20 Great Concerts From 2008
I'm not the only one at Stereogum who goes out to see live music, but I'm the one who goes out to see the most live music. And then I'm the one who sits around anally cataloging and indexing it in photos and words, and then recataloging it in list form at year-end. To that point: Lists are inherently personal; a list of top concerts even more so. Did you have that drunk Jersey kid yelling in your ear Night Two of Radiohead @ APW? I didn't! And that's why I loved it and that's why it made this list. (Also it made this list because it's Radiohead. As you well know.) From every sweaty summer fest, every late set in Williamsburg or out on the LES, I've pared the possibilities to 20. And then I numerically ranked those 20 to make a ludicrous and subjective endeavor that much more ludicrously subjective. So without further ado, here is the definitive list of 2008's 20 Greatest Concerts. If you saw a show you think belongs on here but isn't, you're wrong.
20 King Khan @ Pitchfork Music Festival
As always, our friends at Pitchfork dot com assembled one of festival season's most robust lineups. And to that lineup, King Khan brought the most robust antics. And the most robust belly. You couldn't turn a corner all weekend without seeing the Canadian/Germany-based garage guy up to something mischievous: slinging frozen confections from Ice Cream Man's truck in Hawaiian shirt and farmer hat, spraying down little kids with his water gun wearing a cape and not enough else. At one point he tried to peg High Places with a beach ball while standing side stage, only to have it ricochet off the stage scaffolding. He scurried as stage hands chased him away. Later he'd join Bradford Cox and Jay Reatard as pinch-hitters for the airplane-delayed Cut Copy crew. To all that, Khan also managed to tear through his own trashy soul set, with a cheerleader, horns, and less clothes than ever, splitting time between the stage, the audience, and the security divider. Les Savy Fav were on at the mainstage at the same time, but after walking over to catch the tail of that set, we're pretty sure Khan out Harrington'd Tim Harrington. Dollar bills were shown, trash was thrown, and King Khan presented the full thrust of his Supreme Genius: Knowing suckers like us would pay attention to and write about a guy wandering around in a Roman-style centurion helmet/mask and banana hammock with a boundless amount of hamminess. Success!
19 Saul Williams @ Lollapalooza
Seeing Saul at Lolla was something of a happy accident. Maybe better to say it was the happiest accident. Some band with whom I had a deeper preexisting relationship was scheduled for the same slot across Grant Park, and my legs refused to leave where I stood. Plus a friend told me Girl Talk was about to bring out a raft and 96 rolls of toilet paper for the post-Saul set, so sticking around seemed reasonable. Within songs Williams was my New Favorite Guy: with a band dressed like intergalactic Native Americans by way of tribal Africa, Saul spat packed and pithy poetry like a fiery, facepainted street preacher, slinking on one end of the stage, bounding to the other. You should be him for Halloween next year.
18 The Music Tapes @ Mercury Lounge (CMJ)
The recently revitalized Music Tapes were transportive at Merge's CMJ showcase. Main Music Tape Julian Koster was joined by two drummers, a bassist (with flute at the ready), horn players, a violin-bowing guitarist, a 7' Metronome and Static the singing television set (introduced ever-so-dramatically, playing on the recent rash of Mangum sightings). Koster kept a steady smile through tunes from both 1st Imaginary Symphony For Nomad and this year's For Clouds And Tornadoes, songs that are nautical ("Song For Oceans Falling"), extra-terrestrial ("Aliens"), and existential (practically everything else) in theme. JK was often on that elephant-inlaid banjo, but he'd trade it for a guitar or keys, or to make his singing saw weep. His vibe's humble and quirky, simple yet otherworldly. Memorable, and recommended.
17 Cut Copy @ Pitchfork Music Festival
For fans of dance, and fans of New Order, Cut Copy put on a very good live show. That is not why they make this list. They make this list because this set was DRAMA. The story: While Spoon were busy being massively popular at the main stage's closing set of Fork Fest, Cut Copy were scheduled to perform to a smaller crowd closing out the sidestage called "B." But they were flying in from Australia (via L.A.) and these things get complicated. Word was they weren't going to make it. The temporary replacement? An ad hoc group pairing frontmen Bradford Cox and King Khan with the Ponys' Jered Gummere on drums and occasional spastic vocal intrusions by Jay Reatard. A cute way to stall, but the generic bluesy garage stuff really was nothing more than a cute way to stall. As Cox put it, "We're stuck with you ... and you're stuck with us." But not quite: After about 25 minutes, King Cox stopped, Bradford offered a few safety tips then announced that Cut Copy would be on in five minutes. This is when what remained of the audience lost their shit. By the time Cut Copy started playing, the crowd had swelled closer to its original size ... and threw flowers at the stage, screamed like they were seeing the Beatles or Timberlake, danced in a huge, sweaty throng. As Brandon put it: "Now and then something transcends the ho-hum everyday and simple mechanics of these fests. That's what happened when Cut Copy dug into their abridged, but tight and exciting because abridged, set: All the disappointment and pent up energy that seemed like it would find no outlet was transformed into a bouncing mass." Also it gave new happy-thought material for my next interminable Jet Blue delay on the runway.
