Now halfway through December and getting ever closer to the end of the year, it’s high time to write those “best of” end of year posts. As much as a nail-biter it was to choose my five favourite gigs of 2009, it allowed me to reflect on all the great gigs I’ve had the opportunity to go to in the Washington D.C. area and elsewhere. And it was a wonderful reminder on what great music is out there if you just open your mind and let yourself feast on what the current music scene has on offer. I encourage everyone one of you to go out to more gigs in 2010 and support the music community!

As USA editor of TGTF, I’d like to note that the majority of the gigs I’ve been to this year have been on my side of the pond and usually in my hometown of Washington D.C. But I think you’ll recognise most of the bands I’ve had the pleasure of seeing live this year. Here’s my top five of 2009:

5. Pains of Being Pure at Heart at D.C.’s Black Cat (Wednesday 30th September) – This didn’t feel like just any show. It felt a reunion and you were surrounded by friends, because the Pains have many friends in the Washington area. The guitars, the synths, and vocals from Kip Berman and Peggy Wang – they all combined to create something heavenly.

4. Camera Obscura at D.C.’s 9:30 Club (Sunday 21st June) – This gig featuring songs from their album released this year, ‘My Maudlin Career’, like ‘Honey in the Sun’ and the gorgeous ‘Swans’. Other previous gems like ‘Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken’ brought the house down as Traceyanne Campbell’s beautiful voice rang throughout the club. One incredible show. So disappointed they skipped over D.C. on their autumn tour.

3. Dot to Dot Festival in Nottingham (Sunday 24th May) – My first music festival, ever. This was my second time seeing Friendly Fires and their first time headlining a festival to boot. It was amazing to be among lots and lots of their devoted English fans who turned Rock City in a sea of bodies dancing to their beats. It was also great to see Patrick Wolf again and Ladyhawke for the first time (the two acts directly preceding Friendly Fires at Rock City). Earlier in the day I was able to take in Matt Abbott and Skint and Demoralised at Nottingham-Trent Uni’s Glo Bar, followed by part of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s set in the uni’s student union main room.

Skint and Demoralised

Patrick Wolf

Ladyhawke

Friendly Fires

2. Friendly Fires at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg (Thursday 13th August) – Not a fan of getting bruised up by the drunks who stormed the stage like maniacs during the ‘Ex Lover’ encore, but this one gets high marks for the incredible crowd energy – so much energy that I worried that the floor would break out from under us from all the jumping around and dancing going on during their set. Further, Ed Macfarlane jumped down into the crowd during ‘Paris’, causing additional mayhem. This is probably one of the last times he’ll ever launch himself into the audience because I doubt his personal safety from this point forth can be guaranteed (!)

1. Elbow at D.C.’s 9:30 Club (Tuesday 4th August) – Somehow Washington managed to score one of only three American headlining dates in all of 2009 from the Manchester quintet. They didn’t disappoint, the whole crowd singing along to every word of Guy Garvey’s. The man has one amazing voice and kept everyone in the club spellbound. The show was simply brilliant. It didn’t hurt that Guy came out an hour before the show and kindly agreed to take photos with us fans who queued up early outside the club before doors opened.

After the jump is a full list of all the gigs I’ve been to in 2009 (in reverse chronological order) so you have an idea of the banquet I had to choose from.
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Bestival is a three-day, action-packed music festival held every year at Robin Hill Country Park on the beautiful Isle of Wight. The bash is well-known for being one of the final music festivals to be squeezed out of the last of the summer months, and this year Bestival will be taking place appropriately late – between Friday 11th to Sunday 13th September.

The festival initially started out 5 years ago and has grown in both size and popularity since then. The brainchild of Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank, Bestival is renowned for both it’s diverse line ups as well as it’s super fun atmosphere.

Headliners confirmed for this year’s event include Elbow, Massive Attack and Kraftwerk. Other quite simply amazing acts taking to the stage this 2009 include (and we stress, include!) MGMT, Fleet Foxes, Doves, Seasick Steve, Klaxons, Lily Allen, Friendly Fires, Florence and the Machine, Little Boots, Esser, Passion Pit, Chew Lips, La Roux and Jack Penate.

