LIVE FOR BEIRUT 2.0 (London Jazz Cafe, 11/12/20)

This wasn’t actually supposed to be my final gig of the year, but events ultimately eventuated in a predictably “2020” fashion. That said, watching Graham Coxon, The Mystery Jets, Rose Elinor Dougall and Bessie Turner in the classy, candlelit environs of the Camden Jazz Cafe was a perfectly low-key way to wrap up a year where live music may have been infrequent, but felt all the more special for it.

TEETH OF THE SEA (London Clapham Grand, 08/12/20)

There’s only one truly appropriate way to celebrate COVID Vaccine Announcement Day, and that’s getting your ears mercilessly shredded in an old Clapham music hall roughly the temperature of a deep-space asteroid. God bless Teeth Of The Sea and all that rock within them.

HOTEL LUX (London Signature Brew, 27/10/20)

Hotel Lux, then: zeitgeisty in that “South London neo-post-punk” type of fashion, though perhaps not quite as zeitgeisty as a bunch of millenials socially distancing in a freezing cold ale warehouse in Walthamstow. Not as interesting as some of the bands they associate with, but they make a decent racket nonetheless.

RICHARD DAWSON (London Barbican, 25/10/20)

Fulfilling all your fabric-themed balladry/dishevelled Geordie needs in one concise, COVID-compliant package, Richard Dawson’s eccentric genre-shattering approach to traditional folk might not be for everyone, but for those who like an imaginatively bat-shit edge to their music, he’s already pretty much a national treasure.

THE DIVINE COMEDY (London Barbican, 14/10/20)

Tonight we flew, over the houses, the streets and trees, thanks to the miracle of Neil Hannon and three solid decades of shamelessly baroque songcraft.

ERLAND COOPER (London Barbican, 10/10/20)

You wouldn’t think it possible to be spirited across the Pentland Firth by flurries of gannets, especially given current travel restrictions, but if there’s one person who could work such spellcraft, it’d be Erland Cooper. His subtle yet evocative musical tribute to Orkney and the surrounding land-and-seascapes, featuring the poetry of Will Burns, the spectral singing of Kathryn Joseph, and the lush ornamentation of the London Contemporary Orchestra was as close to a trip abroad most of us will manage this year.

JOSEF KURTZ (London Brixton Windmill, 01/10/20)

Some may have found this enigmatic fellow’s noise-pop weird and punishing, but in all honesty it was a damn sight less disturbing than candlelit tables at the Windmill.

OSIBISA (London Jazz Cafe, 26/09/20)

We may be living in an era that the Mayor from Footloose might think somewhat extreme, but neither the trials nor tribulations of Tier 3 could contain the might of the veteran Afro-funk fusionists. An essential burst of joy in these dark times.

THE MUSIC OF STUDIO GHIBLI (London Jazz Cafe, 21/09/20)

Put aside the new-fangled distancing requirements, and this was an identical show to the one in January. But hey, why change a successful formula? A delightful night of Joe Hisashi classics, performed by a vibrant and stylish string quartet.

SEALIONWOMAN (London Strongrooms, 31/08/20)

As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted…

After seven months of COVID-induced lockdown, the mere fact I was in the company of people I wasn’t related to by blood was more thrilling than the particulars of the actual bill. But even under normal circumstances, the double-whammy of innovative string-looper Agathe Max and leftfield vocalist Kitty Whitelaw would have been a fine way to while away a sunny August Bank Holiday.