Gig Survey 2011

Top 5 shows of the year?

1. Rolo Tomassi - May 7th (Garage, London)
2. Katy Perry - March 18th (Hammersmith Odeon, London)
3. VersaEmerge - May 26th (King’s College, London)
4. Rolo Tomassi - October 29th (Camden Barfly, London)
5. Taylor Swift - March 30th (BT Cellnet Arena, London)

Total number of shows? A meagre 10 - my lowest since 2003.

First show of the year? 
Rose Dougall at Hoxton Square. I was bored witless and left early to get a Chinese with Dana. Given that last year’s most disappointing gig was Rose at the Flowerpot I shouldn’t’ve been surprised.

Last show of the year? 
A free Rolo Tomassi gig at Camden Barfly. Great to see them somewhere so small again.

Most surprising show? 
Taylor Swift. I only went to see the earlier, country stuff but I was surprised at how much fun I had and how emotional it made me.

Most disappointing? Rose again (clearly I haven’t learnt) or the Subways for refusing to play You Got Me.

Farthest travelled? Hammersmith. 60 miles. Not quite as far as last year’s trip to Vienna.

States attended shows in? Emotional, overwhelmed, underwhelmed, cheerful, aroused.

Venue most visited? The BT Cellnet arena twice - if we count Glee.

Worst injury? Taylor Swift broke my heart.

Most expensive ticket? Glee was £50.

Band seen the most? Rolo Tomassi and The Subways, both twice.

Best new discovery? VersaEmerge and We Are The In Crowd (although I didn’t see the latter this year)

Bands seen this year that also broke up this year? None, although Rilo Kiley called it a day this year.

Friends made at shows? None. Most of the time I was with Dana so had someone to talk to, and at Taylor Swift I was too scared to approach anyone in case I got arrested/put on a register.

Band members met? Billy and Charlotte from the Subways, and Steve and Laura-Mary at Brighton station.

Best souvenir from a show? My Rolo Tomassi t-shirts and cushion are both well used.

Longest time in line? About half an hour before Katy Perry, although we were up at the O2 all day for Glee.

Shows seen from the barricade [front row]? The Subways at the Farmhouse. I did get pretty close for Rolo Tomassi in October too.

Most shows in one month? March had 2 (Katy Perry and Taylor Swift) as did May (Rolo Tomassi and VersaEmerge).

Most shows in one week? 1.

Biggest crowd? Taylor Swift selling out the O2.

Any drunk encounters? I’m fairly sure I was a bit drunk for the Subways at the Buffalo Bar. I know I wanted to be very drunk at Rose’s gig.

Top 5 best 2011 concert moments: 

1. Hearing Rolo Tomassi play Cosmology at the Garage and Barfly, and realising just how awesome music can be.

2. Katy Perry’s set in general. The perfect mix of sugary pop and knowing winks to those grown up enough to get her lyrics. Like a fluffier Rammstein, if you replace fire with candy floss.

3. The general cheerful atmosphere at Darren Criss’s gig.

4. DJ Skeet playing a snatch of Friday before Katy Perry’s gig. This was the second Friday since it had really broke online, and that (and hearing someone else on the escalators at King’s Cross singing it after the gig) made me realise quite how huge it was going to be.

5. I know it’s more of a show than a gig, but the handhold during Somebody To Love at Glee.

Top 3 worst 2011 concert moments: 

1. The Subways not playing You Got Me.

2. That dull Rose gig.

3. Not realising the girl behind me at Darren Criss was thingy from Harry Potter until after the show. (Gosh, no idea why I didn’t recognise her.)

Most listened to artists of 2009

1 Rose Elinor Dougall 455
2 The Pipettes 417
3 Rilo Kiley 275
4 Metric 253
5 Rosie and The Goldbug 222
5 Glee Cast 222
7 Blood Red Shoes 213
8 Yeah Yeah Yeahs 211
9 Garbage 186
10 Rammstein 182
11 Little Boots 164
12 Miley Cyrus 150
13 Johnny Foreigner 147
14 Sky Larkin 134
15 Metallica 124
16 Bruce Springsteen 108
17 Led Zeppelin 104
18 The Donnas 102
19 The Subways 97
20 Rolo Tomassi 92
21 Katy Perry 77
22 Paramore 69
22 Jenny Lewis 69
22 Be Your Own Pet 69
25 Manic Street Preachers 67
26 AC/DC 66
27 The Dresden Dolls 65
28 The Answering Machine 62
29 The Long Blondes 61
30 Gwenno 58

Songs of the Decade: 10 - 1

10. Rammstein - Sonne
Lazily described as "music to invade Poland to", Rammstein are...just Rammstein. Industrial dance metal in German. Incredibly over the top. This song/video was the first to get me into them. It famously made it into Kerrang's top 100 singles of all time despite never being released over here.



