There are certainly other arena singers with more moves than the pacing, beardy Bury boy, clutching a plastic tumbler of red wine, who entertains us this evening. Guy Garvey is plainly not Justin Timberlake, the previous night's guest at the Hydro. But then, there are few frontmen so adept at making vast, impersonal spaces seem as extraordinarily, amusingly intimate. "My favourite niece, Jessica, is in the audience. It was her birthday last week," Garvey says. "I got her the best present ever." The response, ringing out quietly in a Mancunian accent from somewhere up in the heavens, is impeccably timed: "Liar!"
Less-than-favourite uncle Guy – who does dedicate The Night Will Always Win to Jessica – got a gift himself recently when Elbow's sixth album, The Take Off and Landing of Everything became their first UK No 1. Although they were elevated to national treasure status with 2006's breakout album The Seldom Seen Kid, it's surprising that it's taken until now for these makers of ornately adorned, shrewdly anthemic indie-rock to top the chart. But then, theirs has been a triumph of steady charm more than it has marquee hits – save one obvious example, which we'll come to.
Fleshed out with a small orchestra, the rump of tonight's set is new material – all of it typically finely crafted, yet requiring the odd icebreaker. The modestly proggy Fly Boy Blue/Lunette, for instance, gets its biggest cheer when Garvey cutely switches mention of "Irish whiskey" to "scotch". Among the usual pub-philosopher explorations of personal politics, there's a newfound impulse to connect with bigger issues. The solemn Blanket of Night – sung from a b-stage in the centre of the audience, Garvey's pint of wine rested atop Craig Potter's upright piano – addresses immigration, and how politicians "use it divisively to win votes while showing very little concern for peoples' lives".
Backloading the show with phone-camera moments is a necessary arena practice to keep bums in seats, but leaves plenty of room for liftoff. Mark Potter's grinding guitar riff on Grounds for Divorce finds solid traction. Ode to long-lost drinking companions My Sad Captains isn't a full-blown mass sing-along yet, but it has all the makings of one with its swaying melody and stately brass fanfares. When One Day Like This arrives, it's with the sense of occasion of a band who know that their meal ticket has become practically a national hymn. Even if nothing else in Elbow's set takes off quite like it, as the song's triumphant coda unfurls and giant glowing balloons tumble from the ceiling, their flight still looks a long way from landing.
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