Whew. Never thought I was going to get my next installment out. These are my ten favourite live shows, gigs, concerts, whatever you want to call them. I haven’t included festival performances, and only listed the support bands where they added to the evening. Honourable mentions to Calexico, Get Well Soon and Ladytron – all wicked but just outside the top 10. Enjoy. Photo credits where due – otherwise the pics are mine!
10. Radiohead – Victoria Park
25 / 06 / 08
Radiohead were excellent – a storming setlist, perhaps in response to the maligned set from the previous evening. A glorious afternoon, strong support from Bat For Lashes, and the best outside sound setup I’ve ever heard. The atmosphere was great too, obviously different (and inferior) to the atmosphere at my previous ‘head gig – but more than made up for with 25 songs that ticked all my boxes. It’s the bleepy stuff that gets me going and when I got Idioteque and Everything In Its Right Place together I was sated.
Photo: Hidden_Shine
Pick of the set: All I Need
9. Jesus & Mary Chain / British Sea Power / Black Box Recorder – Forum
27 / 10 / 08
I hadn’t even come to see Jesus & Mary Chain – I’d come for the live return of Luke Haine’s damaged pop act, Black Box Recorder. This was a tribute evening for the deceased Earl Brutus singer Nick Sanderson, also drummer in J&MC and train driver – hence the giant spangly British Rail symbol on the backdrop. Sure enough Black Box Recorder did not disappoint, with Sarah Nixey in divine vocal form. British Sea Power were excellent too, enjoyed despite being smacked in the face by a flying toy polar bear… And so Jesus & Mary Chain, nothing expected, everything delivered. As they trounced through their set I became aware of just how many of their songs I knew, and just how many bands I love have borrowed their sound from this group. An excellent tribute, and a wonderful ensemble gig.
Photo: Laura Musselman
Pick of the set: Just Like Honey
8. Cornershop / John & Jehn – Amersham Arms
04 / 07 / 08
It isn’t long before Cornershop make their way onto the cramped stage. Launching straight into Sleep On The Left Side, it becomes obvious that this South London pub is about to be treated to the very best that the band can offer. They follow the opening salvo with the bouncy Lesssons Learnt From Rocky I to Rocky III, one of the most bewilderingly unappreciated singles of the early 2000s. The set continues at that pace, drawing faux-Bollywood moves from the front row, and head-nodding from the less dance-inclined. [Full review]
Pick of the set: 6am Jullandar Shere
7. Mogwai / Fuck Buttons / Errors – Hammersmith Apollo
24 /10 / 08
A superb line-up and some very last minute tickets made this an exciting night, somewhat tempered by my friend finding out merely hours before he’d lost his job. Still – no thinking space was given here, a gig of such sheer volume that any errant thought is merely pounded into nothing. I was disappointed not to see more of Errors, but Fuck Buttons were one of the supports of the year – intense, cyclical and at times truly chaotic. Mogwai didn’t disappoint either – it was my first ‘gwai gig, and they selected a brilliant setlist. Somewhat strangely it was the quietest bits that were the most special – thousands of people entranced into a state of revered silence, enveloping the entire auditorium. Respect.
Pick of the set: Like Herod
6. Mercury Rev – Shepherd’s Bush Empire
13 / 11 / 08
Jonathan Donahue looked drunk and wielded a bottle of wine as he spiralled backwards towards the glowing backdrop. Grasshopper was bent double over to his left, fully devoted to extending the jam that had flown out of the back end of People Are So Unpredictable. Mercury Rev are firing on all cylinders, freewheeling through the loose tracks that made up Snowflake Midnight. It’s as if these songs suit them better than the tight, overwrought songs from The Secret Migration – there’s a sense of fun and adventure cascading from the stage. Donahue doesn’t know where to look, and splits his gaze between the middle distance and the back of the stage – a classic and mesmerizing performance. To cap it all of they wheeled out The Dark Is Rising,Goddess On A Hiway and Senses On Fire in the encore – what a trio to end with!
