A Year of gigs

2008 was by my standards a very sparse year for gigs but the quantity was made up for by the quality of the artists I did get to see.
My gigging year carried on from 2007 in a seamless manner, Darren Hayes NYE special gig in London… the year could not have started any better than this..Darren is a long time favourite of mine and lets face it if your first kiss of 2008 is from one of your all time musical heroes your year has definitely got off to a great start. In fact the start of 2008 was all about Darren and his stripped down small venue tour, these are my favourite kind of gig, small intimate and a stage you can jump on and steal something… Darren’s tea mug proudly sits on my desk at work… what can I say if it aint nailed down, its mine.

Next was Bryan Adams and his acoustic gig in March in London, Bryan has long been a favourite of mine and my one regret is that I only saw him twice in 2008, for me this is very poor, normally I would see him a minimum of 10 times….and that is never really enough but I just remind myself that I have seen him over 50 times so compared with many I have been very lucky…

The summer saw me take in a couple of small festivals in Nottingham & Leicester,
My trip to Nottingham was instigated by Sam Beeton being there, this young man to me has all the makings of a real star... writes great catchy tunes... not complicated but meaningful if you take the time to listen to the words.. and that combined with not having an ugly gene in his body makes him a sure favourite with the young girls,
Expecting great things from him in 2009. Also on the bill that night was Paolo Nuttini, now I have never been a big fan of his but I have to admit he was excellent and definitely someone on my list to see again in 2009. Leicester gig was marred slightly by rain all day but it was very well organised, however I cannot remember the name of one artist so it could be looked on as just a day out not a great musical experience.

The Autumn was not destined to be that exciting until I booked a flurry of last minute gigs, all artists I had no real knowledge of but this was to change.In my previous blogs I have described my sudden adventure into James Blunt land… much to my amazement I really enjoyed him and he is on the agenda for 2009. Scouting for Girls were next a great group and really nice guys but for some reason they did not inspire in me that feeling that I needed to book another gig within minutes of leaving the venue... with the aforementioned Sam Beeton supporting them it did make for a better gig and they are high energy fun so no complaints at all. Within a few days I was back at Wolverhampton seeing an band that I had no real opinion on “The Feeling” by now everyone must be aware how totally I fell in love with these guys and their music, their show was the best I had seen all year.. in fact it was the best I had seen ever... and this is why as soon as I got home I was booking every ticket I could to see them... it was a brilliant few weeks culminating in a fantastic trip to Belfast and then a small busking gig in Covent Garden .. suffice to say their gigs will be top of my list of must go to wherever they are………….. Interspersed with the above were a few gigs by The Script… an excellent group , really nice guys and Feb 2009 sees me devote a few days to them and their tour.. James Morrison and Sam Beeton once again featured with a great set at The Union Chapel London and I must admit I prefer Mr Beeton but that is purely a personal thing as JM is excellent live...
To conclude I must mention some of the most important people I have seen this year,
May not be famous yet… but provided me with excellent nights and they are names to really look out for... my good friends 10 Reasons to Live... lets make 2009 their year as they deserve it more than any band I know, Aviators great young band sure to go far in the future, Point 7 Pistol a bunch of guys who will surely crack this strange thing called success real soon as once again they really deserve it, and lastly I must mention my mates Rushmore in LA… last but certainly not least as I am willing with every fibre in my body for you guys to get that break you deserve.

So to 2009 ……….. so far January is time to rest and recuperate ready for what I hope is a stella year… February is the Script, James Blunt in Eastern Europe and the Kaiser Chiefs so pretty busy but I suspect a lot of my time will be spent with my ear to the ground hoping for that all important TF gig……………

Finally a big thank you to the most important people… the great fans I met along the way… some old friends and some new but all great company and I look forward to the brilliant times we will have in 2009.




Footnote... I also saw Bon Jovi and it says it all that I had totally forgotten that, although I did enjoy them