9. Ash - Burn Baby Burn
Sometimes you want songs that are intricate in their beauty, swooping and diving and incorporating half a dozen different genres in 7 minutes. Other times you just want something fun to jump around to. Ash fill the latter rather well.



8. Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
Oh piss off, I'm not a heartless beast. I like this song.

You don't have to listen to it if you don't want to, no embedding.

7. The Streets - Dry Your Eyes
That one threw you, didn't it? This song struck a chord with me over the summer of 2004 and probably helped me man the fuck up. That, and it managed to be single of the week on BBC Radio 2.



6. The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now
Whatever you may think of Pete Doherty as a person, he co-wrote the odd great song. I think it may have been Phonogram who described this song as "you & me vs the world and each other" - it's a post pub pissed up celebration of all things fun.



5. William Shatner - Common People
Let's get one thing straight - the 15 year old original is a classic. However, sometimes a cover comes along that lends a new voice to it, and improves on it. The extra guitars on this make it the second best cover of the decade.



4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
The most heartbreakingly beautiful love song I've ever heard, and then I heard the acoustic version.



3. Johnny Foreigner - Salt, Pepper and Spinderella
If you're thinking "why is a so-so indie band in the top three of the decade?" listen to this song and wait until 1:43 when the tempo really starts.



2. Johnny Cash - Hurt
If this video and song don't make you cry, you're not human.



1. Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes
If I had to pick a song that would be the only one I'd listen to for the rest of my life, it would be this one.

Songs of the Decade: 20 - 11

20. Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
If this music video were a Friends episode, it would be "the one with the underwear party". The partial nudity of the video hides a surprisingly upbeat message for a band considered to be emo, and a cracking guitar solo at 1:38. Trivia: the album that this is from was originally titled Bleed American upon its release in July 2001. Any guesses why it was renamed Jimmy Eat World two months later?



19. Nathan Fillion - Everyone's a Hero
Gosh, two upbeat songs in a row! This is the show stopping, crowd rousing number from last summer's Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Made for about fourpence ha'penny, and featuring singing, Joss Whedon's writing, Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion, it was obviously going to be popular with me.



18. Jenny Lewis - See Fernando
Jenny Lewis is one of only two women I've ever been rendered completely speechless by their beauty. (Summer Glau doesn't count - she scares me into silence.) Here's the stunningly gorgeous redhead singing undoubtedly the highlight of her (hit and miss) second solo album - if you don't dance, you're inhuman.



17. Blood Red Shoes - This Is Not For You
Hah! I bet you thought they'd be higher, didn't you? Well, don't try and second guess me again. An absolutely blinding, powerful song, with a great video in which you're never too sure whether Steve and Laura-Mary are going to kill each other or fuck each other. The second best single from the album, and if the original video for Say Something Say Anything had been released, that would probably have taken top spot. As it happens, click the link below, and enjoy this.


Embedding disabled by request.

16. Amanda Palmer - Oasis
A jaunty, Beach Boys style poppy number about date rape, abortion and Britpop bands. Sure to be in the Daily Mail's top ten of the decade.




15. Garbage - Tell Me Where It Hurts
Hah! Fool you again! The lead-off single from their long awaited Greatest Hits album, it's not as good as their mid 90s heights but it's still a beautiful song. Now slightly tarnished by the fact that every time I watch this video my mind is thinking "OMG she's a Terminator save John Connor run stop Skynet!"




14. Rosie And The Goldbug - Lover
Every so often you'll hear a song by a band you've never heard of before that, as soon as it ends, makes you think "I need to hear that again". You'll end up spending an entire evening listening to it on repeat and forcing people to hear it so that they enjoy its awesomey goodness. Last December, this was that song.



13. Embrace - Ashes
I didn't put this song in here because of the cricket in 2005. While it does lead to good memories, uplifting feelings and a general happy emotion, that's not what I associate with this song. If, the moment you hear the opening bars, you think of Kristen Bell on the back of a custom bike riding along a clifftop highway towards a limo pulled in by a broken crash barrier, and a hoard of moneyed teens gaping at a floating school bus, then I'm right there with you. It's played at the end of the season two opener of Veronica Mars, probably one of the best episodes of television this decade. (Oooh, idea!)



