Best gigs of 2024

In no particular order.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - O2 Arena London.

Tom Robinson Band Islington Assembly Hall - London.

The Damned - Friars - Aylesbury.

Doctors of Madness - 100 Club - London.

I went to two, and Beat was definitely the better gig (over The Chameleons, mainly because of the venue and horrendous sound quality).

The first three are ranked as my favorite concerts of 2024. The remaining are in no particular order, mainly because trying to rank them, after the top three, was just too difficult. ("Oh yeah, that show was awesome because ... but that show, on the other hand ...") All these shows were in Seattle.

Madness, WaMu Arena
Weezer/The Flaming Lips/Dinosaur Jr, Climate Pledge Arena
The Damned/The Avengers, Showbox
The Rolling Stones, Lumen Field
Peter Hook & the Light, The Showbox
The Kills, Showbox SoDo
The Hoodoo Gurus, Neptune Theatre
ELO, Climate Pledge Arena
Black Flag, El Corazón

In fact, that list includes all the rock gigs I saw in 2024, save for one: Adam Ant/The English Beat, at the Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs. That's the only concert I saw that doesn't merit inclusion on my list of favorites.

In other musical dimensions: Mahler's 1st Symphony, performed by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at Benaroya Hall, was magnificent. Itzhak Perlman at Benaroya was sublimely wonderful. The symphony performance of Blackstar was cool too, except during the "encore" (a few more Bowie songs), when John Cameron Mitchell (who'd been providing the vocals, alongside the marvelous Gail Ann Dorsey) decided to cut loose and take things in a quasi-burlesque direction. He was wearing a tuxedo jacket & shirt with a black skirt, and ended up thrashing about onstage and giving the audience several upskirt views. Personally, I could've done without that.

Just remembered another one that's pretty good. Penetration and Essential Logic at the Islington Assembly Hall. Essential Logic were fabulous.

When 2024 started, I thought this might the be the beginning of the (expected) decline of shows attended. Well, I was wrong. 2024 was an exceptional year, I went to almost 60 shows.

The Sadies - Jammin' Java
The Feelies - Black Cat
Pylon Reenactment Society - Comet Ping Pong
The Aquabats - Fillmore
Redd Kross - Atlantis
Paranoid Visions - Rebellion Festival
Turn, Turn, Turn - Jammin' Java
Powerwolf - Fillmore
Hoodoo Gurus - Birchmere
BEAT - Warner Theater

Special mention goes to Bad Religion and Yes but they were co-headliners with a dud (Social Distortion) and average (Deep Purple).

Awesome. I don't know how I missed that Sadies show. I saw them in 2023 down the street from me at the Runaway and they were great, but unfortunately I got sick in the middle of the set, and then the Runaway closed this year.

Dave Graney & the Coral Snakes - Factory Theatre
Explosions in the Sky (+ great supports in Aldous Harding and The Middle East) - Sydney Opera House
Mogwai - Enmore Theatre
The Saints 73-78 - Enmore Theatre
Radio Birdman - Sydney University



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2024 07:12PM by Aitch.

Really hoping The Saints 73 - 78 tour the UK.

You have your wish, Keith.
Friday November 21, Bristol Trinity.
Saturday November 22, Leeds Project House.
Sunday November 23, Glasgow, Garage
Monday November 24, Manchester Academy 2
Wednesday November 26, London, Electric Ballroom
As an added bonus you get flavour of the month Chimers as the support.

Let's see if this works (by the way, to get this so neat I copied/pasted my list from setlist.fm into a ChatGPT, and told it to make a spreadsheet sorted by date. I could have exported as CSV or HTML but for this purpose it's great.) This omits some smaller opening acts who aren't big enough to have their own profile on setlist.fm, but it's pretty comprehensive. I wonder why I didn't see any shows in January or February 2024?

