March brought us a proper old school indie-disco night out as the 'Love From Stourbridge' travelling carny hit Shepherd's Bush with Miles Hunt and his current Wonder Stuff posse co-headlining with the fantastic Ned's Atomic Dustbin. Great fun was had by all as Hunt and the Ned's pumped out the classics while ageing indie kids threw themselves around with no thought at all as to how their backs might feel the following morning. Glorious. The following month saw a rare performance from criminally underrated singer/songwriter David Kitt, who travelled from his Irish homeland to regale the faithful with a stellar set at the tiny Borderline club in the middle of Soho. I've been listening to Kitt and his wonderful electronica-infused folk music for almost 20 years now and how he hasn't managed to hit the big-time is beyond me. His nearest comparison is probably David Gray and, as much as I like the bulk of Gray's work, Kitt's songs leave him in the dust. This Borderline performance was a case in point. Backed up by Michele Stodart from The Magic Numbers on bass guitar, Kitt's songs soothed, caressed and hugged in equal measure. A fabulous gig.
May and June were packed to the gills with stupendous showings from the finest husband and wife fronted garage rock band from France in Perpignan's magnificent The Liminanas who followed their excellent 'Shadow People' album with a frankly mind-melding gig at The Garage in Islington, and early 90's grungegaze rockers Swervedriver who thrilled their hardcore fanbase with sterling renditions of their classic 'Raise' and 'Mezcal Head' albums just down the road at The Islington Academy. June also saw the return to the UK of reformed Bostonian college rock faves Belly, touring in support of their lovely third album 'Dove'. Once of Throwing Muses and The Breeders, Tanya Donnelly led Belly to a brief whiff of fame and fortune in 1993 with the superb 'Star' album - featuring alt-rock classics Feed The Tree and Gepetto. The band split after a second album in 1995 with Donnelly going solo. However, after a successful reformation tour a couple of years ago, the original lineup headed back into the studio and have carried on from where they left off. The summer tour was a triumph and the Shepherd's Bush gig was a joyous affair. Elsewhere in June - and thanks to some prodigious use of the 'refresh' button on my phone - I was able to bag tickets for two of the biggest gigs of the summer as Dave Grohl and his mighty Foo Fighters set up camp at The Olympic Stadium and Cincinnati's answer to Radiohead - the truly special The National - headed up the second weekend of Victoria Park's All Points East Festival and were ably supported by some other huge No Static At All faves in The War On Drugs, Future Islands and Spoon. The Foos were on thunderous form and showed that they are pretty much in a league of their own when it comes to globe-straddling, enormo-dome playing stakes. But, as fantastic as their gig was, The National's performance was quite extraordinary. After a day of solid sets from the aforementioned War On Drugs and Spoon in particular, Matt Berninger's crew of doomy art-rockers finished up their touring schedule for 2016's brilliant 'Sleep Well Beast' album with their biggest headline show in the UK and put in a magnificent shift - with Bloodbuzz Ohio, Fake Empire and the outstanding The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness stealing the show. So, in regards to huge, outdoor corporate monster gigs, I think The National shaded it.
Into the late summer then and there were flying visits from two of my absolute faves. Ex-Galaxie 500 linchpin Dean Wareham brought his latest Luna set-up to Islington for a sparkling set of new tunes and early classics. Featuring his wife Britta Phillips on bass, tracks like Moon Palace and the astonishingly superb 23 Minutes In Brussels proved that this gang of Velvet Underground inspired janglers are still a vital force almost 30 years after their inception. A few weeks later down in the West End at Heaven, San Francisco based psych-rockers Wooden Shjips - led by the fantastically bearded Ripley Johnson - settled in for a groovesome two hours of gnarly riffs, fuzzy vibes and spacey visuals. A heady trip was had by all. And there was just time before 2018 came to a close for some returning 90s indie heroes. Seattle's great lost band - The Posies - thrilled the faithful with a barnstorming set at Islington's Academy that was weighed heavily in favour of their masterpiece from 1993 - the glorious noise that is 'Frosting On The Beater'. Head honchos Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow - who have been steering The Posies ship through choppy waters for nigh on three decades - were on splendid form, not only musically but also when it came to raconteur duties. The gig was a laugh-riot, with the duos war stories of their failed attempts to hit the big time interspersed with some incredible tunes. Flavour Of The Month in particular was a real high-point. And finally, up at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, Boston power-trio Buffalo Tom hit town to promote their excellent new album - and first for almost 7 years - 'Quiet And Peace'. I've been a HUGE fan of the Tom for many years now - indeed, their 1992 opus 'Let Me Come Over' still nestles snugly in my Top 5 Albums Of All Time - and I was thoroughly looking forward to this one. As usual, the boys didn't disappoint. With Bill Janovitz crunching away on his guitar and singing lustily, while bassist Chris Colbourn and drummer Tom Maginnis kept things ticking away solidly beside him, classics like Velvet Roof, Taillights Fade, Sodajerk, Summer and the magisterial paean to a lost cat that is Larry sounded better than ever. Come back soon, chaps!
