Elbow Unveil 'Reverse Mexican Wave' at Glastonbury

Even Jay-Z was impressed, apparently. Seen watching the Bury five-piece's Pyramid Stage set from the side of the stage, the hip-hop statesman was later heard singing the praises of a band he hadn't encountered before.

Tens of thousands of Glastonbury-goers might have asked the rapper what took him so long. Second on the bill only to Coldplay on Saturday, Elbow carried off a pretty much perfect Saturday evening set. As the sun disappeared, they didn't try and match Coldplay for pyrotechnic spectacle -- relying instead on the beery bonhomie that had snared them a Mercury and the undying admiration of Britain's music-buying public.

At one point frontman Guy Garvey instructed the crowd to take part in a "reverse Mexican wave" -- where everyone would drop to their kness and then stand up, and everyone behind them would follow suit. The result looked like that bit in 'The Lord of the Rings' where Sauron's power is broken, though with less orcs (probably; this is Glastonbury after all).

"It's still going," Garvey shouted as the wave broke on the hillside. "Oh my sacred power."

There was more than just dictatorial crowd control on display. Buoyed by the release of fifth album 'Build a Rocket Boys!' and the biggest tour to date in this, their 20th year, Elbow brought the crowd to a gentle peak with songs seemingly ready-made for such an occasion. 'One Day Like This' -- obviously -- and the swelling 'Grounds for Divorce' had the crowd baying along like their lives depended on.

Maybe Jay-Z will join them next time.

Watch Elbow Perform 'The Bones of You' at Glastonbury 2011
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