Elbow – The Danforth Music Hall

One of my favourite bands (we’re talking top 5), elbow was in town on the weekend and it was my true delight to not only attend the show, but to photograph the first part of their performance. They played to a sold-out crowd at The Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on Saturday May 17, 2014. They treating us to a mix of their classic masterpieces along with new gems from their latest album The Take Off and Landing of Everything.

I have been a fan since I first heard their music, while I was living in London, over a decade ago and have fallen more in love with each album. Hearing frontman Guy Garvey’s poetic brilliance and incredible voice in person is now one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. The combination of their melodies, lyrics and Garvey’s vocal prowess is a magical combination…one that can make me weep one moment and make my heart soar the next.

Every single member of the band adds to the layers of each and every song. Craig Potter’s talented fingers on the keys, Mark Potter rockin’ the guitar, Pete Turner on bass and Richard Jupp tearing it up on the drums. I am thrilled that they are also touring with two violinists…elbow + string section = perfection.

Garvey is charismatic on stage. He excels at engaging the crowd and involving everybody in the songs. He entered on stage, holding up a cup of beer to the crowd, setting the tone for the night. The respect and admiration he has for his fans is reciprocated completely. I have to say elbow fans make up the best concert crowd I have ever been surrounded by. The crowd is just as humble as the band is. It’s about the music…as it always should be.

With such an impressive body of work (now spanning six albums) the daunting task would have been choosing the set list. If that job was given to me the show would run at least 4 hours long with 3 encores.

I sang my heart out with the rest of the crowd and by the end of it my heart had swelled to 10x its usual size.

My amazing night was topped off in a way i could not have imagined when Guy, Craig and Mark Potter showed up at the pub and sat at the table directly beside us. Dare I say we literally rubbed elbows with elbow?!

They say that you shouldn’t meet your heroes. I whole-heartedly disagree with that statement…especially if yours is one lovely “Guy”.

Thank you gents for coming back to Toronto. Cheers!

(find more of my photos on The Danforth Music Hall page).