Tuesday 4 January 2011

The Best Gigs of 2010 .....

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

3 comments:

  1. The Ayetunes one was open to anything, but only The National & Arcade Fire managed to fight through the Scots to any extent!

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  2. Cool Jim I wasnt sure mate I rushed my entry as there was only 30 mins to get it sent in
    The 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)

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  3. Oh I'm just a grmmpy bugger sometimes :)
    I 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!

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