16 Krallice @ Remains 7/27/08
This is not a calculated metal-cred grab. Yes I went through a deep, dark headbanging phase as a child, but I claim not the metallic expertise of my esteemed colleague Brandon Stosuy. And I saw very few full sets of metal this year. However I thank Brandon for dragging me out to Remains, where Kralice unleashed one of the most sensationally epic sets of my year. In an emptied out art warehouse space, Mick Barr applied his fleet fingered guitar strangulations and a blackened, gravelly growl to his new black metal project. It clenched my gut and uplifted my soul, even as it was meant to darken it. It was just so fucking musical, and mesmerizing, and constantly progressing, one plateau after another ... and also I discovered later Krallice is great running music. Hail Satan, you guys.
15 Robyn @ Highline Ballroom
Robyn's reinvention, via her self-titled electro-pop opus, was first recognized in Sweden in '05. That's when the album came out. And this three-year piecemeal global release/victory lap would be pretentious on top of simply frustrating if the record wasn't just so fucking awesome. This was her first real US show -- yes this includes the prefab "Show Me Love" days -- so imagine the fevered pitch in a Highline Ballroom filled with the fashionable, the gay, and the bloggers, as the pint-sized Swede set foot to stage. The set was just under an hour -- too short in Clock Time -- but each minute was packed with dance moves and HITS. As Scott said: "Robyn does silly + sexy better than anyone we can think of: She's either not concerned with being cool, or more likely Sweden has a definition of cool that doesn't require being detached." Best moments: the ballad take on "Be Mine!," or the Robyn-style rearrangement of "Show Me Love." Said Ms. Carlsson: "You can always do SOMETHING with a good song, right?" If you're Robyn, you can do a lotta things. There are some videos from the show here if you desire. (You do.)
14 Lightning Bolt @ All Tomorrow's Parties New York
On a weekend rock retreat dominated by nostalgia and bedbug scares, Lightning Bolt pierced all that noise with an urgent and pulverizing jackhammer racket of their own. It was transcendent, it was Saturday's signature set. The Brians were on the floor as usual; the immediate ring of moshers instinctively embraced their dual deputation as frontline cheerleaders and arm-locked crowd barricade/Bolt protectors; Chippendale's manic barks spiked the duo's detonations and the entire Starline Ballroom into a whipping frenzy. That set was one reason to love '08. And here's one to love '09: Lightning Bolt are expected to have a Hypermagic Mountain followup out this year. We are excited.
13 Marnie Stern @ Cake Shop (CMJ)
I remember seeing Marnie back at a Todd P thing at SXSW '06. She carried with her three items of note: a Hella headband, an electric guitar, and an iPod. There was no band, only In Advance Of The Broken Arm's frantically tapped lacerations being piped through that PMP, vocals in tact, with Marnie doing her best to keep up with the studio-perfected version of herself. It didn't turn out so good. Two years later comes This Is It..., which basically owned my iTunes this year (Gummy vote, check). She's a shredder, but what's inescapable this time is the way in which she's honed and buffed to brilliance an ability to shoehorn that technical virtuosity into song-oriented compositions. The trills and taps and shifting arpeggiated patterns coil, eating their own tails, often overdubbed and intertwining while panned hard to either speaker, snaking underneath the tracks and through transitional passages. They give a live-loop like texture to Sleater-friendly rock songs. And still, come CMJ I braced for the iPod show and tempered my expectations. But Marnie came with a full-on trio boasting a second guitarist and a not-Zach-Hill-but-still-great drummer. Powerful. Cake Shop was the best of the three Stern sets I took CMJ week -- the dank basement packed with people pushing forward to get closer, blasted back by the trio's shit-kicking takes on "Prime," "Transformer," "Ruler," "Shea Stadium," etc. -- but each time out I saw a witty and kinetic, singularly impressive star ready to pull shit into her orbit.
12 Animal Collective @ Pitchfork Festival
Another year, another Animal Collective show for the Best Shows list. In 2007 it was seeing the newly Deakin-less trio work through Sung Tongs, Strawberry Jam and post-Strawberry jams at the Seaport. This year's inclusion, for AC's Saturday-headlining set at P4K Fest, hinges on a couple things. There was the setlist which included a "cover" of Panda Bear's "Comfy In Nautica"; early listens of Merriweather cuts "My Girls," "Lion In A Coma," and "Daily Routine"; and a rarity in Danse Manitee's "Essplode" riding the back of "Fireworks." For an eight-song set, that's a helluva selection. Also, Avey, Geologist, and Noah had, like, Coldplay light towers with them? And for the trifecta: Animal Collective are now big enough to headline festivals. Granted it's the Pitchfork Music Festival, which might be like expressing awe over Glasvegas headlining an NME festival, but still. They would have played all night if not for the park curfew, but it was enough. I don't mean to seem like I care about material things, but with new songs, a bump in festival status, and a light show like that, 2009 looked great for Animal Collective. Based on Merriweather, it already is.
