Elbow covers Destiny's Child

Andy WhittonSo the excitement was great when it appeared that Elbow were going to be playing their first show in Toronto in some time at the Phoenix on July 29. The listing popped up on the venue’s website and I dutifully reported it as pretty much a done deal – so when it disappeared a few days later, I assumed someone had jumped the gun and waited for the official announcement to come. And waited. And waited. And while waiting, I seemed to become the go-to for news on the show, with incoming emails and tweets and whatever looking for ticket on-sale information, information that I didn’t have. Until I made some inquiries and discovered that the show HAD been for real, but was no longer as the band had gotten a better offer for that evening. So to anyone and everyone who’d hoped to see Elbow that evening, you still can – you’ll just have to tune into The Late Show with David Letterman to do so. Good for Elbow, not so good for Hogtown.

Sure, you can still see them the evening of the 30th at the Rogers Centre, opening for Coldplay, but that’s hardly the setting or the context a fan would want to experience them in. Plus it’s sold out and would have been really expensive anyways. And so we sit and hope against hope that they’ll find their way back to North America for their own shows sometime soon. Perhaps in an orchestral setting as they’ve been wont to do of late. Hey, if we’re wishing for gigs that aren’t likely to happen anytime soon, why not go big?

Also unlikely but very real is the scenario of Elbow, Mancunian mope-rockers extraordinaire, covering American R&B queens Destiny’s Child but they did just for a 2002 BBC1 Live Lounge session with Jo Whiley, turning in a jaunty and tongue-mostly-in-cheek version of the trio’s smash hit from the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack. And while a Destiny’s Child reunion isn’t happening, two-thirds of the band are on the road and had Toronto on their itineraries – Kelly Rowland was here a couple weeks ago to perform during Pride and Beyonce will play the Molson Amphitheatre tomorrow night.

MP3: Elbow – “Independent Women”
Video: Destiny’s Child – “Independent Women”