Meanwhile, DJs who’ll be spinning the decks at the Isle of Wight bash this year include Annie Mac, Huw Stephens, Zane Lowe and the boss himself, Rob da Bank.

Yet this is only a minuscule look into the massive selection of artists and DJs confirmed for this year’s event. You can grab the complete line-up over at Bestival’s website by hitting this link.

But music, no matter how impressive the line up may be, isn’t completely what this festival is about. Bestival is also a celebration of fun, and this year looks set to be one hell of a party.

Every year, for example, the festival has a fancy dress theme, and this 2009 the theme is ‘outer space’! So why not visit ‘The Dressing Up Area’, complete with a ‘Pimp My Outfit Booth’ to adorn yourself in such clothing wonderment while at the festival?

If fancy dress isn’t your thing, how about you check out ‘Heavenly Healing’ or ‘The Pamper Lounge’, two beautifully relaxing retreats providing festival-goers with a range of therapeutic treatments between their sweaty head banging sessions.

Other delights you can experience while at this dreamy festival include the tasty treats of ‘Buttercupcakes Afternoon Tea Hut’, the dizzying heights of the ‘The Big Wheel’, the jam-packed ‘The Village’ (complete with a farmers market and sushi stall!), ‘The Kids Garden’ for wee festival goers, and the famous ‘Inflatable Church’ should you fancy getting married along the way!

Wow! So, to learn more about this rollercoster of a festival, check out Bestival’s website. An adult weekend ticket for the event costs £140, and this includes camping. Tickets are still available for the fest and can be purchased from most ticket outlets. Check out the site for more information on where to purchase yours. Have fun!

Top photo is taken from alex_lee2001’s flickr stream under the Creative Commons License.

It’s undeniable that V Festival is a lot more commerical than other music festival’s across the country, and while the bash has certainly recieved the odd bit of criticism for it’s uber radio-friendly line up, the fest is no less fun in our eyes. Certainly – going by the awesome line-up, it’s unsurprising that the event managed to sell out in just two hours this year.

The summer bash – which is happening on Saturday 22nd to Sunday 23rd August – will be taking place across it’s two usual sites this ‘09: Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston Park, Staffordshire.

Oasis (pictured right) and The Killers are the two big name headliners confirmed to be playing the festival’s top spot this year. Other major acts gracing the fest’s main stage (aptly titled ‘V Stage’) across the weekend include Razorlight, Snow Patrol, The Specials, Elbow, Biffy Clyro, Lily Allen, James, Seasick Steve and, intriguingly, Taylor Swift.

The smaller sized ‘4Music’ stage will also be featuring further super cool artists including Fatboy Slim, Pendulum, The Ting Tings, The Wombats, Keane, The Enemy, Katy Perry and Dizzee Rascal.

If nothing has still managed to catch your eye (or ear!), why not head over to ‘The Arena’ where you can check out a varied selection including MGMT, Lady GaGa, Happy Mondays, The Streets, Pete Doherty, and latest girl band sensation, British Sea PowerThe Saturdays.

If that’s still not enough, the festival has another 50 acts up its sleeve to announce in the coming few weeks. Exciting!

As I told you earlier, tickets for the Chelmsford leg have sadly sold out. There are still some available for the Staffordshire event, however. For more information regarding ticket outlets, check out V Festival’s website.

Top photo comes from stevec77’s flickr stream, and side photo from John Griffiths’ flickr stream under the Creative Commons License.

Ahh…The Brits. Perhaps more famous for Jarvis Cocker’s stage invasion, or Arctic Monkey’s drunken speeches rather than for it’s showcasing of the best of British music. Either way, every year it certainly proves an interesting watch and this 2009, the controversial show will be presented by disco diva, Kylie Minogue and Gavin and Stacey stars, Mathew Horne and James Corden. There will be performances from Kings of Leon, U2 and Take That to name but a few. You can catch all the action live on ITV1 on February 18th, but if you can’t wait till then, There Goes The Fear is here to tell you about the successful nominees that were announced earlier this week.

