I am indecisive, sometimes forgetful and reserve the right to change my opinions in the blink of the eye. I dont like other people who do this, Which makes me a hypocrite. Knowing that I`m a hypocrite may make me better than the average hypocrite... Or it may make me worse depending on how I`m feeling.
I`ve been toying with my end of year lists for the last few weeks or so as i`ve voted in the Ayetunes, The Peenko and the music-news.com awards so far. I assumed the Peenko one was meant to be Scottish (I was wrong) then I voted for Ayetunes with no geographical banner (I think that was wrong) and although music-news.com is an international website I pretty much stayed biased to the Scottish scene as the older I get the less fixated i`ve become on the big bands, the big gigs and genuinely find more enjoyment in the new music in the local scene and watching it grow (or indeed implode)
I find it hard to number bands or songs or albums so here`s a list of music and gigs that have made 2010 a better place. The running order is in no particular order and I may have omitted some belters by mistake as I try and trail through my hazy recollections of the last year which have seen me take in over almost 200 gigs and listened to/ reviewed around treble that amount in albums.
Best Gigs-
Leftfield at Rock Ness
Brian Jonestown Massacre at the ABC
Grinderman at the Barrowlands
Ghosts of Progress/ The Fold at Pivo Pivo
Beerjacket at Oran Mor
Alabama 3 at Wizard fest
Steve Mason at Stereo
Babybird at King Tuts
Coco Bryce at Bar Bloc
La Fontaines at Detour/ Bar Bloc
Chris Helme at Pivo Pivo
The Draymin at Rock the Boat
Peatborg Fearies at Wizard fest
Roscoe Vacant and the Gantin` Schriechs at the 13th note
Hugh Reed at Bar Libertine
We are Jawbone at Rockers
Madness/ Paul Heaton at the Academy
Jinx Lennon at the 13th note
Colour Cells/ Annie Stevenson/ Girobabies at Equinox
The Detour Wee Jaunt 2
Happy Mondays at Wizard fest
Im gonna stop at that as I risk upsetting people who weren`t on the list that I also enjoyed and can`t remember but please bare in mind that I went to a LOT of gigs/ festivals, almost daily. These are the ones that stood out off the top of my head at this point in time right now as the flu replaces my new year hangover
The Ayetunes one was open to anything, but only The National & Arcade Fire managed to fight through the Scots to any extent!
ReplyDeleteCool Jim I wasnt sure mate I rushed my entry as there was only 30 mins to get it sent in
ReplyDeleteThe clock was ticking and the pressure was on
(And then I remembered previous disparaging remarks from yourself re: U.S bands etc attempting to get a review out of you)
Oh I'm just a grmmpy bugger sometimes :)
ReplyDeleteI don't like blanket PR emails that don't pay any attention to the site they are contacting. I've little to no interest in covering a new London grime artist's new Youtube video and nothing on the site suggests I will be, so plowing through emails like that can get a bit annoying!