12. Duke Spirit - Lion Rip
This is a song I usually close mix CDs with. It's an absolutely freight train of a song, thundering towards the end, building and building to an apocalyptic climax aided and abetted by some fantastic machine gun guitar work.



11. Raveonettes - That Great Love Sound
The first boy/girl duo I ever fell for. Both impossibly pretty, this video plays on the mythical sexual tension that lazy journalists invent whenever there's a girl in the band.



So with Garbage, Blood Red Shoes, Los Campesinos, Rose Elinor Dougall, Dr Horrible, Buffy all out of the way, who on earth will make up the top ten? Expect a few that'll make you go "seriously? wtf?" and a pair that'll make you go "oh, of course!" in the top ten.

Songs of the Decade: 30 - 21

30. Metric - Dead Disco
No, not Little Boots' former band, but a track by Canadian rockers Metric. Almost disco-rock in combining the synths and guitars, this was what broke them in the UK.



29. Goldfrapp - Strict Machine
Back when I was at uni we used to spend all our lunchtimes in the Penny Theatre (a Scream pub) round the corner abusing their cheap burgers. On the video jukebox they used to play a random selection and on came this kaleidoscopicly surreal track. One of those songs that you can't help to dance to.

Go here and have a listen.

28. Dandy Warhols - We Used To Be Friends
I remember downloading this in 2003 when it was originally released. It lay undisturbed on an old playlist CD for years before being dug out again when I started watching Veronica Mars - this being the extremely apt title song. Again, it dropped off my radar until September this year - walking into HMV in town I spotted someone from school who, let's say, the intervening years have not been kind to - just as this song came on the in-store PA system. Perfect timing.



27. OK Go - Get Over It
Possibly the only music video to ever use the lyrics of the song as a starting point for content. Go watch it here.

26. Distillers - City Of Angels
Way back in 2002, towards the end of the beautifulgarbage era, Garbage were supporting No Doubt on their USA arena tour. Kerrang magazine had an interview along the lines of women in rock (always a good thing with me) and interviewed Shirley Manson & Gwen Stefani, the lead singers of the two bands, as well as Brody Armstrong (as she was then) of the opening band The Distillers. As I sat down to read it at home this video came on Kerrang TV (I was themed back then). In 2009 I saw Spinnerette (Brody's new band) in London, and she's still as cool as fuck.



25. Donnas - Take It Off
Four girls who grew up listening to classic rock bands such as Kiss, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, and AC/DC. If you were to analyse my entire music tastes from the last 25 years and portion them out between the various factors, this band would be the result. Now enjoying a resurgence due to Rock Band/Guitar Hero needing bands with female vocalists.

Go listen to it here.

24. Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!
A few years ago I was made to listen to this band by Katy. I'm glad I did. A hectic multinational seven piece, there's more imagination and variety in this one song than in the entire musical output of a lot of chart bands.



23. Glee - Don't Stop Believin'
Most people reading this won't have heard of Glee. It's like High School Musical (no! come back!) if it were written by Tina Fey - full of snark and wit that holds up on repeated viewing. The pilot is showing on E4 on Tuesday 15th December at 9pm, and this cover of the Journey classic closes that episode.

Again, no embedding.

22. Florence & The Machine - Kiss With A Fist
I have to say that the rest of Florence's album didn't do it for me, but it's so different to the opening promise shown by this song that it's understandable. First promoted to me by Hannah, I lost the mp3 during a tidy of my computer, before hearing it again at Lounge on the Farm before Los Campesinos!'s set. It's not about spousal abuse, apparently.

No embedding.

21. Rose Elinor Dougall - Fallen Over
As the Manics' song at number 61 was the oldest song on this decade list, this one is the newest, being released only three days ago. However, I've loved it since the first time I stalked saw Rose live back in April. Due to the low budget nature of the label, there's not even a video for me to link to, so check it out at Rose's Myspace.

Songs of the Decade: 40 - 31

40. The Barbs - Massive Crush
Pop-punk band, with boy/girl lyrics, and a hot chick bassist? No, it's not the Subways - the Barbs actually came first and had the Subways support them on an early tour. What's more odd is that half of the band come from Chatham in Kent, not really known for being an indie hotspot.



39. Auf der Maur - Followed The Waves
Hot redheaded bassist. One of only two lead singers who play bass as well, alongside Lemmy (although I'm sure people will no doubt contradict me on that). The last time I saw her live was in 2004, after the August Bank Holiday weekend, at the Astoria. The band opening that gig were a small-time three piece outfit called The Subways.

No embedding once again.

