As ever, previous years can be read at #gig-survey, and this year’s one can be found below.
Top 5 shows of the year?
- Boygenius w/ Muna and Ethel Cain, Gunnersbury Park, 20th August
- The Warning w/Dead Pony, Islington Academy London, 26th June
- Beyonce, Johann Cruijff Arena Amsterdam, 17th June
- Madonna, O2 Arena London, 14th October
- Zara Larsson, Brighton Pride, 5th August
Total number of shows?
Seventeen - more than the last three years combined.
First show of the year?
The Subways, at Chalk in Brighton, on February 3rd.
Last show of the year?
Against The Current, Kentish Town Forum in London, December 1st.
Most surprising show?
Honestly, Madonna. After her US leg was postponed our gig was unexpectedly the first night of the tour so we had no idea what to expect, but we got two and a half hours of a whirlwind tour through an extensive discography that wasn't phoned in at all!
Most disappointing?
The Who came on stage and immediately slagged off their support act, which meant that it got off to a great start.
Farthest travelled?
Johan Cruijff arena in Amsterdam, 296 miles/477km from my front door.
States attended shows in?
Cheerful, grateful, euphoric, terrified, bored, knackered and achy.
Venue most visited?
Chalk and Resident Records in Brighton, both twice.
Worst injury?
Got pelted with confetti after the second Carly Rae Jepsen gig at the end of the tour - it was the dregs so rather than raining down gently upon a euphoric crowd, it rained down heavily and we're still finding bits ten months later.
Most expensive ticket?
Beyonce, hands down.
Band seen the most?
Carly Rae Jepsen, The Warning and Dead Pony, all twice.
Best new discovery?
Dead Pony supported The Warning at their second gig in London this summer and were great enough to make me immediately buy tickets to see them in Brighton a few months later. Also I hadn't really paid much attention to boygenius before their gig (I was mostly interested in Muna and Ethel Cain) but loved them.
Bands seen this year that also broke up this year?
None!
Friends made at shows?
None! There were nice interactions before The Warning in Islington, though. I tried my best in Amsterdam but the Dutch were having absolutely none of my charm.
Band members met?
Billy from The Subways and Carly Rae Jepsen at their (separate) Brighton gigs in February. Jay-Z passed behind me at his wife's gig, too, and Chrissy from Against The Current mocked my baseball team from a third floor window while I was queuing.
Best souvenir from a show?
I have worn the heck out of my Warning tour tee and my boygenius "always an angel never a god" tee. I'm yet to wear my Against The Current t-shirt, as I'm saving it for work tomorrow.
Longest time in line?
Several hours baking in the hot sun before Beyonce.
Shows seen from the barricade [front row]?
I was fairly close for the Warning fan show in May, the Carly shows, and Zara at Pride. Right at the front - uncomfortably close - to Dead Pony at Green Door Store in Brighton.
Most shows in one month?
June had three, but should've had four...
Most shows in one week?
...however we didn't manage the Sabrina Carpenter gig two days after Beyonce, so only the two Carly Rae Jepsen gigs in a week in February (either side of a Gillingham game!)
Biggest crowd?
Probably boygenius at Gunnersbury Park.
Any drunk encounters?
Not really - I was drinking but never drunk.
Top 5 best 2023 concert moments:
1. The Warning. I got into this rock band formed of a trio of sisters from Mexico around the beginning of 2022. They announced a UK and Europe tour for this summer, mostly supporting bigger bands (Muse, Royal Blood) and playing festivals. Wrapping up the tour was a June date at Islington Academy, and I got tickets as soon as they went on sale. Perusing the tour dates on their social media I noticed a private show the day after their first UK date - I hopped on the discord and found out how to get tickets, managing to see their first ever headline show on this continent! They were as fantastic as expected and with the label support they've got are gonna be big in the next few years.
2. Zara Larsson - I saw her in Brixton in 2019, at a gig I was encouraged to go to by my lovely wife who thought that my ironic fandom would dissipate with a live gig (in her defence, this plan worked amazingly with Dua Lipa). I had a wonderful time and my ironic fandom quickly became an actual fandom. For some reason she didn't play many gigs over here since, only an unfortunately timed club show (August 2021, Dana was away so missed out) so when she was announced as the de facto Brighton Pride headliner - Black Eyed Peas closed the night but nobody cared about them - I spent the intervening months hyping her up...and she exceeded my expectations! A rip-roaring set cramming in everything she's released as a single over here (including the Euro 2016 anthem!) saw me at my most enthusiastic, least self-conscious giddy self watching her.
3. Carly Rae Jepsen was fantastic, as ever. At a pub in London before her Ally Pally gig I saw a flyer for a strong, tasty beer so I ordered it with our food. The woman behind the bar was very new at the role - possibly her first day - so was unaware of how to find it on the till, opening and pouring the beer so I could start drinking while she found out the price.
Two minutes later a very nervous bartender approached me with a card reader and a request for £25 for about half a litre of beer. Fortunately for her I was expecting it to be pricy, and had had the sort of news that week which justified a hedonistic outlay, so when I paid it the relief on this woman's face was palpable!
4. Boygenius, Muna and Ethel Cain was a great afternoon up in London to take the disappointment of England losing the World Cup Final away. I knew Muna would be great after last year's gig; I had high hopes for Ethel Cain, and was prepared to be wowed by the boys. All of them exceeded my expectations and I got to spend a great evening in the sun in south west London with my wife and my sister-in-law.
Top 3 worst 2023 concert moments:
1. With a purchase of her album and an extra £20, we got to see Mimi Webb's album launch gig that lasted less than an hour, had half a dozen songs and spent more time on a pre-selected Q&A session than her playing music. To make matters worse, she's from Whitstable, and sounds like it as well. Her accent is the Kentish accent that our parents deliberately trained out of my brother and I; hearing it in the flesh (and unexpectedly so as well) was such a jarring shock to my system I went from hyped up to hating an artist in an instant. Even listening to a brief interview clip to find the link above has set my teeth on edge and I need to go and have a bath to calm myself down.
2. Back near the beginning of the year we didn't have any big gigs lined up, so when The Who were announced to play at the local cricket ground we booked tickets, paying expensive prices to get to the front of block B - not right at the front but with a decent view as nobody would be in front of us (we thought). The gig got off to a bad start when I queued up for 45 minutes for a bar that had run out of all but the bland IPAs. During this queue the Who came on stage and immediately - before playing a chord - spoke dismissively about the support band. When I got back to our seats I found people standing in front of us on the barricade blocking our view, despite repeated requests to move, signs stating "no standing" and a stewarding team fresh out of school. After being verbally abused by a pensioner for asking her not to stand in front of the seats we'd paid £80 each for we decided we had better things to do than watch a Brexiter and his nonce bassist go through the motions and went home.
3. The total shows should've been even higher, but we missed several. In the spring we missed a pair of hometown Maisie Peters shows due to a family tragedy. In August I missed seeing be your own PET! for the first time in fifteen years due to a different family tragedy, and we missed seeing Sabrina Carpenter headlining at the Hammersmith Odeon due to being stranded in Amsterdam after easyjet cancelled our flight home. It's not been a great year, all things considered.
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