elbow at First Avenue (October 7, 2025)
British band elbow played a great show at First Avenue, with a full band creating some amazingly layered sounds.
- Things I’ve Been Telling Myself for Years
- Lovers’ Leap
- Adriana Again
- The Bones of You
- Kindling
- Her to the Earth
- Balu
- Mirrorball
- The Seldom Seen Kid (Dedicated to Conrad Sverkerson)
- Fly Boy Blue / Lunette
- The Birds
- Lippy Kids (Dedicated to Mike Kota)
- Magnificent (She Says)
- Sober
- Grounds for Divorce— Encore —
- Station Approach
- One Day Like This
- 10/07 – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN
- 10/09 – Summit – Denver, CO
- 10/10 – Union Center – Salt Lake City, UT
- 10/12 – The Showbox – Seattle, WA
- 10/13 – Revolution Hall – Portland, OR
- 10/15 – Fox Theater – Oakland, CA
- 10/16 – The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA
It was a noisy evening outside First Avenue, with traffic cops whistling up a storm for a preseason Timberwolves game, several emergency vehicles blaring down 7th Street and the normal crowd and car traffic. It wasn’t going to be any quieter inside as British alt rock band elbow was gearing up for the night’s performance.
As is usually his way, DJ Jake Rudh began spinning tunes and running videos as soon as doors opened. We’ve covered Rudh before, including this year’s edition of his annual Transmission show in March. Personally, I’ve seen Rudh eight or nine times over the years, and it never gets old. Cutting from Nick Drake to The Sundays was a nice example of his seamless transitions. A video for Paranoid Android was a little shocking just for seeing how young Thom Yorke was when it was recorded. Rudh slowly moved the tempo up, in a slow but steady way with a well sequenced song choices. A late set choice was a great reminder of how very cool that song Sour Times by Portishead is and like that, Rudh had spun the hour away.
Our first artist on the main stage was local rocker Mike Kota. We recently saw her at the Minnesota Yacht Club in July. Kota recently released a new EP called Through Fire, the one she mentioned was being released the very day she was playing the Yacht Club. Kota was performing solo here at First Avenue, switching between multiple guitars. Her second song was supported by some funky backing/looped music and her husky alto singing was excellent. Her next song was a new one, Melter, a “song about empathy”, and one with some heavy guitar reverb and soulful singing. Kota was pretty compelling as a solo act, and her banter while tuning was all gratitude to the headliner and First Avenue for giving her the opportunity. In the third show opening for elbow on what she called her first real tour experience, you could see the excitement from Kota and I hope it only gets bigger and better for her from here. A looped intro made a chance for Kota to sing with that backing music then adding more guitar on top midway through. Closing out with Corner, Mike Kota had a cute getting lost moment, forgetting words to the second verse before getting back on the horse and powering through strong.
I spoke with Kota between sets. Asking about the transition to larger venues, even as an opener, she said everything is little by little and they are key steps forward. She took the time to see larger venue POV shots and got to stand at First Ave’s stage from the side during a show to visualize ahead of time what that crowd would look like. Once she was there (or at the Yacht Club), Kota worked to enjoy it and normalize it as the place that she wants to go. Talking about how she was with a full band at Yacht Club and solo tonight, Kota said she loves both for different reasons. Performing solo allows her to be locked in with the songs and guitar and it “all just flows”. Being with the band lets her listen and enjoy the magic of playing with others. The next show for Mike Kota is at the end of the month for the Annunciation school fundraiser, but otherwise she is keeping her schedule open for opportunities just like this one she was finishing. We’ll keep watching as she is quickly becoming a favorite of We❤️Music.
The headliner was elbow. The Manchester group has been at it for over thirty years, with ten albums, most recently 2024’s Audio Vertigo. Centered by lead singer & songwriter Guy Garvey, the quintet had several members switching between instruments and also had four additional performers singing back up vocals, but also at least two of them on brass (saxophone, trumpet and trombone at the very least). Garvey was the center of gravity and was all hand gestures and leaning towards the audience as he sang on the upper baritone / lower tenor range. Lover’s Leap featured that brass, which was a fun additonal layer on elbow’s classic rock band instrumentation. Adriana Again was impressive for its great sound and that backing chorus took it up a notch, while the keyboard instrumental had a sharp tone that let it break through the rest of the music.
With two drum sets, multiple keyboards, and nine band members where many could and did switch between instruments, it meant that the wall of sound altered between and even within songs. Occasionally subtle, but sometimes very abrupt, that musical base helped shape very distinct tones. A New Orleans feel on brass to close out a number for instance, got a riotous response from the crowd. Heavy strobe light effects at the start of Her to the Earth had a strong keyboard riff that had many in the crowd head-banging along. Loading the front end of the show with songs from the newest album, it really showed off how good this one is. We got an actual spinning disco ball on stage for Mirrorball and perhaps the most stripped down song of the set, which was still pretty darn layered.
A huge round of applause between numbers had an appreciative Garvey give a “cheers” to the crowd. Taking a moment to talk, Garvey mentioned that one of the band’s first tours in the US was with Grandaddy who will be performing on the same stage tomorrow. The Seldom Seen Kid, written about a contemporary and friend who died back in 2006 was dedicated to Conrad Sverkerson, the First Avenue stage manager who recently passed away (Conrad’s legacy continues to grow with each band that meaningfully and touchingly lend their tributes on stage.) elbow continued to move across a lot of rock sounds, with The Birds having a guitar heavy and serious alt sound. Garvey gave big props to Mike Kota for being with them on the last few shows, describing her need to create her art without compromise and proceeded to dedicate Lippy Kids to her. The crowd singing of “build a rocket boys” was pretty tremendous, though their attempts at whistling were sketchy at best. The main set ended on the audience supported Grounds for Divorce. Having told the crowd they needed to sing to get them back on stage, a chorus of All You Need Is Love had elbow back for an encore starting with Station Approach and Garvey giving it his all vocally. The final number, One Day Like This had three areas of the audience with different vocal parts. elbow closed a wonderful set with a full sound on stage and supported by a very pleased audience.
