Elbow
Wembley Arena, London
14/03/2009

Arena-rock has a long history of diluting its inhabitants, the reward of playing in front of thousands in the world’s most expansive sheds bringing with it a new set of problems; mainly bands forgetting what got them there in the first place and falling into the trap of writing songs with the mass, and all their adoring screams, in mind. Coldplay, Razorlight and even Snow Patrol were not always the arena-dwelling dullards they’ve become, whilst Lighters-Aloftitis even managed to affect the last Kings Of Leon album. Surely it’s no coincidence that many a career-best precedes, rather than follows, a band’s leap to the bigtime?

With Elbow, though, there’s no need to worry. There’s just something intrinsically different about the way the Bury five-piece go about doing things and, playing Wembley three days shy of the anniversary of ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’s release, there’s a sense that arenadom has come to them, not the other way round. Some bands lurk for so long at Academy-level venues that the next step up feels entirely unnatural – for that, see Supergrass’ stutter at this very venue a few years ago – but, just like they did with their Mercury Music Prize, Brit & NME Awards and, erm, Fly cover, Guy Garvey & co. handle it effortlessly. If their last UK tour felt like a self-proclaimed victory lap, then tonight is their podium-moment. That’s where the motor-racing comparisons stop, though; indeed, one of Elbow’s most treasured qualities is that they can make what is for the best part of two hours a mid-paced, slow-tempo set such a thoroughly enthralling and engaging experience.

The classic amp-up-the-decibels blues-groove of ‘Grounds For Divorce’ and, to an extent, ‘Leaders Of The Free World’’s malevolent MOR judder punctuate the plaintiveness but the slower moments are where their brilliance really comes alive. Highlights come thick and fast; the orchestral beauty of ‘The Stops’ almost sounds like its being delivered in slo-mo, ‘Some Riot’ resembles a string-assisted, panoramic upgrade of its recorded counterpart and the hollered anguish of ‘The Loneliness Of The Tower Crane Driver’ is otherworldly and spellbinding. As ticker tape rains down during the pre-encore climax of ‘One Day Like This’, only the hardest of hearts could deny Elbow their moment of schmaltz. When snapshots from each of their childhoods flash up on the giant screens behind them as they close the night with ‘Scattered Black & Whites’, you feel like you’re looking through the scrapbooks of a friend, not of some disembodied arena-star. That’s the magic of Elbow – a band to take properly to heart, whose songs are worth true emotional investment. They’re intimately epic and now that they’ve finally taken the step up to headlining arenas, it’s relieving to know they’ll stay that way.

Niall Doherty