Elbow/Jesca Hoop @ Webster Hall: I Remember Myself

This was an interesting show for me and requires a bit of background.  Saturday night, I couldhave easily done the I'm From Barcelona thing again in Brooklyn on Saturday, but went with Elbow and Jesca Hoop at Webster Hall. The main reason being that I've haven't seen them live since 2002, well before I had this contraption of a blog. I have no excuse why I haven't seen them since. I've bought every album, even the special two-disc sets they've put out. I should have seen them at least once since then, but when you have 2,300 CDs and an untold of amount of music to listen, you tend to forget some bands or they just fall by the waist-side.

Basically, I stink because Saturday was a monster of a performance. I knew I would like it even though I had to re-listen to every album to get caught up and equate myself with their fourth album, The Seldom Seen Kid. By the end of the show, I was completely impressed, enraptured and kicking myself for not paying attention to then band more often.

The setlist:

• Starlings
• The Bones of You
• Leaders of the Free World
• Great Expectations
• Mirror Ball
• Red
• Grounds for Divorce
• Forget Myself
• The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver
• The Stops
• Newborn
• One Day Like This
• Encore: Puncture Repair
• Station Approach
• Grace Under Pressure

The big thing I remember from their opening slot on the Doves tour in 2002 was they started out with a bang. They secretly filmed people coming into and walking around Hammerstein Ballroom before the show, then projected it over their song, Any Day Now, to kick off their set. I remember, "Holy shit! That's me sitting against the barricade waiting for the show to start."

Fast forward to last Saturday, the mood is set with a fog machine and some blue mood lighting for the song, "Starling". The band members enter the stage with trumpets. Guy Garvey sings a few quiet verses and BLAMMM. They all play a high note on the trumpet and the stages is flooded with a blinding white light for two seconds. Then, it's back to being moody. I would consider that another holy shit moment.

The show had so many great moments. It's interesting how just recently they scored a minor hit with "Forget Myself" from their last album, Leaders of the Free World, because it was featured in the movie, Southland Tales. So when they played that live, it was a real crowd pleaser and Guy indulged the crowd by singing to specific people. He even high-fived me. Right back at you, mate. He also got Webster Hall's disco ball to come down on command.

I think it helps the show that lead singer Guy seems like a genuinely nice guy and was truly pleased to be performing tonight. To me, he kind of looks like Ricky Gervais. It must be that Manchester sense of humor. He chatted up the crowd between songs and even got everyone to sing "Killing Me Softly" before the encore. I must admit, that was brilliant when everyone joined in. He comes out and was just laughing his ass off.

Musically, Elbow is in the same music spectrum as Doves, a lot of melodic soundscapes and strong vocals. They are not a big, BritRock band in the Oasis vein. They are more concerned with creating mood and atmosphere, then rocking out or being rock stars. The new album has a strong outer space quality with different elements like orchestrations and echoing vocals. The song that stood out to me was "One Day Like This", a quasi gospel rock track,  which the crowd instantly took to with their sing-a-long chorus.

So I think I made up for lost time by seeing them on Saturday. By the end of the show, I looked around and saw everyone beaming with joy from the show.

Another reason I came to the show was to see Los Angeles songstress Jesca Hoop. When KCRW named her album, Kismet, the best album of 2007, it made me scramble into my stack of unlistened to CDs. The name sounded familiar. Sure enough, I've had the album all this time. When I listen to it, I knew she was right up my alley. It's a screwy album because she crams all her musical tastes in one album. She likes old timey folk and inspiration songs, then she likes chamber music and more theatrical elements. Before you know it, she throws into some funky beats in a song like in something like "Intelligentactile 101" or 'Out the Back Door"

I was hoping to hear those eccentricities tonight, but Jesca just showed up with a guitar and a early 20th century dress. She looked like she just stepped out of an Coke-Cola ad from the 1910s. Since she was the opener and her music is in a different realm from Elbow's, Guy came out and politely asked the crowd to be silent for her show. It's a good thing because I get nervous for singer-songwriters when the open for big rock bands at Webster Hall. Nobody seems to shut up by the bar and you hear crappy techno music coming from the club below.

In any event, I think she has an amazing voice, similar to P.J. Harvey mixed with Annie Clark. I like how Jesca songs sound antique, like they were transported from another time, like from The Great Depression era California. With that said, I'd still like to see her with a full band so that her more eccentric qualities and miss-mash of genres come to life.

Comments

[christina]

Good morning MS--Thanks for being one of the enlightened few who devoted some space and words to this talented and magnificent band. The audience's reception was refreshingly and unrelentingly passionate--a total departure from the tepid environment of their WH show 2 years ago. Great photos, too.

[INRI]

Yes, Saturday night was an amazing show. And I agree that they seemed to be way better received than the show two years ago when it seemed everyone 50 feet from the stage back were completely disinterested.

Anyway, they seemed to genuinely have a great time as did everyone around me, myself included, in the audience. All in all, it was an awesome show.

Great photos, btw.

[BB]

Totally agree with your review of the show, music snobbery. I've seen Elbow 3 times, and they're always great. The British band, South, sometimes reminds me of Elbow. Great blog!