Entertainment For Lively Minds
Elbow + The Hallé Orchestra & Choir
Posted by kidpresentable on 9 July 2009 - 6:58pm.
Last night I went to see Elbow and the Hallé on the first of their two nights at The Bridgewater Hall, as part of Manchester International Festival. It was absolutely superb, I've seen Elbow a number of times but this was quite different. The songs have all been rearraged for orchestra and choir, rather than just playing along with their existing arrangements, with the band fitting in amongst the large number of musicians filling the stage. They mostly played songs from their mellower side and it sounded absolutely lovely. Did anyone else catch this?
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A DVD & CD is available...
... of Elbow performing the The Seldom Seen Kid at Abbey Road with the BBC Concert Orchestra - so I'd imagine it's a similar thing to the gig you went to last night.
Sadly, I didn't realise they were doing this gig - would have been good to see them.
Did you happen spot any well-known people? Heard Rufus Wainwright praise the concert (and Guy Garvey's voice in particular) when he was on Simon Mayo's show this afternoon.
Rufus and Radcliffe
I actually bought a copy of that from the merchandise stand whilst I was there, though I haven't played it yet. The arrangements were done by someone else, but it will have been along the same lines. They did most of The Seldom Seen Kid but also played a number of songs from their other albums, "Switching Off" and "Red" being among my highlights.
Yes, I saw a very bearded Rufus Wainwright, he was briefly stood a couple of feet from me during the interval. I managed to withhold my urge to tell him "You're Rufus Wainwright!", which is probably for the best. I also spotted Mark Radcliffe talking to someone in the foyer afterwards.
I saw Peter Kay ...
...sitting three or four rows in front of me. Unfortunately a rousing rendition of "Amarillo" for the encore was not forthcoming.
Jon Lord and Deep Purple were right all along!
I went on Wednesday
...and thought it was fantastic. Guy Garvey's voice is clearer and purer live and the arrangements were beautifully understated. I think it was a different show from the bbc recording - there were plenty of older songs played, and they were just as enjoyable as the "Seldom Seen Kid" numbers. The Manchester International Festival is excellent for this kind of (almost) unique event - I have previously seen Gorillaz perform Demon Days and the Monkey opera, both of which had a similar sense of "special occasion". Excellent stuff.
Not the same as the BBC show
Correct. That recording was just of "The Seldom Seen Kid" played straight through from start to finish. The songs performed this time were, from memory (and not in order): Red, Powder Blue, Newborn, Scattered Black & Whites, Switching Off, Grace Under Pressure (performed unaccompanied by the choir), Station Approach, The Stops, Great Expectations, Starlings, Mirrorball, Grounds For Divorce, Weather To Fly, The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver, Some Riot, One Day Like This, Friend of Ours.
The whole show lasted two hours - two one hour sets, with a 30 minute interval inbetween.
I was there both nights
It was absolutely stunning. The set was more or less the same on both nights, the only differences being a slightly different running order (some 1st half songs switched to the 2nd and vice versa) and Guy tried for more audience participation on the first night (asking the audience to stamp & clap for percussion during the chorus and sing the "woo-hoo" chants of "Grounds For Divorce", and also singing the "don't look down" backing of "The Stops" with the choir) but it didn't seem to work that well so it was dropped on the second night and was better. The band seemed more relaxed on the second night, and Guy was a bit chattier, also hugging the conductor during "One Day Like This", plus there was some interaction with the crowd watching on the live link in Castlefield.
On the first night I was sitting next to the partner of the harpist in the orchestra and when I said I hoped they would release it on CD he informed me that the Halle record every show they perform, so at least it's been recorded, and will hopefully be released at some point.
The only celebs I spotted there were Chris Bisson (formerly from "Coronation Street", and the awful pro-congestion charge ads) on the second night, and Ranvir Singh from BBC Northwest Tonight on the first.
Two absolutely stunning concerts though.