I wish I could say I was there to see Elbow at Glastonbury, but I watched it on TV instead.

It seemed to be a fantastic set though. A career high no doubt.

The most enjoyable thing about it though was the fact it looked like they pulled a ‘Magic Number’.

That won’t mean anything to anyone but me and a friend of mine.

Several years back (I can’t remember which year) me and that friend watched The Magic Numbers headline the John Peel stage. Although they’re not one of my favourite bands, it was one of my favourite ever sets at Glastonbury.

It was great because as they were playing, the crowd started to get an idea of what it meant to the band. You could see on the band’s faces that they were having a fantastic time playing. And the more the crowd saw this, the better reception they gave each song. And the better reception they got, the more the band seemed to enjoy it. And that loop continued until everyone present seemed to be having an amazing time – and in the band’s case, the time of their lives.

I remember reading a comment on a forum a few weeks later by the chap who curates the stage saying that he’d never seen anything like it in all the years he’d been running the stage.

And to me, that’s exactly what happened to Elbow this year at Glastonbury.

Glastonbury seems the perfect venue for Elbow. You can imagine they write some of their songs with the Pyramid Stage in mind. So just knowing that they’re going to perform those during the ‘golden hour’ (when the sun sets) meant they likely went into it with high expectations.

I get the feeling those expectations were blown. Guy Garvey seemed to have complete control over the crowd. More control (and respect) than most lead singers have when up on that stage. And the more he used it the better the time he had. He could barely contain his joy. And the better the time he had, the more the crowd seemed to enjoy it. And so the loop begins.

It was fantastic to watch – even if it was just on TV. Elbow seem like a hard-working and well liked band among their peers. I’d go so far to say that the only lead singer that comes across nicer than Guy Garvey is Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips.

So to see them have their ‘moment’ – possibly their greatest moment – made for a great hour of tv viewing.

Like I said, I wasn’t there so maybe something else happened, but that’s how it came across to me.