Favorite Concerts of 2015

This was a truly great year for live music, one of the best that I can remember. I saw a lot of concerts, and narrowing it down to only 10 was really tough for me. But here they are.

1) Ride @ 9:30
2) Luna @ 9:30/Paradise (both totally different shows, both superb for different reasons)
3) The Feelies @ World Cafe Live (still my favorite live band)
4) Wire @ Black Cat
5) Fleetwood Mac @ Verizon Center
6) The Replacements @ Festival Pier, Penn's Landing (their last-ever US show, and it was great)
7) Face to Face @ Bottom Lounge
8 ) Social Distortion @ House of Blues (Boston)
9) Best Coast @ Virgin Hotel (Chicago)
10) Motley Crue with Alice Cooper @ Wells Fargo Center (one of the most bombastic, over-the-top things I've ever seen in my life…Alice Cooper was the winner when it came to the music, but the Crue was by far the grandest, most explosive production I've ever seen…I'll never forget it).

Honorable mentions: Belle and Sebastian @ Echostage, Pixies @ 9:30, Eagles of Death Metal @ 9:30, Rush @ Prudential Center, Billy Idol @ Lincoln Theater, PiL @ U Street Music Hall, Manic Street Preachers @ 9:30, Peaches @ 9:30, Jesus and Mary Chain @ 9:30, Ex Hex @ Black Cat.

My 10 favorite sets of 2015, in chronological order:

- Crimson Wave at Sidebar (second to last ever show; last show was too sad to be a favorite)
- The Body at Charm City Art Space (loudest show)
- Prince at Royal Farms Arena
- Blacksage at ScapeScape
- Chastity Belt at Metro Gallery
- Faith No More at MPP
- Roomrunner at the Ottobar (last ever show)
- Sun Ra Arkestra at the Ottobar
- Expert Alterations at the Crown (record release show as a four-piece)
- the Polyphonic Spree at Rams Head Annapolis

Honorable mentions: Dinosaur Jr at Black Cat (finally!!!!), Birth (Defects) at the Ottobar, Pill at the Crown (their first ever non-NYC show), Locrian at Metro Gallery, Celebration at Bombadillo, Pleasure Leftists at Metro Gallery, Wildhoney at the Ottobar (record release), Wolf Eyes at Metro Gallery

I saw a bunch of shows but in my advanced age I'm gonna have to see if I can remember any of them.

I need to start a spreadsheet.

Honestly it was Kesha at the Black Cat. That show was a blast.

So many great shows this year…a top 17


17. Punch Brothers @930
16. U2 @MSG
15. Ex Hex, Shirks, Ar Kaics @BlackCat
14. Belle & Sebastian @Echostage
13. Tommy Keene @Iota
12. Jason Isbell @Lincoln
11. Craig Finn @Ottobar
10. Replacements Echostage
9. Lydia Loveless & Justin Jones @RNRH
8. Okkervil River @BlackCat
7. Courtney Barnett @930
6. Pixies @930
5. Watkins Family @Birchmere
4. Frank Turner @930
3. Ex Hex @DocMartens
2. Prince @Warner
1. Replacements (& Superchunk) @FestivalPier Philly

1. Diarrhea Planet's BC show in April
2. Vince Staples at USMH
3. Jesus & Mary Chain at 9:30

There were a few others but those are the ones I look back and think, yeah that was great. Didn't go to a lot of shows this year.

i did not go to many shows this year.  GYBE @ 930 was easily my favorite.  DCFC @ MPP was  even more fun than i expected it to be.  after that… nothing much i would put on a "best of" list.

Bjork @ Carnegie Hall
Prince @ Baltimore Arena
Dead @ Soldier Field
Phish @ Magnaball

I can't really remember which shows I went to this year, but a few that do lodge themselves in my memory:

Ashley Monroe @Sixth and I and Robbie Fulks @ Jammin Java were great because I got to go with both my wife and daughter.

Thanks to one my by board friends (he knows who he is!) who hooked me up with a reduced price ticket to Neko Case @the Lincoln and a free ticket to Luna @9:30.

Jason Isbell @Merriweather was fantastic, wouldn't be surprised if he headlines there someday soon.

