Concert review: Elbow, The Powerstation

Guy Garvey arrives on stage, smiles and toasts the packed Auckland crowd for the first of many times. If he had time to hug everyone there, he probably would.

Yes, there's something warm and welcoming about an Elbow concert, kind of like pulling on your favourite pair of weathered slippers that you're reluctant to throw out because they fit so well.

Perhaps it's Garvey's dad jokes that he delivers between each song at tonight's Powerstation show, delighting the packed older crowd with quips about their dancing abilities, their "disgustingly healthy" appearance and polite heckling attempts.

Or it could be the UK band's ability to soothe you into submission with their collection of Coldplay-esque fireside symphonies, which they've delivered on six albums over 20 years, including this year's latest, The Take Off and Landing of Everything.

It was that album's Charge that opened the show, and when paired with The Bones of You it felt promising, like Elbow were ready to deliver a set punchier than their sleepy last appearance here in 2012.

But several mid-set ballads bought the tempo down to lullaby levels, like the twinkling crawl of Mirrorball or The Birds' plaintive plucking. Both came with soothing orchestral arrangements that delivered the kind of music that could soundtrack a sunny day hanging out the washing.

That may sound harsh but Elbow are much better when delivering anthems that make fans throw their beer cups in the air and sing along at the top of their voice, like
Lippy Kids' rousing refrain of "Build a rocket boys" or show closer One Day Like This and its upliftingly cheesy chorus of, "One day like this a year will see me right".

And Grounds For Divorce - from their best album, 2008's The Seldom Seen Kid - is their ace in the pack, a soaring bruiser that delivers more "woo-hoos" than Blur's Song 2 and comes with some refreshing guitar grunt.

It was easily the highlight of the night. A few more of those and Elbow could shake off those comfy slippers and really give fans a reason to finish those drinks.

Elbow
Where: The Powerstation, Auckland
When: Saturday, November 1