1. Elbow: the Other Stage, Glastonbury, June 2008
The hottest, driest glastonbury in a decade. Saturday evening and the sun is setting. Elbow come out with trumpets for "Starlings"... and the soul just soared off. Transcendent.
2. Sonic Youth, the "Dirty" tour, Auckland Town Hall, Feb 1993
During Orientation week at university. Never before or since have I heard such ferocity. The band torture all their electric machines. They use the noise and feedback like some kind of post-apocalyptic jazz. Kim Gordon is just ridiculously sexy.
3. Straitjacket Fits, Big Day Out, Auckland 1994
Their breakup gig. Musical differences. blah blah. They came on in-between someone like Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden... and wiped the floor with all of them. Noise, groove, power, passion. Fantastic.
4. Finley Quaye, Shepherds Bush Empire, circa summer 1998
Quaye came out grumpy and stroppy. They played the first 5 tracks of the album in order. Then he stormed off stage for 5mins while the band improvised some reggae beat. He came back with, as I recall, a reefer the size of a cigar ... and a large smile. The band, who were absolutely sublime, swept him up and they played another 2hours of the finest live reggae I'd ever heard.
5. Ian Brown, Brixton Academy, 2007 (or 06 perhaps)
More than half an hour late, Brown comes swaggering out, shades on, hood up, alarms aloft ... and without a word launches directly into "I Wanna Be Adored", arguably the defining song of a whole generation song and the Roses' finest moment. Couldn't be more direct and in your face if he'd dropped his trousers along with it. Brixton went instantly 120% bonkers, upstairs.. downstairs.. the crowd drowned out the entire PA singing so loud. Raining beer from every direction, men hugging and fighting and shouting. I've never seen such fantastic mayhem. Rip-roaringly awesome gig. The type where you come out sweaty, sticky, hoarse and exhausted. Pure genius.
6. Richard Ashcroft, Isle of Wight music festival, June 2007
Another sunset gig. Ashcroft with his hippy hair and aviators. Strong, honest, hardwon and heartfelt songs about surviving, conquering and losing once again to depression. Blissed out and transported in and out through his world.
7. James, Brixton Academy, Dec 2008
I'd never been a James fan before this gig, but was happy to be persuaded by my partner. The gig was fun. Fun like kids have fun. Simple, abandoned, old school, good time fun. Singing along, laughing at their antics, sympathising in the experience shared. Brilliant way to run in to Christmas.
.. and potentially;
8. U2, 360deg Tour, Wembley Stadium, August 2009
For a U2 show, this was stripped down to the barest of bones. Just the fab four on a plain black stage with minimal equipment or gear of any sort... and a 100ft War of the Worlds style alien claw above them with a 360deg high def screen. Throughout the entire concert the audience are as almost loud as the band. We're right up the very back and the view is stunning. This is U2 the way they should've been 15years ago. Forget zoo-tv and machpisto, crazy space-trooper stage costumes, celebrity guests and pranks, americana, over-earnest accoustic sets on a stage wing extension, slogans and branding and sweaty, middle-aging rock star-o-rama. The band are at their best when their personality and image melt away and the music takes over. They do anthemic better than anyone else. They can run a fantastic set, though they continue to make the odd bizarre production decision (this time around a dirty-diesel-fired lumpen "remix" of "I know I'll go crazy..." .. well at least until a snorting rocket fueled riff near the end from the Edge ). Highlights, an encore version of "Ultraviolet" - a properly accomplished song, followed directly by a strong, pulsing, resonant "With or Without You". And earlier a spotless, moving version of "Walk On" dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi.
9. Pearl Jam, O2 Arena, London, 18 August 2009
Never seen Pearl Jam before but own all the studio albums. I was expecting to be impressed by Vedder, he's arguably the greatest songwriter of my generation. But I was totally blown away by Mike McCready. And the band. Each of them individually was worth the price of admission. Matt Cameron has always been my favourite drummer, he's got power and groove, and an efficiently uncluttered style.
Left wondering, where did this music come from? Led Zep I guess fathered all of heavy-blues rock.
Personal highlight MM's solo in Even Flow, felt like about 30minutes long but was probably only 5. In this granite-solid pop song, he took it and bent it out into something new and free. amazing.
Having said all of which - Jeff Ament on bass is the bedrock of their sound. Massively underrated.
And as for Vedder... I could watch him for days on end. He's one of the very few artists around where you couldn't care less what songs he plays - everything he does is soulful, musical, honest, impassioned.
Strong case for the best active band in the world. Perhaps vying with Radiohead.
10. Finn Brothers, Royal Albert Hall, .. can't remember.
Not sure whether they do it often... but they came onstage in a pantomime horse. The Finn brothers' music is timeless and for me, deeply rooted in New Zealand's character, history and geography. Neil is the better songwriter, and Tim has the better voice, but together they're sublime. "Won't Give In" is one of my all time favourite songs. The RAH acoustics are the best in London. They played "Don't Dream It's Over" and I actually cried. The gig was on the day they'd just found out the Paul Hester had committed suicide in Australia. Nick Seymour was there as they were all going back for the funeral, and he joined them on stage.
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