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Review by Rob.

It's not all doom and gloom.

Strange things seem to be going on in Nottingham tonight. Rock City is actually quite warm and welcoming. Usually it is so cold inside for winter gigs (and believe me, it was still winter outside), the bar staff don't bother using ice, they just let the drinks stand for a while. By the looks of things they have had some air conditioning work and hopefully this will work the other way and keep us cool during the sweaty summer shows. Anyway moving on and a quick word about tonight's support act. Two Gallants are an American duo who play sweet yet dirgy music. What I saw of them I enjoyed quite a lot and their sound really reminded me of another band who, annoyingly, I just can't place. And they get top marks for having a song which sounded like a theme tune to a kid's programme, you know, the sort that you get around lunchtime, it wasn't really a teatime one. Anyway I would recommend you check 'em out on Myspace, and hopefully they will get a slot at the Leeds and Reading Festivals too.

Selling venues of this size out should be well within the grasp of the headliners, and tonight Elbow have pretty much done the business as Rock City is crowded come showtime. It helps when you have both new and killer product to shift and Elbow have both of these things in new album 'The seldom seen Kid', easily the best record of 2008 so far to these ears, (and it promises to be a Manchester year with both I am Kloot and Doves to release highly anticipated new product soon). They make an entrance similar to that of the Arcade Fire, their normal ranks being swollen by backing singers and a string section. They keep comparisons to the Canadians going during opener 'Starlings' from the new album, with most members of the band having a go on trumpet at some stage during the song. Early on quite a lot of the new album is aired, along with a couple of the best songs from previous album, 'Leaders of the free world' including 'Great Expectations' (One of the few rock songs featuring the word 'Sod'), 'Forgot Myself' and excellent track from the current record 'Mirrorball'. In between lead Elbower Guy Garvey is in great babbling mode and is right up there with Ginger from the Wildhearts with between song comedy banter. (There was one memorable rant about shagging his drummer). Elbow have something of a reputation for lengthy gloom ridden epics, and indeed they indulge us in this area, but there is so much more to them, amply evident in the light hearted mood of Garvey tonight. Yet again anyone who has heard his excellent radio shows on XFM shouldn't be surprised.

Mid set they play the epic 'Newborn' from the debut 'Asleep in the Back', and in it you can hear how at the time their sound was moving towards that of Coldplay. From here on though, whilst Chris Martin's lot have embraced the notion of stadium rock, along with the likes of Editors and to some extent Interpol, you get the feeling that Elbow have never been comfortable with this direction and have continued to experiment throughout their career. It is only now that there are signs that they might be willing to go for the commercial jugular. Certainly there are more accessible tracks present on the new album, recent single 'Grounds for Divorce' (dedicated with emotion to recently deceased friend of the band Bryan Glancy) and the quirky 'The Fix' not played tonight. However I am not so sure. The attraction to me of Elbow is having a couple of hours getting lost in their amazingly epic, gloomy yet somehow uplifting tunes. Take 'Loneliness of a tower crane driver' - a relative of 'Fugitive Motel' it practically screams of life in a northern town, rain, cold and dark nights. Someone said if you went out into the middle of nowhere to watch the end of the world you would want Elbow to provide the soundtrack. It is the sound of Manchester, and if LS Lowry was still alive he would be at this gig. Hell, better than that he would be designing the band's tee shirts. Forget Oasis, this is the song Man City should run out to if they want inspiration.

Highlights tonight then are plentiful, but the best bits are towards the end. Garvey instructs the crowd in a singalong for forthcoming single 'On a day like this' with customary humour, but even he seems humbled by the ecstatic response "Throw your curtains wide, one day like this a year will see me right". echoes around the venue for the duration of the song and starts up again bringing the band back on for an encore. This is the best moment on the new album, a truly great song with a gospel type ending straight out of a Spiritualized record and I can see this being seriously atmospheric if it is played at Glastonbury as the sun sets (Assuming Eavis has the sense to put them in the right slot). Encores are all great and varied and for the finale, Garvey invites several members of the audience onstage to share his mic for a singalong. 'Grace under Pressure' as ever is simply awesome and a fitting end to an excellent show.

Criticisms are few really, I would have liked more from 'Cast of Thousands' but realise they have a new record to support, and in any case it's an excellent one. In fact a measure of the strength of the show is indicated by the songs not played, ('Fugitive Motel', 'Ribcage', 'Don't mix your Drinks'). Hopefully by the time the festivals come round, and they are playing at loads of them, then these will have found their way into the set. Just make sure that wherever you are this summer, you do not miss their show. It could well be the highlight of your festival. Now, where's that new Doves album?.....

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