But, as good as all the above gigs were, there were ten gigs I attended this year that were even better. So, as is the norm round here at No Static Towers, it's time for a list. Eyes down for my favourite shows of the last 12 months!
10: THE THE 7/6 The Troxy
The return this year to the musical stratosphere of cult singer/songwriter Matt Johnson and his rolling conveyor belt of The The alumni - which at one point in the late 80s included Johnny Marr - was serious cause for celebration. During the 80s and early 90s, Johnson wrote and released four albums of sublime quality - 'Soul Mining', 'Infected', 'Mind Bomb' and the utterly wondrous 'Dusk' - and any music fan with a brain and a heart will have found much to love across those records. After a patchy Hank Williams covers set in 1995 and a solid return to his own songwriting in 2000's 'Naked Self', Johnson slipped off the radar focusing on soundtrack work and family life. He reappeared in 2016 with a one-off single for Record Store Day and the response was so overwhelming that this reformation tour was a no-brainer. Sadly, just before the first of three London dates, Johnson's father died and although naturally devastated, he decided to plough through. Subsequently, all three dates were extremely emotionally charged, but this night in particular held special reverence for Johnson, taking place only a few streets away from where he was born and raised. Featuring old The The bandmates DC Collard on keyboards, Earl Harvin on drums and James Eller on bass, the lineup was completed by a Johnny Marr recommendation - ex-Primal Scream axeman Little Barrie Cadogan. Anticipation and expectation was understandably high within the room as Johnson and co strolled out on to the stage and - as the rousing ovation died down - launched straight into the doomy state of the nation address Global Eyes and the strident, politically charged Sweet Bird Of Truth. After that rousing double whammy, it was one humdinger after another as classic 80s alt-pop anthems like Heartland, The Beat(en) Generation, Armageddon Days, Infected and This Is The Day had the rapt audience bellowing away lustily whilst harking back to long-lost student days. Johnson's later soundtrack work rubbed shoulders with the hits perfectly and the band were on solid form whilst Johnson regaled us with emotional tales from his life in music as well as paying a heartfelt tribute to his dad. The set was gloriously 'Dusk' heavy, which was fine by me as it's one of THE great 90s albums - and hearing songs like the thunderous Dogs Of Lust, the janglesomely joyous Slow Emotion Replay and the spine-tingling Love Is Stronger Than Death live on stage for the first time in almost 25 years was simply superb. The night ended - as you would expect - with a rattling run through the still fabulous Uncertain Smile before Johnson and his band rounded things off with 'Dusk's eco-friendly anthem Lonely Planet. As hundreds of souls joined in for it's final lyrical warning - "If you can't change the world, change yourself" - I was reminded yet again what a brilliant songwriter Matt Johnson is, and how sorely missed he's been. Don't leave it so long next time Matt!
9: MATTHEW SWEET 18/12 Islington Assembly Hall
Legendary horror movie auteur John Carpenter - he of Halloween, The Thing and Escape From New York - first brought his travelling movie soundtrack show to the UK a couple of years ago, pitching up at East London's Troxy theatre on Halloween night and putting on a truly tremendous show. The gig was so good that it made No Static At All's Top 5 gigs of the year and the fact that this even better return performance has only made it to Number 8 just shows how strong the rest of the Top Ten is. There was no real change to the set-up this time round - at 71, Carpenter is unlikely to mix things up that often - and anyone lucky enough to witness the 2016 gig would have noticed only minimal tweaks. Carpenter was front and centre again, prodding away on a keyboard and flanked by a four-piece band that also included his son Cody on guitar and keyboards. The giant 3D screens were also there, projecting classic clips from the films as each theme was played. The band once again donned dark sunglasses in homage to 'They Live' whilst Carpenter recited scripted intros to each piece of music. But, as expected as all those moments were, the smaller venue made for a more intense atmosphere and gave the themes for 'The Thing', 'Assault On Precinct 13' and 'The Fog' in particular a real sense of creeping dread and impending doom. There were debut showings for the themes to best-forgotten horror comedy 'Body Bags' as well as the latest instalment in the 'Halloween' franchise, but it was the classics that raised the roof. The original 'Halloween' still chills the spine and I will go to my grave maintaining that the 'Escape From New York' theme is one of the greatest pieces of movie music. After the 2016 gig I didn't expect Carpenter to put himself through another gruelling touring schedule so soon but I'm so glad he did as this was a wonderful evening.