11 Dirty Projectors @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg 4/9/08
Dirty Projectors are another band making a repeat showing on this year's list, primarily because they are the most awesome. Particularly this incarnation of the band -- featuring drummer Brian McComber, guitarist Amber Coffman, and bassist Angel Deradoorian -- which Dave Longstreth is wisely preserving and taking into the studio for his forthcoming Domino debut. The MHOW set was another full of snaking and thrashing, spiraling and sublime avant-rock, with otherworldly vocal arrangements and a vice grip on the crowd's guts and frontal lobes, in equal parts. That night was their recent-staple setlist of Rise Above and New Attitude stuff, alongside peeks at promising new sunny, bizarre-pop tunes like "Sunrise" and "That's My Move." Even without the new material, they're one of the few bands worth the trip every time out, whether just crushing their catalog or making something transcendent of it. I joked that the crowds at their NYC shows last year comprised "72% people in bands, 24% music writers, with the rest dabbling in both," so it bears repeating that there were no lines of sight in MHOW that night without some member of the indie rock all-star softball team: Grizzly Bear, Battles, Deerhunter, the National, Apes & Androids, My Brighest Diamond, Vampire Weekend. Dirty Projectors shows are like band camp, or like some sort of a master class. Nobody's going to truly cop the style, but everybody's in to take their notes.
10 Apes & Androids @ Bowery Ballroom 5/30/08
Brooklyn's Apes & Androids put out a sprawling and sadly overlooked debut LP this year with Blood Moon. On the flip, nobody's ever going to overlook their concerts. Live A&A are something like of Montreal by way of Spinal Tap (cue back-to-back harmonizing guitar solos, synchronized fist pumps, perfect and bombastic backing vocals, etc.). Overblown and under-dressed, Ziggy Stardusted rock stars wielding a computer-enabled strain of over-the-top theatrical rock, Queen and Bowie alongside -- and sometimes filtered through -- futuristic booty beats. Each show's a little different -- masked and bodysuited dancers rushing out at one show, taiko drumlines at the next. They've carefully constructed a meta-aesthetic that perfectly and improbably juggles performance art, mystique, and satire, and Bowery was their coming out party: no longer relegated to tiny venues and Brooklyn art spaces, with a vision that could no longer be contained by them. Scantily clad alien ladies with tricked out wigs and multi-colored LED-infused hula hoops ran up one side of the room; 10 ft. tall white-feathered monsters with illuminated Arc Reactor heart pieces handled the other. Confetti rained; smoke machines smoked; arms waved glowsticks; faces were painted; boys were in dresses. Apes & Androids are either going be a world-conquering force, or Brooklyn's best kept secret. There's no halfway with these guys. Obviously.
09 Portishead @ Coachella
This year Portishead came back. Thank god. Whatever you believed this band to be, whatever bullshit genre coin you scratched over their previous beats, Third destroyed with pulses that rocked and rifled, undulated and swung. The passes were fragile in one look ("The Rip"), terrifyingly violent the next ("Machine Gun"). It got one of my Gummy votes. At their only US show in support, Geoff, Adrian, and Beth expanded their Portishead to a stage sextet, casting spells and chills into the arid Indio air. I climbed the stage to get closer shots of Beth, who looked both devestated and triumphant in black. Geoff and Adrian manned their instrumental outposts while their images were blown up in iced blue on the backing lightboard. There was applause between songs, yes. But mostly there was a slackjawed and haunted awe that clung to the desert sand the rest of the night. Portishead are back. Everyone recognize.
08 Fleet Foxes @ Bowery Ballroom 3/30/08
I had listened to but not loved the Sun Giant EP, my hitting this show was a last minute decision to kill time before a party, Robin had a nasty cold and accepted packets of Emergen-C from the audience. All of which is to say, there isn't much -- not nature, not distraction -- that can obfuscate the goosepimply body buzz from standing in the presence of Fleet Foxes' psychedelic and dusty harmonic goodness. All year, naysayers have been trying to understand the band's startling ascent. Proposed reasons: Times are tough, people want pretty and easy as respite and comfort from their disappearing commodities, people are safe and like safe sounds, etc. Maybe. Maybe not. Point: They're just really fucking good live. They move hearts. Their shows are pindrop silent and take on the feel of a spiritual reverie. Their songs make people sing, hum, hug. Their arrangements are dense on a musically theoretical, and simply aural, level. That is the reason why they are popular. We did it guys, we figured it out. Now go see them.
07 Joanna Newsom @ BAM 2/1/08
There's a lot to love about Joanna Newsom. I'm also fully aware of all there is from which to detract: her voice, a more affected strain of Kate Bush-iness that's sure to grate on some ears; the whole sylvian nymph thing, what with the woodsy promo shots and the elven visage, a fable-ready sort of preciousness; the harp, which can conjure the worst of Ren Faire pretense; and etc. But this set at BAM systematically dismantled all of that. Never mind the rare pleasure of hearing the full-bodied Ys suites accompanied by the versatile Brooklyn Philharmonic, rendering Van Dyke Parks' piquant orchestral arrangements to the note. Never mind the beauty of the space, the walls, the sheer occasion of it. The real story was how warm, real, self-aware, and magnetic Joanna was, herself. (And also maybe the Andy Samberg sightings in the VIP box.) Her voice was a less caricaturized version of her own, all the beauty, less the unnecessary affect. Her banter was down-to-earth and witty, joking about hairstyles and band members, speaking as if she knew well what we thought of her -- and would have fun fucking with it. When set two was down to just the Ys Street Band (violin, drums, banjo) -- to play Milk-Eyed Mender tunes, "Colleen" from the EP, some new stuff -- the night only got stronger. Now you could focus on the intricacies of her playing, of her flawless technique and countermelodic arpeggiation. Now you could hear the way the quartet interacted and fed from her direction. Pretty much, now you could focus on her -- with less performers to feel guilty about ignoring.
