2022...a year in gigs and festivals!

[Dales]

A good year with lots of gigs and a few festivals and outdoor day gigs, We managed to get quiet a few tickets for smaller venues and saw Biffy Clyro at Hackney Church, Blossoms at Islington O2, Florence at Drury Lane and Placebo at Islington Assembly Hall and Arcade Fire at Koko.

 

Festivals

Mad Cool Festival

Truck Festival

Victorious Festival

 

Day Sessions

All Points East-Gorrillaz

Field Day Festival

Community Festival

Lets Rock Norwich

Neck of the Woods Festival

Jubilation Madness

Hella Mega Tour

 

Gigs/Concerts

Damon Albarn

Echo & The Bunnymen

The Libertines

Pale Waves

Biffy Clyro x 2

OMD

Royal Blood

Placebo x 2

The Psychedelic Furs

Bastille

Ghost

George Ezra

The Wombats

Florence & The Machine x 2

Blondie

Arcade Fire

Feeder

Metronomy

Twin Atlantic

Muse

Adam Ant

Whitesnake & Foreigner

My Chemical Romance

Pet Shop Boys

Alice Cooper & The Cult

The Killers

Billie Eilish

Keane

Nine Inch Nails

Twenty One Pilots

Jack White

Alanis Morissette

Ed Sheeran

Kings of Leon

Guns N Roses

Self Esteem

Sam Fender

George Ezra

Hot Chip

Midge Ure

Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls

The Lemonheads

Suede

Ian Brown

Robbie Williams

Morrissey

Franz Ferdinand

The Damned

Creeper

Kaiser Chiefs

Soul Asylum & Everclear

Amyl & The Sniffers

Rod Stewart

Wet Leg

 

[BoringMidlander]

It's been a ridiculous year for me. Managed 50+ gigs and a festival since January (and about 20-25 more last year after things reopened). Been up and down the country countless times and immensely fortunate to have made it overseas for a few shows. Got a couple of dozen planned for 2023, but  won't manage the likes of this year again! 

January - Wet Leg (Manchester) and The Smile (London)
 

February - Yard Act (Leeds), Idles (Glasgow), Wolf Alice (Glasgow) and Big Thief (Bristol)
 

March - Wolf Alice (Manchester)
 

April - Father John Misty (Leeds), Father John Misty with Britten Sinfonia (London), Jeff Rosenstock (Leeds), The War on Drugs (Leeds), Spoon (Chicago), Prince Daddy & the Hyena w/Macseal (Chicago), Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 20th anniversary (Chicago) and Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets (Sheffield)

May - Pinegrove (Manchester), Viagra Boys (Sheffield), Osees (Manchester), Yard Act (Sheffield), Beach House (Manchester) and Brian Fallon & the Howling Weather (Nottingham)

June - Primavera weekend #1 with sideshows from Wet Leg, Jawbox and Slowdive (Barcelona), Parquet Courts (Manchester), Interpol (London) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (London)

July - LCD Soundsystem (London), Jimmy Eat World (Manchester) and Phoebe Bridgers (Manchester)

August - Chemical Brothers/Field Day (London), Gaslight Anthem (Birmingham), The National/All Points East (London), Nick Cave/All Points East (London) and Bright Eyes (Manchester)

September - Arcade Fire (Birmingham), Fleet Foxes (Manchester), The Weather Station (Leeds), Osees (Seattle) and  Gaslight Anthem (Seattle)

October - Alvvays (Leeds), Dinosaur Jr (Manchester), Pavement (Leeds) Pavement (Manchester) and Bob Dylan (London) 

November - Ride (London), Fontaines DC (Leeds), Squeeze (Birmingham), Jason Isbell (Manchester), Bono: Stories of Surrender (Manchester) and Stereolab (Leeds)

December - The Cure (Birmingham)

Edited December 22, 2022 by BoringMidlander

[DDave]

Fair to middling year numbers wise with Primavera being the bulk of the gigs in June. 

Highlights were the Strokes, Confidence Man, Arcade Fire and Roxy Music

Gig of the year - Mavis Staples at Primavera. 

[Dancers Stand Very Still]

Excuse the long message! It gave me great fun on the train home for Christmas to write, even if it's too long to read!

A completely mad year of gigs for me this time around. I decided at some point in early 2020 that seeing 365 different acts in one year would be a good idea. The pandemic put an end to that and made it too difficult in 2021 as well, but this year I managed it (just - 372)! 

418 live sets in total is probably something I will never repeat. The self-imposed target definitely got me out at times I would've otherwise stayed at home and also lead me to make decisions to be more adventurous at festivals. I think it was a little too much though and did become a chore at times rather than the adventure into new music I intended.

I managed Rockaway Beach, The Great Escape, Best Kept Secret, Green Man and End of the Road as weekend festivals and. I also did Wide Awake, Mutations, Visions, Made Me Like It, Pitchfork London, All Points East, and British Summer Time as one day or multiple day events. Green Man was the highlight of those - my favourite festival weekend to date - although The Great Escape was brilliant as well and cycling to and from the UK to Best Kept Secret in the Netherlands (again!) was also fantastic.

