Saw Mickey Callisto at Swn Festival last month, having never heard of him before. Thought he was fantastic. Great fun. It was about 2pm and cleared my residual hangover from the night before.
1 Like
Aye shame it was a good one
1 Like
01 Let’s Eat Grandma, QEH foyer
Weird setting but it was actually perfect with the setting sun beaming in for the first few songs. Got a spot near the front too which helped. Finished with Donnie Darko which simply can’t be topped.
02 The Delgados, Concorde 2
What a stunner. Great return from one of my all time favourites. The sound was absolutely excellent. The intro to The Light Before We Land was jaw-droppingly good. Great gig.
They did a lovely line in tea towels and beer glasses too.
03 Richard Dawson, The Barbican.
Kicked off with the full ~40min version of The Hermit which was as lovely as you would expect. He played other tracks too which were also excellent. 5-piece band too.
1 Like
ABBA at the ABBA arena.
If that doesn’t count then Alessandro Cortini or James Holden. Both totally mesmeric.
3 Likes
Probably the Hold Steady again. Perfect balance of an exceptional catalogue of songs, a band really happy to be playing those songs, and an audience really excited to be hearing those songs.
3 Likes
Really want to see them live. The bits I’ve seen online make them seem really special — Health and Gilla Band are two of my favourite live acts and seems like they’re somewhere between the two?
2 Likes
The contrast of this post is peak DiS
6 Likes
They’re far more engaging live than HEALTH or Gilla Band in my opinion. Cole Haden has SO much charisma.
2 Likes
Model/Actriz and Gilla Band were two of four shows I saw this year. I found GB more engaging personality but could have had to do with the venue and my own engagement. I was further back, chatting with a friend throughout M/A but paying full attention in a tighter space for GB. I will say I liked M/A’s live vocals better than recorded.
1 Like
Ill do a top ten after my last gig of the year, but number 1 by a mile are the Young Fathers
1 Like
Absolutely this. They blew me away at bluedot
1 Like
Good enough that I have regrets over not catching them for a 4th time this year
1 Like
Lizzo was a big emotional one for me but then she ruined it all.
1 Like
Another vote for Model/Actriz. Saw them support Gilla Band and loved them, frontman dancing in with people in the crowd and the band going absolutely ham, they had the room in the palm of their hand. Can’t wait to see them again
1 Like
In the back. At a table. Away from those enjoying the show.
Very fortunate to have seen some absolutely stellar stuff this year. God I love live music.
Not including festival sets, but shout outs to the big acts that I wanted to catch at Latitude who all absolutely smashed it - Pulp, Confidence Man, Young Fathers and Siouxsie. Also had a lovely time at Wide Awake - Bug Club, Los Bitchos and Gilla Band were all ridiculously high energy. Find of the day was Molchat Doma who I heard drifting over the various soundclashes and made my way over to check out - great fun band.
10] Killing Joke @ The 100 Club - part of this obviously was seeing such a seminal band in such a tiny venue, but regardless 45 years on they remain a fearsome and ridiculously tight live act.
9] Electric Six @ Dingwalls - hadn’t seen these guys since the first album tour. PLeased to report that they remain one of the funnest live acts around.
8] Goat @ Brixton Electric - great to have these guys back. Have seen them a bunch of times and they have never been anything less than excellent.
7] PJ Harvey @ The Roundhouse - an artist at the absolute peak of her powers. Can just master pretty much any style these days.
6] James Holden @ EArtH - think I had his Animal Spirits show as my gig of the year a few years back. This was very nearly almost as good.
5] Django Django @ Pryzm - filling the gap left by The Beta Band and Super Furry Animals, they are great fun live. Feel that this year’s album flew a little under the radar but it is absolutely packed full of bangers,
4] Mandy, Indiana @ The Lexington - only support act on the list. Scalping were very very good, but these guys trumped them.
3] Sleater Kinney @ The Dome - Wednesday’s gig. Love these guys so much, and up close it really tells just what a fucking guitar hero Carrie is.
2] Le Tigre @ The Troxy - had kind of accepted that we might never get these guys back again, so was overjoyed to catch them again almost 20 years on. Just unfiltered joy.
1] Slowdive @ The Troxy - didn’t even used to like The Troxy and here it is occupying the top two slots. Slowdive = the best band redemption arc ever.
Still processing Forest Swords from last night, but that was absolutely brilliant as well. Only got a couple left for 2023 but have high hopes for both Dinosaur Jr and Therapy?. Great year for live music - well done 2023 
11 Likes
I still have about 8 more gigs to see first!
1 Like
Not been to a single bad or average gig this year. All good going on great. The best two were an easy choice though:
I had high expectations for Young Fathers and they exceeded them.
And Orchestral Qawalli (Indian folk-song with a full orchestra) were properly transcendent. I think I had goosebumps from start to end. One of the most genuine standing ovations I’ve ever been a part of.
3 Likes
I’ve been to two gigs this year, Sugababes and Young Fathers. Both are the best band in the world, and the best live band in the world.
3 Likes
Don’t go to gigs so by default I have to say it’s my 18 month year old nephew banging a pan on the kitchen floor and shouting ‘buggabuggabuggabugga’
8 Likes