Notable concerts seen this year

[alucard]

VdGG (Paris)
Tangerine Dream (Bruxelles)
One Shot (Paris)
Dick Annegarn (Paris)
Pixvae (Paris)
Pere Ubu (Paris)
Derya Ylderim (La Rochelle)

[Trane]

I was recently speaking to a couple of usual concert-buddies suspects (at Lachy Doley and Tigran Hamassian concerts), saying that I (we actually) was/were probably living my/our last years of concert-going, because of lack or excitement or self-enthusiasm.

A few years ago, I never forgot or lost sight of the date of a concert that I had bought a ticket months before, slowly letting the excitement build up until the fatidic date... But of late, I've found out that if I don't have some buddies reminding me of tomorrow's concert and transport & restaurant arrangements, I might've simply forgotten about it.

Sure, I can also blame that there are no physical/hard tickets anymore (unless I buy them at the desk and insisted for one). I normally left them on my desk in full eyesight and played a few albums in preceding weeks to prepare the concert a bit.

[SteveSly]

The opening band was The Acid Helps, one of the worst bands I have ever seen on a professional stage but perhaps most appropriately named.

That's right, it is all coming back to me now. I remember them not doing much of anything for me.

[SteveSly]

I was recently speaking to a couple of usual concert-buddies suspects (at Lachy Doley and Tigran Hamassian concerts), saying that I (we actually) was/were probably living my/our last years of concert-going, because of lack or excitement or self-enthusiasm.

A few years ago, I never forgot or lost sight of the date of a concert that I had bought a ticket months before, slowly letting the excitement build up until the fatidic date... But of late, I've found out that if I don't have some buddies reminding me of tomorrow's concert and transport & restaurant arrangements, I might've simply forgotten about it.

Sure, I can also blame that there are no physical/hard tickets anymore (unless I buy them at the desk and insisted for one). I normally left them on my desk in full eyesight and played a few albums in preceding weeks to prepare the concert a bit.

Although the concert experience has changed for me over the years, I still love it as much as I ever have. I remember when I was young being so excited that sometimes I could not sleep the night before, then just jumping in the car with a bunch of beer and friends and driving sometimes hours to shows with no care in the world. These days there is a lot more planning involved, and that feeling of excitement is not as strong, but I still enjoy it a lot. I remember when I was in my mid-20’s thinking that maybe I had a few more years of concert going in me before I was too old. Today in my 60’s, I attend more concerts than ever because I have both the time and the money to do so. I will go to concerts until I physically can’t anymore, which is hopefully still a way down the road. The live music experience is still my favorite thing to do in life.

[GuitarGeek]

I didn't get to see very many concerts this year. In fact, I think I only saw three altogether:

Steve Hackett: back in like April or May, I think it was, I went down to see Hackett do his Second's Out show, at the Goodyear Theater in Akron. That was a really good show. Always great to hear Supper's Ready, The Cinema Show, etc live.

Brit Floyd: billed as "The World's Greatest Pink Floyd tribute", they played at Cain Park, around the corner from my house, literally a 15 minute walk, if even that. Much more expensive than I expected it to be, but well worth it. They put on a good stage show, with lasers, films, etc, and they did a great cross section of Pink Floyd music. THey did Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, as well as at least one song from every album from Meddle up through The Division Bell.

Nick Mason's A Saucerful Of Secrets: Arkon Civic Auditorium, in Akron, Ohio. I couldn't get a ride to the show, so I rode Greyhound down and spent the night at a hotel down the street from the venue. That trip ended up being a lot more expensive than I meant for it to be, but it was worth it, because it might be my "last hurrah" of such events. I dunno how much traveling I'm going to be able to do in the future, even overnight things like that, due to the way my life is going these days. But anyway, it was a great show, the band played great, I think did a few songs this time they didn't do the last time I saw them, and Nick Mason, Guy Pratt, and Gary Kemp did a great job at being entertaining between the songs. And Gary made a really good point: you never see anyone wearing Spandau Ballet t-shirts.

[Mister Triscuits]

I didn’t see any prog/rock shows in 2022. I mostly just attended small experimental/improvisational/jazz performances by local artists. I think the only “big” shows I saw this year were Nicole Mitchell and Brandee Younger at SF Jazz, an extraordinary staged Stravinsky program of Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms, and a Shostakovich/Berg program by the San Francisco Symphony.

[NogbadTheBad]

The best straight concerts

Godspeed You Black Emperor
The Comet Is Coming
Zoe Keating


Significant disappointment
Sigur Ros

Big Ears Festival highlights
John Zorn Electric Masada (top show of the year)
Jaimie Branch Fly or Die
Dan Weiss Starebaby
Sons Of Kemet
John Zorn Chaos Magick
Nubya Garcia

Forgot the excellent Bent Knee concert, the last tour with Ben and Jessica.