38. Queens Of The Stone Age - Go With The Flow
A quite brilliant, possibly racist, definitely sexual video. Josh Homme is the lucky sod married to Brody Dalle (formerly of The Distillers, and now of Spinnerette) and allegedly kicked his childhood friend out of his band for spousal abuse.

Another one Universal don't want me to embed.

37. Easyworld - Bleach
Self described as "the only young people in Eastbourne who aren't Toploader", this track was the first I heard by them and is still a cracking song to jump around to. The follow-up album, Kill The Last Romantic, was criminally depressing, and the band called it a day in 2004, after a decent slot at the V festival and joining up with Mark Lamarr to insult me on Radio 2.



36. Feeder - Just A Day
"We need a new video to promote our new single, but we're away on tour!" "I know, lets get the fans to film themselves singing along and making fools of themselves!"



35. Avril Lavigne - He Wasn't
I'm fairly certain that this is the last pop act on my list. Another one of those songs to jump around to and have fun with.



34. Bruce Springsteen - Outlaw Pete
There won't be many end-of-decade lists that have Avril Lavigne and Bruce Springsteen concurrently. The opening track from The Boss's latest album, it's an 8 minute epic which may or may not steal the riff from I Was Made For Lovin' You by Kiss.



33. Jace Everett - Bad Things
If you've been keeping up with the popular vampire thing based on the series of books that everybody loves, featuring a shapeshifter and a vampire competing for the heroine's affections, and a telepath finding love with someone they finally can't read, then you'll know all about this song. If you think the above sentence refers to Twilight and not True Blood, then congratulations, you've got a fantastic series of well-written vampire/shapeshifter/werewolf/weretiger/faerie/etc books ahead of you.



32. Nu - Any Other Girl
Nu were a Norwegian disco-pop band who I got into in the early part of this decade. I believe they've split up now (their site produces a 404) but due to their amazingly un-Google-friendly name I've not been able to find out much else. I can't even find a proper music video - just this fan vid (featuring Cordelia Chase).



31. Pretty Girls Make Graves - Speakers Push The Air
Possibly the most beautiful opening few bars of a song ever.

Songs of the Decade: 50 - 41

50. Long Blondes - Separated By Motorways
I saw the Long Blondes live twice. Both times they bored me. That didn't stop them being quite excellent on record, however, and this is still a cracking song. Never mind that the band just remind me of Laura from the Phonogram Singles Club series of comic books.



49. Be Your Own Pet - Take That Walk
BYOP were the first band I followed from underground through press stardom to breakup. I saw them in nearly every London gig they ever played, and they helped me gain some cracking friends. I first heard of them on a radio show about female singers - the complete history of me and them has been better covered here.



48. The Subways - Oh Yeah
Mind you, if I thought BYOP had an effect on my life, it's nothing compared to the Subways. Granted, I may have had my disagreements with the lead singer, but they're the band I've seen the most live (so far) and they introduced me to a fuckload of cool people, and other bands indirectly from them.

Still can't help but sing "Cal's Mum" instead of the title though.



47. Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure
Maximo are one of those bands that I feel I really ought to listen to more, but I've tried and I've never really had that connection to them. That said, Maximo were great the only time I've seen them live (and that despite being cold, wet and pissed off with Glastonbury) and I do like this song.



46. Graham Coxon - Freakin' Out
Met him once, at a festival in Finsbury Park. Incredibly tall man. Used to be in Blur, don't you know?



45. The Kills - The Good Ones
Sleazy, bluesy, but oh so sexy. Makes a bassline sound like a sexual predator.



44. Dragonforce - Through The Fire & The Flames
Any comment I post won't do it the justice that this link will do. Go there, it explains everything.



43. Go Home Productions - Ray Of Gob
In the early part of this decade mashups were the craze. The vocals from one song mixed with the instruments of another. The trend was killed off rather expertly by the Sugababes (in their 65465465th incarnation) mashing Gary Numan with Tubelord's "Are Friends Electric?" but before that we had some fantastic mashes, including this one of Madonna's Ray Of Light with the Sex Pistols' God Save The Queen.



42. Dresden Dolls - Coin Operated Boy
From the sublime to the quite frankly bonkers. Two musicians, one drummer who plays the instrument like he's afraid they'll rise up and overpower him, and one pianist who sings. Words can't do it justice.

It's not about sex toys.



41. Charlotte Hatherley - Bastardo
Spot the stars! Simon Pegg! David Walliams! Emma Frost! Directed by the guy who did Hot Fuzz/Shaun Of The Dead/Scott Pilgrim! The fabricated tale of which earnt me a 1st for a presentation on eBay, which was the only 1st I ever got during four years at university!