Elbow, Hammersmith Apollo

It seems like two distinct strands of popular opinion have been cultivated toward increasingly middle-aged Lancastrian alt-rockers Elbow since the release of 2008's Mercury-winning The Seldom Seen Kid.
One strand looks back at their gutsy refusal to give up on the music biz after 18 long years wallowing in mediocrity, while the other sees in that story, and in the rise and rise of the portly, crotchety anti-celebrity Guy Garvey, fitting reward for a kind of glorious, unyielding optimism of the kind echoed in refrain of the most famous track from that breakthrough album, the still-ubiquitous One Day Like This.
One has to suspect the band did themselves few favours with 2011's Build a Rocket Boys!, a follow-up album in the least subtle sense that did its level best to ape the singalong, anthemic fluke that gave them their break. Last year's The Take Off and Landing of Everything, however, seems them settling into an ethereal gentleness which is not at all unpleasant (as on the quietly charming My Sad Captains), and which suggests this might be the best time for a few years to see them live two dates are already sold out at the Apollo, so don't delay!