06 Gang Gang Dance @ Studio at Webster Hall
From the Times love and the paparazzi-friendly faces in the room that night, to music critics' continued tongue baths for an experimental oeuvre that's been teased and refined into the ambitious, accessible Saint Dymphna, Gang Gang's 1AM set at Stereogum Late Night @ CMJ was that rare and pure moment where hype, buzz, anticipation, and merit conflated. Lizzi Bougatsos' was all swaying locks and bounce, wails and rototoms, riding the twisting, spaced-out, dubbed-up beats and avant-pop gold that is GGD's wellspring. This is NYC's most interesting -- and excellently odd -- live band. I feel luck and pride that they played our show.
05 Radiohead @ All Points West
This year Goldenvoice debuted a new, NYC-area festival called All Points West. You waste half the day taking a ferry to get there. And if they book Radiohead to headline two nights of it again next year, I will go to it for two nights again next year. Since the only way to fairly and meaningfully gauge a Radiohead show is in comparison to another Radiohead show, I'll say Night Two at ATP was near or at the top of my seven nights with the band, and easily the best of the three (including Lolla) from that week. It was on from the start: the crowd was bigger, happier, more conductive the day before; the band was clearly engaged with the field from the opening "Reckoner" and on, each song the perfect thread to the one before. By the time "Exit Music (For A Film)" came on you could hear a pin drop anywhere in Jersey. That was a chills moment. Thom dedicating "Airbag" to Kings Of Leon ("If we were that good looking, we'd be famous") was a LOLz moment. (You get one with each Radiohead ticket purchase.) "Bangers & Mash" meant Thom on the kit. "Planet Telex" meant the already arresting stalactite light show spurting into higher, rainbow-psych gear. "Kid A," and "Idioteque"'s noise breakdown, meant I wet myself. Etc. The great thing about seeing this band: No matter what they play, it's the Greatest Hits. But when all is dialed in like on this night, the material becomes a vessel for five guys onstage, and every person in earshot, to get lost in Something. At that point it's not lights and music ... it's Radiohead.
04 of Montreal @ Roseland Ballroom 10/10/08
In response to the post-Outback and T-Mobile ad campaign flak, Kevin Barnes wrote us an essay in which he said "Selling Out Isn't Possible." What he didn't say was where all that money was going: Roseland Ballroom, costumes, and Kevin singing "St. Exquisite's Confessions" while sitting on and stroking a live white horse. This show was the crown jewel in what was a high-concept fall tour, even by oM standards: pulling primarily from Skeletal Lamping (a jagged and fractured pile of brilliant, barely stitched together song seeds that's itself a fuck-you to sell-out claims) and Hissing Fauna..., Kev and a cadre of costumed actors created a full and distinct set piece around each stop on the setlist. The sketches were associated to songs' lyrical themes: There was a military scene; a crazy beach party; Kevin as centaur getting the shaft from two damsels who preferred his brother as fife-playing satyr (this related to "Beware Our Nubile Miscreants" -- "you only like him 'cause he's sexually appealing," etc.), which devolved into an orgy scene, the damsels and the fife player erotically eating fruit and squirting juices on themselves and writhing under red lights. Demons coaxed Kevin to commit suicide via pills, and injections, and then by hanging from a noose (feet off the ground, hanging ... scary). The main set's big finish: Kevin emerging from a coffin, covered in only shaving cream. The full show's big finish: a cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Only Nirvana did it better. But then, Nirvana never did it with a horse.
03 My Morning Jacket @ Bonnaroo
No band straddles the demographic divide at Bonnaroo quite like My Morning Jacket. Jim James's annual midnight set at the festival has already become a 'Roo staple, but this year's four-hour marathon -- featuring an Erykah Badu cover, a Kirk Hammet guest solo on "One Big Holiday," and the advent of MMJ as the world's greatest funk-cover-wedding band -- was the stuff of legend. The air was chilled and the rain pelting; it's not easy for a band and a crowd to find a mutual groove in those conditions, especially as the weather continued to weed out the weak from the audience. But it all aligned around 1AM for "Lay Low": the rain started coming down even harder to the point of hilarity just as Jim and Carl hit into that harmonizing guitar solo bit. The rain swelled, the band leaned into it, the crowd roared. Jimmy James introduced "an up and comer" named Kirk Hammett and MMJ capped their power hour with the six most electrifying minutes of live music I saw this year. And then there were the covers: Badu's "Tyrone," James Brown's "Cold Sweat" (with Jim doing a JB shuffle across the stage in a cape and hat), Funkadelic's "Hit It And Quit It," and "Get Down On It" by Kool And The Gang. Yes, Kool & The Gang. And yes, My Morning Jacket are available for your next bar mitzvah or corporate function. I didn't stay late enough for their cover of Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home" with Zach Galifianakis as Little Orphan Annie, but I can state with certainty that beards were involved.
