The best gigs of 2009

Between our ranks, we’ve been to a hell of a lot of gigs this year. So tidily and infinitely, here are a few looks back on the highlights of 2009 in gig form.

DIVORCE, Glasgow Stereo, 19/4 – by Andrew R. Hill
I’ve been to a lot of gigs this year, some of them to see personal all-time heroes. SUNN O))) have come damn close to being my subject, but I’ve decided to stick to my guns and cover DIVORCE.

I first saw them in April, supporting HEALTH at Stereo in Glasgow and I’ve been singing their praises ever since. I had seen a couple of the players in previous bands, but neither were a patch on DIVORCE. Each time I’ve seen them since they’ve provided a visceral thrill few other bands can match. They brutalise their instruments (especially exciting as they are four-fifths female), along with your ears. Vocalist Sinead Youth may as well be smacking you in the face with her microphone as she spits scorn and bile into it, most of her time amongst the crowd. The sound was (and still is) somewhere into the region of no wave/noisecore (recently dubbed, ‘nae wave’), but puny genrification mattered not a jot that first time I saw them. It was painful, tinnitus-inducing love at first listen.

They’ve attitude and passion in buckets, and if you’ve got the chance to see them and you pass on it, frankly, you’re a fucking idiot.

Casio Kids/Temper Trap/I Was A King, Reading Oakford Social Club, 17/5 – by Mitchell Stirling

Reading gig goers were treated to three international bands fresh from The Great Escape. On the Wonder Wheel stage first were one of the two Norwegian bands, I Was A King, whose unabashed love of the early ’90s work of the likes of Teenage Fanclub, My Bloody Valentine, Mercury Rev and Dinosaur Jr. shone through, especially on ‘Norman Bilek’. Following on to a larger crowd were The Temper Trap, pre-blow up from (500) Days of Summer using their ‘Sweet Disposition’, the best U2 song for a decade, prominently. Seems slightly surreal now that this was a free gig in a smallish pub!

Finally and brilliantly, rounding of the night were Casio Kids, playing not only on their homeland’s national day but mere hours after ‘Fairytale’ had triumphed in Eurovision. Adding to the almost celebratory atmosphere were the balloons, bubbles and party poppers that adorned stage and crowd as the band delighted the masses with their Norwegian language songs. They flitted between a Nordic take on New Order, Scandinavian Stereolab and even a Viking Vampire Weekend but most importantly they sent the danced-out audience home buzzing.

Marcella and the Forget-Me-Nots , London Bistroteque!, 3/12 – by Wesley Nicholson

Marcella Puppini, founder member of the 1940s-style close-harmony group, The Puppini Sisters (they’re not really sisters but shhh!) gave a sneak preview of her new project, Marcella and the Forget-Me-Nots at Bistrotheque. Fronting her all-girl eight-piece orchestra, Marcella crooned and growled her way through a set of new material with nods to The Dresden Dolls, Tom Waits, and all that top-hatted scary Cabaret should be. Wonderfully terrifying with tunes that stay in your head for days afterwards. Standout tracks were ‘What Have You Done to Your Face?’, an attack on a certain surgically-adjusted actress, and the beautiful but terrifying ‘Lullaby’.

Of Montreal, Boston Paradise Rock Club, 20/4 – by Rebecca Schiller
A night that leaves you covered in fake blood, shaving cream, feathers and glitter is a good night. Throw in a pig and a tiger who hijack the stage to play music, and crowd-surfing ninjas, and it gets even better. Sound crazy? Trying to describe an of Montreal gig to anyone who has never experienced one first-hand is like trying to nail jelly to a pole. But when the band took the stage at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club in April, there was no denying that it was daring and dazzling and full of raunchy pizzazz.

Dirty Three, Green Man Festival, 21-23/8 – by Rory Gibb
Even amongst the hordes of fantastic new artists nipping at the heels of their forefathers throughout 2009, this year’s undoubted live highlight was a performance from some of the veterans of the circuit. Despite predictions to the contrary the weather throughout this year’s Green Man festival was almost uniformly lovely, a perfect complement to days spent with laid back folk and cider. So the mountain spirits timed it to perfection when, as Warren Ellis and his merry men strode onstage on Sunday evening, a light rain shattered the stage lights into delicate fractal patterns to the opening strains of ‘Some Summers They Drop Like Flies’. Despite suffering, as Ellis admitted, from an extended period of writers’ block, their old material sounded as vital as ever, his abrasive violin still carving out statements of almost unbearable weight over Jim White and Mick Turner’s sparse and delicate backing. It felt far too soon by the time they left the stage, leaving the echo of Ellis’ effortless stage banter ringing in an entire field’s ears.

