Elbow tell us about Manchester ‘Asleep In The Back’ 25th anniversary gigs and new music plans

Guy Garvey has spoken to NME about the news that Elbow will be playing three hometown shows at Manchester Ritz for where they’ll be playing the whole of their debut album ‘ Asleep In The Back ’ to mark its 25th anniversary. ‘Asleep In The Back’ was a cult success on its release on the recently-relaunched V2 label in 2001.

It reached Number 14 and earned the band their first Mercury Prize nomination.

They lost out to PJ Harvey’s classic ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea ‘ but would later go on to win in 2008 for their breakthrough fourth album ‘ The Seldom Seen Kid’ .

In a 9/10 review at the time, NME hailed ‘Asleep In The Back ‘ as “Manchester’s first great album of the millennium”, adding: “It seems that after all the pale imitators, Radiohead finally have a competitor worthy of healthy comparison.” Now, they’ll be playing the album in full along with B-sides from the era at The Ritz across three nights from November 20-22.

“We had to mark the passage of 25 years.

But we didn’t want to do an ‘Asleep In The Back’ tour because we wanted to make these shows more precious, so that the people who are there are likely to be taking a 25-year trip down memory lane,” Garvey told NME .

“We wanted to do it for the people who were there in the first place, who never thought they’d hear the album in full.

“Originally, it was going to be just one show at the Ritz.

But that felt churlish.

So, fuck it, let’s do three.

We want to make sure the shows are a really special thing, and they certainly will be for us.” The five-piece – which comprised guitarist Mark Potter, bassist Pete Turner, keyboardist Craig Potter and since-departed drummer Richard Jupp – had experienced a lot of industry turmoil before releasing the album.

They had two record deals cancelled at the last minute, then signed to Island, recording the original version of ‘Asleep In The Back’ with Happy Mondays producer Steve Osborne.

That version got shelved when Elbow’s record contract was cancelled after Island were taken over by Universal Music, with the band eventually re-recording the album with Blur producer Ben Hillier.

Recalling the struggle to get the album made, Garvey said: “By the time we made the final version of the album, we were really fucked off with the industry.