Concerts:
I must confess that this exercise becomes less and less interesting, for a very simple reason. Every March I travel to London to see the Hold Steady, usually for multiple nights. Since Steve Albini left us and Shellac stopped touring, there isn’t a better live band in the world, and there isn’t a better community to share those shows with. So why bother? Well, perhaps because I have no other way of letting you know that their Sunday evening show at the legendary 100 Club, where they performed Separation Sunday in its entirety for the occasion of its 20th anniversary, was the best rock show I’ve seen in my life. Here’s the rest of the top ten:
