THE BEST LIVE ACTS OF TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY ONE

Well, that was another crazy twelve months, eh? But despite the best efforts of Billy G and his nano-machine “vaccines”, I ended 2021 neither 5G-enabled nor bereft of gigs. Indeed, I managed to see no less than seventy-nine, the best of which are listed forthwith.

(Honourable mentions: The Lounge Society, Holy Tongue, Steam Down, Regressive Left, Mermaid Chunky, A Certain Ratio, Mandrake Handshake, Cubafrobeat, Supergrass, Moon Panda, Penelope Trappes, Kokoroko, The Near Jazz Experience, Marie Davidson, Grimm Grimm, Katy J Pearson, Fuzzy Lights, Peter Broderick, Kings of Convenience, Pozi, Sinead O’Brien, Sinnoi, Beija Flo, Voka Gentle, Folly Group, Big Lad, English Teacher, Electric Jalaba, Pynch, Mandy Indiana, Pye Corner Audio, The Staves, Gang of Youth, Squid, Aga Ujma, Scrounge, Rosehip Teahouse and Shirley Collins)

50. AK DAN GWANG CHIL – London Kings Place

Humour, exuberance and (in their own memorable words) "banging" modern twists on traditional Korean folk from the colourful septet.

49. AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR- London Queen Elizabeth Hall

An epic post-rock symphony from the Northern Irish quartet, brought to life with strings and visuals that veered between "eye-popping" and "Cool3DWorld."

48. BALIMAYA PROJECT- London Southbank Centre

A killer hour of dazzling grooves from the 16-piece collective, fusing jazz with a selection of West African styles.

47. PENGUIN CAFE- London Grand Junction

The impeccably dressed successors to the original Penguin Cafe Orchestra bought warmth and intricate chamber instrumentals to Westbourne Park for this wonderful post-lockdown showcase.

46. DRUG STORE ROMEOS- London Oslo

There’s nothing particularly new about Drug Store Romeo’s brand of luscious dream-pop, but there’s no denying they do it very, very well.

45. DOUGLAS DARE- London Grand Junction

The new Patrick Wolf? Sure, there’s a few similarities, but Dare’s erudite, bewitching ballads deserve to be respected on their own terms.

44. SPRINTS- London Waiting Room

“I'VE GOT A POLICY OF UNDERSTANDING / AN ECONOMY THAT'S UNDERWHELMING / AND I CAN'T SHAKE THE SENSE/ I'M STUCK IN PRETENCE / AND JUST WISHING MY LIFE AWAY.” A short but blisteringly sweet London debut from my favourite new Irish pop-punk band.

43. ILIKETRAINS- London Village Underground

The soaring post-rock of olden tymes has largely given way to dark, paranoia-laden synth-pop, but 15 years on, iLiKETRAiNS remain QuiTEFANTASTiC.

42. CHARLES LLOYD- London Barbican

83 years old, and the jazz legend can still saxo-mo-phone it up with the very best of them. Simply top-tier musicianship all round.

41. DAMON LOCKS BLACK MONUMENT ENSEMBLE- London EartH

I was supposed to head to Chicago this year, but instead Chicago came to me. A mesmerising, spiritually-charged show that recalled the Afro-futurism of Idris Ackamoor, albeit with a 21st century twist.

40. DRY CLEANING- London Moth Club

Dry Cleaning’s zeitgeist-y combo of post-punk instrumentals and sprechgesang vocals never quite clicked with me before this show, but this uncompromisingly visceral performance, raising funds for ovarian cancer in tribute to the bassist’s late mother, would have converted even the most cynical nay-sayer.

39. BLACK STRING- London Grand Junction

Epic instrumentals, virtuoso twists on shamanic folk songs, Radiohead covers and an awesome semi-improvised encore that brought the house down. Needless to say: 훌륭한!

38. AXES- Portals Festival, London

A delightfully energetic set from a band clearly overjoyed just to be on stage again. Normal time-signatures remain, as ever, for wimps.

37. THE LONDON BULGARIAN CHOIR- London Kings Place

A delightful glimpse into "the darkness" - and humour - "of the Slavic soul" courtesy of Dessislava Stefanova and her effervescent comrades. Even better than their collaborations with British Sea Power and Doves.

