Top 5 Concerts in 2008

In 2008, I saw more shows than any other year in my life so far, largely thanks to a very good autumn gig schedule at my new location of Leeds, UK. That certainly played one big role in making this year personally very fulfilling for me. I attended 40 musical events this year in 9 different cities. The vast majority were small venue gigs with a headliner and 1-2 openers, a couple were smallish city music festivals (no tents, no mud, but still all the other drawbacks of festivals). Here are the 5 best in no particular order.

Les Savy Fav (April)
The most fun show of the first half of the year. Tim Harrington's fictional narrative of a retired CIA agent called back to duty to save the president's daughter (only to fail) which introduced, interspersed, and concluded the set was worth the price of admission alone. That didn't yet include Harrington's changing outfits (or lack thereof), stage props, and first-rate jumping into the crowd, seeing Harrington wrap the mic cord around a ceiling beam and swing from it while singing, and much more. The band was extremely tight, and this show rocked.

Fucked Up (November)
The most fun show of the second half of the year, this one blew me away as well with the same sorts of live peformance merits as Les Savy Fav. Reviewed in more detail here: http://mog.com/1234chainsaw/blog/241662.

A Place To Bury Strangers (December)
My third time seeing APTBS within a year finally saw them as headliners. Hearing the band live with a better sound was nothing sort of revelatory. Reviewed in more detail here: http://mog.com/1234chainsaw/blog/257184.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (June)
A much more energetic and engaging set than when I last saw Nick Cave with the Bad Seeds in 2003. (Grinderman was one of the best gigs I saw in 2007, though.) Apart from a disappointingly choppy version of "I Let Love In," this set had good arrangements, plenty of snarl and spunk, the Bad Seeds in expert form, and loads of good audience interaction from Cave himself.

Nick Lowe (w/ Robyn Hitchcock) (April)
Effortless and gentle charm, an extremely rewarding show. I also don't want to get suspected of favoring only loud and raucous bands in concert... :) Reviewed in more detail here: http://mog.com/1234chainsaw/blog_post/156007.

Honorable mention: The National (July)
This had the potential to blow me away, but fell just short, for reasons that had nothing to do with the band. The band themselves were extremely good. Blame the festival venue (a football stadium) and the daylight (fading at 8pm, but still light). I have wanted to see The National in a club setting for some time now, butit's always the wrong place or the wrong time.

Among the rest, very few were bad and many were loads of fun. I particularly enjoyed (or enjoyed again) shows by British Sea Power, Jay Reatard, Gutter Twins, The Dirtbombs (x2), Madrugada, Neil Halstead, White Denim, Blonde Redhead, Wire, The Duke Spirit, Wild Beasts, Editors, and Gogol Bordello. (The artist name is a link in cases where I wrote a concert review.)