Pick of the set: Dream Of A Young Girl As A Flower
5. My Bloody Valentine – Roundhouse
20 / 06 / 08
The air of expectancy in the Roundhouse is palpable. This is after all, My Bloody Valentine’s first tour in so many years. Their first ‘proper’ gig this is, following the phony war of the previous week’s two ICA warm-up shows. There’s a generation gap in the audience, those old enough to remember the last time and those not. I’m firmly in the latter camp. There’s free earplugs on the door. [Full Review]
Pick of the set: Soon
4. Einsturzende Neubauten / White – Forum
22 / 05 / 08
I’m a recent convert to Blixa Bargeld’s industrial gang, and thankfully I got an early opportunity to see them in probably their best format – live. The show was visually and sonically intriguing, I find my eyes raking the stage to see where and how the bizarre metallic, percussive noises are coming from – be it a rotating set of radiator fans, a trough full of spanners or large metal sheets. The night began pretty badly with some loon playing terrible noise covers of Right Said Fred but the second act, Beijing’s White, were a revelation. From unassuming beginnings the tracks built to serene crescendos, a stunning performance in sound manipulation and electronics. EN were never going to be outdone though, and thanks in no small part to London’s tube we were treated to an improv exercise demonstrating the level of musical brilliance coursing through this outfit.
Photo: Valeri Berdini
Pick of the set: Let’s Do It A Dada
3. M83 – St Giles-in-the-Fields
12 / 12 / 08
It is dark inside St Giles, an eighteenth century church deep in the West End, and Anthony Gonzalez has just walked unannounced between the pews. He steps alongside his transparent box of tricks as analogue hiss seeps from the speakers. Slowly Gonzalez builds and tweaks the waves, heading towards a gentle pulsating crescendo. It’s an unassuming yet fixating live introduction, and begins a gig that I have awaited with absurd levels of excitement. [Full Review]
Photo: Matt Biddulph
Pick of the set: Skin Of The Night
2. Portishead – Hammersmith Apollo
10 / 04 / 08
No-one ever dared to think that it would be this good – comebacks rarely are. Would it be silly and short-sighted to put Portishead’s 2008 reappearance on a similar to Elvis’ rebirth in ’68? Not for me. Third was a radical departure from Portishead’s previous sound, thrilling and brilliant. The dark melody and stark percussive nature of the record was flawlessly transferred to the live stage, with Gibbon’s vocals floating over the top. Most of the old material was present, with textbook renderings of Roads, Wandering Star, Glory Box and Numb going down a storm. Machine Gun however strikes the hardest – the incessant mechanical beat, thinly veiled threat of the vocal and piercing keys making a chilling and utterly effective live weapon. How long do we have to wait for the next installment? Who knows – but being at this gig was worth the decade wait.
Pick of the set: Machine Gun
1. Björk – Hammersmith Apollo
17 / 04 / 08
I have a list of people I need to see before I die. Since the age of about 15, Björk has topped this list. With such high expectations, and after having waited this long, the night had the potential to be mind-blowing or gut-wrenchingly disappointing. Roughly five seconds into Earth Intruders I know this is going to satisfy every last bone in my body. She’s smaller than I imagined – but the voice, the strongest (and most divisive) of her generation, is truly epic. From the lowest whisper to full-blast wail, the range and volume is incredible. As if the voice wasn’t enough there is a technicolour carnival raging behind it, a proper show. The sensation is of an artist giving everything, and the adulation swelling from the crowd is deafening. Nearly every track sends shivers down my spine, even the relative weak tracks from Volta and Medulla are re-thought live and made essential. The high point comes with the one-two step of Hyper-Ballad and Pluto that close the main set, racing past in a blur of confetti and green lasers. Undoubtedly the absolute high point of my live musical experience so far.
Pick of the set: Hyper-Ballad
When the full band did join the noise levels went up a notch, but only from the low dais. Befitting the ecclesiastical surroundings, the crowd remained relatively silent. The first widespread nods of recognition occur when the spoken word introduction to Moonchild echoes around the high space. As with many of the tracks, it gets a live re-working with the crashing drum fill delayed until the midpoint of the song. It doesn’t quite sound as huge as I have imagined it would in concert, but it doesn’t prevent the angelic stabs sending pulses down every spine in attendance.
