2008 - 8 Great Gigs

2008 has been an amazing year for gigs round these parts and this was a hugely difficult list to put together. I had to leave out some superb sets that would have walked into my list in any other year. I couldn't put them in order, so here for better or worse are my gigs of the year (in alphabetical order):

Black Mountain - The Great Escape
Hard to believe they're not the loudest band on this list, Tyrant and Druganaut rocked my Great Escape
Bon Iver - St Giles' Church London
Jaw droppingly good stuff from the phenomenal Bon Iver. The closing song, from the centre of the church still gives me goosebumps when I see the youtube clip
British Sea Power - The Monaco, Canvey
A band at number 10 in the album charts, on top form in a pub 15 minutes drive from home. What more could you want? Shame they were mediocre at Latitude, but this was genuinely amazing, particularly when Wilko Johnson came out for the encore.
Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves - Latitude Festival
Until they invent a time machine, this is as close as it was possible to get to seeing James Brown at the Apollo in 1962. That good.
Grinderman - Latitude Festival
I still cannot believe some people foresook this to go and see Blondie. I pity them - Nick was truly a force of nature on the main stage.
I'm From Barcelona - Scala
Is it possible to see a more fun band? Confetti and singalong songs and fun by the bucketload.
Mogwai - Hammersmith Apollo
The loudest band on this list, possibly the loudest band I'll ever see. Batcat was brutal, a full-on assault on the eyes and the ears.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Brighton Centre
I make no apologies for including Nick Cave again, this is a man at the very top of his form as a songwriter and performer.

I could almost do a second 8 for this list, having missed out the likes of Mercury Rev, Okkervil River (twice), Fujiya and Miyagi and the Mae Shi to name but 4. 2009 will have to go some to beat 2008, here's hoping!

Great Escape Saturday

The final day of the festival and, too be honest, energy levels are running a teensy bit low. After a leisurely start we decide to make the long trek up the high street to the "It came from Japan" showcase. After a delayed start we hear three delightfully manic performances. Vola and the Oriental machine was probably the stand-out on the day, although Bo-Peep were also pretty good. Can't remember the name of the third band (the free beer and sushi had nothing to do with it) but here is some footage of Vola (the bits with the BBC introducing banner are from Brighton)

VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE Live at UK May,2008


After that we head off to the Old Market for one of the MOJO gigs. We somehow got there early (despite getting lost and stopping in a pub on the way) so get a good spot... apparently there were long queues outside, so we were pretty lucky.

Anyway first on is School of Language - the new band from the man behind Field Music. Now field music were one of the stand-outs from Latitude '06 for me so I had high hopes, but the new band (supposedly more "experimental") don't really do it for me. Neither does Lightspeed Champion, but then he never did. The hat is very nice, but I still don't get what the fuss is about. (on getting home I find out that he did a second gig that evening which was much better so perhaps I'm being harsh.)

Next up is one of my favourite bands, Fujiya and Miyagi who are playing something of a homecoming gig. Unsurprisingly practically everything is from the recent album (transparent things) and they get the large crowd grooving along to their Kraftwerk-influenced tunes.

Last on is Black Mountain and they are by some margin the loudest band of the weekend. From the first thud of the bass drum they produce a powerful performance with Amber Webber singing superbly over the stoner rock they play. Album-standout, Tyrant, goes down a storm as would be expected, as do all the songs from recent album In the Future which I definitely recommend.