36. THE SCORPIOS- London Grand Junction

Turns out watching a 11-piece Sudanese afro-funk band backed with musicians from Ghana, the UK, Poland and Japan in a West London Victorian church is a pretty special way to spend an evening. 

 

 

35. KIKAGAKU MOYO- Manchester Psych Fest

Absolute face-melting carnage from the European-based Japanese psych shamans. One of the most brutal audiences I’ve experienced outside of a Melt-Banana gig.

34. HEDWIG MOLLESTAD TRIO- London Cafe Oto

The popular Dalston arts venue was sadly decimated tonight by the righteous riffage of three rogue Norwegians. Only a crater filled with shattered free-jazz LPs remains .

33. HUMAN PYRAMIDS- Portals Festival, London

Think the Penguin Cafe Orchestra indoctrinated into a math-rock cult, or a Scottish Polyphonic Spree. In any event: a lot of humans playing very beautiful music.

32. STEREOLAB- Bedford Esquires

Ooh la la! Voici Laetitia et la bande, apportant un peu de French Disko dans le Bedford très peu gaulois. Mon dieu!

31. NADINE SHAH- London 100 Club

"I don't want me name across your chests- I don't want to be implicated in your crimes!" No t-shirts from Nadine then, but at least we 'bunch of bastards' were treated to a blinding set from one of our most bullshit-intolerant performers.

30. MARTHA WAINWRIGHT- London Union Chapel

Bloody motherf***in' awesome.

29. MARTHA SKYE MURPHY- Visions Festival, London

Delicate gothic folk interspersed with screeching blasts of noise; beautiful soprano vocals imbued with darkness – I didn’t know quite what to expect from Martha Skye Murphy but she certainly has the potential to be one of the most exciting new artists of our times.

28. EMMA-JEAN THACKRAY- London Colour Factory

Jazz fusion par brilliance from a bandleader who lives up to her personal motto- “move the body, move the mind, move the soul.” My first standing gig in almost 18 months, and one that saw ill-advised shape-throwing all across the board.

27. SEX SWING- Raw Power Festival London

A veritable orgy of ear-sundering skronk from a six-piece who sound exactly as filthy as their name suggests.

26. DELE SOSIMI AFROBEAT ORCHESTRA- London Jazz Cafe

"You gotta griiiiiind those behiiiiinds!” Fela and Tony may have left us, but at least we've got Dele to keep the Afrobeat flame alive.

25. TERJE ISUNGSET- London Kings Place

Instruments carved from glacier ice, Tuvan, Sami and Inuit folk singers...plus jazz? Not a combination you see every day, but this exhibition of "Ice Music" proved a remarkable, almost otherworldly experience.

24. LYNKS- Wide Awake Festival, London

Lynks is basically just someone in a fluorescent suit singing over pre-recorded backing tracks, yet somehow they pulled off the most gleefully over-the-top festival set of the year. Brockwell Park at 5pm never felt more like Fabric.

23. ICHIKO AOBA- London Kings Place

A spellbinding set of delicate, Ghibli-esque dream-folk from Japan - you could have heard a pin drop when she played her last, unamplified song sitting on the edge of the stage.

22. YARD ACT- London House of Vans

These may be Dark Days, but the future surely shines bright for these swaggering post-punk satirists, whose schtick falls somewhere between Sleaford Mods and The League of Gentleman.

21. MOSES SUMNEY- London Royal Albert Hall

Jules Buckley and the BBC Symphonic Orchestra elevated Moses’ soulful artpop to a whole new level in one of the more creatively audacious Proms of recent times. A truly beautiful experience.

20. POM POKO- Brighton Chalk

A pure sugar-rush of a show from the hyper-kinetic Norwegians. Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit alone probably produces more energy than Sellafield.

19. FAMOUS- London Brixton Windmill

Somehow channelling 'Rubies'-era Destroyer and Girl Band in one 30-minute set, Famous have largely stuck it to the post-punks and brought some melody back to the Windmill scene. My first gig of 2021, and still one of the most exciting.

18. GABRIELS- London Social

One of those vanishingly rare gigs where I felt like I was in the presence of a future legend. Soul of the most elegant calibre from an artist who won't be playing 150-capacity venues for much longer...

