Review: Elbow

****

It's taken Elbow more than 20 years to reach the A-list of UK rock, but even with a Mercury Music Prize under their belt and a few crowd-levitating anthems up their sleeve, the Manchester quintet remain reassuringly unfamiliar to most mainstream music fans. They could probably sing along to One Day Like This when it comes on the telly during the World Cup, but few of them would be able to tell the band apart from an airport maintenance crew.

The 7,500 fans gathered at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, however, know full well they are in the presence of a very special band. Their biggest tune may have been diluted by overuse on sports programmes, and this may be little more than a warm-up for Glastonbury, but Elbow still serve up some moments of undistilled greatness. Many of the best moments come from their current album The Take Off and Landing of Everything. On a wet Wednesday evening, you couldn't ask for better.

The band open with Charge, an electro-tinged internal monologue that finds singer Guy Garvey intoning, "Glory be, these f***ers are ignoring me," while violins swoop menacingly behind. It's not an easy song to sing along to, but the crowd are happy enough to listen as the song makes its stuttering progress.

The Bones of You and The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver, both from their Mercury-winning album, The Seldom Seen Kid, are masterclasses in musical intricacy, but the real revelation is just how well the new songs deliver their emotional payload. Fly Boy Blue/Lunette is a double whammy of warm, cuddly tuneage, while Real Life (Angel) is a haymaker, Guy Garvey's voice soaring to the heavens above Kilmainham, and the band working hard to hold it all aloft.

Grounds for Divorce is the rockiest song in the set, and Garvey eggs the crowd on to join in. My Sad Captains confirms that the new album is up there with their best.

The last order of business is the obligatory finale of One Day Like This. It may have lost some of its potency over the past six years, but it is still capable of sending you home with a smile on your face and maybe even a little tear in your eye.