It's been a difficult year. This is no secret. I've have a number of life preservers that have gotten me through it but the principle one has been and will always remain music. I would be a boring, bitter, lost, and severe person without it.My musical 2009 reads thus:
*new Artists discovered/been turned on to/finally listened to my friends and checked out and have hence loved*
Joe Pug - thank you NVIII
viva gmail statuses and their informative power
Phoenix - thank you Lauren W
You're my guru.
Elizabeth and the Catapult - thank you Greg for choosing them to tour with you
Regina Spektor - thank you Hannah
Best. Road. Trip. Sing-along. Buddy. EVER.
Missy Higgins - thank you Nickie
You are made up of good taste and tenacity.
The Rescues - thank you Hotel Cafe.
You never stop giving.
Christopher Lawrence - thank you Coachella
VIVA the Sahara tent!
Groove Armada - thank you (again) Coachella and Lauren W (again)
You are King and Queen of Concerts.
*most listened to Albums of 2009*
In Rainbows - Radiohead
I took a break from it for a while but when I went back to it this year it was exponentially more amazing. Radiohead is truly on my Top 5 Favorite Bands of All Time list.
Nation of Heat - Joe Pug
This music has made me a changed woman. I feel my consciousness elevate every time I listen.
On a Clear Night - Missy Higgins
Her voice and songwriting is just addictive. I love love love her.
Only by the Night - Kings of Leon
Just when you thought Nashville would stop surprising you...
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
Its about time someone wrote a song about Franz Liszt. Thank you Frenchies for hearing the call.
Tall Children - Elizabeth and the Catapult
I'm really glad I saw them live before I bought the album because though this album is very good they're amazing live and I got to relive that lovely set every time I listened.
*Concerts*
COACHELLA - Indio Polo Fields, CA
I have a very long list of favorite things but a very short one of perfect things. I think perfection is possible but in moments and I've been able to be privy to a few.
Family hugs in the Celestial Room of the Temple
The rose garden at the Huntington Library in Spring
George Washington Parkway in Fall
Disneyland at Christmas
and the 3 spring days of the Coachella Music Festival
This was my first year going and it gave new definitions to "amazing" and "awesome". It truly was, as in inducing the state of awe. I went a few concerts this year but nothing, I think, will ever compare with those 3 days. Nothing. Except for Coachella 2010. Hopefully.
Phoenix - Greek Theater, CA
Ever have a platinum kind of friend having a birthday and despite your unemployed and impoverished state insists that you come and are therefore dragged to an outdoor amphitheater during a California September at night with about 15,000 hipsters and a crazy fun, smart and happy French band and end up forgetting your rather heavy mind for a tic and end up dancing your butt off after a euphoric tapas dinner? I do/have.
Greg Laswell - Murray Theater, UT
Ever been in a really strange place, staying on a loved one's air mattress during a really stressful time without your wallet and you just needed a little bit of home and to not feel like a bump on the stump of humanity, just for an hour even, so you see, via twitter (it does have its uses people), that (one of) your favorite musicians is playing a local theater that night so you call one of the best concert buddies ever that's local and it turns out to be a set of your fav artist (even though you've been to about a squillion of them) that is EXACTLY what you needed and openly wept at more than one song and still have parts of it videoed on your camera and still cry every time you watch it? I have/did/do.
Gas Light Anthem - The Music Box, CA
Ever randomly win tickets from a radio station via text messaging to a concert of a band that you're still pretty new to but know people that really like them and you like those people so it must be worthwhile and you take your friend who managed to make it into her late 20s without ever going to any kind of concert ever and that just wouldn't do? I have.
India Calling! - Hollywood Bowl, CA
Every get a random phone call from a musician friend that had tickets for a World Festival concert a the Hollywood Bowl and she "couldn't think of anyone else that could appreciate World Music like you" and you've often said that you would go see The Wiggles if they were playing the Hollywood Bowl because you love that venue so much (and you're kind of afraid someone might call you out on that someday) so you pack a picnic dinner, hike up to your seats essentially having NO idea what to expect but are ready for an adventure and the Bowl keeps filling up with EVERY kind of fun person imaginable and you end up having a multicultural music and dance-in-the-isle good time with the slew of anglo 14 year old girls in front of you and the insanely large Indian family that managed to sit in the rest of the area around you and you realize that this is the best party you've been to in a while and music really can bring anyone and everyone together without pretense and you're already in love with Indian food and literature and fabrics and art and now their music and people just found a permanent place in your heart? It is seriously good times. And they give you grab bags and incense when you leave. :)
Joe Pug - The Mint, CA
Ever rapidly and utterly fallen in love with an artist and hes still pretty unknown and isn't from your area so the only thing you pray for to the music gods is for him to play a set in your area soon and you get wind that he is but only remember about an hour before the show that it was that night. So sans wingwoman you jam out to a tiny venue that doesn't use tickets or a list even to see this mesmerizing man that can still a room with a glance and one harmonica cord but are a bit self-conscious about being there by yourself so you randomly start talking to a table of people and end up sitting with them for half the show and the other half you take your black notebook and pretend to take notes like you're a writer for Spin or something but truly believe you are witnessing greatness happening in front of you? Yeah - that would be me.
Wow - looking back this was a really great year for concerts. I'm amping up for another one and soon. Joe is going to be back at The Echo in LA in Feb. and I might or might not already have tickets.
There were a few shows that I had to pass on because, well - tickets are expensive and I wasn't working for 7 months out of the year...
Bon Iver
Swell Season
Imogen Heap
Depeche Mode
Jason Mraz and a slew of others. I really wonder if I can make a living out of just going to concerts... I do it so well.
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If you were wondering, and only IF, here is my complete concert breakdown from 2009
Coachella:
The Presets
Paul McCartney
The Crystal Method
Zane Lowe
Calexico
TV on the Radio
Fleet Foxes
Thievery Corporation
Band of Horses
MIA
The Chemical Brothers
The Killers
Super Mayer
NoAge
Friendly Fires
Okkervil
The Gaslight Anthem
Sebastian Teler
Lupe Francisco
Lykki Li
Peter Bjorn
Anthony and the Johnstons
Perry Farrel
Pump DJs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Horrors
Christopher Lawrence
The Cure
* The Rescues - The Hotel Cafe
* Laura Jansen - The Hotel Cafe
* Greg Laswell, Elizabeth and the Catapult, Jordan Booth - Murray Theater
* Refueled (Fuel) - Mesa Crossing
* Phoenix - The Greek
* Gaslight Anthem & Murder by Death - The Music Box
* Friendly Fires, XX & Holly Miranda - The Music Box
* Snow Patrol & The Plain White T's - SDSU
* Justin Nozuka, Elizabeth and the Catapult, and Sam Bradly - The Glass House
* Every touring Indian musician ever @ INDIA CALLING! - The Hollywood Bowl
* Joe Pug - The Mint
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