100 greatest bootlegs: ELBOW - St. Paul's Cathedral 2011 (Flac) *Special Post* #8

SPECIAL POST #8

St. Paul's Cathedral Crypt
London, England
Thursday, 26 May 2011

I bought Elbow's debut CD not long after its release in 2001, inspired specifically by the track Scattered Black and Whites, which I had heard on a cover mounted 'Uncut' compilation. Since then over the last fifteen years they have written a catalogue of songs that have few rivals amongst their peers.

Certain live recordings just stand out, even after hearing only a few minutes, this one impressed me and eight years on those initial thoughts that this was a special show, that would be worth passing on down the years have been vindicated. I listened to this during last Christmas holiday period and marked it down for a blog post. It's a bootleg of sheer class with perfect sound quality, and a sublime performance in which you can hear and feel the ambience of such an unusual venue.

Absolute Radio recorded and streamed Elbow in FLAC technology (Fully Lossless Audio Codec) for a superior audio experience for fans.

Lineage: Soundboard > PC > Magix Music Editor to track, name & burn to cdr > Accurate rip to Flac level 8. (from the first broadcast on Absolute Radio on 5 June, 2011 between 7 and 8pm)

******

"It was when Guy Garvey was forced to hush his girlfriend because her off-stage chatter was disturbing him during one of his songs that you truly realised this was no ordinary occasion. Elbow have always appeared the most intimate of bands. Recent success may have propelled them into the arenas but last night, amid the low, vaulted ceiling of the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, the Bury band found a stage to deliver an intense and personal concert.

It was the first time a band had ever played here. With its historic tombs - Nelson, Wellington and Sir Christopher Wren are all buried here - the venue could have felt sepulchral, crowded with dead souls. Instead, buoyed by the warmth and goodwill that poured out from the 300-strong audience towards them, the five piece - a rag tag collection of old suits, paunches, beards and baldness - gave them an experience bordering on the religious. Careful not to overpower such a small space, the band took the opportunity to jettison some of their more rousing material and instead show off some of their subtler songs. The resulting 90 minutes were a triumph.

Opener Mirrorball set the scene, as gorgeous and thrilling as when first heard. Open Arms was transformed from a stadium sing-along anthem into a pared-back hymn to the healing power of friends and family. The finely tuned dynamics of the performance centred, as ever, on Garvey's extraordinary voice in all its careworn perfection. But the unplugged style also lent greater weight than normal to Mark Potter's finely picked acoustic guitar and his brother Craig's inventive, lilting interventions on the piano. Backed by strings and Richard Jupp's shuffling drums, the band mixed old favourites - Great Expectations, One Day Like This - with unexpected selections from their back catalogue, with the epic, swelling romance of Switching Off a particular stand-out. Songs from their latest album seemed written with this gig in mind. Highlights included a bass-heavy Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl, Lippy Kids, their paean to golden youth and an unexpected outing for Dear Friends, the soaring, dreamy coda to the record.

Garvey's Northern charm and self-deprecating humour - "I've got bluster enough for the sails of a clipper" - combined with the optimism and hope that suffuse his bittersweet lyrics, invited each member of the tiny audience to believe every song was being sung just for them. This was never truer than on the final number, the little-played Scattered Black and Whites from their 2001 album Asleep in the Back, a moving and beautiful recollection of early memories, soaring and tender in its loveliness. His rich voice bolstered by aloe vera juice, Garvey at times looked overcome by the intimacy of the occasion - organised by Absolute Radio for a special high definition broadcast - and appeared to wipe away tears from his eyes several times. Towards the close, Garvey glanced up at the ceiling towards the cathedral above and remarked that he and the band felt humbled. "And in our rightful place in the basement," he teased. Such modesty, after an evening like this, was hardly necessary." Review by Matthew Bayley, 27 May 2011

Tracklisting:

01. Introduction & preamble

02. Mirrorball

03. Open Arms

04. The Night Will Always Win

05. Great Expectations

06. Jesus Is a Rochdale Girl

07. Grounds For Divorce

08. Switching Off

09. The River

10. One Day Like This

11. Lippy Kids