Yay, impossible decision season has begun again!
Halvcirkel, Darsombra, Blues Pills, Clipping., Arthur Brown, Yīn Yīn, Myrkur, Messa, Spidergawd, Fange, Asphyx, Body Void, even Triptykon... I could go on and on and on with names of artists whose shows would be absolutely worthy best of the year material, but somehow still didn't make it into this selection of my favorite 12 club/solo shows + 12 festival shows of 2024.
The state of the world may suck, but except for a disappointing open air experience with King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and missing several shows (P/O Massacre, Otay:onii, Bees Made Honey In The Vein Tree, Lili Refrain...) due to clashes with other tours, at least in regards of live music there has been little to complain about this year.
So here - cast in stone for all eternity (or at least as long as this servive isn't bought and spoiled by a certain kind of billionaire) - is for you my annual live music ranking:
So here - cast in stone for all eternity (or at least as long as this servive isn't bought and spoiled by a certain kind of billionaire) - is for you my annual live music ranking:
TOP 12 CLUB/SOLO SHOWS 2024:
I know, I know, somehow the Slovenians always seem to end up here. And always with a different kind of performance. It's not an automatic given though. Laibach's celebration of their most popular album in Copenhagen was great, but would have "only" made it to the third or fourth place on this list on its own.
A couple of months later however their powerful display of Industrial Retrogarde mastery completely blew me away without any circumstances diminishing the experience. Perfection.
What a tribute to Sean Reinert and Sean Malone! Cynic performed their legendary "Focus" album in full. And if you know only the smallest thing about how much this unmatched timeless masterpiece means to me, it should come as zero surprise to find this show so high up here, even though the sound could have been better. But with amazing musicanship, stellar songs and a packed room like here a show will of course survive that. The great Prog Death / Sci-Fi Thrash tour package with Obscura and Cryptosis was the icing on the cake.
For a time they had been so formative for my musical taste, yet somehow I not only stopped following their discography, but also waited decades to finally see the German Experimental / Industrial icons live.
The presence of Blixa Bargeld, his sonorous chanson voice, dental drill screams and humour, the incredible instrumentation and great songs, mostly from the most recent albums... Dang, am I happy that I could finally strike Einstürzende Neubauten from my bucket list!
I love shows on the MS Stubnitz, I love the Canadian Noise Rock Droners Big|Brave. And when those two come together and give their best, what else can be the result than complete bliss?
This might have been the best sounding Big|Brave show I've seen so far - and that means a lot, considering that includes several Roadburn performances.
Ultimately I can only repeat what I asked myself before, bathing inside this sea of deep frequency: Is this how a baby blue whale feels inside the womb?
An event intrinsically too large for me, with too much drama and bullshit inside the pit and the hyped support Jinjer being a rather sobering disappointmenting. Well, that last part had already been counterbalanced by a killer show from Death Metal titans Obituary, when the headliners hit the stage.
Sepultura on their farewell tour - even with a young last minute drummer and me not being too familiar with most material past "Chaos A.D." - were an unpolished force going out with a spectacular bang!
A mystical musical theater with drummers, dancers, shamans. A fantasy melange of Northern and Eastern European, Tuvan and Mongolian, New Zealandian and probably even Klingon traditions. A show you could disrespectfully call Wagner for mediaval market fans and LARP players. In truth however Heilung's show was a perfectly crafted, overwhelming transcendent experience. Absolutely breathtaking!
And seeing Zeal & Ardor as a support act was a more than welcome bonus.
No doubt, 2024 was a Chelsea Wolfe year. With a strong focus on material from her new album "She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She" her long-awaited return to Europe became a stunning glimpse of Contemporary Goth heaven.
And as if witnessing the court of the dark queen alone wouldn't have been enough, finally seeing the Icelandic trio Kælan Mikla as her support act was a great addition to this already magical night.
Sometimes you had to ask yourself how only three people could unleash such an overwhelming inferno of Heavy Psych, fuzzy Doom and Post Metal. Or if it was just the ridiculous overkill of epileptic lights and videos.
But then the answer was right there: This is Slift. And this French trio simply is a space force like no other right now.
Even though the English Grindcore titans delivered a ferocious killer performance easily worthy of being listed here on its own, this has to be the show where I also include both support bands in the heading. Because with fellow Grinders Wormrot and Sludge devestators Primitive Man it was the perfect package deal, which made this insanely brutal night extra memorable. And the wild audience responce made sure my body remembered it for a while as well. Madness!
Spoiler: Dool are one of two band you'll find in both this and the festival shows list below. Sorry, but I just couldn't resist! The feverish live performances of the Dutch Dark Rock group have been one of the most magnetic experiences on any stage for years and with almost the whole new album in the setlist this intimate club show was no exception. In hindsight I only should have stepped back into the third or fourth row to here significantly more of Raven van Dorst's fantastic vocals.
