Click here for photos of Elbow at Terminal 5 in New York, NY on November 2nd, 2017
Click here for photos of Elbow at Paradise in Boston, MA on November 1st, 2017
Click here for QRO’s review of Elbow at Webster Hall in New York on May 16th, 2014
Click here for photos of Elbow at Leeds Arena in Leeds, U.K. on April 11th, 2013
Click here for QRO’s review of Elbow at O2 Arena in London, U.K. on December 2nd, 2012
Click here for photos of Elbow at Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, U.K. on November 26th, 2012
Click here for photos of Elbow at Live From Jodrell Bank in Cheshire, U.K. on June 23rd, 2012
Click here for photos of Elbow at Paradise in Boston, MA on September 26th, 2011
Click here for photos of Elbow at 2011 POPPED! Festival in Philadelphia, PA
Sadness abounds in music these days (which says something about the state of the world), but still no one does it quite like Elbow. The British alternative outfit have been chronicling our tragic lives for over two decades now, and yet still find more to mine. Admittedly, the COVID pandemic has been fertile territory, with the members composing their music each on their own before exchanging ideas, and finally recording at an otherwise empty Theatre Royal in Bristol. Even for Elbow, Flying Dream 1 is a sad record, but also largely restrained.
“I’ve never been so sure / I was right where I should be / In my whole life,” Guy Garvey sings on standout “The Only Road”, and there is a distinct confidence on Dream of Elbow doing what they are meant to do. The somber, quite tone throughout the album does mean that some pieces fail to standout, but also that relatively grander moments such as the almost lounge at times “Is It a Bird” or bigger closer “What Am I Without You” feel special. It is similarly the case with the moments of light, such “What” or the preceding “The Seldom Seen Kid” (named after their seminal 2008 record – QRO review).
Wisely released not in 2021’s summer of hope but the fall/winter of Omicron loss, Flying Dream 1 sees the masters of sadness pull it off again.