Elbow - For one night!!! is the Sounds of Bristol

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Elbow manage to bend the crowd to them in the end 

Elbow *** were back at the Harbourside in Bristol for the annual Bristol Sounds festival. It has become a mainstay of the local festival scene, adding to the must attend events of the summer along with the Harbour Festival and Downs Festival, which they headlined back in 2017. This year Bristol Sounds had the big names once again, along with Elbow, Bloc Party and the Cinematic Orchestra had graced the stage on the other nights. Even on the night the line up did not disappoint with up and coming acts Villagers and Another Sky both entertaining the crowds on the hottest day of the year.

Of course the crowd were mostly here to see Guy Garvey’s Elbow do they what seem to be best at and wow the festival audience with their anthems to sing along to. As we alluded to they had done this last in Bristol back in 2017 at the Downs Festival, a perfect second instalment of that event after the entertaining but very wet Massive Attack set in 2016. There they had the crowd in the palm of their hand a repeat performance would be a perfect close to a summers day.

The set opened with an early outing for ‘Bones of You’ to get the crowd warmed up, although it had been over 30 degrees earlier in the day so that should not have been an issue. Guy Garvey took his familiar place at the front of the stage through the sing alongs including ‘Mirror Ball’ and ‘My Sad Captain’, however, there seemed to be something missing from the last time, the atmosphere started a bit flatter than normal.

It was hard to pin point why though, Elbow were on form as normal but despite a few sing alongs the crowd just seemed a bit flatter than normal at the start. Perhaps the heat of earlier in the day has sapped the energy a bit, but it took a bit of time to really get going. Of course Elbow have the bug guns in terms of festival songs and once these were deployed normal service was resumed in the shape of ‘One Day Like This’ and then closing track ‘Grounds for Divorce’ which seem to be written for these big outdoor events.

Overall a great evening, even if it did not quite live up to their Downs performance a couple of years back, but as I say I am not sure that is all down to the band and perhaps weather and the fact a full bill back then had the crowd fully warmed up before they arrived. Yet a band that know how to deliver and pick up a crowd as needed, here is to seeing who we get to see at Bristol Sounds next year.

Elbow - Setlist
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Fly boy Blue / Lunette
The Bones of You 
Magnificent (She Says)
Mirrorball
Little Fictions
My sad Captains
Empires
Station Approach
Kindling
The Birds
Lippy Kids
One day like This
Grounds for Divorce

Review and Photo's by Jon Cooper

Check Out! the Video for 'One day like This' Below...