More No Static faves here as the tremendously thrilling Endless Boogie returned to London for their annual blues-infused psych-rock shindig - this time at Hackney's splendidly scuzzy and crackingly cramped Moth Club. I've seen this seasoned bunch of rock and roll journeymen a fair few times in recent years - and they're back again in May - and the words 'bad show' just aren't in their lexicon. With frontman Paul 'Top Dollar' Major - and his extraordinary mane - snarling away at the mic and trading astonishing guitar licks with fellow axesmith Jesper Eklow, while completely locked in rhythm section Mark Razo and Harry Druzd thunder away behind them, an Endless Boogie show is one of the most purely enjoyable nights out you'll ever have. If you ever get a chance, beg borrow or steal to get a ticket. Ostensibly still touring 2016's mighty 'Vibe Killer' album, this gig - as is the norm with The Boogie - veered off into all kinds of different directions with only two of the aforementioned album's tracks getting an airing. The fact that the title track moved and grooved away for about half an hour before morphing into the outstanding Back In 74 and then careering BACK into itself - all within the first 45 minutes of the gig - is neither here nor there. This is what Endless Boogie do - exactly what it says on the tin. And the memory of myself and my equally refreshed gig compadre bouncing around to the gargantuan glory that is Smokin Figs In The Back Yard for another solid 25 minutes or so - whilst all the while the rest of the hot, sweaty throng around us were grinning from ear to ear and lost in their own musical reverie - will stay in my ageing cerebellum for some time to come. Utterly fantastic.
As per usual when it comes to a No Static At All list of any kind, there has to be room for Mark Kozelek. Kozelek is my favourite living singer/songwriter, and could well be better than some of the dead ones. Since the early 90s and his Red House Painters days, he's been an essential part of my music listening life and his immense back catalogue is a thing of utter wonder. In recent years he's moved away from his slowcore indie rock roots and focused on more acoustic based music and a songwriting style that many consider bloated or boring. Personally, I find it mesmerising and magnificent in equal measure. Kozelek tours when he wants to these days - he's his own cottage industry essentially - and pops over to London at least once a year. Last year's gig at Shepherd's Bush was a three hour masterclass in how to piss of your least interested fans with fifteen-minute long songs that hadn't even been released yet, spoken word monologues about cats, screaming, shouting and generally ornery behaviour that caused walk-outs and complaints about the ticket price. It was, quelle surprise, one of my favourite gigs of the year. This time round, back at one of his favoured venues in the Union Chapel, Koz was promoting the first of his two releases from last year in the self-titled double album from last January. As usual though, he barely touched that particular album focusing instead on a bunch of tracks from the soon to be released 'This Is My Dinner', as well as recent odds and ends from EPs and collaborations. He rarely plays anything older than a couple of years these days and prefaced the gig by responding to some joker in the audience who shouted out for 1992's Mistress by comparing playing those songs to having sex with an old girlfriend from high school - interesting in theory but ultimately hugely unsatisfying. Ably supported by Ben Boye on keyboards and Ramon Fermin on guitar, Koz patrols the stage - looking more and more like a down-at-heel preacher - every so often berating someone in the audience for checking their phone or not showing enough attention. Vocally, he's never sounded better - his deep and rich tone adding an emotional heft to songs like Daffodils and This Is My Dinner that few can match. There were big laughs too - 'Linda Blair' was hilarious. For me, it was another stunning performance from a artist who - although he may never reach the commercial and critical heights of 2014's 'Benji' - will always be the most interestingly unique songwriter we have.
Adam Granduciel and his current War On Drugs collective - now expanded to a 7 piece - have had a rather remarkable few years. After 2014's stupendous 'Lost In A Dream' sent them soaring into the public conciousness, the follow-up opus from 2017 - the even more luxuriant 'A Deeper Understanding' - was not only their debut major label release, but hit Number 1 across the globe and allowed them to take the step up into the big leagues and headline arenas everywhere. So much so that after 18 months of solid touring, this final date of said tour saw them selling out the cavernous O2 Arena in North Greenwich. And, if this performance was anything to go by, stadium gigs must be next on the agenda. Firstly though, there was the not so small matter of a one hour support slot from shoegaze legends Slowdive. Riding high in recent years after their reformation and excellent self-titled fourth album, Neil Halsted, Rachel Goswell and the rest of the band breezed through a splendid set that gave equal time to old favourites like When The Sun Hits and Catch The Breeze as well as excellent new songs such as No Longer Making Time and the mind-melding Star Roving. The perfect starter to the main course. Even though, on record, the expansive widescreen Americana of Granduciel's War On Drugs vision seems tailor-made for large arenas, I was a bit apprehensive at first that it might not connect with such a large audience. I need not have worried. Opening with the driving, propulsive Holding On, this was supreme fare from first to last. The band were perfectly in sync and the connection between the songs and the crowd was intense all the way through. Granduciel's stage persona hasn't changed since the early years - he still hides behind his hair and his guitar solos - but when the majesty of these songs sweeps you away with each new glorious key change, it doesn't matter. The high points of the most recent album - Pain, Up All Night and the blatant Dire Straits homage Nothing To Find - were all brilliantly redesigned for this huge space, but for me, it's still 'Lost In A Dream's trio of utter masterpieces that keep bringing me back to that album, five years on. Both the expanded live renditions of Red Eyes and An Ocean Between The Waves were something to behold, but the almost 15-minute version of Under The Pressure - all pulsing motorik rhythms and crashing percussion that built and built to a climax from the gods - was worth the price of admission all on its own. Marvellous stuff.
