivered a sonic spectacle that enveloped the capacity crowd in dynamic mood shifts that inspired spontaneous singalongs and even a call-and-response whistling (!) (on the soaring “Lippy Kids”), which Garvey welcomed and conducted, a remarkable reception for a group that has only had one charting U.S. single since their first release in 1997 (2014’s “New York Morning”, which should’ve been added to the setlist; Manhattan did get a mention on “Balu”).
Supplemented by a sumptuous string/brass/backing vocal section of Cat Parker & Fiona Brice on violin, Sarah Field on trumpet & saxaphone, and Carol Jarvis on trombone, this Elbow ensemble sustained a rare level of intensity during the 17-song set, building dramatic crescendos throughout the cinematic songs with poetic lyrics that transform quotidian moments into epiphanies of the soul (most impressively on the eight-minute anti-nostalgia odyssey “The Birds”), with Garvey’s tremulous tenor anchoring the lush, swirling arrangements and acting as a connective joint to the heartstrings of the ecstatic fans. The band’s acknowledged art rock inspiration from Genesis / Peter Gabriel (who recorded a cover of Elbow’s “Mirrorball”), as well as Talk Talk’s atmospherics & Radiohead’s quiet-loud crunch, which is now so expertly integrated into their sound that Elbow is on the same plane as their heroes.
Garvey was a particularly solicitous emcee, interacting in conversation with audience members, (including a man named Howie in the front row who was called to multiple times during the closing choir magic on finale “One Day Like This”) and building the feeling of community in the venue, so much so that upon leaving, I felt as though I hadn’t fully lived until I saw Elbow perform. This Elbow North American tour continues through October, don’t miss!
Brooklyn-via-Austin singer-songwriter (and substitute social studies teacher) Blair Howerton opened up a solo electric version of her band Why Bonnie, playing mostly new and unrecorded songs that impressed while setting the right mood for Elbow’s majestic appearance.
Elbow Setlist:
Things I’ve Been Telling Myself for Years
Lovers’ Leap
Adriana Again
The Bones of You / Summertime (George Gershwin cover)
Kindling
My Sad Captains
Balu
The Seldom Seen Kid
Mirrorball
Station Approach
The Birds
Scattered Black and Whites
Magnificent (She Says)
Sober
Grounds for Divorce
Encore:
Lippy Kids
One Day Like This
