As an afterthought, whilst Kate Bush was far and away the best overall concert performance I saw this year, the best individual song performance for me was probably Rosanne Cash and Tennessee Flat Top Box at the Barbican back in April.
Another vote here for the clear, overwhelming winner in this thread.
I've bee going to shows for 25 years and in that time I've seen everything from huge stadium spectaculars to (literally) one man and a dog pub gigs. In the last few years I've been averaging 60-70 gigs a year.
But I have never experienced anything close to what I saw in Hammersmith on the 6th of September this year.
This has been an excellent year for gigs with about 5 or 6 that would ordinarily be in contention for the best show I've ever seen. As it stands however, none of them are worthy of even cleaning the toilets at a Kate Bush gig.
To be predictably boring I'll agree with the majority here. Kate's show was one of the very best I've ever seen, she certainly showed why she is the queen of Progressive Music.
Other memorable gigs this year would include:
Anathema - Acoustic @ Gloucester Cathedral. Simply stunning.
Babymetal - Sonisphere & Brixton Academy. Completely bonkers but with a top notch backing band, they will be huge, no matter what the detractors say.
Opeth - O2 Academy Bristol. Pale Communication is one of my albums of 2014 and they are on top form.
The Lounge Kittens - Sonisphere. They are great fun to see live and most rock fans seem to get the joke.
Within Temptation - Wembley Arena. A band I first saw in 2008 and have followed ever since. Great to see them finally "break" the UK.
Swans at Concorde II in Brighton. Small venue, huge sound, music deconstructed to 2 hours of monumental noise. Not so much a gig as a transcendental experience.
Comments
Frantic four amazing again
Kate bush was good
Lissie was another good show also.
I've bee going to shows for 25 years and in that time I've seen everything from huge stadium spectaculars to (literally) one man and a dog pub gigs. In the last few years I've been averaging 60-70 gigs a year.
But I have never experienced anything close to what I saw in Hammersmith on the 6th of September this year.
This has been an excellent year for gigs with about 5 or 6 that would ordinarily be in contention for the best show I've ever seen. As it stands however, none of them are worthy of even cleaning the toilets at a Kate Bush gig.
Other memorable gigs this year would include:
Anathema - Acoustic @ Gloucester Cathedral. Simply stunning.
Babymetal - Sonisphere & Brixton Academy. Completely bonkers but with a top notch backing band, they will be huge, no matter what the detractors say.
Opeth - O2 Academy Bristol. Pale Communication is one of my albums of 2014 and they are on top form.
The Lounge Kittens - Sonisphere. They are great fun to see live and most rock fans seem to get the joke.
Within Temptation - Wembley Arena. A band I first saw in 2008 and have followed ever since. Great to see them finally "break" the UK.