Your gigs of the year 2019

It was incredible

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Fuck this list, mclusky* at The Bullingdon in Oxford with Worry supporting needs to be up there.

Girl Band at Vicar Street - so tight and with it and crowd obviously were incredible too. Whata band. They seem to have found a balance of what works for them with the band and their day jobs which I hope means they write more frequently together. Donā€™t want to wait 4 years for another album!

Daughters at Islington Assembly Hall - The way Alexis throws himself into performing is exhilarating but also worrying too with his insta updates talking about how hard heā€™s physically pushing himself. The songs stand up regardless, particularly the most recent record. Would love a new EP or something at least!

Black Midi at Fabric - obviously seen them loads now, I think 17 times in the last 2 years? Donā€™t think anything will beat the first time I saw them where I had to scrape my jaw off the floor but this was the first in at least a year where they were showing the first signs of evolving their sound, mixing up the structures of songs which learn themselves more to dance music and the highlight was turning Ducter into this mutant techno piece that lasted at least 25 minutes, felt like one one of the more mental bits of music from streets of rage 2! Iā€™m excited for album 2 which I imagine will be out before the end of next year.

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Amyl & The Sniffers at Bodega

So much fun and the crowd was proper up for it.

Urgh, knew I shouldā€™ve taken a bit more time to think about this.

Final draft:

  1. Vampire Weekend (Islington Assembly Hall. Morning show where they were handing out free VW donuts in the queue on the way in. Completely sober but still the most fun Iā€™ve had at a gig in forever. Utterly joyous)
  2. Big Thief (Bristol SWX)
  3. IDLES (Cardiff Tramshed)
  4. Mclusky (Bristol Exchange)
  5. Bob Dylan (New York Beacon Theatre)
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Press Club - Sneaky Petes, Edinburgh.
Hot Snakes - Broadcast, Glasgow.
Maximo Park - Liquid rooms, Edinburgh.
Spielbergs - SWG3, Glasgow.
Jason Lytle - Stereo, Glasgow.
Press Club - Broadcast.
Wildhearts - Liquid Rooms.
Single Mothers - Garage Attic.
Tears For Fears - Hydro.
Pulled Apart By Horses - Sneaky Peteā€™s.

Got bored writing the city names. Glasgow or Edinburgh.

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A pretty slow year for me gig wise, but here goes.

Deus playing the Ideal Crash in Camden
I saw them on the Ideal Crash in Dublin in '97 and for once a bunch of my friends came to the gig with me. Magic night.

Tool at Download. Was having a terrible time of this year and a friend bought me a ticket for the Saturday.
It was a great day, most of the acts were great but itā€™s the best Iā€™ve ever seen Tool, it was amazing to see how much the crowd was into it, everyone was completely entranced.

Teeth of the Sea IMAX. TotS did a live score of a documentary on the Apollo missions. Almost 2 hours of new music which finished with Responder for the Apollo 11 mission. I just got goosebumps.

Foals Glastonbury. It felt like a victory lap, the last 30 minutes was just them showing off how many bangers they have and how good they are live.

Employed to Serve Glastonbury.
The least likely band to see at Glasto. I was a bit worried as the were about 20 of us there until 10 minutes before they started. Just 30 minutes of raging Hardcore. Gold.

Teeth of the Sea Olso. This was the 3 time I saw TotS this year. I only went cause a mate wanted to check them out and I wasnā€™t doing anything. Good choice. The year of touring has just weaponized the new songs. They were stunning.

Emma Ruth Rundle. Only to into her recently was a bit put off by the folky bits. She just rocked, great voice and some huge riffing.

Cult of Luna
Speaking of huge riffs! The whole evening was brilliant, A.A. Williams and Brutus were great but CoL just were mind blowingly good and so so loud.

Still have Neumorean to go on Saturday so hopefully Iā€™ll have another gig to add.

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  1. Robyn @ Alexandra Palace, London - Gig of the year by quite some distance. Up there with one of the best things Iā€™ve ever seen. Made a weekend of it travelling down to the big smoke. Just joyous. Was crying for the first 4 songs it was that euphoric.

  2. The Cure @ Bellahouston Park, Glasgow - been lucky enough to see them 3x times in 4 years now and this was the pick of the bunch. Theyā€™re just so great. Perfect setlist. Marks off for how badly I needed to pee at the end though.

  3. Thee Oh Sees @ QMU, Glasgow - regretted not seeing them at Primavera years ago and they never play in Scotland. Was worth the wait. Mosh pit from start to finish. They really lived up to the hype.

  4. Deafheaven @ Garage, Glasgow - double act with Touche Amore, great gig. Just killed it. So tight. Crowd so up for it.

  5. Daughters @ Art School, Glasgow - apparently theyā€™d all fallen out with each other before the gig, they were moody as fuck. It was intense. Brilliant. One of those gigs that didnā€™t sink in until weeks after.

