Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Radio & Music >

Gig of the Year?

uncle retrospective

15:55 / 29.12.01

Ok, we've had the albums of the year, but who were going the best gigs?

My votes go to

Luke slater.(Live set)
Saw him at creamfields. A techno workout like I'd never seen before, started hard and kept the crowd on their toes for the whole thing. (I saw his dj set later in the year that was dull as ditchwater)

Spritulzied.
I had forgotten just how talented a man Jason pearce is. Any gig that can start with cop shoot cop and then get much better has to be a classic.

But the winner for me was....
Nick cave and the bad seeds.
It was a fucking expensive ticket (£37) but worth every penney. I had thought that the new album was a little dull but after seeing it live changed all that. 2 hours of brilliant songs and not a duffer in the bunch.
(Warren Ellis playing with them was a major bonus, he is one of the coolest men on earth.)

[ 29-12-2001: Message edited by: uncle retrospective ]

Matthew Fluxington

16:02 / 29.12.01

Of all the shows I saw in 2001, the best one for me was probably seeing Clinic at Maxwell's in Hoboken. I'd waited two years for them to come to the US, and it was soooo worth it. They only played for about 40 minutes, just 12 songs, but it was really intense, and fuck, they played "Monkey On Your Back" and "Walking With Thee"!

16:40 / 29.12.01

Wanna hear pathetic? I didn't go to one show this year. Not one.

I suck.

Zoom.

06:43 / 31.12.01

I've been lucky enough to see some fantastic live performance's this year..

1.Mogwai - Brixton Academy
2.Melt Banana - Highbury Garage
3.Lift To Experience - Leicester "international arts centre"
4.Electrelane - Leicester Charlotte
5.Beck - Brixton Academy

06:55 / 31.12.01

Not been to many this year, to be honest. Goes with getting old and not liking any of that new fangled music stuff any more.

However:

PJ Harvey at the V2001 festival at Leeds. Sublime.

Orbital at Manchester and Newcastle. Phenomenal. Especially their Doctor Who theme tune rendition (that one goes out to Rizla!)

Steps at the Bingley Party in the Park. No, really. If only to see how tiny they all are in real life and how prima-donna-popstar-ish they were - almost beyond parody. They actually refused to go on until some poor gopher drove to his dad's house seven miles away to fetch an ironing board so one of them could press their top.

The Return Of Rothkoid

10:21 / 31.12.01

Well, simply because they fucking set themselves on fire and had flamethrower battles mid-song, my Gig Of The Year had to be Rammstein. Rock fuckin' on.

However, closely following that was the chance I had to catch 16 Horsepower in Camden. Fucking scary stuff; hellfire mountain-child preacherboy playing some kind of devils' music. Awesome, and more frightening than most performances seen.

Next, The Necks at Ocean in Hackney. Improv jazz, two sets, two songs in total. Unbelieveably complex and yet stingingly simple. Possibly the best band in/out of Australia at the moment.

Fourth; Dirty Three. 'Cause they remind me of home, and always put on a good show; and I got some great photos from it.

Fifth: Nick Cave. Wonderful show, but knocked into fifth by everything else. I couldn't believe how much fun everyone there seemed to be having; yet when The Fear was needed, it was on hand in abundance...

22:15 / 31.12.01

quote:Originally posted by Captain Zoom:
Wanna hear pathetic? I didn't go to one show this year. Not one.

That's because you live way the hell up in Canada.

There's no doubting that 2001 was a prety shitty year for music, live & otherwise. But here's some gigs that made it worth my time:

Joe Strummer & The Mescoleros: What can I say? The guy still has it. As always, a really long gig with lots of great covers from the old days ("Armagideon Time", "Pressure Drop", "The Harder They Come", etc.).

Ryan Adams: If for no other reason than he's one funny son-of-a-bitch. Can't remember the last time I saw someone bring a bunch of Star Wars cardboard cut-outs onstage only to smoke bowls behind them inbetween numbers.

Dropkick Murphy's: Fantastic gig. Man, I wish I had half the energy that these guys have.

And in the "I'm still kicking myself for missing this!!" dep't:

I missed a chance to see Jurassic 5 & Dialated Peoples.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

03:53 / 01.01.02

Cave at Brixton Academy, even though I had to leave half-way through to go to work.
Diamanda Galas at the Royal Festival Hall... beautiful and terrible (n the good sense of the word).
Current 93 at a theatre whose name escapes me... utterly fucking wonderful.
Conflict (yes, I'm not taking the piss) at the Tufnell Park Dome... STILL loud, STILL punk as fuck (and surprisingly enough) STILL relevant.

