Best gigs of 2004

Cafe Society
1

Been to a lot of concerts this year, including:
Shellac (twice)
Cheap Trick
New York Dolls (about a day before Arthur Kane died)
Paul Westerberg
Mark Lanegan Band
Tommy Stinson/Jesse Malin
The Georgia Satellites (or as close as your going to get these days)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Chuck Prophet
The Music
Therapy
The Wildhearts

Out of all these, i’d put Shellac top, better the second time round, then Westerberg for entertainment value. Whatcha seen this year, and why did it rule?

Oh, and special mention to my mate H’s Orchestra, who rocked peer Gynt like it should be, in the most difficult to get to city centre church in the world.

2

Queensryche - Nottingham Rock City, the gig of the year IMHO

also Hawkwind at the Roadmender Northampton - great gig from a band old enough to be my grandparents.

3

I hear the Unicorns and the Arcade Fire put on awesome shows.

4

  1. The Gossip (three piece blues/punk outfit out of Arkansas by way of Olympia)

  2. The Real McKenzies (the Scottish version of the Dropkick Murphys, except they’re from Canada)

  3. Texas Terri (I hadn’t heard her before I went to the show, but she blew everybody completely away)

5

Mine was Skinny Puppy in Chicago, 6/16/04.

6

Julia Fordham at Joe’s Pub.

I missed Paul Westerberg? Oy.

7

This year I was lucky(or unlucky) enough to see:
The Strokes w/ Mates of State
The Tragically Hip w/ Joel Plaskett Emergency
The Hives w/ Sahara Hotnights and someone else
Incubus w/ Sparta
Jimmy Eat World w/ Two Really Bad Opening Bands
The Arcade Fire w/ Gold Chains
Matthew Good (Twice)
The Salads w/ Projet Orange and Stereogram (Frosh week free concert. No way, I’d ever pay money for this.)

Best show? Tough choice, I don’t think I can decide. Aside to say, that they JEW concert and the free frosh concert aren’t in the running. The Incubus show was only good because I was a couple of feet from the stage. My friends who were in the upper level weren’t liking the sound too much.

If I had to pick one, it had to be the Strokes in Niagara Falls, NY. Only bad thing about was no encore because the club was packed over-capacity and there was a raid by the fire marshall. Stilll, best show of the year.

Best concert I didn’t go to? Sloan, Sam Roberts, The Stills, Broken Social Scene, The Arcade Fire, Pilate, The Constantines, Death From Above 1979 and Buck 65 at Olympic Island.

That’s an absolutely ridiculous show. Makes me proud to be a Canadian.

8

I saw some good stuff in '04.

  1. The Pixies, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville.

  2. The Hives w/ The Reigning Sounds and The Deadly Snakes, New Daisy Theatre, Memphis.

  3. Elvis Costello, Hi-Tone Cafe, Memphis.

  4. The Reigning Sounds, The Glass Onion, Memphis.

  5. Automusik w/ The Mattoid, The Basement, Nashville (tied with A Very Automusik Christmas, also w/ The Mattoid, Hi-Tone Cafe, Memphis.)

9

Didn’t see many shows this year but the best of them was Flogging Molly.

10

Wilco, in Raleigh. They’re tearing it up on tour these days.

Really didn’t see that many others.

11

The Pixies’ tour. There simply isn’t any other choice.

12

And I won’t pretend to.
Consider
Yourself
Warned.

(Although I do like The Starting Line and I am one degree away from knowing District Seven and New Found Glory personally).

~kfl, who (mostly) hates Emo :wink:

13

Hey, 2004 ain’t over yet! (In other words, I still haven’t gotten my ticket to see Bo Diddley on Dec. 29th.)

For me, the best shows I saw were Psychic TV and Acid Mothers Temple.

14
  1. The Hives
  2. The Killers
  3. Wilco
  4. I wish I had enough money for the Pixies.
15

What? You still go to concerts? Come on man, the Beatles stopped touring in 1966!
[d&r]

OK, now that I’m done needlessly provoking the OP, let’s see if I can remember what shows I saw this year.

(not all of these are necessarily bands I’m into; many were just on the bill with bands I like)

Reel Big Fish
Blackalicious
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Jurassic 5
Sleater-Kinney
Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores (great Providence band that should be more widely known)
the Dresden Dolls
the Walkmen

Maybe more stuff that’s slipped my mind. Anyway, the best acts of the above were Fleck, AKR and the Eyesores, and the Dresden Dolls. The Flecktones were simply mind-blowing in their musicianship. The Eyesores and the Dresden Dolls are quite skilled too, and both have very unique styles, but the great experience was somewhat diminished by the bad sound system I heard them through. Sleater-Kinney was pretty rocking, Reel Big Fish was fun, and Blackalicious and the Jurassic 5 made for good concert fare (“put your hands in the air”-type stuff), but I wouldn’t listen to any of them at home. The Walkmen are boring typical indie music and I only saw them because I was there for AKR and the Eyesores.

And then there are the shows I regret not going to this year, but I could probably write several more posts on that subject.

16

Yeah, I really liked the Dresden Dolls. But they seem to have a huge following among teenage Goth girls, so when I saw them out here it was an all-ages show and I kept thinking Ohmigod, I’m surrounded by Goth munchkins…

But when I was chatting with the band after the show, it was pretty funny–I asked the drummer what else I should be listening to, and after listing a couple of bands he shifted his attention to the teenage girl next to me and told her–in all seriousness–that she should listen to Hoagie Carmichael :slight_smile:

17

While Already In Use has already mentioned Jurassic 5 as being noteable, I have to go one further and put them way out on top.

I saw them last year in Perth and was ecstatic when they decided to grace us with their presence again this year.

Although they are what you’d define as being hip-hop, they have been described as attracting audiences with a common mindset, rather than audiences seeking to see just another rap band.

For anyone that has even the slightest interest in ANY hip-hop, or an appreciation for seeing a group enjoying themselves just as much as their audience, I urge you to go see these guys. They also happen to be the most unpretentious musical act I’ve ever seen, because after each show I’ve seen of theirs, they stayed around for at least an hour or so just letting the crowd get up on stage with them and chat, sign autographs etc. Very down to earth guys.

I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for days after seeing these guys and am wishing right now they’ll be back again soon.

18

Well it’s a late entry, but I think the gig in my sig is gonna be big… :smiley:

19

Brian Setzer Orchestra in Tokyo was one of the best shows I have ever seen, let alone just this year. I wasn’t really a fan when I went, but I definitely came out one. What a great show!

20

The Cramps at First Avenue, Minneapolis, October 24.

If you haven’t seen Lux Interior’s on-stage antics, you’ve never seen real rock ‘n’ roll.

(IMHO, natch.)