Words by Damien Russell
With a new album and 35 dates lined up, Elbow are touring the UK – coming to Birmingham for two dates at the O2 Academy on the 1st and 2nd of March. C Duncan is playing in support on both nights.
Doors open at 7pm and have a curfew of 11pm. Tickets are priced at £39.37 (excluding fees) as presented by Goldenvoice. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.
Officially Elbow came together in 1997, but the still original band members had been playing together since 1990 so are technically in their 27th year together. Elbow released their latest album, Little Fictions, in February this year. Having gone Silver in the UK and reached No1 on the official album charts and, Elbow are on the road promoting their seventh studio album on a 35 date tour of venues, forests and festivals.
With a name inspired by a line in the BBC TV drama The Singing Detective – in which the central bed ridden character, Philip Marlow, describes the word ‘elbow’ as the loveliest word in the English language – Elbow are a band that have avoided many of the rock band stereotypes of their age. There are no tabloid scandals, no drug influenced parties or smashed up hotels in their media history. No high-profile divorce cases or public fights. There haven’t been any major arguments or fallouts. Richard Jupp left in March 2016, the first line-up change in 25 years, and that was an amicable split; no ‘musical differences’ fight.
Elbow have never had the standard ‘rise and fall’ musical success rate either. Their fourth album won them the Mercury Music Award – The Seldom Seen Kid (Mar 2008), whilst their sixth album, The Take Off and Landing of Everything (March ‘14) was their first LP to reach the No1 spot.
On The Take Off and Landing of Everything, Guy Garvey said; “We’ve been going very left-field with things. We are trying out new things”. The story is that the album was led by Elbow’s erstwhile drummer Richard Jupp, who would record his parts first and then Garvey would try to write lyrics to them. I have no idea how anyone would go about writing lyrics to a drum beat but nobody can say it didn’t work.
Reviews for Little Fictions read like a roundup of the ‘Elbow experience’; capturing elements from their previous portfolio whilst giving several tracks a new focus on texture and groove.
‘Magnificent’ (She Says) – Elbow
Elbow perform at the O2 Academy on 1st and 2nd March, with support from C Duncan. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.
For more on Elbow, visit www.elbow.co.uk
For more from the O2 Academy, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybirmingham
For more from C Duncan, visit www.c-duncan.co.uk
For more from Goldenvoice, visit www.goldenvoice.com
