BURY chart-toppers Elbow are hoping to help their homebound fans by releasing their new live album a month early.

The band was forced to cancel their spring tour amid the coronavirus pandemic but they have now decided to make Live At The Ritz – An Acoustic Performance available across digital and streaming platforms, ahead of its official release on April 17.

Elbow also recently treated their followers to a live-streamed performance of Weightless, off their 2019 studio album, Giants Of All Sizes. The band will continue to perform #ElbowRooms sessions every Friday while in isolation and are encouraging song requests from fans.

In a statement on social media, frontman Guy Garvey said: “Given we should be seeing 100,000 of you fans on this tour we thought we’d bring forward the release of the record we made at the end of last year.

“We hope it goes some way to fixing your disappointment at not being able to seeing us for the moment.

“We have a long history with The Ritz, hanging around there as teenagers. Monday night was indie night and where we found our people but never got a snog. It was a really warm atmosphere in a room we’ve got a ton of history with one of the best venues in Manchester, one of the best venues in the world.”

Elbow first formed as Soft back in 1990, when Garvey, then aged 16, met guitarist Mark Potter while both were attending Bury College. Their debut album Asleep in the Back was released in May 2001.

Giants Of All Sizes, which arrived in October, marked Elbow’s third No.1 album in the UK, following in the footsteps of 2017’s Little Fictions and 2014’s The Take Off And Landing Of Everything.

The band, which were due to begin a 21-day tour in March, have rescheduled all dates, which will now take place in the summer and autumn.