Final Fantasy, Union Chapel, 28/5 – by Natalie Shaw
Choosing the finest set out of some 350-odd acts I’ll have seen by the end of the year (Songkick tells me so) was no mean feat but let alone the best thing I’ve seen in 2009, this may well have been the best show I’ve witnessed in my life. A music-of-worship set in a place-of-worship setting, Owen Pallett rose to the occasion and left the audience breathless as his combination of live-sampling and layered melodies met with the most wonderful accompaniment. Projectionist Stephanie Comilang’s delicate, ramshackle artwork provided the most captivating sub-narrative to the dry-hearted wonders he played. We were treated to a perfectly-lit ‘Many Lives>49PM’, a violin re-working of ‘He Poos Clouds’, a rapturous version of ‘Flare Gun’ and some breathtaking new tracks too – all with enough space and time to breathe in his dexterity for adventure. Never once have I felt so involved with a show; that it took my entire mindspace to comprehend made me realise the glory of the stunning Union Chapel, and of enjoying live music as an entity in its own right. Nothing else mattered, and Final Fantasy proved himself a charming, caustic act of beauty leaving everyone in the room entirely in awe.

Alasdair Roberts, Oliver Knights, Marry Gilhooley, Lal Waterson, James Yorkston, the Big Eyes Family Players, London Tabernacle, 7/11 – by Thomas Bolton

On Saturday 7th November, the best folk musicians and writers around descended on the small, strange Tabernacle in the depths of Notting Hill.  Mary Hampton sang unaccompanied in a heart-stoppingly clear voice; Alasdair Roberts channelled ancient Scotland via his own, devilishly inspired wyrd; Oliver Knight and Marry Gilhooley brought Waterson lineage, and Lal Waterson’s songs, to the party to the audience’s delight; headliners James Yorkston and the Big Eyes Family Players threatened to bring the cast iron ceiling down with rousing, unstoppable energy and the best tunes around.  After a good four hours of music the entire bill clustered round the mikes to encore with Lal’s Some Old Salty, like a gleeful East Yorkshire gang show troupe. A gig driven by open collaboration and mutual delight left everyone, in Lal’s words, ravenous for the midnight feast.

The Whitest Boy Alive/The New Wine, London Cargo, 17/4 – by Martin Dickie
Now Kings of Convenience are quietly touring again it is easy to forget that Erlend Øye’s side project (if it still counts as one) the Whitest Boy Alive were thrilling the in-crowd with electrifying shows at the start of the year. As Øye himself put it at this ramshackle, anything-goes gig, they are the band offering:  “the longest delayed gratification of any rock band playing house music.” But there was a band going one better that very same evening. Support act the New Wine, from Øye’s hometown of Bergen, Norway, effectively stole the show that night with a kind of white boy funk you might expect from Hall and Oates fronting Parliament having just had sex with Lindstrøm. The crescendo of the evening saw the two bands merge on stage and perform covers of Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’ and Robin S’s ‘Show Me Love’ to an audience jumping about like they’d just seen the ghost of Michael Hutchence.

Jeffrey Lewis, Sunderland Independent, 30/8 – by George Shaw
The first time I ever saw Jeffrey Lewis live was with The Cribs on tour back in 2006. That night I was left astounded, yet slightly baffled by his comic book projections and stories. I became an instant fan. Its apt then, that the next I time I should see him, one of the highlights of the night should revolve heavily around Wakefield’s finest.  Towards the end of what was already a great night Jeffrey Lewis came back on stage to play a medley of Cribs songs, closing a fantastic night of raps about mosquitoes and low budget films about the history of communism in China. What was his first time in Sunderland will hopefully not be his last.