17. CRACK CLOUD- Manchester Psych Fest

The straight-edge Canadians blew the roof of the Pink Room with a set that married their trademark twitchy, brutally percussive post-punk with an unexpected new line in Arcade Fire-esque harmonies. The perfect midnight-in-Manchester performance.

16. CHROME HOOF- Raw Power Festival, London

Lasers! Dancers! Shiny costumes! Techno-prog-rock-space-jazz! Yes, it’s been eight years, but Chrome Hoof have finally returned to the Plague Dimension to blow our little primate minds.

15. TEETH OF THE SEA- Raw Power Festival, London

The sound of 80's cyber-punk dystopia distilled into fifty breathtakingly visceral minutes of industrial/electro/psych awesomeness. Banging.

14. SARATHY KORWAR- London Kings Place

A thrilling, politically-charged fusion of jazz, Indian classical styles, poetry and a dash of noise from one of the most vital artists of our times.

13. CATRIN FINCH & SECKOU KEITA- London Royal Albert Hall

Harps plus kora = bloody Nora! A sublime performance from the greatest Welsh/Senegalese music duo of all time.

12. WET LEG- London Brixton Academy

Sadly no-one was assigned to butter my muffin, but “Chaise Longue” was by some way the most exhilarating communal moment I’ve experienced in a long, long time.

11. DONGYANG GOZUPA- London Notting Hill Coronet

The highlight of this year’s London K-Music festival, the yanggeum-centric psychmongers may well have delivered the most virtuoso display of musicianship 2021 had to offer.

10. LUBOMYR MELNYK- London Cafe Oto

Ol’ Lubomyr can waffle on a bit, but when he puts fingers to piano, there’s few so gloriously blissful. “Windmills” in particular is as majestic a piece of music as you could ever hope to hear.

9. THE COMET IS COMING- London Crystal Palace Bowl

An earth-sundering set of scintillating cosmic skronk that made me truly appreciate quite what we've missed out on these last 18 months. Praise be to The Comet!

8. DAMON ALBARN- London Union Chapel

A brief, but sublime evening with the Britpop legend performing his latest album plus Blur’s greatest hits (including ‘Girls & Boys’!) with just a piano and string quartet.

7. AK/DK- Portals Festival, London

The ultimate synth-percussive dance party from Brighton’s most cacophonic duo. Pure adrenalin in band form, but with a sense of humour too.

6. THE BURNING HELL- London Lexington

Uncomplicated happiness in the form of a band. Hilarious, cynical, romantic, joyous and perhaps the only act that’d incorporate the unsettling stickiness of the Lexington floor into their set.

5. CHILLY GONZALES- London Royal Festival Hall

Jarvis Cocker crooning "Last Christmas", a musical comparison between Eastenders’ proletarian folk and the bourgeoise decadence of Succession, and a premium selection of melancholically-minded carols. Who needs Santa when you have Chilly Gonzales?

4. TONY ALLEN: A RETROSPECTIVE- London Royal Festival Hall

A brilliantly curated three-hour odyssey in tribute to the legendary Afrobeat drummer. It may have skimped a little on his electronic escapades, but from Fela Kuti’s “Gentleman” with 30 performers, to Damon Albarn collaboration “Go Back,” to Nitin Sawhney and ESKA's beautiful take on "La Ritournelle", this was a send off any musician would be proud of.

3. BO NINGEN- Manchester Psych Fest

The Stickmen cometh, the Stickmen destroyeth, and all was good in the World.

2. LOS BITCHOS- Manchester Psych Fest

The Peruvian Cumbia psych party to end all Peruvian Cumbia psych parties; a hot, sweaty mess of hypnotic grooves and terrible shapes. “Let the Festivities Begin” indeed!

1. BLACK COUNTRY NEW ROAD- London Lexington

At their best, BCNR make me feel like I’m 19 again (hairline excluded), and this performance showcased them at the peak of their powers. Time may have blunted some of their edgier instincts, but “The Place He Inserted The Blade”, “Opus” and “Basketball Shoes” made me feel emotions I didn’t realise still I had at my advanced age, and that’s a very special thing.

 

(And for previous editions of this self-indulgent nonsense, now in its 16th year, here are the lists for 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018,2019 and 2020- sadly the photo links are STILL busted but I plan to sort that out before the comet hits.)