It’s been a brilliant year for me, so many awesome bands, it’s hard to pick a favourite!
Saw BowWowWow (ha! Annabella touched me 😳 ), Preoccupations (formerly Viet Cong), Danny Brown, Goat, Massive Attack, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Moderat… best 5 were (all in Brighton):
5. Suuns (Patterns)
4. !!! (Patterns)
3. Peaches (Concorde2)
2. Girl Band (The Haunt)
1. And Yet It Moves (Hope & Ruin) (nutter who used to be in the Amazing Snakeheads)

And I thought I’d had enough of “indie” bands live! The top 2 were unbelievable. See em in 2017 if you can.

How was your year?

V good but you will no doubt bsmirch me as some were in those nasty corporate big building type places. Biffy were immense last week, a 2hr wall of noise. Had a great time at ynot festival seeing loads of smaller bands with kassasin street being particularly awesome along with lonely the brave. Seen a few at rock city which I love as a venue as much as anything else. Roll on 2017

Quiet for me, just The Cult in March & The Cure in November. Hopefully 2017 will be better – might even get some gigs in myself…

Oh aye, forgot about Bingley festival in September

Really enjoyed the 3 days of The Great Escape Festival in Brighton, will be doing it again next year.

It has been an awesome year for me too, seen a couple of bands and artists I’ve waited many years for and a few surprises.

5, Angel Olsen (DR Koncerthuset) – seen her before but she’s matured, a much more engaging performer.
4, Steve Mason (Ideal Bar) – performed an acoustic set to about 20 people, a bit like having one of your heroes playing in your living room.
3, At The Drive-In (Roskilde) – 16 years waiting and they somehow didn’t disappoint.
2, A Moth of Dust (Kleine Donner) – Another hero of mine, played a song I requested, special experience.
1, Le Butcherettes (Loppen) – TGB is the closest I’ve come to a true modern rock star, aggressive, strutting, screaming and utterly compelling yet hugged the entire audience after.

Next year has a lot to live up to, hopefully Girl Band will tour again as they cancelled their show here.

Sleaford Mods.
Twice.

🙂

Teenage Fanclub x 2
Weezer
Jayhawks
Honeyblood
But the best was Dinosaur Jr

Primal Scream at Manchester Albert Hall was the best gig I’ve seen this century!
Totally unexpected,I’d seen them before & obviously like them but we weren’t expecting them to be so good.Happy days! 😀

hopefully Girl Band will tour again

Yes indeed. I nearly didn’t go to that, cos had to drive to Brighton on my own (hour each way) and didn’t really know what they’d be like…. but oh my, they were amazing. I haven’t been crushed against the stage in a mosh pit like that for about 30 years!

Black Stone Cherry, Shinedown and Halestorm (BSC poor, Shinedown brilliant, Halestorm pretty good).
Bowling for Soup
Terrorvision and Thunder
Metal Church (not my choice)
Half Man Half Biscuit (my choice)
Keb Mo
Terrorvision (again)
Steel Panther and Bowling for Soup
Paul Gilbert
Terrorvision (again again)

Already booked Iron Maiden + Shinedown (mainly for Shinedown) for next year, need to get some more in the diary.

Best for me this year have been Wilko Johnson at Manchester O2, Limehouse Lizzy at the Coninental, Preston (brilliant little venue) and The Damned at Manchester Academy (coldest I have ever been in a gig at the start).

Rubbish year for me – the mother-in-law double booked so I couldn’t use my Glastonbury ticket and not been to any other gigs.

But have:

Black Sabbath
Iron Maiden

tickets and hotels already booked for next year and might go to see Kiss too.

(And I didn’t manage to get a ticket to Glastonbury for 2017 #sobs)

My highlight was discovering Five Finger Death Punch at Leeds festival. I later discovered they’re really one to listen to live rather than on CD though…

HMHB at Kentish Town

Wedding Present at the Gedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth

Billy Bragg and Joe Henry at Guildford

Can’t remember if Pete Williams (ex Dexys) was this year or last.

Best was the Wedding Present, of course, because they’re the best band in the world. To me. But almost equal was Billy Bragg, because of circumstances. My wife had to go to the theatre to pick up tickets for a school concert thing going on there later in the week, and being a Monday i suggested she check that there was something on there as if there wasn’t they might not be open. Which is how i found out that the Bard of Barking was playing with only enough notice to gobble down some tea, put on my best socialist slacks and head down. It was also a week or so after the US election, which seemed to have annoyed Billy somewhat. A cross Billy plays a lot of his old stuff loudly.

FFDP are ace live, we discovered them at Download a couple of years ago.

Wedding Present at the Gedgewood Rooms

Did they rename the venue for Dave? 😉

It’s a standing joke; every time I’ve seen them there he bemoans the fact they haven’t renamed it yet. Despite it being their second most visited venue of all time. According to Dave’s fact of the day.

A good year for me too.
The Temperance Movement (in January and December)
Volbeat
Alter Bridge

and my best gig so far: right at the front for Bad Religion and The Offspring at Birmingham O2 academy.

