It just keeps getting gets better and better for our Mercury Prize-winning friends from the north, Elbow, who today announce a UK tour for March 2009.

The tour will be rounded off with their largest ever UK date, the previously announced show at London’s Wembley Arena on Friday March 14th.

Tickets for all dates excepting Wembley (which is already on sale) are available from 9am tomorrow, Tuesday 4th November, via www.gigsandtours.com or a 24 hour credit card hotline on 0871 2200 260. Tickets are also available via the individual box offices.

Dates are as follows:

February
26 Brighton Dome

March
01 Southend Cliffs Pavilion
02 Bournemouth Solent Hall
03 Sheffield Academy
05 Newcastle Academy
06 Edinburgh Corn Exchange
07 Blackpool Empress Ballroom
09 Llandudno Arena
10 Bristol Colston Hall
11 Plymouth Pavilions
12 Newport Centre
14 London Wembley Arena

Photos by Valerio Berdini

Majestic. Triumphant. Brilliant. Words that are repeatedly misused by the Broadsheets when describing mediocre acts on a good night. When these words are then needed to describe music that is so wonderful, so entertaining and sometimes moving, their effect is diluted, dimmed by their overuse. Elbow deserve all these accolades and more. Here is a band riding the crest of a wave. Fresh from winning, a much deserved, Mercury Music Prize, the first night of their full UK tour is a resounding success. Guy Garvey could possibly be one of the best front men in modern music - a humble man with an understated voice and the skill to write some of the best one-liners around.
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Well, I don’t think there’s a more deserving winner than Elbow. Sure, the list was pretty good this year and Radiohead have to be a bit annoyed about missing out again, but The Seldom Seen Kid is a glorious album. And even made it into our “Best of 2008… So Far” list.

Congratulations guys!

If we’re to quote The Cranberries (and why shouldn’t you?), “Everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we?”. As we’ve past the halfway point in this year of 2008, it seemed like a good time to look back. What have been the musical higlights of the year so far? We’ve had some absolutely corking albums released, from Fleet Foxes genre defying debut, to Elbow’s continued cultured and heartwarming release. It might surprise some of our readers what’s ended up on this list but one thing this exercise has made us realise, is that come the end of the year, there’s going to be a big pile of albums under the ‘Excellent’ heading…

So how did we decide on the final 10 albums? We asked all of our writers to email in their favourite 5 releases of the year thus far. Each album voted for was then given a point and entered into a highly technical spreadsheet - which left us with the following records… Continue Reading

Elbow. Photograph by Dan Griffiths.

Across the river tonight, Coldplay are making their live comeback with a free show at Brixton Academy. On this side of the Thames, Elbow are playing to a sell-out crowd at Royal Festival Hall. It’s one of the biggest bands in the world versus the band they ripped off.

Unlike Coldplay, who will always be guaranteed a place on countless coffee tables no matter who they rip off, Elbow have a bit more to prove. There’s the critics, who, bar latest album Seldom Seen Kid, have been less than complimentary over the last 15 years. There’s the fans, those who have been there from the beginning, and those who bought Seldom Seen Kid on a ‘like-Coldplay-you’ll-love-this’ basis. There’s Massive Attack, this year’s Meltdown curators, who handpicked Elbow because they think they deserve it. Then there’s the band themselves. 2008 is looking decidedly like make or break for Elbow. They’ve moved record labels, had babies, and released their most critically acclaimed album to date. If it doesn’t come together this year, will it ever? When put like that, it’s a wonder the band make it on stage at all. Continue Reading

Bands that have been around for some time often say they’re going to mix things up a little. Elbow have put pretty much everything in the mixing bowl and the end result is a production of some delicious sound. That, with a pinch of front man Guy Garvey thrown in for good measure, left the Academy crowd salivating for more.

A band with some clear potential to fulfil their hype, Two Gallants opened the evening with a meaningful-folk sound and a voice that holds a Rod Stewart twang with an American ring to it. The band, as the name suggests, has only two members; Adam Stephens and Tyson Vogel. Both stick to their steel guitar and drums throughout, both talented vocally and lyrically, but seeming to lack some vivacity for a larger venue than their sound suits. The eight-piece band that followed amplified the difference. Continue Reading