2009 Round-Up Part 6 – Best Gigs

Here it is, the final part of my 2009 round-up, and a look at the best gigs throughout the year. There were many gigs deserving of praise, and many artists who narrowly missed the cut (see list at the bottom), however I have restricted the list to my favourite 10 gigs of the year. The top 10 is presented in chronological order, as unlike albums it’s hard to revisit the performance to choose the order, and they’re all winners!

The Acorn – Brixton Windmill (13th March)

One of the most fun small gigs of the year, my first proper glimpse (first headline show) into the brilliance of The Acorn as a live band. Whilst on record their music is beautiful and fairly relaxed on the whole, the live show brings a lot more energy. This gig was small, sweaty, and from what I remember the band played a nice long set. I think it was their first London headlining gig, a warm up for their Elbow support slot at Wembley Arena the following night, which brings me nicely to gig number 2…

2009 Round-Up Part 3 – Various Stats & Lists

Being a music geek I have to admit I’m a bit of a fan of stats & lists. This very reason is why sites like Last.fm and Songkick. They allow music geeks like me to track who they have seen & listened to, and then present them back in some nice lists, as well as gathering some great data about people’s listening habits and gig attendance as a whole, not just on an individual basis.

So before I reveal (i.e. finish writing) my top albums and gigs of the year, here are some of the ‘highlights’ of what I’ve been up to taken from those very sites. If you get bored easily by lists, look away now!

Merry Christmas – Free Music!

As Christmas approaches, and I have yet to compile my ‘best of 2009’ lists (but I have until the end of the month for that, right?), I thought I’d point you in the direction of some free Christmas themed downloads. Just got a few to start things off but if you know of any more let me know and I’ll add them up here.

As well as my 2009 round-up I’ve got a few more gigs to review (David Ford & James Yorkston) so keep an eye out for those over the next few days (hopefully!).

So, on to the downloads…

Revere – Silent Night/The Escape Artist

If you know me or have read my reviews of them (here and here) you’ll know how much I love the band Revere. I’m massively excited about the release of their debut album ‘Hey! Selim’ next year, but in the meantime the good people at Maps Magazine have posted a free download of their festive cover ‘Silent Night’, which features the equally brilliant Gabby Young. Even more generously they have offered up previous single and album + live standout track ‘The Escape Artist’.

There’s a whole advent calendar worth of other free downloads too so go check them out!

Get Revere downloads here

Oh! Canada presents: Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada

Just spotted this one and not had a chance to listen yet. The Line Of Best Fit have teamed up with Oh! Canada to bring you a 25(!!) track compilation of Christmas tracks by some fantastic Canadian bands. Many are unknown to me, but with some of my live highlights of the year including The Acorn and Ohbijou on there this looks like it’s well worth a listen.

Get Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada here