Elbow & Blind Pilot

It was a magical night of music at Esplanade's Mosaic. After missing most of the wonderful gigs during the festival, I was a tad wistful at missing John Butler Trio. Also, many of the friends flew into town for the festival, and I missed out on many parties and dinners. But came Sunday night, I soaked it all up in the stellar melodies of Elbow and Blind Pilot. Brought no camera. Didn't feel like togging a heavy bag to dance. So whatever photos captured on the Berry have turned out pretty decent. It was a wonderful time catching up with everyone before they had to jet off again.

Did you see those origami cranes dotting the Esplanade? Are they just so graceful and angelic? What a happy decoration. It's Mosaic Festival's special visual concept. It pays tribute to the legend of 'The Thousand Origami Cranes'- of symbols of peace and granted wishes; in a nod towards Esplanade's 10th Anniversary theme of 'Celebrating Life- The Best of Human Spirit through the Arts'. I love this performance arts venue. It's not just our best. It's on par with international venues for the arts. Always a pleasure to stroll in for gigs, plays and concerts.

Elbow

Guy Garvey didn't stop drinking. There were 2 huge glasses of Scotch, and what I believed to be gin-lime and gin-tonic, beer, and probably a stout! He struggled to hit some notes towards the end of the night for one particular song; so that, might actually be an effect of his drinking. Hmmmmmph. But it wasn't his drinking that made him forget lyrics along the way. It's just...ahahahaha...time (last gig was in November, if you believe them!), and the many songs they have. Ever the consummate performer, Guy Garvey bantered with the crowd, and was completely at ease. After all, He was a BBC Radio 6 music presenter. He's got the radio voice. (You must know Elbow has a song titled 'Don't Mix Your Drinks'.)

The concert opened with 'The Birds'. I was happy to hear 'The Night Will Always Win'. The sedate audience sat down most of the time, but got up to dance in the middle, then plonked back to their seats before getting up again for the last few songs, and the encore, ending with 'Station Approach', 'One Day Like This' and 'Scattered Black and Whites'. Thoroughly otherworldly. The band refers to their orchestral-like sounds as "prog without the solos". They're not a flashy band. Certainly not anywhere close to hipster-ish, Elbow gave us solid music, good tunes, and great musicianship.

Blind Pilot

Sprinted from the concert hall to the recital studio, and was still late by 15 minutes because the encore at Elbow was too good to miss. To be very honest, I know nothing much of Blind Pilot except that they do really listenable catchy indie folk pop/rock. With only 2 albums under their belt, I confess my iPod carries only 3 of their songs. They sang 2 for the encore- 'We Are The Tide' and 'Three Rounds and a Sound'. I know 'Half Moon' too!

They sound fantastically tight and rich live. Better than the recordings. And that's not because of the multi-instruments used to layer sounds. It's just them, their compact songwriting and dazzling melodies. Haunting at times, groovy and thudding at other stretches. Impressive. Incredible night to end Mosaic 2012.