Elbow

What to make of besuited Elbow frontman Guy Garvey? He looks like the younger, better, looking brother of comedian Johnny Vegas, talks like Jim Bowen but is blessed with the voice of an angel, a gift so fragile a mistimed cough could break it.

All this and a sardonic wit which leaves the audience scratching their heads in bewilderment. "_We?ve been watching ?Guns Of Navarone? on the tourbus." Long, pregnant, pause. "Very good film_." Sips water. Aeons pass. "Gregory Peck. Dead isn?t he?" Empires crumble. "So?s Robert Palmer." A new millennium dawns. "Just making conversation!" Oh, er, right you are then..

The Mercury Music Prize nominated album ?Cast of Thousands? has steered Elbow into the big time and rightly so. Live it resonates, shakes, rattles, and indeed, rolls. It even rocks fer chrissakes, as best demonstrated by recent single ?Fallen Angel?.

For sure, the sell out crowd don?t go breaking into a conga but people are going politely nuts, apart from one bloke screaming in seemingly orgasmic lust every time Garvey steps up to the mic. There?s always one isn?t there? Maybe he?s getting a little too turned on by the foxy looking backing singers.

Whatever the reason for his over excitement, Elbow merit thunderous applause for an uplifting show which does much to smash any lingering preconceptions about Bury?s finest being, well, a bit miserable. Miserable? My arse!