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Hot Chip - Gorilla - Small venue for them, the pick of the new album prior to release and all the hits, plus bloody Sabotage in the encore!

Sharon Van Etten - Albert Hall - Intense, glorious gig.

Oh Sees - Albert Hall - 3rd time Iā€™ve seen them and the best.

Young/Dylan - Hyde Park - Neil for doing Winterlong and Hurricane. Bob for that incredible Girl from the North Country, like time stood still.

Daughters at Islington Assembly Hall (finally seen them, so annoyed I missed smaller places)

Show Me The Body at Moth Club (most unbelievably intense thing Iā€™ve seen for years)

Teeth of the Sea at Oslo (need to see them again ASAP)

Jason Lytle at Bush Hall (beautiful)

Chemical Brothers and Jon Hopkins at APE (just a great day out)

Holy Fuck at Moth Club (just a great night out)

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Only went to a few gigs this year, but they were all brilliant:

The Twilight Sad @ The Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Stereolab @ SWG3, Glasgow
Earth @ The Classic Grand, Glasgow

TR/ST at Heaven
GBV at Village Underground
Boy Harsher at Scala
Celine Gillain at Cafe Oto
Jenny Hval at Milton Court
Chromatics at the Roundhouse
Scalping at Visions Fest
Kelly Moran at Kings Place
Cardinal and Nun at the Waiting Room
Severed Heads at Earth
Caterina Barbieri at Re textured
Lee Gamble, Demdike Stare and Puce Mary at Re textured

Thatā€™s quite some list and venue variation. Good stuff.

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If a ā€˜Gig Moments Of The Year 2019ā€™ thread opens up, Responder soundtracking Apollo 11footage at the IMAX would be up there! Goosebumpy indeed.

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Start a gigs of the decade thread?

  • Aye, alright then.
  • Nah, canā€™t remember who I saw in 2013.

0 voters

Start a Best Gig Youā€™ve Ever Been At thread

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I hardly went to any gigs this year :cry:

But I saw Lizzo twice, and I think her show at Kentish Town Forum is one of the best shows Iā€™ve ever seen. Never been in a crowd like it, it was joyously rabid. Even she was like ā€œI feel like Iā€™m on some Lion King shitā€

Bikini Kill at Brixton was also amazing (thanks again @ttf for my ticket!!)

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Earth somewhere in downtown Manhattan (le Poisson Rouge I think? Some pretty standard square room with a bar and a stage) in about April was brilliant as well, which of course it totally unsurprising but still. Went with some friends who hadnā€™t heard of Earth until a week or so before, had a couple of beers and then got really very high though the show - vape pens and legal weed are an incredible mixture. Knocked all of our heads off (Earth I mean) and were chatting about it for weeks after.

Love that they donā€™t play at ridiculous volumes so I donā€™t have to wear earplugs. Adrienneā€™s drumming is really something special as so many have said before. There is a notable lack of fucking around or showmanship and like a lot of musicians who are still around from the 90s, you can really tell that theyā€™ve spent a long time digging deeper and deeper into a particular sound and are getting really good at it. Itā€™s amazing with Earth that despite the fact that you loved Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull ten years ago, you arenā€™t just stood there waiting for them to play the old stuff. Even though itā€™s more or less all the same the formula is as such that it doesnā€™t really matter what theyā€™re playing, itā€™s all good. Found myself drifting off and thinking about things, then snapping back and he same riffs going over and over.

Dylan Carlson also contributed to my ā€˜I am sure loads of these musicians in their 50s are wearing wigs, otherwise there really is a statistically improbable lack of male pattern baldnessā€™ theory, or thatā€™s how it looked from where I was stood anyway.

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=1. Robyn at Alexandra Palace
Absolutely joyous, there was so much love in the room and she put on a great show

=1. Weyes Blood at The Art School Glasgow
Big fan of this album and was really impressed at how the songs translated live. She has an amazing voice and stage presence, and the band all added their own things to the songs

  1. Hot Chip at Rouken Glen
    Saw them at SWG3 earlier in the year but I stood in a really silly place so couldnā€™t see everything, and sound wasnā€™t great. Stood much further back with a big group of friends for this one and took it all in, love to see them put on a big show - the lasers!

  2. Patti Smith at Kelvingrove Bandstand
    Such an intimate show for a legend, loads of brilliant songs and a lovely summer evening in Glasgow (unlike The National a few days laterā€¦)

Went to loads of others, but those are the ones that really stand out. Did not include Nick Cave at Usher Hall, as it felt like something other than a gig (questions + some songs), although it was everything a fan can want.

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gutted i missed this gig.