Matthew Fluxington

12:14 / 01.01.02

I'm going to change my vote: the best show I saw in 2001 was Guided By Voices/The Strokes/David Cross at the Apollo on December 30th. It was amazing. I'd never been to the Apollo before, and now I want to see all my favorite bands there...it's a lovely place, in spite of the seating (which everyone ignored once the rock started...I was front row center for GBV). The show was set up a bit unorthodox...first, David "Mr. Show" Cross did 45 minutes of stand up, then immediately after that, The Strokes came out and did a 25 minute set, Cross did another five minutes, then GBV played for a half hour, then Cross came out for another few minutes, The Strokes did another half hour or so, then GBV ended the night with another 80 minute set.

Both bands were on fire...obviously very psyched by the simple fact that they were playing the FUCKING APOLLO THEATRE IN HARLEM. Julian Cassablancas was in pure-charisma overdrive, he kinda reminds me of Bono in his 'The Fly' character... the highlight of The Strokes set was "Is This It?" with Julian pointed at the stage and the rest of the venue excitedly singing "THIS IS IT!" at the chorus. They played all of the songs on the LP, plus When It Started and three very good new songs. The girls were flipping out for Julian...one great bit was him reacting to a girl in the front row..."'Suck Me'??? Girls say THAT?"

GBV were in fine form, but their time was a bit too short, so the setlist had to be trimmed, and they were obviously favoring newer material (they played six new songs, seven from Isolation Drills, two from Choreographed Manowar, and one from Airport 5...so it was a very 2001-centric setlist. Not to mention four tunes from Do The Collapse... Still, a great set. They ended the show with all of the Strokes coming on for a version of "My Valuable Hunting Knife", which was a thrill for me, because they haven't played that classic in about two years...

It was amazing. It probably is tied with the Clinic show still, but hey...

So, at this point, I've seen GBV play the Apollo, Coney Island, CBGBs, Maxwell's, Irving Plaza, The Bowery Ballroom, Roseland, and Central Park.... what's next? Radio City Music Hall? Carnegie Hall? Madison Square Garden?

Goodness Gracious Meme

10:09 / 02.01.02

Pulp at the Brixton academy, London beautiful, terriyfing, masterful, brilliant. Thank god they're back.

Bjork at the Coliseum, London Amazing, captivating stuff. Pretty much unique, I think.

Squarepusher/Richard James at 93 Feet East. Reminded me what all the fuss is about.

and stretching the def.s a bit...

Kevin Saunderson at The Beach in Brighton. Fucking excellent music, old and new and proper DJ'ing, one man plays his audience totally.

Cylob at the Ocean Rooms, Brighton. Fantastic mix of own stuff and electro, punk, dancehall, jungle, techno.

still gutted about missing spiritualized. grr. bet they were shit.

13:33 / 02.01.02

I'll get shit from this from all the haters out there, but Radiohead was the best show I saw all year. It was in August, outdoors, in Jersey, with the Statue of Liberty and the beautiful, downtown NYC skyline behind the purple neon stage. I wasn't sold on Kid A/Amnesiac until I heard the songs live. It blew me away how good they were. The night was cool and perfect, just a beautiful night to sit on the grass and listen to music. The band was incredibly tight, the bass-driven songs ruled, and the live album comes nowhere near close to how good it was.

Flux: I was at the GBV/Strokes show on New Years. Did the beer line suck as bad the night before? I had to wait like 20 minutes and pay 8 bucks for a fucking beer. Poor david cross had to compete with the noisemakers they handed out. I think I am going to try and get tickets for his "Evening of Bullshit" at Irving Plaza coming up.

The Strokes were great. Tight, Julian acting all fucked up. But seriously, it was like being at an N-Sync concert - the teen girls were throwing themselves at him. Then, during of their last songs (they played the same schedule as you described above), they invited everyone to come up onstage with them. It was pandemomnium. One girl would not let go of him after the song. She kept saying that she was his soulmate.

