The Best Live Performance Year Ever?

Okay, in the main we only cover acts that have produced great albums and so we have a pretty good idea what to expect. But early in the year we covered The Hours, whose album didn’t figure in my Best-of list. However, it was a wonderful live show where the songs sounded better on stage than on record. We also covered My Latest Novel in the weirdest show of the year when this great signed band, whose album topped our poll, appeared as second support to a couple of local unsigned acts. Unbelievable! The fact that the band stuck it out and still gave their all (in a venue with dreadful acoustic quality) speaks volumes.

One of our earliest album reviews in 2009 was of the Delta Spirit album which we loved. I caught their live show at the small Night & Day club in Manchester and was blown away. After Elbow’s Mercury Barclaycard victory I was pleased to review their show in Llandudno, North Wales supported by a wonderful Bella Union USA act, The Acorn. Elbow was characteristically great but it was a flawed show due to Elbow’s rather drab set-list. Not so with The Maccabees (supported wonderfully well by Mumford & Sons) who provided one of my albums and shows of the year. Metric then stooped and conquered - big time.

The tiny and quirky Deaf Institute venue in Manchester provided two wonderful highlights of my reviewing year. Hjaltalin and The Low Anthem gave truly outstanding performances to small, sell-out audiences. Both bands also released wonderful albums with Hjaltalin’s released in 2008 so not included in our 2009 list. One of the support bands was Manchester’s Airship who is my tip for great things in 2010, and whose EP was including in our Best EPs of 2009.

Two old favourites proved at Liverpool’s Echo Arena that they still have much to offer. BB King is now well into his 80’s and surprised me with the raw power of his voice, and the glorious sounds emanating from his closest friend, Lucille (his guitar). Simple Minds packed them in and gave a passionate performance which pretty well floored me.

Then for something completely different. The world renowned Welsh harpist Catrin Finch playing with one of South America’s finest bands, Cimarron, appeared at the wonderful new studio theatre here in Wrexham, named after her. It was a vibrant and compelling show that had me glued from first note to last. Then normal play was resumed with a flamboyant display from The All-American Rejects at Manchester’s premier Academy 1 venue.

And it got even better…

Bloc Party and the Grammatics socked it to us before Black Stone Cherry showed just why this young USA heavy rock band is so highly regarded. This show was my pick of the most complete gigs of 2009, with great support from Loaded and Parlor Mob, superb sound and lighting quality. Lost Prophets played a very effective ‘warm-up’ show in Liverpool before our show of the year. Green Day’s album was hailed by us and just about everybody, but their arena show took them to another level that most bands will find hard to better. It was a perfectly judged balance between stage technology and audience connection, something that Muse failed to achieve in their spectacular stage show a few weeks later.

Shinedown followed a great album release with a show that included Soil and their new lead singer, playing songs from the band’s new album. Soil’s performance had people flocking to the merch stand to pick up the new album (PICTURE PERFECT) which we included in our Best of year. Shinedown then arrived in front of a fully primed audience and gave a cracking, but flawed performance. The problem was that the lead-man insisted on giving long, pointless sermons and constantly interrupting musical flow. This could so easily have been our show of the year…

The Airborne Toxic Event followed up their brilliant debut album with a glorious sold-out live performance at the Ritz in Manchester. Rise Against then provided another wonderful night with great support from Poison The Well and Thursday, before Rise dominated the event with a flawless heavy rock display. The band also provided me with my photo of the year when the lead-man stood spread-eagled, slap in the middle of two huge American flags. I had to struggle a bit to find the Liverpool venue where Portico Quartet were playing, but find it I did, and what a show!

Four more shows provided supreme entertainment and inspiration. Rodrigo Y Gabriela and Wallis Bird teamed up to create one of my favourite shows of the year. This was followed up by the most entertaining show of the year when the Yeah Yeah Yeahs arrived in Manchester to wow its capacity audience, and Karen O proved to she’s lead-lady numero uno. The Tragically Hip bombarded an unsuspecting audience at a small Manchester venue ahead of The Answer, who had to fight to get their audience back after several detail show failures. But they eventually won through with a spectacular classic rock display.

Best Arena Shows: GREEN DAY, BB KING, SIMPLE MINDS, DEPECHE MODE

Best Large Venue Shows: RODGRIGO Y GABRIELA/WALLIS BIRD, RISE AGAINST, YEAH YEAH YEAHS, BLACK STONE CHERRY

Best Medium Venue Shows: THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT, MACCABEES

Best Small Venue Shows: THE TRAGICALLY HIP, THE LOW ANTHEM, CATRIN FINCH, THE HOURS, METRIC, PORTICO QUARTET, DELTA SPIRIT, HJALTALIN

BEST SHOW OF THE YEAR: GREEN DAY

THANKS to all the acts, record labels, PR companies and readers for making this Shakenstir’s biggest, best and most enjoyable year - ever.

Ed