[Steve F.]

one more to add to my list; saw this last night and it was deep and heartfelt and great.

[Marco]

Having recently moved from Northeast Brazil to Europe, cool concerts were finally available to me and I indulged myself heavily in them.

Year kicked off pretty nicely in March with Sex Magick Wizards in Berlin, then later the Zorn Festival at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie: Masada, New Masada, Electric Masada, Barbara Hannigan, Cobra, Brian Marsella Trio and the Gnostic Trio.

In April, saw Kanaan and Red Kite (both from Norway, featuring that damned country's two best drummers), plus Mildlife, Elder, Vug, and Marc Copland's quartet with Mark Feldman.

May had me seeing Needlepoint and Motorpsycho (with Needlepoint being the surprise opening act). Seeing Needlepoint two nights in a row was great. Also catched Amaro Freitas Trio, Pedro Martins (with Jeremy Stacey), and Mariana Zwarg's Sexteto Universal in the same festival. I also managed to see Black Midi play a short headlining set (60 mins, which is a joke considering how young these guys are), Nate Smith's KINFOLK, Oranssi Pazuzu, Marcin Masecki (playing Monk), Mathias Eick (again with Torstein on drums), and Eyvind Aarset. Busy month!

In June I catched Elder again, Elephant9, Stale Storlokken improvising on a small church organ, and Milton Nascimento on his farewell tour.

In July I saw a friend perform Matthias Pintscher's NUR, and also Webern, Schönberg, and Wagner. Next were Azymuth, Old Man Gloom (with Dead Neanderthals opening), and went to Herzberg Festival to hang out with my friends in Sex Magick Wizards. Also got to see Oiapok, Monoteur, Wallis Bird, Spidergawd, Monomyth, King Buffalo (meh), and Kadavar (meh).

In August I went to Krach am Bach, where Kanaan were the highlight band. Later I saw Melt-Banana, which was pretty cool.

In November I caught Green Lung (underwhelming live) and Clutch (great live but shit setlist).

p.s.: at some moment I also catched both Elder and Pallbearer on the same evening. I also catched One Shot rehearsing material off their new album in Paris.

[boilk]

Wow, that is an impressive list, Marco. How were Sex Magick Wizards and Red Kite overall, BTW? I know that RK's drummer is insane, haha.

Neil

[GuitarGeek]

I forgot to mention in my earlier post, I also saw The Legendary Pink Dots, at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights. I was able to walk home from the concert afterwards (actually, I had to, my phone had run out of juice, and therefore I was unable to catch the bus home, even if it was still running).

So that's four concerts I saw this year. I think that's all.

[boilk]

I was able to walk home from the concert afterwards (actually, I had to, my phone had run out of juice, and therefore I was unable to catch the bus home, even if it was still running).

Um, as someone who doesn't even own a cell phone, I'm intrigued. How is it you weren't able to catch a bus home, due to your phone being out of juice?

EDIT: I assume because you use it to pay your fare with?

Neil

[GuitarGeek]

Um, as someone who doesn't even own a cell phone, I'm intrigued. How is it you weren't able to catch a bus home, due to your phone being out of juice?

EDIT: I assume because you use it to pay your fare with?

Neil

Exactly. My bus pass is on my phone. It makes one less thing for me to worry about losing. The only thing is, as I said, if you have a long day, as I did the day of the Legendary Pink Dots gig, and don't have time to make a pit stop and charge up the phone, you're asking for trouble. I was actually not expecting the battery to run down as quickly as it did, but there ya go. Anyway, I wasn't sure if I'd have had been able to catch the bus anyway. I'm not sure if I'd have been able to get to the bus stop before the last bus went by. And like I said, it wasn't too far to walk home, a little less than 1.75 miles.

It's funny if you had said "1.75 miles" to me 30 years ago, I'd have thought "that's a long way to walk", but it turns out that was the distance I walked each way to go to a couple of the record stores I used to frequent. I never realized until recently that when I was in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades, I walked a total of around 3.5 miles every day, going to and from school (about 7/10 of a mile, each way, going to school, coming home for lunch, going back to school, and then coming home after school).

[Joe F.]

My favorites shows I saw this year were (in no particular order):

Kikagaku Moyo
Steve Hacket
Kamasi Washington
Simon Phillips Protocol V
Cheer-Accident
Moon Letters

[Marco]

Wow, that is an impressive list, Marco. How were Sex Magick Wizards and Red Kite overall, BTW? I know that RK's drummer is insane, haha.

Neil

SMW burned the house down the two times, and Red Kite hit it out of the park (albeit to a very empty house, shame on you Dresden promoter), but I'm biased as I'm friends with the SMW crew and with Torstein.

[FrippWire]

Steve Hackett
Stick Men
Adrian Belew
Anthony Braxton & James Fei
Jason Kao Hwang's Burning Bridge
Bishop/Hannaford Dectet Performs Works By Anthony Braxton
Robert Fripp/David Singleton - That Awful Man And His Manager

[Polska]

Got to see Oysterhead at the Sweetwater Music Fest in Atlanta. I think they said that was only their 10th live gig. Wild show.

[Brad 2 the Bone]

An impressive list by any estimation. I'd love to see some of those acts one day...

You saw 55 events this year? Did I read that right?

I attended at least one concert on 54 different days in 2022. I didn't add up the total number of concerts but some festival days could have as many as 5 or 6 shows in one day.

I'm obviously biased towards things I presented myself (a small 2-day event in May and a larger 3-day event in November) but highlights for 2022 included:

March 24th - Thus Owls, Club SAW

April 6th - Leprous with the Ocean, Bronson Centre

May 7th - Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Bronson Centre

May 14th - Houses of Worship (Ambient/Drone duo of Eric "Thisquietarmy" Quach + Jim "Hellenica" Demos), IMOO Spring Fling, Gigspace

May 14th - Chris Pitsiokos / Luke Stewart / Jason Nazary, IMOO Spring Fling, Gigspace

May 20th - Sean Noonan Pavee's Dance (with Malcolm Mooney, Ava Mendoza, Jamaladeen Tacuma), FIMAV

May 21st - Mary Halvorson "Amaryllis & Belladonna", FIMAV

May 22nd - Pangea De Futura (Large ensemble led by Eric "Thisquietarmy" Quach), FIMAV

May 22nd - Gordon Grdina "The Marrow & Square Peg", FIMAV

July 3rd - Kamasi Washington, Ottawa Jazz Festival

September 16th - Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society with Ari Brown, Guelph Jazz Festival (Indoor Show - New Material)

September 17th - Sam Shalabi's Land of Kush "Sand Enigma", Guelph Jazz Festival

September 17th - Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society with Ari Brown, Guelph Jazz Festival (Outdoor Show - Performing the "Descension - Out of Our Constrictions" album)

November 4th - A makeshift guitar-less incarnation of Flying Luttenbachers featuring Vinny Gola, IMOO Fest, Club SAW

November 5th - Vinny Golia / Anna Webber / Linsey Wellman, IMOO Fest, Gigspace

November 5th - Anna Webber / Erik Hove / James Annett / John Hollenbeck. IMOO Fest, Gigspace

[Quantum Cat]

I didn't want to start a separate thread for this, but I saw Musical Box last night with a friend and fellow old-time Genesis fan and we were both quite underwhelmed. I suppose they did an excellent job recreating the show regarding the sets, costumes, etc. as well as the sound, but there was no fire. It ebbed and flowed as far as the performance. The singer at times did sound very much like Peter Gabriel but seeing a middle-aged man bare-chested with his man-boobs playing the part of the young NYC street-tough Rael quite burst the bubble for me. I wasn't blown away in particular with the musicianship, but they did maintain a professional standard except for a few moments of bad intonation from the ersatz Peter Gabriel. I imagine they've been at it too long and were perhaps fresher and more energetic when they started. I couldn't play the same set night after night with enthusiasm, much less somebody else's material!

Too be fair, many in the audience absolutely loved it and there were multiple standing ovations, and many were there to attend multiple shows. It was an older crowd and the small men's room was jam packed with geriatrics. From my anecdotal chats, most of the attendees were not hard-core prog fans, but more Genesis fan-boys. All in all, we both found it rather sad and actually bit creepy, in my case it was a buzz-kill that transported me away from a 70's prog-rock extravaganza and more towards a bad Twilight Zone episode. I will not be seeing Musical Box again. Very disappointing considering the high recommendations, and the fans I spoke to before the show many of whom and seen them multiple times and were coming back for more. My expectations were way, way too high.

On the other hand, I saw Brit Floyd last year and they were absolutely fantastic, and I would not hesitate to recommend them or see them again.

[mozo-pg]

I appreciate your perspective but totally disagree about the show. I saw it last week and it was excellent.

[Zeuhlmate]

Poil Ueda !