GBV were good. I'm not really a big fan, and I have maybe 2 of their albums (late period) so I didn't really recognize any songs. I don't think I like them enough to invest the time in tracking everything down. My girlfriend wants to know why Pollard speaks with a British accent onstage. She doesn't believe he's form Ohio.

Matthew Fluxington

14:02 / 02.01.02

I'll get shit from this from all the haters out there, but Radiohead was the best show I saw all year. It was in August, outdoors, in Jersey, with the Statue of Liberty and the beautiful, downtown NYC skyline behind the purple neon stage.

Which night were you there? I was at both, the first night I thought was a better show than the second night... I would rate that first show as maybe the fourth best show I saw in 2001, after Clinic, GBV/Strokes, and The Jicks @ The Roxy. Both Radiohead shows were fabulous though...but getting out of Liberty State Park and back to DUMBO was one of the longest, most obnoxious things I've ever had to do.

Flux: I was at the GBV/Strokes show on New Years. Did the beer line suck as bad the night before? I had to wait like 20 minutes and pay 8 bucks for a fucking beer.

No, I didn't drink that night. I had a beer before I left, I wasn't that inebriated or anything.

I think I am going to try and get tickets for his "Evening of Bullshit" at Irving Plaza coming up.

huh. me too, actually.

GBV were good. I'm not really a big fan, and I have maybe 2 of their albums (late period) so I didn't really recognize any songs. I don't think I like them enough to invest the time in tracking everything down. My girlfriend wants to know why Pollard speaks with a British accent onstage. She doesn't believe he's form Ohio.

I really envy the setlist you saw Monday night...I would have enjoyed that setlist more than the one I saw, even if you didn't get to see "Cut-Out Witch" and "Get Under It" and I did.

I just turned on another one of my friends to GBV, and he was shocked to learn that Pollard was from Ohio too. He thought they were from Liverpool or something...

Todd: I'll make you a few best-of GBV cds if you want, I can give you enough set staples so that if you went to see them again at any point in the future, you'd probably know at least 80% of what they were playing. GBV shows are waaaaaaaaaay more fun if you know all the words.

The big GBV singalong song for the past two years is "Alone, Stinking, and Unafraid", and that song is very obscure. That should tell you what the GBV crowd is like...

[ 02-01-2002: Message edited by: Flux = Currently Fabulous ]

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

14:46 / 02.01.02

Usually the best gig I ever go to all year is the Old 97's. They played twice this year, I was there both times, and as usual, there is no comparison.

2001 was a shitty year for me to see live bands, strangely. I promise I'll make up for some of it by seeing the Breeders in Feb.

15:39 / 02.01.02

Definitely Rachid Taha at the Village Underground this past summer. It was a devastating combination of North African percussion and tight leather pants.

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:39 / 02.01.02

5. Nick Cave - Brixton Academy (might only be back in 5th place because it was the earliest of these).

4. Lift To Experience, supporting Cat Power upstairs at The Garage in Highbury. Completely unknown to me and unexpected: blew me away. Loud, terrifying, charismatic, irresistably passionate.

3. Pulp - Brixton Academy. Near flawless, made the last five years just fall away, and not in a bad way either.

2. Hefner - Shepherd's Bush Empire / The ICA. Cheating here and having two gigs. Something about the fact that you could tell that everyone in the building loved this band, and that the band themselves were having a great time. They played all my faves as well: 'Painting and Kissing', 'The Hymn For The Cigarettes', 'The Sad Witch' and 'The Day That Thatcher Dies' at the first gig, 'The Cure For Evil' and 'The Hymn For The Coffee' and 'The Hymn For The Postal Service' at the second. Some of those weren't my favourites before, but they are now.

1. Radiohead - South Park, Oxford. Despite the rain, despite the worst queues for the bar I've ever seen, despite the really disappointing support from Beck, despite the inevitable "hey, not all Radiohead fans are sensitive poets..." revelation. They started with a thundering version of 'The National Anthem' and then apologised for it being a bit crap. (It wasn't.) It's hard to pick out highlights because so much of it was so good... but 'Dollars And Cents' and 'Everything In Its Right Place' were better versions than I've ever heard, and stuff like 'Lucky' and 'Idioteque' was as good as it was always going to be, really, ie jaw-droppingly good. They ended on 'Creep', unplanned and with new cabaret-hamming from Thom, and it was wonderful. A home-coming triumph... THEY FIND US THROUGH THE CHILDREN.

