Review: Elbow brings an uplifting note as Co-op Live puts its initial mess behind it

That’s what the bosses of the new Co-op Live arena must have been praying for for weeks. The sound of a huge cheer echoing around this shiny new bowl.

And there are no better recipients than local heroes Elbow as they take on the mantle of being the first act to play a full show here.

“Let’s open this place up properly, shall we?” Guy Garvey shouts rhetorically as he receives cheers from the crowd.

“The staff who work here have been so excited all day. There was electricity in the room before we got here, but now it has grown, I hope you feel it,” he adds.

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It was a tumultuous beginning in the history of this place. But in the end, could there be a more fitting opening act than Garvey and his merry band of people on a drizzly day in Manchester?

The Bury band themselves know how to do things the hard way and pull on your belts, they’ve earned their reputation through over three decades of hard graft mixed with burning passion.

It’s been a long and sometimes difficult road, but Elbow have rightly cemented their status as one of the UK’s most highly regarded groups, with a shining example tonight.

They now have 10 studio albums under their belt and are currently touring with their latest offering Audio Vertigo. And it’s a sign of their confidence that they start with two tracks of it, the opening being the disturbing things I’ve been saying to myself for years. There is now a certainty with Elbow that whatever they produce will be of high quality

And as an opener it does not disappoint. “I can read people, yeah…” Guy sings over his almost haunting guitar riff. That it can. He is a man who certainly knows how to work a crowd and is clearly relishing his role as conductor of tonight’s historic show. He uses the chorus of a fellow newbie and recent funky and loud single Lovers Leap to ask “let me see you shake!”

But as the unmistakable opening bells of The Bones of You from their acclaimed fourth album The Seldom Seen Kid ring out, things really start to heat up. “Let me see your hands!” Guy asks, not for the first time.

Their 2008 album was arguably the turning point in their career, seeing them win the Mercury Prize and setting them on the path to the stardom they enjoy today. And 14 years after its release, the songs still sound as fresh and revolutionary as ever.

“You are, and there’s more…” Guy rumbles to the crowd as the words are linked to him.

While the beautiful Mirrorball, which shines just like its subject, shows off their dexterity and how easily they can fly from the rocky to the slightly romantic.

Musically, they’re so tight, you could close your eyes and think you’re listening to them on Spotify. Or vinyl, as I’m sure self-proclaimed traditionalist Guy would prefer.

The Picture, which Guy says “don’t trust your memories on the internet”, is one of five songs on their new album, all of which appear to have re-developed a slightly dirty version. , rockier edge. Good Blood Mexico City is another example. While Balu has shades of eighties synth-pop. They go all the way back to 2005’s Leaders of the Free World for the folky Station Approach.

But anthems are what they do best and you couldn’t ask for a better trio to close the main part of the show than My Sad Captains, Magnificent (She Says) and the iconic Grounds for Divorce. “Entertaining the whole crowd is like making love to a beautiful woman,” he says as he leads the crowd in some acapella backing vocals.

“The hole in my neighborhood” refers to the Temple underground bar in Manchester. And the first of the two encore songs, Lippy Kids, also evokes memories of times gone by. Guy’s voice, a key component of their success, soars as he croons the chorus “Build a rocket boys!”.

They end their 19-song set with the anthem of all anthems, One Day Like This. The soundtrack to countless first wedding dances, it has truly established itself as one of the cool classics of recent decades, becoming akin to a modern English folk song. Phone flashlights are held up and arms swing. It’s the perfect ending.

Tonight, the curtain rose and Elbow threw it wide.