4: TEENAGE FANCLUB 13,14,15/11 Electric Ballroom
In celebration of the recent re-release of all their Creation Records albums on vinyl, Glasgow's finest exponents of the mighty jangle - and one of Great Britain's best bands, full stop - decided to test their mettle gig-wise by embarking on a three-night residency in various cities across the UK. The London leg saw the band - comprising of the three principal singer/songwriters in guitarists Norman Blake, Raymond McGinley and bassist Gerard Love, as well as extra guitarist Dave McGowan and across these three nights all three previous drummers in Brendan O'Hare, Paul Quinn and Francis Macdonald - playing all five of their Creation releases in full. Night one saw them rattle through 1991's fantastic calling card and still highly influential 'Bandwagonesque' and the slightly more knotty follow-up 'Thirteen' whereas on night two the faithful were privy to the twin peaks of the band's career - 1995's hit-laden 'Grand Prix' and 97's pastoral and homely 'Songs From Northern Britain'. If you managed to make it through to the third night, then 2000's farewell to Creation - the much maligned 'Howdy' - and a pick and mix of B-Sides and covers was the soundtrack. Before all of this though, the band released a statement to say that founding member Love would be leaving the group at the end of the tour to concentrate on family life. Subsequently, there was a real feeling of goodbye to these gigs. Even though the remainder of the band are continuing on throughout the following 6 months or so, with former Gorky's front man Euros Childs taking over from Love, something will have been lost for me. Teenage Fanclub's major selling point has always been the perfectly matched three-part harmonies of Love, Blake and McGinley - like a Caledonian Crosby, Stills And Nash - and that's before you even get to the songs. As was proved across these three excellent gigs, I can't imagine going to see a TFC gig without hearing Love sing the wonderful Sparky's Dream. Or the sublime Star Sign. Or the divine Don't Look Back. Love's songs were always the soothing balm next to Blake's more grunge-infused rockers and McGinley's soul-searching ballads and things won't quite be the same without him. For now though, if this is TFC's last stand then it was some way to bow out. Hearing deep cuts like Alcoholiday, Guiding Star, Winter and Verisimilitude live for the first time in years was a very special thing and there were certain points - particularly during the astonishing guitar-led coda of Blake's magisterial Neil Jung halfway through the second night - when I may have left my body and traveled to another plane. And answers on a postcard please if you can think of any British band of the last thirty years who have written a more perfect love song than McGinley's Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From. What a band.
3: PIXIES 30/10 The Roundhouse
2: ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
22/5 Electric Ballroom & 29/10 Koko
Two absolutely storming appearances from my favourite new band here, as Melbourne's finest janglesmiths hit The Big Smoke firstly in May to essentially keep the momentum going after their incredible first shows in 2017. The Ballroom gig focused on that year's two EPs - which reached Number 2 in my end of year round-up 12 months ago - and was another astounding 90 minutes of melodic indie and joyous shuffling alt-pop. I've said it before on this blog, but I can't remember being so enamoured with a group for a long, long time. Probably since the heady 80s peak of R.E.M., The Smiths and the Pixies. The step-up to a larger venue didn't seem to phase the lads and added some heft to tunes like Clean Slate, Wide Eyes and the mighty French Press. Principal front trio Joe White, Fran Keaney and Tom Russo shared vocal duties and interchanged guitar riffs left, right and centre as the gig progressed and with bassist Joe Russo and Marcel Tussie connecting it all behind them, the quintet locked themselves into a groove and didn't let go. There was room for a trio of tunes from the forthcoming debut album - 'Hope Downs' was released a few weeks later and hasn't left my headphones since - and it was obvious that the songwriting chops shown on those first EPs were still very much there. And then some. October's performance just down the road at Koko was an even more celebratory affair, as the response to 'Hope Downs' had been pretty much universal praise since it's release. Again, I waxed lyrical about this particular gig in a previous post but my feelings about it haven't changed. if it wasn't for a certain rock band from Seattle, then this would have been my gig of the year. The 5 rollicking and rambunctious minutes when RBCF played An Air-Conditioned Man may well indeed be the single most enjoyable gigular moment of this year. Stupendous.
1: PEARL JAM 18/6 & 17/7 The O2
