Hmmm...

I've LOVED

Midlake (my band of the year)
the Eels (on their punky tour)
an excellent Lemonheads playing It's a Shame About Ray from start to finish
a brilliantly quirky full-band Sufjan
a lovely Antony and the Johnsons gig in London
a very under-rated Richard Swift gig with our esteemed editor in Belgium
a fabulous double bill of Spoon and The New Pornographers in the Koko Club, London's most beautiful venue


Disappointing gigs included:-
a rather one-paced Death Cab for Cutie
a laboured U2 in Sydney
an overly religious acoustic Sufjan

But, all in all, it's been an enjoyable year for live music. Bands I am looking forward to seeing next year include The Arcade Fire, Damien Rice touring "9" ( a pretty fine album, I think ), the Killers ( the new U2? )...

of the top of my head, (cos im in feckin work)

Toots & the Maytals (vicar st - f**king amazing)
North Strand Klezmer Band - Dun Laoghire (yup, f**king amazing!)
Cut Chemist - EP
The Things - HWCH
The Skatalites - EP

and this crazy frenchman playing alto sax in a bar in Copacabana, he's my new hero.

Some of the best gigs in memory this year, mine would include:

Drive-By Truckers - Whelans, Dublin
Dallas Crane - The Espy, Melbourne
The Flaming Lips - Vicar St, Dublin
The Black Keys - Great Escape Fest, Sydney
Deus - Electric Picnic, Laois
The D4 (final ever gig) - Kings Arms, Auckland
You Am I - The Village, Dublin
Jeff Tweedy - Vicar St, Dublin

out of going to plenty this year, my favourite five (in no particular order)are as follows:

bonny billy and harem scarem - glenuig village hall, scotland
the evens - st nicholas parish hall, dublin
sufjan stevens - the olympia, dublin
charalambides - the boom boom room, dublin
six organs of admittance - whelans, dublin

honourable mention for the february broken social scene gig in the temple bar music centre

God the eels were hopeless at tbmc. well not their fault but the sound was s**tty and E was blatantly pissed with it all the f**k ups and didnt do a great show as a result.

for me:
daft punk
final fantasy
the flaming lips
the who
jenny lewis

....i cant remember who else i saw this year that were great!

Daft Punk, Marlay Park.
Mew, Shepards Bush Empire(London).
Ulrich Schnauss & Manual, Sugar Club.
ISIS, Temple Bar Music Centre.
Sleater-Kinney, Temple Bar Music Centre.

04.02.06 Dr. Dog
11.02.06 Broken Social Scene
30.04.06 Akron/Family
14.05.06 Final Fantasy
25.07.06 Islands (even though I didn't think they suited the venue)
03.09.06 Rufus Wainwright (my surprise pick of Electric Picnic... surprised me anyway)
25.09.06 The Black Keys
29.11.06 Jeff Tweedy

Head and shoulders above all was Jape at Whelans just after Christmas.. Sensational stuff, and way too funky..

Each to their own but I thought Daft Punk were awful at marley park, carbon copy of every set they played previous to the date. Nothing live about it.

Radiohead@ Marley Park
BSS at Vicar Street
Flaming Lips @ Kilkenny
Yeah YY @ EP
Kasabian @ spirit
New order @ EP

1) Steve Reich @ NCH
2) Bruce Springsteen @ The Point
3) The Frames @ Vicar Street

What can I say, I love Messianic performances

I'd had the Coachella set on heavy rotation for a few weeks previous to the gig. There were many differences.

Most touring acts play a subset of songs from the same selection throughout the tour, do you dismiss them as having nothing live about them?
Fact is, neither you, nor I, have any idea how much of it was live or not.
I know it was different to Coachella in a number of places, but what difference does that make? It was probably only a few knob turns in Ableton, or waiting a little bit longer to click a certain button... Welcome to electronic music.

What made it such a great gig for me was the fantastic atmosphere.
Unmatched at any other gig I was at this year.

Ishrink, I've been listening to eletronic music for night on 12 years and I've seen many acts, underworld, orbital, way out west, leftfield etc. Daft Punk were by far the worst live electronic act i've ever seen.

It was lazy, detached, dull, lacking imagination, lifeless, predictable. I could go on. The depressing thing is Ableton allows for some really unique live one-off performances. DP didn't do any of that.

Agree with the amazing atmosphere tho.

Right well, lets see then. Emm er, right so!

1.Jeff Tweedy - Vicar St. (cannot wait for the new wilco, and ensuing gigs!)
2.Midlake - Village
3.Josh Rouse - Village (really wish he would play another venue, but still brilliant)
4.Death Cab For Cutie - Barcelona & Copenhagen ( have to agree they were slightly disappointing but still enjoyed both sets)
5.NADA SURF!!!! - Whelans & Copenhagen (brilliant,just brilliant from kicking off with Popular to the many pop gems that followed,played by one hell of a tight trio)

worst gig
- God Is An Astronaut - Music Centre (Look at the images of George Bush and Iraq! Look at our statement! Listen to our turgid music. Balls)

I loved

The Who @ Oxegen
Kasabian @ Spirit
Ian Brown @ Dublin Castle
Flaming Lips @ Vicar St
Damian Marlay @ Oxegen
Rodrigo y Gabriela @ Oxegen
The Things @ Meeting Hse Square
The Walls/The Mighty Stef @ The Village
The Zutons @ Olympia
Digsy/Rob Smith @ Whelans
Ocean Colour Scene @ Olympia
New Order @ Electric Picnic

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Electric Picnic
The Who @ Oxegen
Bloc Party @ Electric Picnic
Various Production @ Anti-Sonar
Dresden Dolls @ TBMC
Maximo Park @ Dolans
Arctic Monkeys @ Ambassador
Stagger Lee @ Spiegeltent
The Things @ The Hub (Halloween party)
Michael Mayer & M.A.N.D.Y. @ TBMC
The Hacker @ TBMC
Miss Kittin @ TBMC

can't think of anything else because my brain is dead, but I'm sure there are a few more in there.

Juliette and the Licks Everytime!!
The Raconteurs at the Olympia
The Flaming Lips
The Gorgeous Colours
I'm brain dead too now... can't think who my favourites were!

Just to continue this on. What have been the best gigs so far in 2007?

I would plump for (in no particular order):

Elvis Perkins/Coldwar Kids/Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Tripod)
Duke Special (Tripod)
Elvis Perkins/Willy Mason (TBMC)
Grizzly Bear/Modest Mouse/Band Of Horses/White Stripes/Battles (Primavera)
Future Kings of Spain (Whelans)

I can't think of who else I have been to!

The Arcade Fire
Suburban Kids with Biblical Names
The Apples in Stereo
The Decemberists

My best so far of 2007:
The Drones - Ballroom Of Romance
Kasabian - Dublin Castle
Wilco - Primavera

Hmmm, no one else really work mentioning. Its early days.