[Rajaz]

I didn't want to start a separate thread for this, but I saw Musical Box last night with a friend and fellow old-time Genesis fan and we were both quite underwhelmed. I suppose they did an excellent job recreating the show regarding the sets, costumes, etc. as well as the sound, but there was no fire. It ebbed and flowed as far as the performance. The singer at times did sound very much like Peter Gabriel but seeing a middle-aged man bare-chested with his man-boobs playing the part of the young NYC street-tough Rael quite burst the bubble for me. I wasn't blown away in particular with the musicianship, but they did maintain a professional standard except for a few moments of bad intonation from the ersatz Peter Gabriel. I imagine they've been at it too long and were perhaps fresher and more energetic when they started. I couldn't play the same set night after night with enthusiasm, much less somebody else's material!

Too be fair, many in the audience absolutely loved it and there were multiple standing ovations, and many were there to attend multiple shows. It was an older crowd and the small men's room was jam packed with geriatrics. From my anecdotal chats, most of the attendees were not hard-core prog fans, but more Genesis fan-boys. All in all, we both found it rather sad and actually bit creepy, in my case it was a buzz-kill that transported me away from a 70's prog-rock extravaganza and more towards a bad Twilight Zone episode. I will not be seeing Musical Box again. Very disappointing considering the high recommendations, and the fans I spoke to before the show many of whom and seen them multiple times and were coming back for more. My expectations were way, way too high.

On the other hand, I saw Brit Floyd last year and they were absolutely fantastic, and I would not hesitate to recommend them or see them again.

I have seen TMB four times before: For Selling England show (in Laval and in San Francisco), for the Lamb Lies Down (in Baltimore and in Houston), all quite good but just that. This will be my 5th time at the end of this month in Halifax. Amazing 5 totally different cities!

But the shows had their own singularities and only because here in Halifax we don't get as many shows as in larger cities, I decided to go but like you could well be the last time. And the Lamb is my favorite Genesis album, but I forgot to mention that I saw the original Lamb back in 1974 in Montreal that was my #1 concert for at least up to the early 2000's when that show became too vintage and outpaced by today's technology like for example the "Last Domino 2021 Tour" that was my Genesis farewell like it was for everyone.

Thanks for the review, it seems like it has become to repetitive and less inspired to play the same cover music for over 20 years.

[Quantum Cat]

I appreciate your perspective but totally disagree about the show. I saw it last week and it was excellent.

I’m glad to hear that. Of course all bands (even tribute/re-creation) bands can have good and bad nights. Maybe I saw them on a bit of an off-night, but my friend and I both sadly concluded that Musical Box is just not for us. As a long, long time fan who was absolutely absorbed and fascinated in my youth with the unique magical world old genesis created, I truly wish it were otherwise!

[Rajaz]

I saw Musical Box last night with a friend and fellow old-time Genesis fan and we were both quite underwhelmed. The singer at times did sound very much like Peter Gabriel but seeing a middle-aged man bare-chested with his man-boobs playing the part of the young NYC street-tough Rael quite burst the bubble for me. I will not be seeing Musical Box again. Very disappointing considering the high recommendations, and the fans I spoke to before the show many of whom and seen them multiple times and were coming back for more.

Now I see why you were so disappointed and I can say the same. Last night was the very FIRST time I have ever seen the Lamb performed WITHOUT the slide projections! There was NO screen, I noticed as I was taking my seat in a fourth row. Sound and lighting was fair but the costume changes seemed lifeless and so did the band. Weird but, every time when Denis the vocalist introduced a song, the guitarists would annoyingly be tuning their guitars.
It was not a true Lamb replication also that the encores were different (because I saw the original Lamb show in 1974).

So I can also say now, last night was the LAST time I will go see the Musical Box, so sad the original Genesis like many 70's greats are now a distant memory.

[boilk]

Now I see why you were so disappointed and I can say the same. Last night was the very FIRST time I have ever seen the Lamb performed WITHOUT the slide projections! There was NO screen, I noticed as I was taking my seat in a fourth row. Sound and lighting was fair but the costume changes seemed lifeless and so did the band. Weird but, every time when Denis the vocalist introduced a song, the guitarists would annoyingly be tuning their guitars.
It was not a true Lamb replication also that the encores were different (because I saw the original Lamb show in 1974).

So I can also say now, last night was the LAST time I will go see the Musical Box, so sad the original Genesis like many 70's greats are now a distant memory.

Did they say anything about not having the slides? I've seen them do it at least four times and they always have the slides. Very strange. And I believe that they 'fake' tune their guitars to replicate the original conditions? At least, that is my understanding. Sorry you didn't enjoy it. The first five times that I saw do the SEBTP tour, I was in a magical, amazing place.

Neil