Date Artist(s) Venue Location
Mar 09, 2024 JFDR, Axel Flóvent, GRÓA Reykjavik Calling: Iceland Airwaves 2024 -
Mar 21, 2024 Haley Heynderickx Millennium Stage Washington, DC, USA
Mar 22, 2024 Kim Gordon, Bill Nace Black Cat Washington, DC, USA
Mar 29, 2024 El Perro del Mar Millennium Stage Washington, DC, USA
Apr 26, 2024 Teenage Fanclub, Sweet Baboo 9:30 Club Washington, DC, USA
May 04, 2024 The Kennedys Montpelier Arts Center Laurel, MD, USA
May 23, 2024 Kristin Hersh Millennium Stage Washington, DC, USA
May 31, 2024 Dwight Yoakam, The Mavericks, Landon Parker The Anthem Washington, DC, USA
Jun 05, 2024 Swansea Sound, Jeanines, The Owners Quarry House Tavern Silver Spring, MD, USA
Jun 09, 2024 English Teacher, Pretty Bitter The Atlantis Washington, DC, USA
Jun 19, 2024 Camera Obscura, Photo Ops 9:30 Club Washington, DC, USA
Jun 30, 2024 Alanis Morissette, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Morgan Wade Merriweather Post Pavilion Columbia, MD, USA
Jul 03, 2024 Pedro the Lion, Flock of Dimes The Atlantis Washington, DC, USA
Jul 19, 2024 Carly Rae Jepsen Nationals Park Washington, DC, USA
Aug 02, 2024 Quivers, Dim Wizard, BRNDA Comet Ping Pong Washington, DC, USA
Aug 30, 2024 Silverada, Jason Scott & The High Heat The Atlantis Washington, DC, USA
Sep 07, 2024 Bruce Springsteen Nationals Park Washington, DC, USA
Sep 13, 2024 The dB’s, The Mayflies USA The Atlantis Washington, DC, USA
Sep 15, 2024 Ladybird Vanish Farmwoods Brewery Leesburg, VA, USA
Sep 22, 2024 Brigitte Calls Me Baby The Atlantis Washington, DC, USA
Sep 28, 2024 Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers, Heavy MakeUp Warner Theatre Washington, DC, USA
Oct 06, 2024 Johnny Marr, James Warner Theatre Washington, DC, USA
Oct 25, 2024 Robyn Hitchcock, Imogen Clark The Atlantis Washington, DC, USA
Nov 01, 2024 Skylar Gudasz Georgetown University Washington, DC, USA
Nov 13, 2024 Seán Barna DC9 Washington, DC, USA
Nov 23, 2024 The Nields Jammin Java Vienna, VA, USA
Dec 08, 2024 They Might Be Giants 9:30 Club Washington, DC, USA



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2025 10:28PM by zwirnm.

Aitch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You have your wish, Keith.
> Friday November 21, Bristol Trinity.
> Saturday November 22, Leeds Project House.
> Sunday November 23, Glasgow, Garage
> Monday November 24, Manchester Academy 2
> Wednesday November 26, London, Electric Ballroom
> As an added bonus you get flavour of the month
> Chimers as the support.
Many thanks for the heads up Aitch will buy a couple of tickets when they become available later today. London date is on Wednesday, not a good day, but will worry about that in November.

US dates for later in the year added, too. Again Chimers are the support.

US dates. Phew,DC made the cut.

November 5 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
November 6 & 7 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
November 8 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
November 9 – Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre
November 11 – Chicago, IL – Cabaret Metro
November 13 – Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre
November 14 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
November 15 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
November 16 – Washington, D.C. – Union Stage

Thrilled to see that Portland did too!

Likewise for Seattle. I never thought I'd get a chance to see The Saints. And in one of my favorite venues too.

Bought my tix this morning!

The best gig I saw this year was The Nits 50th Anniversary show in Amsterdam. After nearly 40 years of fandom we finally did it and went over for a gig. Which was magical. They played their new "Tree House Fire" EP in full up front and the live performance was spectacular. Warm and glowing. With elegant staging.

Then there was Men Without Hats at the Totally Tubular festival. A half hour of everything I wanted to hear but I couldn't have imagined the ferocity that the band delivered it with! I had no idea. I was thrilled from the first moment they burst onstage with "Safety Dance." You start out with your biggest hit and the energy is there from the get go. Then they played my favorites…boom…boom…boom! They closed with the 12" version of "Safety Dance." Some cast aspersions at that conceit. I thought it was a brilliant, bold move.

The dBs were awesome. Pure quality and class all the way. The Chameleons were fantastic, but so were The Veldt who opened! I hadn't seen The Veldt in 30+ years [Cocteau Twins tour] but they really impressed. I liked finally seeing ABC after over 40 years. And even though I don't like Howard Jones, his set was transformed by his current band [with Nick Beggs]. I actually really enjoyed a Howard Jones concert even though ABC were done and I could have left! Never say never.

