More Funny Bone than Elbow
Guy Garvey strolls onto the stage with his beloved pint in his hand and raises it to the audience in a sold out Shepherds Bush Empire. He’s greeted like a long lost Uncle, the slightly portly friendly one that you only see at Xmas bearing a huge sack of gifts with a beard…hang on that’s a different seasonal story. But it does feel like the start of Christmas here, a warm fuzzy family feeling where there is a close resonance amongst the happy throng and yet also some anticipation and excitement, because you’re not quite sure what to expect, the Elbow bandmates are not treading the floorboards tonight with their leader.
Garvey has just released his first solo album ‘Courting the Squall’, it went to number 3 in the album charts and a position he’s very proud of, its more experimental than the Elbow we all know, and that’s a good thing, “familiarity breeds contempt”, so its good to step out and try something fresh and this is the first couple of solo dates in the UK, there’s still lyrics taped to the floor and a setlist of some 14 songs together with the words 'Anniversary' and 'Porn Names' written on it. There’s also a mixture of youth and experience in his six-piece band, with a young all female brass section and Garvey’s drinking buddy and ‘I Am Kloot’ stalwart Pete Jobson on guitar duties tonight.
Kicking off unusually with the final track from the album, an easy slowbeat ‘Three Bells’, Garvey stands gently bobbing back and forth with one arm outstretched, finger pointing. His singing is slow and pensive, lyrics tumbling sometimes singularly but with gestured meaning, and within seconds we are safe in the knowledge that tonight will be a special intimate show.
The first single ‘Angela’s Eyes’ is next and this is an afrobeat synth dancer with Jobson pulling all sorts of shapes whilst picking out the chord and beat to Garvey’s “No No No, Yeah Yeah Yeahs”. The song also makes a reappearance as the final encore later tonight and is a standout track from the album and live show.
However, there is so much more to Guy Garvey than the music, he’s effortlessly comfortable in front of an audience and it feels like you are down the pub with your mates and not in front of the thousands here, and whilst some of the jokes are clearly ad hoc, the subject of what your porn name is comes up, obviously prompted by the previous setlist scribble.
He lets Pete Jobson play a couple of tunes midset on his own on the piano, and even he proceeds to comedy up the night with one song about various cities that remind him of sex and that's why he’s now booking a holiday to all those cities, all delivered in deadpan Eric Idle style.
We do get another Elbow member on stage in the form of guitarist Mark Potter and both he and Garvey deliver a beautiful acoustic rendition of ‘Great Expectations’, but with a full solo album to get through and a couple of covers, there really is no ‘Elbow room’ for any more (see what I did there?). Garvey proceeds to prove that he has plenty of his own tunes by playing a jazzy belter called ‘Belly of a Whale’, surely a future single. That great tune closes the set and following the anticipated 2 mins break he returns with Potter and Jobson to sing some close harmonies around a single microphone. ‘I don’t want to set the world on fire’, a happy trails type of oldie, originally by The Inkspots and further indication of the diversity Garvey is prepared to inject into his first solo UK live shows.
It’s smiles and laughs everywhere around the room, and with all kinds of hell breaking out elsewhere in the world, tonight is such a pleasant distraction and sanctuary to be sheltered under. In his final comedy moment Garvey asks the audience what song they would like to hear, and without waiting for an answer he points to a random member of the crowd and says “Angela’s Eyes, thank you very much” and they play the track in full again. He admits tonight that he is having the time of his life with this short solo jaunt, and I think we all enjoyed it a bit too.
COMMENTS
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Great review John and your experience certainly mirrored mine. Guy Garvey live is at least about what happens between the songs as it is about the songs themselves.
