With Zoe Graham
Kelvingrove Bandstand, 9 August 2025
It’s a sunny Saturday night at the Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre, a perfect night for an outdoor gig with headliners Elbow, the main draw of this year’s Summer Sessions at the venue. The last of three sold out nights for the band who formed in 1990 and have released 10 studio albums since 2001’s Asleep In The Back.
The band have a string of awards to their name too, Mercury Music Prize, Brit Award, Ivor Novello Award. All the boxes ticked off that confirm a band who have seeped into the mindset of music lovers over the past few decades.
As I looked across the venue, the majority of those attending were of a similar age suggesting a long acquaintance with the band and their music. And yet, something was missing on the night as the band’s talismanic front man Guy Garvey tried to cajole the audience into joining in on the fun, ‘stand up if you want to’, ‘wave your arms’, ‘join in if you know the words’, etc. were all met with limited success until the final few numbers on the setlist.
The omens looked good ahead of the band taking to the stage when a brass/strings/backing vocals section laid down the opening chords of the evening.
Once the obligatory Hello Glasgow was met with resounding cheers, the band plugged into an opening salvo of Starlings and The Bones of You from 2008 bookending new tracks Lovers Leap and the energetic Adriana Again.
An introduction that on another night might/should have lifted the audience to their feet. Some did, though most remained seated to enjoy, and they did enjoy, the rest of the set.
Throughout the performance, Guy Garvey’s charming personality and self-deprecating humour were as much a part of the gig as the music. Between songs he was as happy to talk about their time in the city, remembering the names of the aforementioned brass/strings section, recounting a story of a friend who was no longer with us.
There were many high points that dedicated followers of the band were only too happy to enjoy closer to the band as many shuffled to the front of the stage.
However, a complete stranger looking in on the event might have thought the band were one or two hit wonders as only at the end, with a run of Grounds For Divorce (2008), My Sad Captains (2014) and the anthemic One Day Like This (2008) did it look and feel like a true Glasgow audience. It’s a song that has defined the band, a song that everyone wants to be a part of and possibly the only time in the evening when we were all as one.
Elbow are not a band who set out to wow the audience with a fantastic production setup – lights, visuals, something out of the ordinary. After all these years together, their gift to the audience is one of superb musicianship and arrangement with songs that tell stories which the audience can relate to.
Support – Zoe Graham
A one-woman band, the other members of which successfully squeezed into a laptop, Zoe Graham had a couple of causes for celebration. Musically, she was delighted that she had coerced Elbow to giving her a supporting slot on their last night at the venue. Coerced in a friendly way in that she had been receiving support and advice while recording tracks for her latest album. Personally, too she had cause for celebration as she was playing in front of her mum and dad who had announced her to the world several years previously. Yes, it was her birthday too.
For the rest of the audience, it was a delight to be listening to someone so confident and accomplished who had walked the paths of the park surrounding us, fine tuning her thoughts on the music she records.
A successful night across the board and hopefully more Zoe Graham nights to follow.