The artists leading the way with the highest amount of nominations this year are Welsh songstress, Duffy and Coldplay – both tallying up a total of four nods. Both artists had number 1 albums last year – Duffy with ‘Rockferry‘ and Coldplay with ‘Viva la Vida‘ (pictured right) – so are unsurprisingly up for Mastercard’s Best British Album alongside Elbow, Radiohead and The Ting Tings. Duffy’s ‘Mercy’ and Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida’ will also be going head to head in Best British Single category alongside the likes of Estelle’s ‘American Boy’, Adele with ‘Chasing Pavements’ and the X Factor Finalists’ ‘Hero’.

Duffy also features in the Best British Female Solo Artist category alongside Adele, Beth Rowley, Estelle and MIA, while the nominees in male counterpart include Ian Brown, James Morrison, Paul Weller, Streets and Will Young. Best British Group has seen the nomination of the ever-popular Coldplay, Elbow, Radiohead, Take That and Girls Aloud.

New music recieving nods in this year’s Best British Breakthrough Act include Last Shadow Puppets and Scouting For Girls, while 2009’s Best British Live Act showcases everyone from Iron Maiden and The Verve, to Elbow.

Singer-songwriter, Florence and the Machine (who we featured here), is tracing the footsteps of 2008 winner Adele through gaining the coveted Critics Choice Award which recognises upcoming music talent. Meanwhile, Pet Shop Boys have been intriguingly awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award, following on from Beatle Sir Paul McCartney’s win last year.

Band’s receiving nods in the international categories including Best International Group and Best International Album are Kings of Leon, The Killers, AC/DC, MGMT and Fleet Foxes. Solo artists featuring in the categories honouring oversea talent include Katy Perry, Gabriella Cilmi, Seasick Steve, Beck and Kanye West.

To see the nominations in full, check out the official Brits website.

It’s been a pretty amazing year for music around the UK, and following on from my top 10 of 2007, here is my top 10 of 2008.

10 – Viva Stereo – Roar Lion Roar
You’ve probably not heard much about this Scottish collective. However, their third album was a surprise favourite for me – anthemic, accessible, slightly My Bloody Valentine and yet still so gorgeous.

Read more about Viva Stereo here.

Favourite: Knee High Boots.

9 – Sigur Rós – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
As ever, an amazing collection from the Icelandic group. More pop than previous albums, their songs sound all the more amazing. I caught them live at Hydro Connect Festival in Scotland, where they preceded Franz Ferdinand and blew them out of the water. As the sun went down, they soundtracked the festival for us, showing their sense of humour and making beautiful music that had more than a few grown men in tears.

Favourite: Inní mér syngur vitleysingur

8 – Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line
Dark in places, Ra Ra Riot come from the same school of musical geekiness as Vampire Weekend, but with a bit more serious and a bit less money. Dark in places, the group are still recovering from the death of their drummer in summer 2007, which shows on tracks like “Winter ‘05″.

Favourite: Dying is Fine

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Elbow have announced a full tour for next year as they ride the wave of their Mercury Prize win in September.

Tickets for the below dates go on sale tomorrow, 4th November at 9am, with the exception of Wembley which is already on sale.

Catch the Manchester lads at:

Thursday 26th February 2009 – Brighton Dome
Sunday 1st March 2009 – Southend Cliffs Pavilion
Monday 2nd March 2009 – Bournemouth Solent Hall
Tuesday 3rd March 2009 – Sheffield Academy
Thursday 5th March 2009 – Newcastle Academy
Friday 6th March 2009 – Edinburgh Corn Exchange
Saturday 7th March 2009 – Blackpool Empress Ballroom
Monday 9th March 2009 – Llandudno Arena
Tuesday 10th March 2009 – Bristol Colston Hall
Wednesday 11th March 2009 – Plymouth Pavilions
Thursday 12th March 2009 – Newport Centre
Saturday 14th March 2009 – London Wembley Arena

Just a quick one tonight, as I’m plain and simply cream crackered at the moment – working 30-40 hours a week and then going to a gig or so a week and the usual pub evenings is pretty hard work… (boy, it’s a hard life, no?)

