The End Of Year Round Up

Posted by jill on December 30, 2009

Thinking very hard about what I’ve done this year, it’s hard to remember much that has really surprised me about music. Normally there would be at least one or two stand out new discoveries, but a quick trawl through recent memory only comes up with songs and music from bands that I already knew. In fact my ‘new’ discoveries of the year are acts which passed me by first time round. Not that this is a bad thing, considering that I saw some great shows, only at the bigger end of the scale rather than in a noisy tiny room.

On the very big end of the scale, Blur at Hyde Park was a fantastic communal experience, everyone singing along to every song. In hindsight, I am so glad that I made the last minute decision to get tickets, especially as it looks like that the reunion shows were really just a one off. As a warm up to that gig, the week  before was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Although it was remarkable to see the Boss play for over 3 hours without stopping, it was a shame that much of it was the newer material. At least I can now say that I survived watching a set from the Dave Matthews Band.

At the other end of the scale, there was also the week where I saw two collaborations between  a band and an orchestra,with Efterklang and the Britten Symphonia and Grizzly Bear and the London Symphony Orchestra (sad to have missed a third, the Stornoway show at the Sheldonian). With low expectations (not really knowing too much about the band beforehand) the Efterklang performance was fantastic, and with too great expectations, the Grizzly Bear collaboration turned out to be a little disappointing. However, having seen them another two great times this year (at Koko and at Pukkelpopp) I can’t really complain too much.

In a way this year was all about my continuing infatuation with all those great North American bands, which started back in 2007 with Beirut and Grizzly Bear. This year I saw both of them again (Beirut twice – at the Forum and also Pukkelpop), as well as possibly the two favourite shows of the year, Final Fantasy at the Union Chapel and Beach House’s tiny show at the Fleapit. With tickets for shows in the first quarter of 2010 for Final Fantasy (now Owen Pallett), Grizzly Bear and Beach House, this obsession is likely to follow on into next year.

Unsurprisingly, my favourite discovery of the year was the music of Bradford Cox, both Deerhunter and Atlas Sound. From first stumbling across their set at the Breeders ATP in May and then seeing them again at Pukkelpop, and hearing the Atlas Sound album in a record store whilst on holiday in Vancouver. The only puzzling thing was howcome it took so long for me to get round to listening to his music.

All in all, looking back at my gig calendar over the year, 2009 took some time to get going. While there are several remarkable shows to remember the year by, there probably weren’t as many as there used to be.