02 Sigur Rós @ Bonnaroo
If you're a fan, if you've seen Sigur Rós before this year, nobody needs to convince you to attend a Sigur Rós live show. After this set at Bonnaroo I gave five reasons you need to see them right now anyway. New reasons, because this is a new band. With the sun-splattered nudity of "Gobbledigook" Sigur Rós hearkened a transformation -- from being composers of epic, alien, and incomprehensible whale-song ruminations, to epic, alien and occasionally comprehensible bursts of joy -- fully realized in that Tennessee tent. The setlist was a catalog-spanning beast, showcasing hallmark moments from each of the band's style shifts: from the dark and dank Ágætis byrjun, to the slowest-of-core unpronounceabilites of the ( ) stuff, to the triumphant Takkisms. The Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust stuff crushed it live, came with lots of horns, horns and saws powered by amiina, confettie guns, and most notably a wildly grinning Jonsi. Human after all. During the show I started texting "Sigur Rós is..." and a guy next to me asked, "may I be so rude as to suggest the rest of your sentence?" He continued: "Sigur Rós is ... an atmospheric pumpkin. And this year Halloween is Christmas." I've never read a Sigur Rós review that sounds any less goofy than that, so, believe it? Or watch their similarly costumed, brass-accompanied set at the Museum of Modern Art two nights later, which I also hit and had the added benefit of a stage-adorning Rodin and a great view of Sigur Rós's big bright balls. (As in stage lights, but I wouldn't be surprised if their testicles were luminescent orbs of wonder too. That's an acceptable thing for a fan to think, look it up.)
01 My Bloody Valentine @ Roseland Ballroom
For purposes of this list, it could be said that My Bloody Valentine benefited by me seeing them twice in the same week. It could also be said that they benefitted from being My Bloody Valentine. I've spent countless hours forging a deep, somewhat tragic relationship with each track in MBV's catalogue, never expecting to consummate that relationship any more viscerally than with my noise-cancelling headphones. After 16 years, they came back to the States. MBV came to ATP NY. And it was ... a letdown. The entire weekend was a glorified opening act for that final set, and somehow, somewhere, the sound in the Stardust Ballroom got twisted. Kevin and Belinda mouthed at a mic, but I heard nothing. Helpful commenters pointed out "that's what shoegazer is." Nope. Their aesthetic calls for vocals that are buried, yes, not vocals that are nonexistent. After the show a friend offered a chance to see night two of their Roseland stint. I promised myself that this time, despite the excessive warnings to the contrary, I would not wear earplugs. I would try and hear it all. And there was just so much to hear: deep cuts from Loveless and Isn't Anything, the entire You Made Me Realise EP (save "Drive It All Over Me," sadly), the inimitable aural smears and guitar thunder, and you know, vocals. I may carry some permanent eardrum damage from the noise meltdown which cracks open the middle of "You Made Me Realise" (it feels something like sitting inside a jet engine for 12 minutes, only more disorienting and louder), but I would rather carry this memory than hear anyone talk ever again. They'll be back, by which time they'll be playing new stuff. That is good news. But the noise-cancelling headphone Geek! in me is glad I at least got this one night.
[Pic from MBV's set @ ATP]
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My feet are tired. Feel free to call me a SQUID BRAINS for not including your favorite show and feel even freer to share your top sets of '08 below.
[All photos by Amrit Singh, except Radiohead by Abbey Braden and Dirty Projectors by Jen Carlson]
Posted at 12:31 PM by amrit in Concert
Tags: Animal Collective | Apes And Androids | Dirty Projectors | Fleet Foxes | Gang Gang Dance | Joanna Newsom | King Khan | Krallice | Lightning Bolt | Marnie Stern | My Bloody Valentine | My Morning Jacket | of Montreal | Portishead | Radiohead | Robyn | Saul Williams | Sigur Rós
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Marnie Stern? for real? you are serious? this list is officially declared "Null & Void" for that entry.
Score = -27
music tapes! that such a good show.
Score = 2
Saul Williams at Lolla was nothing short of abusive to my ears.
Score = -4
Nick Cave at the WaMu Theater
Score = 0
No concert at WaMu Theater will ever be the best anything.
Score = 2
OK, then I'll shorten it:
Nick Cave
Score = 2
man, i really want to see the music tapes after all the CMJ buzz ive heard from everyone who caught them. i havent been able to get into the album, but im figuring its one of those that you only get deep into after catching them live?
Score = 1
I think that might be a fair assessment... Expirmental records like recording on 19th century technology can sometimes be hard to identify with. At least from my perspective.
Score = 1
Festival sets?
Give me a break.
Score = -9
radiohead should just be the default #1, and then we can move on with our lives and discuss everyone else, and anyhow, where's bon iver on this list?
Score = 5
Saul is the only one of those acts I've ever seen live, but he is amazing. He puts more energy- and more thought- into a concert than anyone in hip hop (or spoken word), and perhaps as much as anyone in any genre.
Score = 2
Fleet Foxes at Webster Hall in October was my personal favorite. They sounded amazing and the banter between Robyn and the audience was hilarious.
Score = -2
I cannot protest against this list for one simple reason: I did not go to any of these concerts.
