Yet another end-of-year roundup, this time live music.
- Best Gig – Has to be Progressive Nation at Manchester. A great performance from headliners Dream Theater, a superb one hour set by co-headliner Opeth, and good supports from BigElf and Unexpect, neither of whom I’d seen or heard of before.
- Worst Gig – Pure Reason Revolution playing in an awful venue that really didn’t do them justice.
- Strangest Gig – Breathing Space playing a sold-out village hall in Nottinghamshire in snowy February.
- Biggest Disappointment – Not seeing Karnataka at the Cambridge Rock Festival due to PA company snafu.
- Band of the Year – Has to be Mostly Autumn, of course. I saw them no fewer that twelve times over the year, always good, with their Halloween show at Burnley possibly the best of the year. They recorded the whole of the spring tour, of which I saw several gigs, and the recordings make up the excellent Live 2009 pair of albums. A great band, and a lovely group of people too.
The overall verdict for the year can be summed up with the word “Progtastic”.