Gigs I'm most annoyed to have missed: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, PJ Harvey, Mos Def. Silly Fly.

12:28 / 03.01.02

Hundered Reasons / Hell is for heros

tight.. tense.. sweaty.. brilliant

12:42 / 03.01.02

I'm trying to remember all the bands I saw last year...

1. Terrorvision - Penningtons, Bradford
2. Katastrophy Wife, Roadhouse,Manchester
3. Snow Patrol, Night and Day, Manchester
4. Wonderstuff, NMA, Neds Atomic Dustbin, Terrorvison - Longest Day, Nottingham.

5. Mark Lanegan, Hop & Grape, Manchester
6. All About Eve, Liverpool

That's all I can remember and the were all great. I would have hoped Mark Lanegan would have topped the list but the set was too short and wasn't as good an experience as I had hoped... he was much better live with the Screaming Trees...

Jack The Bodiless

19:47 / 06.01.02

5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Utterly beautiful, and still scarier than your Dad after a pint of tequila and a game of strip poker.

4. PJ Harvey. Also utterly beautiful. She's also utterly beautiful.

3. The Sisters Of Mercy... yeah, shut it. They were incredible.

2. The Pogues... one of the best gigs of my life. Happy, sad, and the second best crowd I've ever seen. Shane made sense ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE GIG, speaking and singing.

1. Marillion (at the Astoria). When they're on form, nothing comes close. They were really on form.

wembley can change in 28 days

22:19 / 06.01.02

There couldn't be anything to beat Laurie Anderson's show in Toronto on September 13th this year - partially because she was brilliant, and mostly because of context. Every single one of her songs resonated with anxiety of technology and war and exploitation, and I think everyone was weeping by the end. I mean, two days after becoming a CNN addict and turning scared shitless, how do you deal with a fabulous woman with balls of steel who gets up with a microphone and sings stuff like:
Here come the planes.
They're American planes. Made in America.
Smoking or non-smoking?
And the voice said: Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night
shall stay these couriers from the swift completion
of their appointed rounds.

'Cause when love is gone, there's always justice.
And when justice is gone, there's always force.
And when force is gone, there's always Mom. Hi Mom!
**********

I remember thinking I would never, ever doubt the power of art again in my life so help me god. Plus Laurie Anderson is adorable.

Fengs for the Memory

12:53 / 08.01.02

For pure eyed mistyness and ROCK
Black Sabbath - Birmingham Academy
Mark Lanegan - Wolverhampton, all my faves a long set and Screaminmg Tress numbers.

Fengs for the Memory

12:54 / 08.01.02

quote:Originally posted by Ray Fengsforthememory:
For pure eyed mistyness and ROCK
Black Sabbath - Birmingham Academy
Mark Lanegan - Wolverhampton, all my faves a long set and Screaming Trees numbers.

16:35 / 08.01.02

Oi! I did see a show. And boy am I embarassed to have forgotten.

Radiohead at Molson Park. It. Was. Incredible.

I can't fucking believe I forgot that.

Zoom.

21:28 / 08.01.02

quote:Originally posted by Ray Fengsforthememory:

Mark Lanegan - Wolverhampton, all my faves a long set and Screaminmg Tress numbers.

Screming Trees Numbers! (plural!) We only got Gospel Plow in Manchester and half the crowd were Queens of the Stoneage fans and they didn't get what they were expecting so that had an effect on the atmosphere. It's stunning to here his voice live, but still there was something missing....

10:01 / 09.01.02

I see someone else mentioned Black Sabbath, I think they were actually my favourite this year, I only knew a few of their songs but they were excellent !

Slipknot were good if only for the madness of the crazy kids in the crowds...

And I'm guessing Tool would have been my favourite if I hadn't been so messed up...

faintwhitelights

13:32 / 11.01.02

enon. ex-brainiac/skeleton key/blonde redhead members. so perfect. so sexxxual.

bjork/matmos. radio city music hall. 5th row center. and to think i didnt care for her much before that.

Matthew Fluxington

13:47 / 11.01.02

Mm. I saw Enon this year too, and I fucking love their LP, but I thought they were butchering their own tunes live... I was really disappointed, I was expecting songs like "Conjugate The Verbs" and "Come Into" to really come across well live, but they really lacked the power and intensity of the recorded versions, at least the day I saw them, anyway...