Field Music, Sunderland Split Festival, 4/10 by George Shaw
Split Festival was a magnificent day and a great celebration of Sunderland’s finest in music and comedy. My highlight, however, came late in the day, just before headliners The Futureheads and Penetration. I managed to get myself right at the front row for one of the most eagerly anticipated sets, Field Music’s first gig since announcing they were returning – it was as if they’d never left. Playing through tracks from the first two albums and the School of Language record they sounded as tight as ever.  The huge grins on the faces of those in the front row really tell the story itself.

Los Campesinos!, Copy Haho, Sparky Deathcap, Newcastle University Basement 2, 27/10 – by George Shaw
I’m selecting all three sets from this gig because it was that good a night. Sparky Deathcap opened it with his lo-fi folk, hilarious slide projections and for one song, onstage band – Los Campesinos! Copy Haho followed and brought a slightly chaotic element to the night, with members walking through the crowd as they played through their spiky indie pop. Finally Los Campesinos! took to the stage, and almost immediately the crowd erupted. It is genuinely hard to keep still as they play their infectious, excitable set. A brief football (specifically Sunderland) chat with Gareth at the end cemented his place as my new favourite front-man.

Bat For Lashes, Northumbria University, 9/4 – by George Shaw
It might be a bit unfair to include this one, seeing as within the first five minutes or so of her taking to the stage, I’d fallen slightly in love with Natasha Khan, but really, it’s hard not to be enchanted by her stage presence.  Playing through a set which mostly consisted of material from the second album ‘Two Suns’, Khan is captivating as her voice effortlessly shifts from the upbeat and soaring, like in single “Daniel  to  the more delicate, tender moments of the night, like “Moon and Moon.” Enchanting throughout the night, my friend is still gutted she lost her ticket

The Flaming Lips, London Troxy, 10/11 – by Tom Collins
Gig of the year is an accolade most musicians can only dream of, but a cold November night saw Wayne Coyne and his band of psychedelic-punk musicians step forward and stake their claim for this prestigious title as they featured at The London Troxy for two sold out nights of Flaming Lips based mayhem.

A mixture of dry ice, confetti, balloons, lasers, an over-sized gong and a human hamster ball kept this festival of noise pumping along, turning the experience into more of a circus than a concert, and proving to the masses that a Flaming Lips gig is definitely something worth experiencing. The set list included hit tracks ‘The W.A.N.D.’ and ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah song’ but it was beloved ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt 1’ and closing song ‘Do You Realize?’ that provided the most exhilaration and biggest sing-a-longs of the night.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Newcastle Academy, 3/12 – by Paul Brown

It isn’t just a trick of my memory that the best gig I’ve been to this year also happens to be my most recent. It’s just that Yeah Yeah Yeahs were THAT good at Newcastle Academy on December 3rd. It’s not easy whipping the indie-kids into a frenzy in a venue of that size (I’ve seen plenty of bands fail) but from start to finish the band were a whirling buzz of energy, and the crowd had no choice but to comply. The new songs were as visceral as the old ones, and showed that the band can now put together a pretty meaty set after three albums. There was a real triumphant feel to the show which rounded off a fantastic year for the band. It wasn’t just the best gig I’ve seen this year, it was one of the best I’ve ever seen.

Neil Young, London Hard Rock Calling, 27/6 – by Rob Hastings

Ok. I realise now that I should have known better than to doubt Mr Neil Percival Young. But after watching him deliver that incendiary Glastonbury set on BBC2 while snuggled up at home, anyone with a ticket to see him play in Hyde Park the very next evening could have been forgiven for wondering if he had it in him to perform to such a level two nights running.

In the event, however, the final night of Young’s tour surely topped even that penultimate gig down on Worthy Farm.

“How so?” you might ask. Sure, there was the uniquely tumultuous crunch of those chords in Hey Hey, My My, and the divine catharsis of a seemingly never-ending Down By The River – but Eavis got those too. And there was the addition of an achingly sublime Old Man and the rambunctious F*!#In’ Up to the set – but two extra songs, no matter how good, can hardly beat that special something in the Glasto air.

Well, how about this: Neil Young… (yup, we gathered that much)… finishing his tour with a cover of A Day In The Life… (ok, but he does that at the end of every show)… when onto the stage bounds Paul McCartney for a duet. It was so good, I cried.

See you next year, darling readers!