I can tell you which was my personal favorite though. Mogwai and Fuck Buttons @ Terminal 5. Mogwai's setlist was near perfection!
Score = 2
My favorite shows of the year
1) Frightened Rabbit at the Great Scott - Great performance in a tiny tiny venue.
2) The National, Modest Mouse, REM at whatever they're calling Great Woods these days - The National were amazing. Modest Mouse fun despite technical difficulties. And REM reminded everyone why they are such a great band. The encore featuring Johnny Marr on fall on me, pretty persuasion, and man on the moon certainly capped a great triple bill
3) Ryan Adams - The Pavilion. His voice is back. His antics held in check. The band is tight. and his setlists reflect a desire to please everybody. if only the album versions had been this good
Score = 2
Yeah, almost forgot about Frightened Rabbit. #2 on my list. Saw them @ Union Pool in Brooklyn, which is about the size of a kindergarden classroom, back in February. The CD doesn't do their live show any justice. If anybody doesn't like their album just imagine anyone of their songs being played 5x louder and harder live. They need to record themselves live.
Score = 0
They released an above-average live album, 'Liver, Lung, FR' towards the end of the year. Basically Midnight Organ Fight live with a few older tracks. Well worth tracking down. And yeah, while i like the studio versions, this is a band that needs to be seen in person.
Score = 0
Yay for festival sets
But I was at Saul's set @ Lolla and it was one of his worst performances I have ever seen.
Score = 2
MMJ @ Bonnaroo was the greatest show of the year.
BIBLICAL.
Score = 3
If this is great "concerts" and not just great headliners....then a Grizzly Bear / Radiohead pairing deserves to be in there.
Score = 3
Troof 2 dat James. Troof!
Score = 0
Pylon @ The Knitting Factory, NYC 12/15/08
One of best shows I've been too in years. Surprised the hell outta me as to how good they still are nearly 30 yrs. later with their average age being what, 50+?!!!!!!!! Mind you this was @ a small club and their sound probably wouldn't translate as well at a huge outdoor festival.
I saw Radiohead on the 1st night of APW. Good show, the new songs from In Rainbows were good, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi killed, a GREAT stage set-up with their multimedia experience but that's only memory I'll take from that night, not to mention the NYC skyline as a backdrop even though the main stage was opposite that. I've been seeing Radiohead live since '01 and they are and always will be considered one of the best live acts but I think they need to change it up:
- stop playing the songs, from beginning to end, the same way every time just like on CD
- extend some of the songs, (not just Everything...... as their closer) which will mean a lesser setlist of 16 or 17 instead of 23 or 24 songs, but I wouldn't mind a 10 minute version of Idioteque or I Might Be Wrong, 15 Step, the Kid A version of Morning Bell, or maybe a longer version of their guitar songs like Airbag, Street Spirit, Planet Telex or even Stop Whispering
- play a 5-6 minute medley of 3 or 4 songs?
- switch instruments?
I dunno, something to break-up the monotony.
Score = -8
Radiohead != Monotony
Score = 1
DragonForce!!!!!!!!
Score = -5
Man Man
at the Man Man Manitorium in Man Man, MA(n)*
*Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
Score = 2
King Khan at Pitchfork was probably the most fun I had the entire time.
And Saul at Lolla was ridiculous, it was just terrible that it was right after Black Kids and before Girl Talk.
"dude this guy is intense!"
"are you here for GT?"
"yeah, when do they come on?"
Score = 1
no mention of the free coldplay show at msg back in june? what gives, stereogum?
Score = -5
also:
Glow in the Dark
Lights in the Sky
Broken Social Scene at the Vic
Deerhunter at the Iforgot
Score = 1
Damn! You are already listening to the crying light on heavy rotation!!!! How good is it?!?!?! I have to know stereogum!! I HAVE TO!
Score = 0
Here are my Top Ten from 2008's Toronto area shows:
1. Radiohead - Molson Amphitheatre
2. Tokyo Police Club - The Opera House
3. Born Ruffians - Hillside Festival
4. Stars - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
5. Vampire Weekend/Germans - Horshoe Tavern
6. Peter, Bjorn & John/Young Galaxy - Phoenix Concert Theatre
7. Bon Iver - Lee's Palace
8. Be Your Own Pet/Radio America - Mercury Lounge (while on vacation in NYC)
9. Los Campesinos - Lee's Palace
10. Cloud Cult - El Mocambo
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You don't have Crystal Castles show at Circa in march. Therefore, no.
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NIN - Lights in the Sky tour. Anyone who was at one of these shows will tell you it was one of, if not the, best of the year. The only concert this year to top Radiohead's light show.
Score = 3
My Top 10 from the Los Angeles/California area:
1. Radiohead - Night 2 - Hollywood Bowl
2. Radiohead - Night 1 - Hollywood Bowl
3. Nine Inch Nails - The Forum
4. My Morning Jacket - Greek Theatre
5. Eddie Vedder - Night 2 - The Wiltern
6. Smashing Pumpkins - Night 1 - Gibson Amphitheatre
7. Steely Dan - Greek Theatre @ UC Berkeley
8. Weezer - The Forum
9. The Duke Spirit - The Roxy
10. Death Cab For Cutie - Nokia Theatre L.A. Live
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You're leaving out Fleet Foxes at Spaceland, Beach House at the Echoplex, Bon Iver/Phosphorescent at the Echo, and my favorite concert of the year- Grizzly Bear with the Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
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there was also fleet foxes at the el rey! and of montreal at the hollywood palladium! and grizzy bear at walt disney concert hall! and sigur ros at the greek!
