Elbow @ MEN ARENA

Arena sized venues aren't accustomed to the gentler sounds of bands like Elbow. They're more familiar to the raucous sounds of the latest megabucks selling pop fad or the stadium rockers blasting out hits, so it's with some trepidation that we enter this vast, cavernous venue.

Before the band take to the stage there's some ingenious computer generated film portraits of each band member, with each one standing still as a statue save for the odd nose twitch or blinking eyes. An almighty cheer resonates around the place as one by one the portrait figures leave their frames, signalling showtime.

Kicking off with "The Birds" from new album "Build A Rocket Boys", Guy Garvey's vocals swoop and soar over delicate melodies.

Then there's "Bones Of You" and "Grounds For Divorce", with its massive guitar riffs, from previous album "Seldom Seen Kid" which helped bring them to the masses.

"Lippy Kids", "With Love" and "Neat Little Rows" from the new album also get an airing and are warmly received. There's not much from the earlier three albums but this set was designed to please huge crowds and so tunes from mega selling Mercury winning last album and the newest album are favoured instead.

There's a walkway leading out to the middle of the arena which helps make use of the huge space and engages the crowd even more, plus a mirrorball which gets lowered to the song of the same name.

No Bono posturing needed and certainly no running, just in case St Johns Ambulance were at the ready! Guy and keyboardist Craig Potter assemble on the mini stage at the end of the walkway and deliver a beautiful version of was "Puncture Repair" and "Some Riot" before being joined by the rest of the band around the piano to raise a toast to us all down some cocktails.

Then it's back on with the gig. They're joined by The Halle Youth Choir for a few tunes, Garvey admitting that it's good to travel to work on the tram for a change and you can sense real giddiness at playing to their hometown again.

They depart after "Open Arms" with Guy joking, "we're going now, but you know we're not really".

Returning for "Starlings",  a gorgeous version of "Station Approach" from third album "Leaders Of The Free World", and ending with the impossibly anthemic "One Day Like This", Elbow somehow managed to transform the huge arena into a cosy gig space, with a combination of their down to earth approach and their great batch of tunes, proving that the gentle can still be giants.

Paula Gregory