Bloc Party did another one of their suprises last night, announcing the release of Talons, their second single, and one that wasn’t on Intimacy, but will be on the physical release in October. In short, it’s pretty darned amazing, as with all of their Intimacy era stuff. A bit 80’s rock, a bit dark and murky, but ultimately good. I’m not posting the MP3 as I think it’s just asking for me to get (another) cease and desist, but I’m sure those of you in the know can get a copy for free.

Of course tonight is also the Mercury music prize, with my money firmly on Laura Marling to win, though I doubt the judges will choose her, probably sticking to a safer bet like Radiohead, Elbow or Last Shadow Puppets. If Adele or Estelle wins I won’t be a happy bunny though – they’re good, but not Mercury material.

There are still some reviews of Hydro Connect coming in, almost 10 days after the event, and just make me yearn for Scotland again. Only about 50 weeks now until Hydro 2009, eh? Rock Sellout have put up a guest blog from the festival, along with a better (and more indepth) interview with Rab from Glasvegas than we did.

Meanwhile, Mike over at Chromewaves caught this weekend’s Virgin Festival in Toronto, with Bloc Party, Kooks, Fratellis and more. I’ll be checking out some of the smaller (and larger) bands I haven’t heard of when I actually have a day off.

Hydro Connect Festival was my first proper music festival, and quite possibly one of the furthest away from home we could get. After a 9 hour drive leaving home at 5am on Friday morning, we arrived at one of the most beautiful festival settings I think you’ll find this side of Coachella.

After the horrible trek from car park to campsite (we were warned it was 20 minutes, but we’d suggest you double that if you’re carrying a tent), we set up our tent and went out to explore the main arena.

First up were Noah and the Whale and Ladytron on the Guitars and Other Machines Stage (otherwise known as the second stage for those of you who are Glastonbury / Reading / Leeds fans), before a wander around to see Amy MacDonald sporting a rather fetching kilt. I’ve never been a huge fan of her Radio 2 – lite tunes, but the Scottish crowd certainly loved the Glaswegian girl.

Manic Street Preachers were up next, and were on absolute fire as they did an amazing set. I’d heard people rave about them, but now I really can understand why – they were amazing. Kasabian headlined, but frankly were nothing on the Manics. Tom Meighan is an amazing frontman and certainly can whip everyone up some, but frankly they don’t have the tunes that the Manics do.

After an interesting night in the campsite, we slowly started our Saturday in the Speakeasy cafe on the sofas, listening to some amazing acoustic music. Quickly time rolled around and we had to amble back to the Media tent to catch a quick chat with Paul from Glasvegas and Kele and Matt from Bloc Party. After coming down from that little bit of excitement, we went to catch Friendly Fires on the Guitars and Other Machines Stage. We knew they were good having stumbled across them several times around the blogosphere, but weren’t expecting the amazingly high-energy set they provided us with. Black Lips disappointed, failing to energise the rather small crowd. Glasvegas had one of the biggest mid-afternoon crowds of the weekend, and provided the anthem of the weekend around the campsites.

A bit of food, and back to the main Oyster stage for the evening. We had high hopes for Grinderman, but simply didn’t appreciate Nick Cave’s new project, with it sounding largely inaccessible to us. Paolo Nutini I wasn’t holding out high hopes for, but he plain and simply blew me away, with his songs providing some great sing alongs. Oh, and his cover of Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? AMAZING.

We’d been excited about Bloc Party since their confirmation as Saturday night headliners, and with the announcement of their new album, Intimacy, just 10 days before the festival we were all the more excited. Kele and co didn’t disappoint, blasting through everything we’d hoped for and a bit more.

Somehow getting almost 6 hours sleep on Saturday night, we were woken by the pouring rain on Sunday morning, and took the decision to put our tent back in the car to prevent it from floating away in the increasingly boggy waters around our tent. Making the way back to the main arena we couldn’t decide who to catch, so caught snippets of a few different bands. Santagold looked rather out of place in a metallic blue dance suit compared to the muddy audience, but none the less was amazingly good, with her indenti-kit backing singers coupled with her backing band providing some surprisingly good tunes.

