The five most memorable gigs of 2009
Once again it has been a top year for live performances. Whether it’s in a tiny club, in the vast spaces of an arena, or out in the open fields at a festival, there have been plenty of highlights throughout the year that make happy to be writing about music. With my gigging year nearly over for 2009 (there is only one Placebo gig left next week and then I’m done), I think it’s now a perfect time to look back over the past few months and try and pick out five gigs that stood out. Unsurprisingly, this was very difficult. However, I whittled it down to five gigs that all, bizarrely, happened in a two month period over the summer.
1: 15th July – Nine Inch Nails at the O2 Arena
For a show that was said to be Trent Reznor’s final headlining show in the UK (for the time being), it had to be pretty damn special. To say it was a great concert is being harsh, it was an unbelievable performance that pretty much had everything about gigs. The setlist was not only career-spanning but full of real surprises like Down In It and killer live songs like Heresy. Their performance was full of vigour and anger and emotion that other bands just can’t rival, and they only went and got Gary Numan onstage to perform Metal and Cars with them. In short, a perfect send-off for one of rock’s most interesting and forward-thinking bands.
2. 30th August – Radiohead at Reading Festival
If you’re a regular reader and you didn’t see this coming then you must be a fool. After a long and hard weekend of constantly seeing bands either escalate to levels of euphoria or being distant and dull this was the perfect ending and made all the disappointments seem trivial. Radiohead know how to do festivals, as proved by the fact they delivered a set that not only pleased casuals and die-hards but they opened with Creep. By the time my jaw dropped off the ground, The National Anthem kicked in and the next hour and forty-five minutes were spent watching one of the great festival bands deliver an amazing set. Even Thom Yorke cracked a joke, and you know it’s been a good gig when that happens.
3. 3rd July – Blur at Hyde Park
There have been lots of big reunions in the last few years but this was an example of how to do it properly. Over two hours, a crowd of thousands upon thousands sang along to every song – singles and album cuts alike – on a perfect summer’s day that proved to be not only riotous but unexpectedly emotional. This was a performance by a band who were back to finish unfinished business and to put to rest the ghosts of their past. Damon Albarn was constantly moved throughout and it’s hard not to be when everyone in Hyde Park is singing the refrain of Tender back at you. A magical midsummer’s evening.
4. 29th August – Them Crooked Vultures at Reading Festival
The surprise set that wasn’t really a surprise set because it had been rumoured for a while and by the time everyone left for Reading and Leeds they were convinced they’d show up of 2009. The cheer that greeted them at Reading was so loud it could be heard within a five-mile radius. What’s more, the music wasn’t disappointing. After songs like Elephants, Gunman, and No One Loves Me & Neither Do I finished you couldn’t help but go nuts over what you’d just heard (all though when you’re squished near the front this isn’t really possible at all). Over one hundred crowd-surfered their way to the front in a mere half-an-hour, it was that crazy.
5. 16th July – Bat For Lashes at Somerset House
Bat For Lashes had a difficult job ahead of her when she took to the stage at Somerset House. It had been raining pretty heavily for half an hour and the weather showed no signs of stopping. Thankfully, her music seemed to dispel any thoughts that this gig would be a damp squid and in a weird way songs like Glass and Siren Song seemed to really pack a punch when performed under unforgiving weather conditions. The setlist was a perfect blend of new and old songs and Natasha Khan could do no wrong. Against all the elements it was a spellbinding performance.
What were your most memorable gigs of 2009? Please feel free to share your highlights by leaving a comment.
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Posted on December 4th, 2009 by Max
Filed under: Features, Gigs
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