Great Year!

Shallac of North America
Low
Explosions in the Sky
Ought
Braids (love this band)
Sigour Ros
Diiv
Death Grips
Shobaleder One

Plus Super Furry Animals in Cardiff tonight! 🙂

Gutted i missed Steve Mason twice, Low – would have seen again,
Bonnie Prince Billy played Tokyo the week before I was there, argh!

Not many this year but:

Fat white family (mid December 2015 but i’ll put in anyway)
PJ Harvey
Meilyr Jones
Steve Mason
Goat

All excellent

Kristen Hersch a bit meh.

Must try better next year, Cope already booked!

Bigger bands I’ve seen so far this year:

The Buzzcocks
The Damned
Gentleman’s Dub Club
Afro Celt Sound System
Leftfield
James
The levelers (3 times)
The Coral
The Proclaimers
The Selecter
Oh my god! It’s the church
Ferocious Dog
Electric Swing Circus
Slamboree
New Model Army
Kula Shaker
Terrorvision
Reef

Can’t honestly remember what ones were this year 😳 But the first second of the year was Biffy at Hogmanay so that was a good start, and there was another Biffy in the middle and then one at the end of november so, pretty good distribution 😆 And I think 2 Frank Turners, a Hold Steady, a couple of The Heavies, maybe a David Ford, and the Dust Junkys, and a bunch of others that I forget.

Good year!

Next year will be better as I have tickets to see the Toy Dolls

At The Drive In

Gah, wish I’d known!

This must be the third reformation now?

Here they were in 1969 😉

[video]https://youtu.be/cQUCpMhLM-4[/video]

Also missed British Sea Power last month (again), anyone catch them?

It got off to a ropey start with the debacle surrounding Temples Festival, but it picked up with the superb Damnation festival (especially Cult of Luna and Enslaved) and a world-ending Neurosis 30th Anni. show at the Koko.

only the one for me this year, killing joke at york. got tickets for six by sevens farewell gig in nottingham next year and looking at the above lists i realise i really should get out more…..

Quite a bit of crossover with some of you.

Steve Mason
Kula Shaker x2 (Yes, I love them. No, I don’t care if you think they are shite.)
Levellers
Pixies
James
Charlatans
Echo & The Bunnymen
The Stone Roses
Roy Harper
Deacon Blue
Public Enemy
The Stairs
Ben Watt
Cast

Probably a few more I have forgotten…

Was just thinking what a great year it has been for bands old and new.
Highlights for me have been:
Stone roses at the etihad 26 years after spike island
Massive attack Manchester apollo
The cure playing for nearly 3 hours at Wembley
James at the botanical gardens in Sheffield in the rain
John grant/rich hawley/bill rhyder jones in a chapel in Sheffield
John grant at Liverpool philharmonic hall
Meilyr jones at deer shed
Declan McKenna at deer shed
Human league being supported by blancmange last weekend at Sheffield arena
Lots of others I’ve forgotten
Looking forward to billy Bragg divine comedy and Paul Heston/Jacque Abbott in hull next year

Edit!
How could I forget mozza at the MEN?

Kula Shaker x3
(I love them aswell and there not shite)
Graham Day and the Forefathers x2

^^actually me x3 too. I forgot I saw them at Rough Trade too!

Oh, forgot about the 80s festival I went to so let’s add the following (some to my great shame)

The Human League, Rick Astley, Kim Wilde, Tiffany, Roland Gift, Heaven 17, Alexander O’nNeal, T’Pau The Beat Cheryl Mike & Jay Formerly Of Bucks Fizz, Odyssey, and Doctor & The Medics.

Oh dear God – I have tickets for this year as well. What was I thinking!

Not many this year, but all excellent:
Therapy? X 2 (one acoustic)
Europe
The Damned

I went to no gigs, not one, this year

Next year, there’s a danger that I will only be going to two

they may be

gulp

Adele
Elton John

I mean, I’ve nothing against either one but deffo NOT up my street

I’ve got Drive by Truckers and Iron Maiden booked for next year, already.

That Preoccupations gig at the Haunt was amazing indeed.

Also saw Dangerous Journalist there supporting Chameleons Vox, always loved Chameleons but they were totally blown away by their support.

PINS at Prince Albert was another high point, I thought they would be quite good, but not that good.

Plus Super Furry Animals in Cardiff tonight!

Enjoy! They were completely ace at the Roundhouse last week 🙂

Very poor year for me .
Only contributing to say @ chillidave that At The Drive In were so good when I saw them at the forum I nearly cried.
& I quite fancy underworld at the ally pally in 2017… I can float home.:-)

I was going to say it hadn’t been a great year, then it started coming back to me. Unkle at Somerset House, Jean Micheal Jarre and DJ Shadow (not together) at Blue Dot, Leftfield in Camden ad Go Go Penguin at Farm Festival. Yeah, another good year.

Springsteen at manchester coventry and dublin. Also tom jones

Deftones at Download for me.