10. JIMMY EAT WORLD
Manchester Academy 1, February 20th 2008
Equal parts thrillingly acidic and eye-wateringly beautiful, Jimmy Eat World's eighteen song Manchester set captured the essence of the Arizona four piece perfectly. From a rabble-rousing rendition of opener 'Big Casino' through to the arms-around-mates loveathon of 'The Middle', by way of an orgasmic 'Get It Faster', fanboy-pleasing 'No Sensitivity' (not marred a single iota by the power cutting out towards the end) and spine-tingling '23', this was JEW at their very, very best. And we all got to take it home on CD at the end.
9. INTERPOL
Sheffield Academy, July 9th 2008
While the Manchester date the previous night saw the 'pol playing to a capacity crowd, there was something about the Sheffield gig that set it apart from its predecessor. Perhaps it was the fact that Paul Banks' mom and dad were in the wings; maybe it was because it was the last date of the tour proper before the inevitably shorter festival performances; or it could just be, you know, that Carlos could actually be arsed. Whatever, the Sheffield Academy show was an absolute belter from start to finish. Daniel's guitar parts soared over us all, Banks' vocals gave us chills and those on-screen visuals were just about the best we've seen all year. Plus, they closed with 'Obstacle 2' - need I say more? Actually, yes, the drummer handed me his tie. *hearts*
8. ALKALINE TRIO
KOKO, London, August 20th 2008
The date: Wednesday August 20th, three days before the legendary Reading and Leeds festivals. The venue: KOKO, a converted theatre in the centre of Camden Town. The event: well, it's only Alkamaline Trio's first show of their own* in the UK in two and a half years. A sold out crowd greets the three piece with complete and utter devotion, showering them with applause, bellowing back every word to every major, minor and delightfully obscure track in the twenty song arsenal that the boys throw headlong at us, and it doesn't go unnoticed. Matt seems genuinely touched by the (surprising) warmth of this London MASSIVE; so much so that he tells us all that it's reaffirming in the wake of the loss of Jerry Finn. This is very much a fan crowd - a collective of disparate individuals united by their love of a heart with a skull in the middle - and we really wouldn't have it any other way.
* = they played the Give It A Name festival in May but that doesn't count...
7. LOS CAMPESINOS!
Northumbria University, Stage 2, February 16th 2008
And the award for most bizarrely chaotic crowd of the year goes to the bunch of mad bastards watching this lot back in February. Seriously, I still don't think I've quite recovered from the spectacle of seeing around 200 tweeXcore boys and girls slam dancing into one another at 600mph to the sound of guitars, drums and XYLOPHONES. Los Campesinos!' curious brand of boy-girl shout-sing punk-twee clearly has the power to turn the most placid of pacifists into wide-eyed, vein-bulging lunatics. By the end of the night, we were all a sweat-drenched, bruise-covered bloody mess, while Gareth and co had stage-dived about twenty times each, climbed the speaker stacks and bellowed the absolutely immense 'You! Me! Dancing!' to the heavens with such gusto that half of them had lost their voices. An unequivocal mess, then, but a THRILLING one.
6. CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND
The Duchess, York, August 29th 2008
Despite not playing a single Bright Eyes track and thereby alienating approximately 90% of his audience, Conor Oberst pulled not one, not two, but about three thousand out of the bag at this intimate show in the heart of York in the week post-Reading and Leeds. Within about fifteen minutes, he'd won everyone over to the Mystic Valley Band's soulful country stylings and was thus given free reign to do just about whatever he damn well pleased. So all the tracks from the band's eponymous album were belted out, Conor's cracked, fragile voice sounding angelic in the sweat-drenched haze, and a few traditional covers were thrown into the mix too - including a heartbreaking reimagining of 'Everybody's Talkin'. It was the tender rendition of 'Milk Thistle' that was the highlight though, Conor taking centre stage for a solo performance so poignant that even the bar staff were crying into their cash registers. There's a reason the setlist for this is stuck up on the door into the backstage area of The Duchess TO THIS DAY. Legendary stuff.
5. EELS
The Sage, Gateshead, March 1st 2008
Prefaced by an hour long documentary on the life and times of the man behind the band (and the steely thick glasses/hillybilly beard), rather than, you know, an actual support act, this decidedly unusual event took the live performance playbook and tore each page out, one by one, right before your eyes. Between song banter? Scratch that, put 'read reviews from tabloid newspapers' in there instead. Have your band play the songs you've carefully crafted over the last ten years? Forget it - all we need is Mr. E and one other trusty sidekick. Play the hits in lieu of the release of a 'best of' record? You've got to be kidding - bring out the better album tracks and throw a couple of singles in there for prosperity, but reimagine them by way of a liberal use of all manner of weird and wonderful instruments. Oh, and play an Academy venue? Nah, let's stage it all in a concert hall where the punters have to sit and muse on the poignancy of the performance. Rather like theatre, one might say. A Saturday night to remember then, characterised by ingenuity, playfulness and the absolute and undeniable charm of one bearded man and his acoustic guitar.
4. THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
Manchester Academy 3, December 4th 2008
No frills, gimmicks, emo side partings, skinny jeans, cheap pops or intro music... just straightforward punk and roll right out of the gate. THAT's The Gaslight Anthem's manifesto. These New Jersey troubadors have no time for dicking around: they've got a twenty two song rollercoaster ride through the highs and lows of gin-soaked melancholy to dazzle us all with. Which they did. Admirably. This was one mighty fine demonstration of the band's unquestionable genius, proof positive that the hype that surrounds the bunch going into 2009 is more than well deserved. Whether inserting other people's lyrics into his own ('What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?', 'Geraldine'), axe-grinding alongside his insanely energetic fellow guitarist
or looking on with sheer joy as every soul in the building bellowed back every line to every song twice as loud, lead singer Brian Fallon was having a wail of a time, delighting in the chemistry that exists between band and audience (it's the kind that has crowdsurfers stage diving back into the pit, over and over again). The Cheshire cat grin on his face was symbolic of the atmosphere: bloody chuffing ecstatic. And we even got a stellar set from The King Blues before all this too. Christmas come early, for one and for all.
3. FRANK TURNER
The Cockpit, Leeds, October 21st 2008
Well, what about this for a love-in, eh? The first date of Mr. Turner's second UK tour of 2008, a veritable treasure trove of treats featuring the delectable Emily Barker and Chris TT on support, was nothing more than one collective, sold out, 700 person-strong toss off, in which a ragtag assortment of cardiganed indie boys, slam dancing hardXXXcore girls and suited and booted old school punks splattered their loads all over Frank, and his band's, faces OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND... well, you get the picture. And who wouldn't? With tunes as sublime as 'The Ballad of Me and My Friends', 'I Knew Prufrock...' and single of the year contender 'Long Live the Queen', you just can't help but be enveloped in the warmth that's emanating from both the stage and the pit. This has been a hallmark year for Frank. By way of jam-packed festival shows, Radio 1 play-listing and plain old fashioned word of mouth, he's reached this point - sold out tours setting him in the direction he belongs: megastardom. Here's to the future, then, but for now let's celebrate this for what it was: an absolutely fucking awesome show.
2. AGAINST ME!
The Corporation, Sheffield, April 16th 2008
Much like The Gaslight Anthem before, or rather, in the chronology of the gigging year, after them, Against Me!'s raison d'etre is the deliberate absence of gimmickry in their well-renowned live shows. There's no time for splitting the crowd down the middle, no need for invocations to collectively hand clap along, no... these precious seventy five minutes are to be spent powering through as much unrelenting punk rock as your poor eardrums can handle. And then a little more just for kicks. What sets this set apart from Gaslight's though, is the delicious fury with which lead singer Tom Gable imbues every song. Yes, that includes even the more countryfied numbers: just check out the rage in his voice, the throbbing of the veins in his arms, as he physically assaults the band's anthem-to-friendship 'Don't Lose Touch'. It's as if someone's
holding the band at gunpoint, threatening to off them unless they prove their worth and state their manifesto with absolutely everything they've got. And it works. 'Up The Cuts' launches us headfirst into the throng, taking no prisoners, then 'Piss and Vinegar' nearly mows everyone down with its wall of accusatory anger and abrasive guitars, then 'Unprotected Sex' gears up for another round, then 'New Wave', 'Thrash Unreal' and by the time we get to break-out radio hit 'Stop', the bodies are slowly piling up, one by physically exhausted one. It's one hell of a ride, and one you never want to end; but end it does, all too soon, in a mess of ear-shattering feedback and congealed band-sweat. Within less than sixty seconds, we're all demanding their immediate return to these hallowed shores, and, more probably than not, they're backstage delighting at another city well and truly slain. Can we have them back in 2009 please?
1. BLOOD RED SHOES
King's College ULU, London, April 9th 2008
Now what was that I was saying about hallmark years? 2008 has been one heck of a crazy one for Brighton's Blood Red Shoes. They finally released their much-delayed debut album 'Box of Secrets' and lo, it was super fantastisch, their singles have been all over every media outlet worth its salt and, as in years past, they've gigged like an absolute bastard, playing just about every two bit shithole that'd have them. Oh, and they headlined T in the Park too (keep the fact that it was the Relentless tent under your hat, would ya?) But it was this rather more small scale show that was their defining moment: taking place a meagre week prior to the album's release, in the upstairs room of King's College's student union (we had to get into a lift to get to it), where there's zero air conditioning, no barrier between floor and stage and 'security' is a foreign concept, this was a night to remember. Steven and Laura were on top form: he bashing the life out of his kit and nearly keeling over from exhaustion, she stalking the stage like a banshee, shreiking her lines and being effortlessly, hands down, the coolest woman in the world. And then there was the crowd: galvanised by the no holds barred environment, they redefined the word 'energetic', moshing like there's no tomorrow and ending it all with an impromptu stage invasion, in which one lucky punter got to bash a cowbell to death and the rest either went insane through excessive dancing or stage-dove into oblivion. And then Steven demolished his drumkit. We walked away, overcome by the head-battering brilliance of it all, stunned at what we'd just been a part of. In fifty loud, angry, violent minutes, Blood Red Shoes did what the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins couldn't do in two and a half hours: they bridged the gap between band and audience, delivered a blistering set and, most importantly of all, they made us feel alive. And that's why this small scale, barely noticed performance is the gig of the year. Now take all your arena tickets, tear them to shreds and get on down to your local waterhole. You never know, BRS might just be blowing the roof off the place.
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