My most seen act of the year was Black Country, New Road, who I saw 7 times (+ black midi, New Road once). Their first gig without Isaac in Brighton back in May seems like a good place to start in terms of highlights but it wasn't my favourite gig of theirs. More on that later!

Looking back, I've marked 3 sets as genuine 10/10 moments so those are the top 3. Fitting the rest into a top 10 was beyond me, so you've got 9 plus these very highly commended!

Sigur Ros @ Brixton Academy 

The Utopia Strong @ Green Man

Robocobra Quartet @ The Lexington 

The Magnetic Fields @ End of the Road

Viagra Boys @ Kentish Town Forum

TEKE:TEKE @ The Great Escape

Lime Garden @ The Great Escape

Spiritualised @ The Roundhouse

caroline @ EartH, Hackney

Bicep @ Wide Awake

Penguin Cafe @ The Great Escape

SCALPING @ fabric

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard @ Best Kept Secret 

Gilla Band @ Peckham Audio

Olafur Arnalds @ Hammersmith Apollo

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds @ Best Kept Secret

Protomartyr @ Islington Assembly Hall

Phoebe Bridgers @ Brixton Academy 

English Teacher @ The Great Escape 

Michael Rother @ Clapham Grand

Unschooling @ The Great Escape.

9 ) Portron Portron Lopez @ The Great Escape (Green Door Store). One of the biggest joys for me is seeing a band I've never heard of smash the roof off of a small venue. Bloody hell, this French trio did that. Brilliant evening, with them, Unschooling, Byker Grove Fan Club, and Joe & The Shitboys was probably my favourite evening of music of the year, especially as it was spent with Big Jeff just a couple of weeks before his accident.

8 ) deathcrash @ Visions (Oslo, Hackney). Incredible crescendo of Doomcrash live for the first time, with perfect sound. Need I say more?!

7) Fat Dog @ Wide Awake. Pure word of mouth band. Technically mediocre but the most fun half hour set your could imagine. Honourable mention for their EotR set where I moshed. I don't mosh.

6) Pushpin @ Green Man. Most exciting new discovery of the year for me. Should've won Rising IMO. I can't wait to see them develop.

5) Dry Cleaning @ Peckham Audio. 150 capacity venue album launch. I'd find off them a little, but am thoroughly addicted to Stumpwork.

4) Melin Melyn @ Green Man. Their 2021 set was talked about all year and their 2022 set will be the stuff of legend. A jam-packed Walled Garden, plenty outside, and even those in a passing military transport plane had they're spirits lifted by the most joyous band currently out there.

3) black midi @ Best Kept Secret. Technically the greatest band I've ever seen, who only seem to get better and better. They were on top form at BSK, and their set really hit me. I've still no idea how they play John L even faster live than it is on record, which seems next to impossible in itself.

2) The Rolling Stones @ British Summer Time. I wasn't expecting much. They're 80 years old, for god's sake! Regardless, it was a band I had to see once. What transpired was just brilliant. A performance I'd have expected them to put on 40 years ago. I went away a proper fan.

1) Black Country, New Road @ Green Man. The best set I've ever seen. My most seen and my favourite band but I'd never seen them pull off a 10/10 set. When Isaac left, I doubted that would ever happen. They had to fulfil their festival dates in order to be able to remain a full time band and wrote 9 new songs for them. I'd seen the set twice and was kind of ambivalent towards it, but most people hadn't heard these unreleased tracks. I feared for them playing Far Out (a sizable stage they'd somewhat flopped on as a last minute replacement in 2019). However, their set at Green Man was one of the most life affirming things I've ever seen. They changed the order of the set, cut one song and had tweaked others, as they tend to do. Just 8 songs and 50 minutes, but it couldn't have been better. The ovation they received after Turbines/Pigs (the penultimate track) seemed to go on for a good few minutes, as if everyone was sharing the moment and imploring the band to keep making music together. I was in the front row, crying for the final 3 songs. Various members of the band were also crying and struggling to take it the love for them, their new music, and the moment they'd created. My favourite band, playing my favourite ever set, at my favourite ever edition of my favourite festival, in a year defined for me by music more than any other. Perfect.

😎

Just looking back through all the acts from this year has made me realise how special it's been and how lucky I've been to do it, although next will definitely be a bit more chilled! However, it will be my first Glastonbury after a decade of trying to get a ticket. I cannot wait to see which acts I've not yet heard of will be on this list next year!

Edited December 22, 2022 by JHad

[benali]

I can't match @JHad although I went to more gigs this year than I ever have. Had to look back through my calendar to count up and it's around 75 although there's some I think I hadn't noted down.

Including festivals I've seen over 200 performances this year.

