2016: THE YEAR IN MUSIC - LIVE!!!

I attended my first gig/concert/live music experience - delete as appropriate - in 1983. It was at the Hammersmith Odeon, and it was in the presence of gloriously camp Britfunk pioneers, Imagination. I was 12 years old and I had the time of my life. Being inside that venue with 2000 other like-minded souls, dancing my skinny little arse off to Flashback, Just An Illusion, Music And Lights and the rest. It was fantastic. And I returned home with my first bit of music merchandise: An Imagination headband. The Rubicon had been crossed - going to gigs had become just as important as buying the records. Since then, I have been to hundreds more gigs, and I hope - health and wealth permitting - to go to hundreds more. These days, with the traditional music business model of selling records disappearing in the rearview mirror, live performance has become the major money-spinner for the majority of artists. Unless you're Adele or Ed Sheeran or of similar size - sales-wise - then your best bet financially is to get out there and tour. And tour. And tour some more. Which of course is fantastic for us music-lovers. Less so for our wallets though.....
2016 was another hefty schedule of live events for your faithful scribe. Even though I missed out on some truly mouth-watering gigs, I was still able to get to see some of my old faves as well as ticking off some bucket list entries. There was classic Americana with The Jayhawks, Richmond Fontaine and Patty Griffin. There was downhome choogle with Band Of Horses and White Denim. Sixties-indebted psych-rock with Israel Nash, Wolf People and Black Mountain. Expansive, electronica-infused psychedelia with Tame Impala and Animal Collective. Brain-rattling epic indie rock with Desert Mountain Tribe and Silversun Pickups. Afrobeat inspired tribal beats and dance rhythms with Afro Celt Sound System and Goat. Reformed and reunited early 90s indie heroics with Lush and Belly. Crunchy, grungy ramshackle rock with Mudhoney and Bob Mould. There was also some deliciously dark and doomy electronica from Massive Attack, who took over Hyde Park on one splendid summer's eve and were ably supported by legendary post-punk priestess Patti Smith. And then there was Neil Young, who returned to London for the third time in as many years and blew the roof off the O2 with his latest combo, The Promise Of The Real. It truly was a banner year.

However, to paraphrase Morrissey, some gigs are better than others. So, as you'd expect, I've boiled it down to a Top 5. These were the gigs that truly stood out for me - the ones I'll remember for a long time. If you were there then you'll know what I mean. If you weren't, then well, more fool you....

5: SUN KIL MOON 22/7 Royal Festival Hall
   SUN KIL MOON/JESU 17/9 Cadogan Hall
Bit of a cheat, this. Sun Kil Moon mainman Mark Kozelek usually pops over to London once a year and always puts on a show of extraordinary intensity and stunning songcraft, but in 2016 he really spoilt me, so I've got no choice really but to put both of his gigs in together. The first of these two astonishing shows was ostensibly the support gig for the SKM/Jesu album that had been released in February. However, Justin Broadrick - who is Jesu - had only very recently started rehearsing with Kozelek for this gig so another date was hastily added for later in the year. Both nights were utterly compelling from start to finish, featuring a number of tracks from their collaborative album as well as some highlights from Kozelek's last few Sun Kil Moon albums. There was even room for a few tracks - such as I Love Portugal - that have only just been released on the latest SKM opus. Highlights included a heartbreaking Sometimes The Wonder Of Life Prevails from the RFH show, and, at the Cadogan show, a hilarious new ditty called He's Bad, which skewers the legend of Michael Jackson like nothing I've ever heard before. Magnificent.

4: PIXIES 29/11 Brixton Academy
Legendary Boston alt-rock heroes and instigators of the early 90s classic 'loud/quiet/loud' sound returned to their English home from home - they've played here almost 20 times - for another thrilling evening of visceral, discordant songs about space, surfing, crabs, leper colonies and general weirdness. Having toured pretty solidly since their reformation in 2004, the band have only recently got round to releasing new music. 2014's Indie Cindy was a decent, albeit by-the-book in places, Pixies album that  ultimately led to the departure of original member Kim Deal. Paz Lenchantin eventually took Deal's place and it is she who features strongly on the band's excellent latest album Head Carrier. As you would imagine, the new material formed the backbone of this gig, with all ten tracks getting an airing. Although, as most Pixies songs struggle to break the two-minute mark, there was still time for another 23 songs.....
River Euphrates, Broken Face, Bone Machine, No. 13 Baby, Cactus, Wave Of Mutilation, Monkey Gone To Heaven. All present and correct. Indeed, even without Debaser, Where Is Your Mind and Here Comes Your Man, this was still one of the best Pixies gigs I've ever been to. What a band.

