Live From Jodrell Bank 2012: Review
Elbow triumph at the rain-lashed event
Saturday 23rd June 2012 – Live from Jodrell Bank with Elbow, Field Music, Cherry Ghost, Lianne La Havas and Willy Mason. Words: Scott Colothan As gig concepts go they don’t get much more spectacular than Live from Jodrell Bank. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Lovell Telescope, the unique event fuses out-of-this world live music with science, discovery and education. However, after The Flaming Lips’ kaleidoscopic triumph last summer, organisers were faced with a quandary: how to top the inaugural event. Their solution was inspired - draft in local heroes Elbow and give them free rein over choosing their support acts. !Following a week of biblical weather and with more lashing rain predicted throughout the day, it’s a welcome relief when we arrive on the grey Saturday afternoon to find lush green fields and no rain. With Willy Mason’s beguiling Americana-tinged sounds echoing in our ears, our first port of call is the Science Arena in the direct shadow of the breath-takingly gargantuan Lovell Telescope. A real hive of learning, visiting the various bustling stalls we try out a telescope, see the decidedly Mechano-like Mars Rover and fill our glut with mind-boggling information about black holes and the ever-expanding infinitum of space. We even get taught how to build a dodecahedron from A4 paper by a nine-year-old kid – proof that you really do learn something new every day. Brain suitably nourished (and frazzled), it’s over for some delectable indie-folk courtesy of Lianne La Havas. Clearly delighted to be playing the unique occasion, Lianne enchants the Gore-Tex-clad masses with her incredibly soft and haunting dulcet tones. The undoubted set highlight comes when Willy Mason comes back on stage to duet on the gorgeous ‘No Room For Doubt’ - a criminally ignored musical gem that marries their juxtaposing voices perfectly. Minutes after her all-too-brief set, Lianne returns with a beaming bloke plucked from the crowd who proceeds to get down on one knee and ask his girlfriend the big question. Thankfully she said yes! Continuing Elbow’s superbly curated bill, the bloody brilliant Cherry Ghost play a powerful, melody-driven early evening set that dips between their top-ten debut ‘Thirst For Romance’ and the criminally-overlooked ‘Beneath This Burning Shoreline’.
Taking thing up a notch once again, Sunderland’s prodigal sons Field Music then** wow with their melting pot of sounds. Effortlessly flitting between angular art-rock, sixties psychedelia and classic indie-pop, the four-piece impress at every turn before the set reaches its undoubted zenith with the jangly tour-de-force that is ‘Them That Do Nothing’. How Field Music aren’t a household name will forever remain a mystery to us. With night drawing in, the ominous grey clouds that have taunted us all day finally unleash their full wrath on Jodrell Bank. However, if there’s one band majestic enough to make you forget about the torrential downpour it’s Elbow**. Kicking off with the upbeat ‘High Ideals’, the boys from Bury swiftly consume the senses with their inimitable, epic sounds. Never wavering in quality or splendour, ‘The Bones Of You’ is genuinely spine-tingling while early highlight, the poignant ode to the disaffected youth, ‘Lippy Kids’, is stunning. !One of the finest frontmen in music right now, Guy Garvey’s warmth is infectious throughout as he constantly showers the 10,000 “jodrellites” with matey affection, pays tribute to the newly rotated Lovell Telescope with its “mighty inquisitive eye” and quips about the monsoon-like conditions; “Electronic equipment in the rain, what could possibly go wrong?! This would be a good way to go out!” Later, he even takes the time to partake in some jokey self-deprecation; “Am I losing weight? Hands up if you love a beer belly,” he asks to a chorus of cheers. Paradoxically as the pounding rain worsens the evening gets even more magical. The 76metre saucer dish backdrop is transformed into a huge screen, projecting gig footage and giant images from outer space, all while Elbow dispatch epic tunes like the immensely powerful ‘The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver’, the gritty ‘Grounds For Divorce’ and the exquisite ‘Mirrorball’. Just when we think the set can’t possibly reach any new heights, as the band launch into the stripped-back old favourite ‘Scattered Black and Whites’ an almighty firework display erupts for the entirety of the song - the delicate, highly affecting music complimenting the explosions and cavalcades of dazzling light perfectly. It’s a moment that will last in my mind forever. As any discerning Elbow aficionado will know, the band always save their biggest anthem till last. Buoyed by sweeping strings, the life-affirmingly brilliant ‘One Day Like This’ sparks a mass sing-along with its wholly fitting “it’s looking like a beautiful day” chorus – a tune the crowd are humming all the way to the muddy quagmire car parks. A phenomenal end to a perfect gig.
