My top five gigs of 2011
As we're coming up to the end of the year — and I don't have any more gigs until next year — I've decided to summarise my five favourite gigs of 2011. I've linked to full reviews of the gigs where relevant.
#5 — Calvin Harris @ Amnesia, Ibiza on 15th September 2011
Calvin Harris isn't generally in my top list of favourite musicians, but I enjoy his music enough that we decided to go and see his DJ set at the Amnesia nightclub in Ibiza. The other club nights that night were either overpriced and/or had terrible lineups, so Calvin Harris was our best option. Despite extortionate drink prices (three double vodka and cokes came to €45, and bottle of water was €10) and being offered a plethora or different intoxicating substances, standing in the huge crowd, being engulfed every few minutes with dry ice, and leaving at 5am was all in all a great experience; one unlike any I've had before.
#4 — Rise Against @ O2 Brixton Academy, London on 9th November 2011
I very much enjoy intimate gigs in venues such as Brixton, especially when one of all time favourite bands are playing. I have seen them a number of times before, but what this gig as a whole so good, was the support act that night — Tom Morello (a.k.a. The Nightwatchman), best known as the guitarist of Rage Against The Machine. His solo material is brilliant, and he really got the crowd going ready for Rise Against. As well as dropping a RATM riff or two, and giving powerful speeches about the US government and the London riots, he brought out Billy Bragg with Zach Blair and Tim McIlrath from Rise Against for a singalong to his song “World Wide Rebel Songs”. That, followed by a typically brilliant and energetic set from Rise Against, made it a very memorable night.
#3 — Plan B @ V Festival, Chelmsford on 20th August 2011
I could have included V Festival as a whole as one of my favourite gigs, but as it's a festival, it doesn't really count, so I decided to pick one act from the weekend that I enjoyed the most. Although I would say beforehand I was looking forward to Eminem's set the most (and it was indeed brilliant), Plan B was someone I had wanted to see for quite a while after hearing his “Defamation of Strickland Banks” album. Taking the stage after Kaiser Chiefs, Plan B first brought out his hype man, FaithSFX, who can do truly amazing things with his voice, from singing Ain't No Sunshine (with the instrumentation at the same time) to performing Transformers sound effects. The rest of Plan B's set was brilliant, consisting mainly of songs from the Strickland Banks album, but with some from his debut album “Who Needs Actions When You've Got Words&rdquo and a couple of nice covers — Kiss from a Rose and Stand By Me.
#2 — UKF Bass Culture @ Alexandra Palace, London on 25th November 2011
I have already written a full review of this gig, so I won't go into too much detail here. Throughout the night, I saw Nero, Zane Lowe, Knife Party, Chase & Status and Skrillex. The gig was at the amazing Alexandra Palace in North London, and was the first all-night gig I had been to. Sadly, I found out the next day that two attendees had died after taking a suspected rogue batch of MDMA — something myself and friends were offered numerous times.
#1 — Foo Fighters @ National Bowl, Milton Keynes on 2nd July 2011
This gig tops my list of gigs of 2011, and probably of all time too. I am a huge fan of Foo Fighters, and before seeing them, they were the only band left on my list of 'bands I needed to see before I die'. Taking place in the huge National Bowl with a capacity of 65,000, the day saw three support acts take the stage before the mighty Foos. Two of these were bands I wasn't too familiar with, Tame Impala and Death Cab For Cutie, but the third act was another of my favourite bands, Biffy Clyro, who put on a great support set. The Foos' set lasted over 2 and half hours and they continually belted out hit after hit, as well as bringing out a number of guests — Queen drummer Roger Taylor, Hüsker Dü guitarist Bob Mould and the amazing Alice Cooper — for collaborations and covers. They finished the night with a smashing performance of my favourite Foos song, “Everlong”, accompanied by fireworks.