Best few gigs:

Low at St George's Church in Brighton. Didn't realise it then but it was the last time I'd get to see my favourite band due to Mimi's passing. Feel blessed to have seen them 12 times 

Osees at Oxford Academy. Support finishes, they wander straight on, drag the drum kits forward, plug in, play a 1 minute sound check and off we go. No roadies fake tuning instruments, no messing around waiting. I was dripping with sweat after the moshpit. The absolute kings of live music.

Crack Cloud at Chalk in Brighton. A mesmerising set, a notch up from seeing them in Guildford in July.

Melt Banana at Joiners in Southampton. Could have done with 3 sets of earplugs. An hour of intense noise with barely a let up. Absolutely blew me away and probably inflicted some structural damage to the building.

Unthanks at Nuffield in Southampton. The complete contrast to Melt Banana, a beautiful, enchanting evening.

Most fun sets:

Welly at Heartbreakers. They play in PE kits and read horoscopes out. A ridiculous band really but know how to write a catchy tune. Bonus points for having the best Instagram account. They'll be bigger next year.

Keg at multiple venues. Seemed like I couldn't go anywhere without them showing up and making me laugh a lot every time. A lovely bunch of people too.

Sodds. A largely terrible, but insanely entertaining hard working local punk band from Southampton who pop up on loads of bills around here. Songs include one about driving a Mark 2 Escort into a roundabout and another about trying to avoid Steven who works in their nearest Co-op. They somehow got played on Radio 1 at one point with a song about cricket. Most cities have their own version of this band and no one else will ever see them but that's how it should be.

Best festival sets:

Deathcrash at End of the Road. Completely stunning, a perfect set. Goosebumps throughout. 

Parquet Courts at Green Man. The best end to an incredible festival. Sensibly managed to avoid getting my glasses trashed in the moshpit like I did at their Brighton show in June by giving them to a friendly security guard who popped them on the front of the stage. Jumped around at the front grinning for an hour while various members of bands who had played that weekend flew past, and occasionally over me in the moshpit.

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by benali

[SighMo]

@benali Glad I finally 'got' Deathcrash after some stiff encouragement from you. And, I knew  it was serious when the glasses came off at Parquet Courts; a great set. You've given me some pretty good recommendations the last couple of years...here's to next year at GM and EOTR 🚀

[Boomtowner]

One of my best years for gigs and festivals, in chronological order

Pennine Suite, York

Kid Kapichi, Leeds

Beans on Toast, Wroot Rocks

Glenn Tilbrook, York

Frank Turner, Leeds

Intergalactic Brasstronauts, York

The Reytons, Magna

Bearded Theory

Glastonbury

Y Not Festival

Boomtown

The Interrupters, Leeds

The Interrupters, Brixton

Kid Kapichi, Leeds

Bull, York

Brooke Combe, Leeds

Beverley Craven, York

Millie Manders and the Shut up, York

First Aid Kit, Leeds

The Lottery Winners, Newcastle The Reytons, Newcastle

Billy Bragg, Sheffield 

Paul Heaton, Sheffield 

New York Brass Band, York

[foolee]

In chronological order:

Royal Blood
Mystery Jets
Salem/Bad Nerves
Bob Vylan
Sea Girls
My Chemical Romance
Stone
Neck of the Woods Festival
Liam Gallagher
Slam Dunk Festival
Summertime Ball
Nine Inch Nails
HellaMegaTour
Rammstein
Jack White
Jamie T
Reading Festival
Taylor Hawkins Tribute
Machine Gun Kelly
Maximo Park
Retro Video Club
Kasabian
Biffy Clyro
Jamie T

In the bag for 2023:

Kid Kapichi
Yungblud x2
All Time Low
Dune Rats
Slam Dunk Festival
KISS
Pub In The Park
Blink-182

 

[zahidf]

Top ten gigs of the year

 

Gigs:

 

Fontaines Dc Hackney earth

Big thief Shepherds Bush

IDLES brixton

Low Hackney St Johns

Divine comedy: barbican 

Sigur Ros:Brixton 

Lcd soundtsytem Brixton 

Nick Cave APE

The national: APE

Madness/supergrass/squeeze: brockwell park

 

 

[dondo]

Festivals

Glastonbury 

WOMAD 

Gigs (in no particular order)

Steve Mason 

Confidence Man 

Public Service Broadcasting 

Pet Shop Boys 

Dinosaur Jr 

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie 

Cure

Red Hot Chilli Pipers 

Proclaimers 

House of Love 

Arab Strap 

Groove Armada 

Teenage Fan Club

Wet Leg 

Tangerine Dream

Sea Power 

Future Islands 

Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever

Grace Petrie

Ride

Primal Scream 

Spritualized

 

 

[Quark]

Quiet one last year.

Glastonbury
Beautiful Days

Dub Pistols
Snapped Ankles
Youth Sector
Sam Fender

Gary Numan
Wargasm
The Allergies
Dua Lipa
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
Alanis Morissette
The Big Moon
Craig Finn & The Uptown Controllers
Beach Bunny
Joe Lycett

Edited January 7, 2023 by Quark