The fourth time my gigging year has concluded with the lushly baroque drama of a Patrick Wolf show, and this may have been the best of the bunch- the beautiful and seasonally-fitting setting of a candlelit church, previews of his long-awaited next album, a string section, the stunning harmonies of his sister, some fan favourites and in closing, the closing sugar-rush of "The Magic Position". A dependably fulfilling coda to another 12 months of top-tier live music!
Heard so many good things about this Manchester 4-piece, that I resolved a gig clash by flying to Romania to see them. And bloody hell, they were incendiary - the perfect mid-point between IDLES and Nervous Conditions, full of anger, power and SKRONK. Brilliant stuff- and kudos to the Bucharest crowd whose energy (and impassioned between-songs chants of "MA-RU-JA, HEY!") elevated the night to one of the year's best.
Trekked all the way to Sarf London to experience Perennial's short, sharp but effervescent bursts of minimalist art-punk. I survived; my eardrums are another story.
An absolutely scintillating comeback from Brooklyn's finest. A very Dear Science-heavy set, but I bloody love that album so no complaints from me. An apocalyptic "Young Liars" may have been my single favourite gig moment of the year (along with "Cars and Telephones" of course), and it's nice to have a sound mix that finally lets us hear Kyp's vocals.
All roll up for the All-Singing, All-Looping Kishi Bashi Extravaganza! Blissful string-drenched ballads! Love songs set in a WW2 internment camp! Prog odysseys based on ancient Greek myth! Camp 80's synth-funk! Tall Tall Trees rockin' the Banjotron 5000! Underrated Richmond bartender James Clark! That bit where the band goes in the middle of the audience and plays "Manchester" and the Faces' "Ooh La La" unplugged! A marvellous night for young and old!
I was 21 and in my very first week of full-time paid employment when I first saw grandoise Canadian indie-rock outfit The Dears and they were awesome. I also perforated an eardrum and was in agony all night long.
I'm now 39, watching the same band perform their brilliant second album "No Cities Left" in full with a 15-piece ensemble, and it was EVEN MORE awesome. ("Never Destroy Us" = all-time banger!). I'm in agony once more though, on account of being very, very old.
When I was 18 years old, I discovered a band from Chichester who I genuinely thought were the best band in the world. Then they split, life moved on and I thought I'd never see them again. Fast-forward to yesterday, and once more I find myself front-row for Hope of the States' first gig since 2006, and it was as emotional as you'd expect. Old songs! New songs! Obscure B-sides! Mike nearly dropping his bow whilst he was in the 'zone'! Sam's happy-but-relieved grin at the end of "Black Dollar Bills"! The audience bellowing the refrain from "Enemies/Friends" during the pre-encore break! A dream come true.
70 minutes of piano-centric misanthropy, delivered with dark wit, resonant baritone and a low-key dash of sentimentality.
Been waiting a couple of years for these guys to come over to the UK, and their cheerful, dreamy Canto-pop was well worth the wait. At one point, a random man danced on stage with a dumpling on his head, which is always a sign of quality in my book.
One of my all-time favourite K-Music Fest sets was the effervescent Ssing Ssing in 2018- a gender non-conforming glam-meets-Minyo extravaganza resulting in the only mass pogoing incident I've ever seen at the Southbank. Lee Heemoon's new project is perhaps more musically diverse and a teeny bit less batshit, but retains the high-energy, devil-may-care pizzazz of his previous show.
The best set I've seen from Andrew Bird in over a decade, despite it lacking any 'Armchair Apocrypha'. A freewheeling, career-spanning setlist, incredible and stylish musicianship throughout and the band looked like they were having a lot of fun too. Superb!
Yeah boy, it's gayageum time! As anyone who hangs around me for any amount of time will know, I'm a huge fan of the annual London K-Music Festival, and this year's offerings included Jambinai's more restrained, less metal side-project- a non-brainer for me! The festival has historically showcased several ensembles like this, fusing Korean traditional instruments with Western genres, and initially I found this enjoyable but a bit "same-old, same-old". Thankfully, the last third, featuring a poignnan tribute to a bandmate fighting cancer, was considerably more rousing.
A band I've been intrigued to see since my long-distant undergrad years, and I enjoyed them muchly. Alt-country/blues/folk with an experimental, at times noisy edge - some really intricate musicianship going on throughout. Not always my bag, but it certainly had some stellar moments.