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Was also fortunate enough to catch Ms. Newsom at BAM. Oh, to relive that evening...
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My Morning Jacket- Nashville's Riverfront Park- Best show of the year by far
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yeah, a lot of saul williams fans were dissappointed of his performance at lolla. Plus, i was getting subway during his set.
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A Pitchfork's balls-licking list. Way to go.
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1. Radiohead night 2 at APW
2. Radiohead at Lolla
3. Any other Radiohead set
4. Any MMJ set
5. Everything else.
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my top 5:
1. wilco - 9:30 club (night 1)
2. of montreal/the national - langerado (sets were back to back, seemed like one long show of awesome)
3. fleet foxes - black cat
4. eddie vedder - warner theatre (night 2)
5. wolf parade - the state theatre
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Agree with most of this list, some of my picks:
!!! at pitchfork
A Place To Bury Strangers at CMJ
Jay Reatard at CMJ
88 Boadrum w/ Gang Gang Dance in Brooklyn
Monotonix/Matt and Kim/Dan Deacon at the Black Cat in DC
Jens Lekman at The College of William and Mary
Score = 2
TEGAN AND SARA sold out 4 straight nights at the Henry Ford Theater in L.A. and people were SLEEPING ON THE SIDEWALK every night waiting to get in. Not to mention Matt Sharp and Hunter Burgan played with them. THOSE were awesome f'ing shows.
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i am SO SO SO happy fo montreal wasnt 1. YAY!
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I was at that Sigur Ros show and there were people talking through the entire thing....all I really remember was that fat girl rolling around on a blanket and asking everyone that passed for coke.....yeah great show
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built to spill and dinosaur jr. at terminal 5 was excellent.
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- beirut at music hall of williamsburg
- modest mouse at music hall of williamsburg (at 2:30 a.m.)
- wilco at mccarren park pool
- amanda palmer at the magic bag in ferndale
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I went to about 25 shows this year and my personal favorite was Liars with No Age. The show was in a little club in Salt Lake City. Angus had hurt his back a week prior, and the show was almost cancelled. The two bands had just driven through a white-out snow storm hours before performing & you could see/hear the panic/relief in their performance. Angus was sitting down in a chair most of the show due to his back, and you could hear the pain in his voice. It was a beautiful night...
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the national at Brooklyn academy of music was amazing. sufjan came out for the song on boxer that he plays piano on and they had all these string/horn players doing all the orchestration from the album. fucking awesome show.
yeasayer/mgmt in february was cool (yeasayer blew mgmt off the stage).
i saw saul williams not at lolla but on the tour and it was incredible. most punk rock show i've ever been to.
the now legendary RADIOHEAD set in the flood in virginia. incredible setlist (them playing all the tracks off in rainbows for the first time ever plus tons of hits). i have a bunch of bootlegs from the tour and despite being biased to have been at this show this was the best of the bunch. they really brought it that night and were so thankful of the fans and you could tell (they even busted out paranoid android halfway through the main set).
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ps:
explosions in the sky were amazing
silver mt zion (which gets no love from indie blogs) but on one of the most powerful shows i've ever seen. really the only band i feel that matches the musical beauty of radiohead.
Score = 1
Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour deserves a spot. An amazing night, complete with Mangum.
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tvotr in buffalo!
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Radiohead, Bon Iver, and Wilco at Outside Lands
(a lot better of a festival than APW turned out to be...)
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everyone seems to be leaving their neighborhood list, so i'll do the same; plus, i traveled over to san fran for the Outside lands festival:
1. Radiohead at Outside Lands (and I'm just gonna count the Black Keys' and Cold War Kids' great sets that afternoon as Radiohead's openers)
2. Billy Joel - 2nd night at shea stadium (give me a break, i couldnt stop screaming when mccartney showed up)
3. Lenny Kravitz at hammerstein ballroom (you better believe it)
4. Black Crowes halloween show at hammerstein
5. Others: Bob weir & ratdog, Wilco & bon iver at outside lands, Clapton + Winwood at msg, neil young + wilco at msg, The Hives
who else... Stars and Vampire Weekend were good... Foo Fighters as well, but i had to leave early
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I was also at the Outside Lands show, and while Radiohead is always great live, I did find myself leaving the show with a small feeling of disappointment. I know there was a city-imposed noise ordinance that made them stop when they did, but I still wanted more. The power outages weren't the coolest either. And with festivals, there are too many people there for the atmosphere and not the music, equaling an overabundance of cell phones and looking for the guy/girl in your group who's holding...
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My Morning Jacket, Madison Square Garden, New Year's Eve.
Yeah that's right....wait for it...wait for it....
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It's true...My Morning Jacket blew the roof off of MSG the other night. Better than anything I had seen this year.
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vampire weekend in the rain at summerstage was incredible.