2024 concerts
Andrew Cholmondeley, Stick Men | The Grey Eagle, Asheville, NC | 2-28-24
Nits | The Royal Theatre Carré, Amsterdam, Netherlands | 4-13-24
The Metamorph | Galleri Harlech, Harlech, Wales | 4-19-24
Eddie Muñoz of The Plimsouls | Totally Tubular Festival, Red Hat Amphitheater - Raleigh, NC | 7-13-24
Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow | Totally Tubular Festival, Red Hat Amphitheater - Raleigh, NC | 7-13-24
The Tubes | Totally Tubular Festival, Red Hat Amphitheater - Raleigh, NC | 7-13-24
Men Without Hats | Totally Tubular Festival, Red Hat Amphitheater - Raleigh, NC | 7-13-24
Modern English | Totally Tubular Festival, Red Hat Amphitheater - Raleigh, NC | 7-13-24
Tom Bailey of Thompson Twins | Totally Tubular Festival, Red Hat Amphitheater - Raleigh, NC | 7-13-24
Thomas Dolby | Totally Tubular Festival, Red Hat Amphitheater - Raleigh, NC | 7-13-24
Haircut 100/ABC★★★/Howard Jones | Temple Live Masonic, Cleveland | 8-31-24
Rosegarden Funeral Party/The March Violets | The Grey Eagle, Asheville, NC | 9-12-24
The dBs | Eulogy, Asheville, NC | 9-20-24
The Veldt/The Chameleons | The Radio Room, Greenville, SC | 10-24-24

I thoroughly agree about Men Without Hats. I knew a couple of songs, of course, but I wasn't a fan. After seeing them in Raleigh (I attended the same show you did!) I came away with a new appreciatiation! They sounded fantastic and played with tons of energy and humor. Lot's of fun, indeed.

Not gonna lie - I can't even remember any rock concerts I saw in 2024. I'm sure I saw a couple, but they must not have been that memorable. I'm becoming less and less interested in rock shows as I age - even when they're not the same, they all seem the same, you know what I mean? Plus I'm feeling like I've seen all my favorites I need to see, and I can count the number of new rock bands* that speak to me on one hand and not need all my fingers. I've spent the last decade as a music critic trying not to be the old fart who only writes about stuff he already likes, but it's gotten impossible for me to do anything else in the rock and pop world. I've thrown in the towel.

For me the best shows I saw were (in order of appearance):

Myra Melford Fire & Water Quintet @ Draylon Mason Studios
Sultan Stevenson/Chelsea Carmichael @ The Velveeta Room, SXSW
William Parker's Mayan Space Station @ The Rosette
Tarbaby @ Draylon Mason Studios
The Marc Ribot Quartet featuring Mary Halvorson @ Draylon Mason Studios

All but the Ribot show and the SXSW show were presented/promoted by local company Epistrophy Arts.

Interestingly (well, to me), none of those venues are actual jazz clubs. Draylon Mason Studios is the performance studio of Austin's classical radio station, and probably the venue I've visited the most over the last few years. It's become my favorite place for music performances, despite the uncomfortable chairs. The Rosette is a former elementary school that's now booked and managed by the Austin Classical Guitar society. Great sound and sightlines in the performance space, but the walk through a dead school to the bathroom is kinda creepy. The Velveeta Room is a comedy club. A club is a club, of course, but it's interesting to me that Austin has three thriving jazz clubs, and my favorite jazz/improvisation/"adventurous music" (to use Epistrophy Arts' term) shows were at clubs that don't focus on jazz. For whatever that's worth.

*By which I mean new bands made up of young unknowns, as opposed to new bands formed by veterans I already know and like

> Great sound and sightlines in the performance space, but
> the walk through a dead school to the bathroom is kinda creepy.

Yeah, I can relate. At least three former schools in Colorado Springs have been converted to commercial use. Two of them have become the homes of popular brewpubs. Great places to visit when I'm in my hometown, and great places to enjoy a pint or two ... but it does feel odd to excuse oneself and walk through halls that little kids used to walk through, on their way to class or to the restroom.

Just to make it worse, they didn't turn the lights on in the abandoned halls on the way to the bathrooms.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2025 06:29PM by Michael Toland.

Oh dear. That's a bad look.

Michael, you think you're that guy? I've been focused on being the Post-Punk Monk since about 1990 when I got off the current music bandwagon and pretty much kept my eyes on the rear view mirror of music ever since. But at least with the blog I'm actually hearing more new artists than ever in ages.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

Only gig of 2024: Bailter Space at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia.

Tinnitus be damned.

Yeah, they are darned loud.