Looking back 2008 was an excellent year for first class gigs. In total I photographed over 150 concerts over the 12 months (including Glastonbury) and the bands and artists who I photographed ranged from Alphabeat to Leonard Cohen! As with 2007 the live sector, unlike record sales, was buoyant across all musical genres, and it appeared that there was an insatiable appetite for new bands and artists. 2008 will be remembered as the year that saw debut released from a host of excellent acts including Foals, Duffy, Laura Marling, MGMT and Vampire Weekend to name but a few. Despite the credit crunch and gloomy financial circumstances the music industry fared much better than other industries helped by a host of strong debut albums by new bands and artists.
Coming up with my five top gigs was difficult however in the end I choose a number of concerts which combined showmanship with excitement and intrigue. I doubt many people who saw Jay Z headline Glastonbury will forget the stellar performance or indeed the controversy which almost bankrupt the festival. Other excellent gigs include Velvet Revolver’s and Dirty Pretty Things penultimate shows as well as excellent gigs from new comers such as Mark Ronson and The Ting Tings.
No. 5 – REM perform at the Apple store in March
In March Apple secured one of the musical coups of the year. REM who had not performed in London for a couple of years showcased tracks from their new album “Accelerate” at Apple’s flagship store in Regent’s street. The band joked about the size of their minuscule stage and the fact that this was the smallest gig that they had done in decades. Although I am not a huge REM fan the performance was inspired and highly enjoyable. Apple has seemingly pulled off the impossible and later in the year staged private shows with a number of top name acts including Bloc Party and NERD.
No. 4 – Mark Ronson performed at the Hammersmith Apollo, February
In early 2008 Mark Ronson was the man of the moment. He had produced two of the most successful albums of 2007, Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black”, and Lilly Allen’s debut album. His solo album of cover versions had sold over 300,000 copies in the UK alone and had stacked up respectable sales in the US and Europe. I met Mark during the filming of one his video’s in January and in February I was invited to photograph him at the first night of two sold out performances at the Hammersmith Apollo.
In the six weeks between seeing him Ronson he had picked up two Brit and a Grammy Award. Needless to say Ronson was fairly chipper by the time I saw him at the end of February. Even though I was a Ronson sceptic the gig was excellent in a camp Las Vegas kind of way and was highly enjoyable. The highlight of the show was a rendition with his latest protégé Adel and although performances with other artists such as Daniel Merriweather were equally as impressive. Adel stood out at the highlight of the gig. The last six months have been comparatively quiet for Ronson so it will be interesting to see if he records another solo record or focuses on song writing and production. Either way the show at the Hammersmith Apollo was excellent and a highlight gig of the year.
No. 3 – Jay Z headlining the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury 27th July
I can’t remember a time when the selection of a headline act at a festival caused as much controversy as Michael Eavis’s decision to book Jay Z. The rapper recently better known as the husband of Beyonce Knowles, headlined the Pyramid Stage on the Saturday night. The fuss started when Noel Gallagher publically slammed Eavis’s decision and announced that it was wrong for a rapper to headline Glastonbury. The fall out which ensued had such an effect on the festival that for a while it looked like that the festival was going to lose money. Thankfully though the tickets eventually were sold out and the unseasonably decent weather ensured that it was the most memorable Glastonbury Festival for over a decade. Jay Z’s performance was
brilliant and undoubtedly won him many fans who probably would have preferred to see Radiohead or REM, both of whom were headlining festivals elsewhere in Europe at the time. Jay-Z, like his wife, is an amazing performer who with an element of on stage theatrics managed to pull off what was probably the performance of his career. It certainly was a show that I doubt he’ll ever forget and undoubtedly won his many new fans.
No. 2 – The Ting Tings perform at Hoxton Bar and Grill – January
By January last year the hype surrounding a duo pop called The Ting Tings was beginning to hot up. The band had been supported by XFM and had appeared in the Radar pages of the NME. Even though the band had a very pop edge they initially focused on the indie press which game them a lot of credibility. Their debut London gig was at the Hoxton Bar and Grill, a tiny venue in Hoxton Square with a backroom around the size of an average Pizza Express. By then the band had only performed a handful of gigs in Manchester however Katie White, their singer and front woman had been criticized by her poor guitar playing and weak live performances. I had already heard a pre-release EP by the time of the gig which I thought was excellent so was keen to catch them at their London debut. The show itself was a bit of a mixed bag however I was in no doubt that they would be one of the big acts of 2008. In my opinion Katie White had real charisma and star quality and whist admittedly she was not an amazing guitarist she had charm and attitude by the bucket loads. Over the past year I have seen them perform around six times and they have become stronger and stronger. Their debut album “We Started Nothing” has sold over half a million records in the UK alone and has produced five top twenty singles. Not band for a band with a singer who allegedly can’t sing!
No.1 – Kings of Leon headline Glastonbury Festival 27th June
I remember seeing KOL back in 2003 performing third in the bill at a Carling event at the Astoria. The band had just released their debut album “Youth and Young Manhood” which had been described by NME and Q as one of the most interesting records of the year. I found the band fascinating and quite unlike anything around at the time. Bearing in mind that Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand and The Libertines were the hot bands at the time KOL were certainly very different. Five years and four albums later the band performed what was the most impressive gig of the year. As with Jay-Z there was a lot of talk that the band were not ready to headline Glastonbury (even though they had headlined V the previous year) however their performance proved the critics wrong. The band started the set with first track off their forthcoming album, “Closer” and then proceeded to play most of songs off their new album “Only by the Night”. I have this is a risky strategy however one which they pulled off mainly by their stella performance and and the strength of their new material which would see them open up to an entirely new audience. I have seen them play loads of times over the years however seeing them on a balmy night in Worthy Farm it was evident that they moved up a league. 2009 may see the return of Blur, Coldplay or Radiohead to Glastonbury however I doubt either of them will be able to pull off what KOL managed to acheive last year.
written by John Rahim
the most soulless venue on the planet, and cover the reunion tour of New Kids on the Block.