At a rough, well OK, an exact count I have been to 55 gigs and six music festivals in 2024, from the Brecon Beacons to Berlin and from Leeds to London. They have varied in quality between the great, the good, and, on occasion, the downright ordinary. I have chosen the top ten of these live performances, presented here in chronological order.
Haiku Hands – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 25th January
Second gig of the calendar year and having never heard of Haiku Hands let alone listened to them beforehand it was one that was full of surprises. And those surprises were all pleasant in a rather mad and chaotic sort of way.
SLIFT – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 27th February
A month later and it’s all back to the Brudenell. This time the best live music venue in West Yorkshire if not the UK is hosting some heavy-duty psychedelic rock courtesy of Toulouse’s finest, SLIFT. If you went along expecting some easy listening you’d probably have left disappointed.
Her Ensemble – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, 26th April
Classical music would not, ordinarily, be my bag, but this was a bit special. Part of an exciting initiative whereby classical music was brought to independent venues, this concert showed the benefit of stretching one’s horizons.
BIG|BRAVE / AICHER – The Lending Room, Leeds, 25th May
Live at Leeds has had a nice ring to it for many, many years and another great gig in another great venue in the West Yorkshire city kept the legend going.
Ryan Davis – Fulford Arms, York, 17th June
Just to prove that Leeds didn’t have a complete monopoly on this year’s best shows, York’s Fulford Arms put on what I said at the time would be one of the highlights of 2024 and six months later I stand by that assertion. Ryan Davis was the man in question and this gig was a cracker.
Julie Christmas – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 26th June
Christmas came early this year. It arrived in late June in the form of Julie Christmas. And she brought with her all the way from Brooklyn, New York plenty of good cheer and the gift of explosive energy.
corto.alto – Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul Festival, Moseley, Birmingham,14th July
By the middle of July I am knee-deep in festival season and this superb event tossed up no end of great performances – Dawn Richard, Super Duty Tough Work, Yussef Dayes, and Ni Maxine could all have made the final cut, but it is Scottish composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist corto.alto who ultimately gets the nod. This is how you oil the wheels of contemporary jazz with a bottle of Bucky.
Dexys – Moseley Folk & Arts Festival, Moseley, Birmingham, 31st August
Kevin Rowland was back on his home patch in the Midlands and that familiarity certainly brought the best out of him and Dexys as they produced a stellar performance chock-full of their greatest hits.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Uber Arena, Berlin, Germany, 29th September
What is it with Nick Cave and the 29th of September? This is the third time I’ve seen him in concert on this particular date. In 2010 he was with Grinderman in Manchester. 11 years later he was joined by his chief musical collaborator Warren Ellis in Stockton-on-Tees. And then this year it was over to Berlin to catch him play with the Bad Seeds. The fact that the 29th of September just happens to be my birthday is merely a strange coincidence.
Arooj Aftab – Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, 2nd November
And the 10th and final selection for 2024 is Arooj Aftab, partly because it was an excellent show and partly because it was the first time I had been to a gig in this building in nearly half a century. It all made for a nostalgia-fuelled, emotionally charged evening.
Some other tremendous live performances that can count themselves very unlucky not to make the Top Ten but deserve a mention in dispatches were The Hanging Stars at Red Rooster Festival, Maya Youssef supported by Thanda Gumede and Bernard Butler supported by Ned Swarbrick, both at Howard Assembly Room, Joss Stone at Love Supreme festival, The Nightingales at Green Man festival, Terry Reid at the Camden Jazz Café, and first Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman and then ten days later Spielmann and The Bannd, both at Hyde Park Book Club.
And, finally, a huge thank you to those good people at Please Please You, Brudenell Social Club, Howard Assembly Room, and other local promoters, independent live music venues, and notable PR folks who afford me the opportunity to cover these events.
