Elbow – First Direct Arena, Leeds – Sunday 12th April 2024

“We have some very big songs and the electricity of 20,000 people singing along cannot be denied. So, the big rooms it is and big shows they will be,” says Lord Guy of Garvey.

And having last caught Elbow in the days when Giants Of All Sizes roamed the Earth (at Manchester’s Apollo and O2 Ritz) and sort of by-passed the Flying Dream era (a mere blip of a #7 high in the UK hit parade after a clutch of chart toppers) we’re back with our local heroes in one of those big room agains. The Leeds Arena doesn’t quite hit the 20K mark, being one of the more intimate of the larger confines that now dot the nation, so there’s a level of closeness that might be missing in the O2 styled enormodomes.

There’s also the fact that being just across the Pennines, Guy declares how the band, decked out in their more formal black attire (bar drummer Alex Reeves who maintains the denim shirt styling), considers Leeds the place “most like home.” Whether home be Manchester where they were due to open the new Co-Op Live Arena, or to be more specific (especially for those who live there and take pride in the fact), Bury, there’s no need for he or his colleagues need to endear themselves to an audience, many of whom have been loyal followers of the band during most of their 33 years together and who won’t be phased by his “I don’t have a Messiah complex…I am the Messiah,” jest. It’s all part and parcel of the charm that The Guardian termed his rumpled Stephen Fry persona.

It extends to his habit of pointing out fans on a regular basis (the equivalent of the pre-pandemic high-fiving those at the barrier), adding the personal touch whilst also constantly checking “everybody ok?” possibly just making sure that by kicking off the set with two new songs that we’re all on the same page, but with both Giants and Dream amounting to one selection in the setlist, Elbow for 2024 is about new songs and those more familiar songs that guarantee thousands turn out to sway along to and wipe the occasional tear from the eye. He also regularly ensures that we notice each and every one of the band and accompanyists when one of their parts makes a particularly significant contribution.

The quintet is flanked and enhanced by another quintet that provide the bvs, the strings and classy blasts of brass. The addition of a small brass section also adds what seems like a 007 drama to a handful of numbers. First noticed on Charge, and when they step up to the mark, Guy wanders over to Mark Potter’s side of the stage, embraces his pal and the pair of them stand back and admire the effect. A little tribute that occurs more than once through the evening.

On the other hand, it’s also nice when the quintet is left alone to do what they do when they gather to write and rehearse in Blueprint and just play as a five piece band, shorn of embellishment. It’s particularly noteworthy as Fly Boy Blue segues into Lunette and the easy but strident pulse hits a real groove.

The tenth album Audio Vertigo was heralded by the band as an album for big places, but perhaps the content might take time to establish itself in the set in the same way that My Sad Captains and Kindling are now, where the stage is caressed in a deep ochre glow from a circle of lights. Funnily enough, of the new songs, some of which have been singles or featured in the TV appearances, it’s The Picture that stands out with it’s punky rush the sound of a band getting off on the rush and by contrast to the arena setting, would go down a treat at the next Night & Day cafe gig. Leading into the percussion heavy Dexter & Sinister, you can see why Elbow are slowly appreciated by those in Progressive Rock quarters. Garvey and Gabriel may be distant relatives, but the way they veer into more psychedelic areas takes them into Hawkwind territory; the sonic textures of the second part of The Birds verge on space rock and are accompanied by laser effects and a glow from the lighting rig that sets off the ceiling as though the Northern Lights are back for another show.

The latter is a mammoth highlight – “it’s really complicated, let’s just play the song,” says Guy – the depth in both music and lyric matched only by the slowly building stomp of Station Approach,which despite several more obvious contenders, could be the Elbow signature song. And then you’ll also get Guy and Craig Potter doing Puncture Repair – just voice and piano that brings us right down from the bombast. The finale is safely predictable and inevitable as the Lippy Kid whistlers get the chance to anticipate their moment in the same way as Gabriel’s “a flower?” would do in Supper’s Ready.

The curtains might get thrown wide (again) as the sense of community becomes palpable, but the emotion which always returns is the one that’s expressed right at the start of the show when the band arrives onstage. Garvey heading to the front as though he’s just scored a last minute winner. We end as we began – fists clenched, arms aloft and out into the night with the spine all a-tingle. May the golden days linger on.

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