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this was what i was going to say... holy shit so good
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pearl jam at msg
eddie vedder at the boston opera house
tegan and sara at terminal 5
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liam finn was tremendous at all of the ed vedder shows. really a steller live performer
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Ra Ra Riot at the Bowery Ballroom in early March was probably the best show I've ever seen. I think anybody else who was there would say the same. Unreal.
Score = 2
Four words: Ben Folds Five reunion!
Completely makes up for the fact that Folds put out a mediocre new album this year.
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THE FREE COLDPLAY SHOW AT MSG!
chris martin changed the lyrics around to be humorous in the second verse!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upIHEqDQSv0
what could be better, stereogum? fuck you for not adding this. you have your head way too far up pitchfork's ass. i was at this coldplay show and i started writing a text message that said, "coldplay is..." and the guy next to me said that i should finish it off by saying "coldplay is an amazing band. theyre just genuinely aurally pleasing." fuck atmospheric pumpkins.
Score = -4
Spiritualized @ Pitchfork destroyed.
I agree with AC & Gang Gang. Would have loved a chance to see MBV & Portishead... fucking Brits can't even tour America proper.
Score = 1
Le Savy Fav at the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle was out of control.. That King Kahn footage from pitchforks festival on pitchfork.tv made me pissed i didn't go.
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1- Sunset Rubdown - the Middle East
2- Grizzly Bear - Boston MFA
3 - King Kahn/Derrhunter/Black Lips - McCarren Park Pool Party
4 - Animal Collective - Pitchfork
5 - Born Ruffians - the Paradise
6 - !!! - Pitchfork
7 - Broken Social Scene - Wilbur Theatre
8 - Cut Copy - Pitchfork
9 - Deerhunter - Microcastle Premeire at the Market Hotel
10 - Les Savy Fav/ Passion Pit - the Middle East
If you've never seen Sunset Rubdown live than you are in the wrong.
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That Black Keys show at Mccarren Pool was nutrageous.
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Prince. Coachella. Yep.
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I was in Toronto to see Radiohead in the Molson Ampitheatre and it was great. One of the greatest things I've seen live.
But in my nat. Mexico here is what I enjoyed the most:
Mercury Rev @ Lunario
My Morning Jacket @ Zero Fest
Sigur Rós @ Colmena
NIN @ Motorokr Fest
Blonde Redhead @ Teatro de la Ciudad
Mogwai @ PAT
Plastilina Mosh @ Covadonga
:)
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Definitely, the effort and dedication that Trent Reznor put into show is reflected in every performance. I watched them twice here in Mexico and every aspect of the show was impeccable, creating an amazing experience. Unfortunately concerts here in Mexico are truly expensive and less in number so we need to choose wisely. As a NIN-fan it was a “must go” for me but anyone would agree the show was awesome. If you want a taste of a NIN-experience try my videos in the Monterrey gallery in the official page.
Looking forward for Radiohead next year.
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This was a reply to Christ's comment: NIN - Lights in the Sky tour. Anyone who was at one of these shows will tell you it was one of, if not the, best of the year. The only concert this year to top Radiohead's light show.
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Your #5 is my #1. Although to be fair - I didn't make it to ATP or Bonnaroo this year. Which means that I saw My Morning Jacket in the unforgiving abyss that is DC's DAR Constitution Hall; probably enough of a setback to remove the show from my top 10. Sad, really.
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Seeing MBV live at ATP may have ruined me for other music.
They deserve to be number one. Especially when it comes to playing live.
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The best show I saw was Lightning Bolt under the elevated subway tracks, just for the drunken annihilation it provoked in me. Drenched in other people's sweat and sore the next day, like I'd been working out really hard. Deerhunter at the Bowery Ballroom were great, as were the Dirty Projectors at the Masonic Temple. The best previously unknown to me band I saw was Teeth Mountain on the Baltimore Round Robin tour, which was rather disappointing overall, but this band blew me away.
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I am curious when you started going to Radiohead shows. Their set at ATP night 2 was by far one of my least favorite shows I've seen them play. I'm not critizing, just curious if you are judging the ATP set against shows from 8-9 years ago or against their shows the past few years.
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Thurston Moore playing Psychic Hearts at Pearl Street? Incredible.
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hey can we do worst show???? Definitely Okkervil River at the National in RVA. Terrible shit. I mean just some of the worst publicly performed music i've witnessed.
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vampire weekend in the pouring rain at the central park summerstage.
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whew! i thought I'll be seeing michael learns to rock here...But it's okay, thanks for the list. cheers!
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The absence of Spiritualized Acoustic Mainlines invalidates the list...the lack of Tom Waits makes it laughable.
And Americans are complaining about brits not touring America "properly"? GTFO, goes both ways, believe me..
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Glad to see Sigur Ros in the two spot. I was at their Roo concert and I can only describe it as a near religious experience. Everyone was in awe. Have yet to see anything top it.
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i didnt catch any of those performances, i feel so violated by 2008.
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i've been to past coachellas and cannot imagine that it was as amazing as the secret show Portishead played the night before at the Mayan in LA. possibly the best show ever!!
i agree with MBV, sigur ros (though the greek theatre sucked, they should have stuck with multikulti in tijuana which might have been awesome). radiohead, but will add mogwai, m83 and boris to that!!
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