3: JOHN CARPENTER 31/10 The Troxy
When I was a teenager and spending my time devouring music and movies, I fell in love with the work of horror auteur John Carpenter. Assault On Precinct 13 and Escape From New York were my entry points, swiftly followed by The Thing, Halloween, The Fog and Dark Star. Not only were the films all magnificent, but the soundtrack music to each of these works were glorious slabs of doom-laden electronica, and - with the exception of The Thing - all totally produced and performed by Carpenter himself. If you had said to me then that in 30 years time I'd be packed into a hot and sweaty East London venue waiting for the man himself - who is now pushing 70 - to take to the stage and perform these classic themes, I'd have questioned your sanity. But here I was - on All Hallow's Eve natch - and there he was. Flanked by a four-piece band, including his son Cody, Carpenter stood front and centre, dressed all in black and wearing sunglasses. Occasionally stabbing at a tiny keyboard and even more occasionally having a little dance, he and his compadres thrilled the starstruck throng with beefed-up versions of the greatest of his pieces. Interspersed within the soundtracks were tunes from his recent instrumental albums, Lost Themes 1 & 2. To top it all off, the huge video backdrop projected 3D clips from all the aforementioned movies as their specific themes were played. The audience, most of whom had dressed up as characters from the films, went suitably batshit. A fantastic night. If I can - almost - quote Assault: "He has his moments".

2: THE CURE 2/12 Wembley Arena

I wouldn't normally visit Wembley Arena for a gig - it's always been a huge, soulless barn of a venue - but when Robert Smith and The Cure are in town, one has to make an exception. Still filling out arenas almost 40 years into their lifespan - this was the second of three sold-out shows - and with no new product to promote, this had all the makings of an absolute classic, full-blown greatest hits extravaganza. Fortunately for all inside Wembley, the boys from Crawley did not disappoint. Core members Smith and Simon Gallup - who, rather wonderfully, look exactly the same as they've always done - have now been joined by ex-Bowie axeman Reeves Gabrels, and his rather left-of-centre guitar work added a new intensity and heft to the opening salvo of tracks. Plainsong, Pictures Of You, Burn and Fascination Street set the stall for this absolute beast of a gig, before the glorious Proustian rush of In Between Days tore the roof off and had everyone out of their seats and frugging furiously. Lovesong, Just Like Heaven and a magisterial Disintegration finished off the main set in magnificent style before the first of three - count em - three encores. The first two were of traditional encore length, each one ending with a belter: From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea and a mindblowing A Forest respectively. Encore three was just showing off though, quite frankly. A nine-song humdinger that would put most bands to shame: Lullaby, The Walk, Friday I'm In Love, Doing The Unstuck, Boys Don't Cry, Close To Me, Why Can't I Be You, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing An Arab.Immense stuff. For me, The Cure don't get anything like the recognition that they deserve. For their longevity, hit single strike rate, monstrous record sales, and worldwide fan-base, they should be garnering awards and gongs year-in and year-out. One of the UK's finest bands. 

1: ENDLESS BOOGIE 24/7 The Lexington
Endless Boogie are a bit of an anomaly in the modern music world. No website presence of any real merit, no press, no interviews, no merchandise, hardly any social media. Just three albums of hulking, droning, crunching, grooving and downright pile-driving psych-rock infused with blues and prog textures that place the band outside of any pigeonhole you'd care to put them in. This was their first gig in London for over three years and - like The Cure above - there was no new album to promote. Just a cracking band playing in front of 200 hardy souls inside a sweltering and steamy room above a pub on a Sunday night in North London. Seriously, what's not to like? A mysterious cabal of grizzled veterans, The Boogie have been chipping away at the rock and roll coalface for nigh-on 20 years now, plying their trade with a succession of lengthy psych work-outs and heady blues grooves that come across like AC/DC jamming with The Velvet Underground. Led by 60 year old vocalist Paul 'Top Dollar' Major and earthy guitar virtuoso Jesper Eklow, the band's sound can also be compared to Can, ZZ Top and Canned Heat getting together and having a beano in a Louisiana speakeasy. Tremendous. Song titles escaped me on this particular evening - I was a tad refreshed - but I do most definitely remember wigging out rigorously to Smoking Figs In The Back Yard which you'll find on their debut album, Focus Level. That 10 minutes alone was enough to make this my gig of the year. They can't come back soon enough in my opinion......