Space wrote:
I can't really remember which shows I went to this year

prevagen

p.i.l. @ u st.
deerhunter @ 9:30
rolling stones @ heinz field
tesla/styx/def leppard @ the lube
beppe gambetta @ drum & strum warrenton
bluegrass pickin' parties @ sumerduck ruritan club
u.s. marine band @ gmu
bummed that I missed gybe and destroyer shows.
looking forward to wilco, beauty pill and holy holy.

Luna in Philly
Marah at Jammin java
Ride at 930
PIL at U St. Hall
Sleater at 930
Cracker at State Theatre
Mudhoney at Black Cat
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at Black Cat
Outer Body Llama at some Ethiopian bar on 9th St
Deerhunter at 930
Jonathan Richman in Charlottesville

Misses:

Replacements at Echostage.. lousy lousy venue
Luna at 930… partied a little too hard…

The ones I can recall (today anyway):

Manic Street Prechers @ 930
Sturgill Simpson @ Lincoln
Failure / Hum @ 930
Replacements @ Echostage (last hurrah / bad sound)
Weekend Nachos / Full of Hell (twice, both at /Metro Gallery)
Priests / Protomartyr @ U Street
Ex Hex @ Doc Martens
Replusion / Pig Destroyer  / Noisem @ American U
Royal Headache @ Windup Space
Roomrunner, Creepoid & others @ both nights of Unfest
Parquet Couts / Priests @ Ottobar

I'm forgetting a bunch but I guess these are the ones that stood out.

Here are the ones that come to mind as really enjoying:

July Talk - February 26th - DC9
Horse Lords / Sahnnet / Liturgy - April 2nd - DC9
Screeching Weasel - July 24th - Howard Theater
Hum - August 11th - 930 Club
Hum - August 14th - Electric Factory
Screaming Females - August 28th - RNRH
Holly Miranda - September 15th - RNRH
Fidlar - September 28th - Black Cat
Saintseneca - October 8th - Black Cat
Natalie Prass - November 12th - RNRH

But, by far the best of the year was..
Refused - June 5th - RNRH

And the worst of the year was..
all dogs / frankie cosmos - November 19th - Comet Ping Pong
(and not because of the band; all dogs were just as awesome as always, but the crowd was absolutely wretched)

Bjork, City Center NYC
Idlewild, Knitting Factory Brooklyn
Blood Orange, Apollo Theater
Super Furry Animals, Pier 84 NYC
Ezra Furman, DC9
Dilly Dally, DC9 and Baby's Allright Brooklyn
Low, Black Cat
Shamir, Ottobar
GY!BE, 930
Sleater-Kinney, 930 (2nd night), Terminal 5 NYC shows (February and December)
Ride, Terminal 5 NYC
Royal Headache, Wind-Up Space
Dick Diver, Ottobar
Radioactivity, Ottobar
Neneh Cherry, Highline NYC
Makthaverskan, Ortlieb's Philly
Neko Case, Lincoln Theater
Colleen Green w/ band, Metro Gallery
YOB, Metro Gallery
Mercury Rev, RNR
Kiasmos, Paradiso Amsterdam
Hot Chip, Paradiso
Built to Spill, Electric Ballroom London
Mikal Cronin, Subterranean Chicago
Jesus and Mary Chain, Union Transfer Philly
Dinosaur Jr, Taste of Randolph Chicago

Best Festival in 2015: Le Guess Who? (Utrecht NL)

Also enjoyed Maryland Deathfest (sunday) - with Primordial, Neurosis, Winter, Amorphis, Tombs)

The worst set of the year for me was,  Sheer Mag at WindUp Space.

killsaly wrote:
The worst set of the year for me was,  Sheer Mag at WindUp Space.

I heard that was a doozy.

Sheer Mag makes garbage music for garbage people.

Azaghal, what sayeth thou?

In no order:

Jesus and Mary Chain - 9:30
Reverend Horton Heat & The Adicts - the NorVa
Ride - 9:30
The Prodigy & Public Enemy - Capital FM Arena (Nottingham, U.K.)
Dinosaur Jr - the National
The Replacements - Echostage
Swans - The Broadberry
Simple Minds & The Stranglers - O2 Arena (London, U.K.)
Psychic TV - StrangeMatter
Public Image Ltd - U Street Music Hall
Interpol - the National
The Psychedelic Furs - the National