I’d heard about the Levellers from friends, but never actually caught them live. They were a true festival band, getting everyone moving, and really warming things up a bit. Elbow I’ve never been a huge fan of, however they again surprised me. Lead singer Guy Garvey was decidedly chatty, commenting that “this is my sort of weather – I don’t like the hot weather ‘cos people take off their clothes and it isn’t pretty from here! In Manchester just about every beer garden looks like it has about 2 dozen red eggs in it anytime there’s a mildly warm day!”

Goldfrapp were so-so. I’ve never been a huge fan of their stuff, on the basis lots of it is a bit too arty-farty for my liking. Plus, I was simply excited for Sigur Ros, who were next up and closing Hydro Connect 2008 for us. They didn’t disappoint.

With that, we left leaving Franz Ferdinand to do probably much what they did last time I caught them, and to make an exit from the car park (with the help of some amazingly nice girls who pushed us out of the mud).

What was hot:

• Amazing setting
• Great food at good prices
• The lineup… simply amazing for a festival so young and small
• The speakeasy tent with its comfy sofas and free newspapers
• Friendly and helpful security

What was not:

• Mobile reception was always hampered by “network busy” responses… if Hyde Park can cope with having upwards of 40,000 people all with mobiles, why can’t Connect? This was also the reason for a big lack of live updates from Connect – we didn’t take a laptop, and had been planning on there not
• The hideously long trek to and from the carpark
• A massive lack of toilets and washing facilities on the campsites.

Overheard:

“I now know where they let the oldies out to: we were by far the youngest in that tent!” (joked two mid-20 somethings on the walk back to the campsite)
“When you fail to perform, it really knocks your confidence… then you just can’t perform next time!” (overheard one morning at the campsite… you can only guess what it’s regarding!)
“This is SO overrated!” said by a guy completely covered in mud after wrestling his mate

Want more coverage?
Why not check out these Flickr Streams:
jjbuchan’s flickr stream
Taburetka’s flickr stream
Foofango’s flickr stream
Aaron Bassett’s flickr stream

… or these other reviews:
NME.com’s review
Sunday Herald’s review
The Lancashire Herald
The Independent
The Times

Thanks go to:
Lee and all at Burt Greener Communications for looking after us so well and sorting out the tickets.
Dan for the photos and putting up with me for a weekend.

Roll on Hydro Connect 2009 is all we can say!

Elbow have announced a sizeable October UK tour as they round up their sensational year. They’ll end the tour with a homecoming show at Manchester Apollo, which is sure to be one of the highlights of the month’s music.

Tickets go on sale on Thursday morning (26th June) at 9am.

Monday October 6th – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
Tuesday October 7th – Portsmouth, Guildhall
Wednesday October 8th – Truro, Hall For Cornwall
Friday October 10th – Cardiff University, Great Hall
Saturday October 11th – London, Roundhouse
Sunday October 12th – London, Roundhouse
Wednesday October 15th – Wolverhampton, Civic Hall
Thursday October 16th – Leicester, De Montfort Hall
Saturday October 18th – Leeds, Academy
Monday October 20th – Gateshead, Sage
Wednesday October 22nd – Liverpool, University
Thursday October 23rd – Manchester, Apollo

Elbow have announced a string of dates for April next year in the run up to the release of their new album, pencilled in for a March release.

Tickets are on sale now, priced between £15 and £18 each. Catch the Manchester lads at:

Saturday 5th April – Newcastle Carling Academy
Sunday 6th April – Leeds Met University
Tuesday 8th April – Oxford Carling Academy
Wednesday 9th April – Bristol Colston Hall
Thursday 10th April – Birmingham Carling Academy
Saturday 12th April – Sheffield Octagon
Sunday 13th April – Manchester University
Monday 14th April – Nottingham Rock City
Tuesday 15th April – London Carling Academy Brixton