A particular lyric from Elbow’s “Scattered Black and Whites” — “I come back here from time to time” — was very much on point Sunday night, Oct. 5, at the Royal Oak Music Theatre.
It was the British quintet`s first trip to the metro area in eight years, and only its fifth time playing these parts overall. Over its 24 years of recording Elbow has been a major concern in its homeland — winning the prestigious Mercury Music Prize and a couple of Ivor Novello Awards — while building a niche following across the pond, but in just over an hour and 45 minutes on Sunday the band showed why it merits a far better stature than that.
Elbow’s music is hard to put in a particular box, other than one labeled “very good” or even “beautiful.” It’s not the typical kind of Britpop jangle; rather, it’s more ambitious compositionally, intricately arranged and drawing from classic pop, prog, chamber and Music Hall traditions. Frontman Guy Garvey quipped on Sunday that, lyrically, “not one of these songs are true, and absolutely everything in them happened,” but the 18 songs Elbow performed rang with an aching, soulful sincerity that resonated beyond the undeniable craft in the band’s writing.
Since we last saw them, Garvey and his mates have released two albums and an EP, and the concert showcased six tracks from last year’s “Audio Vertigo” and the subsequent “Audio Vertigo Echo Elbow EP5” — including some of the night’s most stirring moments, including “Balu” and “Sober,” with Garvey directing the Royal Oak crowd through one of the show’s several singalongs. The quintet was aided by a quartet of female musicians — two violinists, two horn players, all singing background vocals — who complemented the orchestrations of brothers Craig and Mark Potter on keyboards and guitars, respectively.
That advanced dynamic was evident early in the show, as “The Bones of You” — one of five songs from Elbow’s signature album “The Seldom Seen Kid” — segued into the New Orleans-styled vamp of “Summertime.”
Other highlights included a muscular rendition of “Mirrorball” and an epic take of “The Birds” that spotlighted drummer Alex Reeves, which was followed by a delicate performance of “Lippy Kids” that included a Garvey whistle-along with the audience. “Grounds For Divorce” built into a heavy stomp beneath Mark Potter’s slide guitar solo, and “One Day Like This” ended the show on an affirming, anthemic note, with Garvey leading the crowd in declaring that “it’s looking like a beautiful day.”
That was an apt enough summation of Elbow’s return on Sunday — and reason to hope that it won’t be quite as long before the group’s next visit.
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