Happy Birthday to me! Normally I actually don't celebrate, but this year I did it in style by treating myself to an outstanding show of Korean Jazz vocalist Youn Sun Nah, accompanied by the also very unconventional piano player Bojan Z.. And while the singer's studio albums may have become a little too Pop and tame for my taste, this evening of her interpreting Nina Simone, Björk, Jefferson Airplane, Tom Waits and many more absolutely deserved the flush of standing ovations it got.
From a birth-day show to one in my birth-place in the northernmost North of Germany! It had been five long years since I had last seen Johanna Sadonis and her hard rocking merry band of Black Sabbath and Heart worshippers live - and it seemed unfathomable how I could have let it come to that. Their mission is not to reinvent the wheel, but when it comes to writing great straight Rock'n'Roll riffs and songs and performing them with a singer in the driver's seat, who just keeps getting better and better - you can hardly surpass Lucifer.
TOP 12 FESTIVAL SHOWS 2024:
"What a super heavy wall of fuzztastic riffs, Psych lead guitars and tasty analogue synth and organ sounds! Full Earth turned the concept of Rock music into an elemental force, an earthquake and storm, shaking, levelling, pulling apart and flooding the room and everyone who was in it."
That's what I said in my festival report. Or in other words: The extended version of Kanaan delivered what their debut album "Cloud Sculptors" had promised. And it was glorious!
The Belgian collective entered the stage with fewer members than the previous time I had seen them. No second drummer and saxophone, which translated to less Tribal and Spiritual Jazz elements. Instead Neptunian Maximalism brought more Drone, Doom and Black Metal in an immersive larger than life ritual of primal sound, which made me completely loose my grasp on the flow of time.
The return of Rebecca Vernon (SubRosa), performing one of my favorite albums of 2023 was a show I knew I could under no circumstances cut short, since missing the incredibly epic finale "The Truth" would have haunted me for the rest of my days. Lead by the singer (also on keys and guitar) and violinist Andrea Morgan The Keening's whole show was beautiful Gothic/Doom/Folk bliss.
They didn't have any bad intentions! Hedvig, Ellen and Ivar were just playing in a packed Jazz club - but as soon as the Norwegian trio started the roof caught fire and kept burning on for over seventy minutes. HMT definitely is the correct unit of measurement when it comes to determining the addictiveness of Heavy Prog / Jazz Rock. This Paradox show was an absolute blast!
Ok, since Big|Brave already have a high position in my club show ranking, I could have easily saved this (or the other) spot for another artist, right? They even played the same show consisting of "A Chaos Of Flowers" songs, didn't they? Yes. Yes. But come on, the Drone was just so transcendent and blissful! There's no way around it, this band deserves the double honour.
Yeah, see Big|Brave! Same same. Dool just always deliver. The festival appearance was shorter than the club show later in the year, but both had similar as well as distinct qualities. With a strong focus on "The Shape Of Fluidity" the Dutch group once again proved to be an excellent reason to visit the prehistoric Balve Cave.
Yin and Yang. Two days, two shows, two parts of an incredible whole. First the fearlessly drawn-out Tangerine Dream-inspired Ambient experience, then the murderous Progressive Death Metal inferno, which made the crowd go completely mental. No doubt, even before the release of "Absolute Elsewhere" Blood Incantation proved that they are a league and cosmos of their own.
I don't think anyone was really prepared for how intensly her show would hit them right into the feels. Australian Experimental Noise artist Uboa performed in the middle of the audience, an intimate Electronic set of calming Ambient with an eery undercurrent, which directly corresponded with the physical and mental exhaustion of the crowd, so close to the end of four festival days. The air of the room was thickened with palpable pure emotion. No other show this year even remotely felt like this.
Irish Folk is not a genre I'd normally ever expect ending up in this list. But Lankum's take is of course very special. Their profound, earnest approach, their vocal pitch perfection, mesmerizing instrumentation and haunting Drone made this 013 Main Stage show one the highlights of Roadburn 2024.
Desperate, mourning, scornful and annihilating. Dymna Lotva singer Nokt Aeon lived through it all as a bleeding saintess of peace amongst a raging Post Black Metal storm. The exile Belarusian band impressively delivered what one of the finest albums of 2023 had promised.
Hey! Finally a chance to see them outside of the Netherlands! Temple Fang, who have released multiple live albums, yet only one studio EP so far are without a doubt a band made for the stage.The mastery of their timeless Psychedelic Prog/Blues/Heavy Rock epics will always take you beyond the stars. Hamburg, which they graced exclusively with brand-new material, witnessed no exception from that rule.
Cirith Ungol's abbreviation CU stands for CULT. Them headlining the ten year anniversary party of the German Deaf Forever print magazine on their farewell tour was my last chance to finally see the influential Heavy / Doom / even Proto-Death Metal legends in the flesh. The band around eccentric shrill singer Tim Baker played a frenetically celebrated show which fired classic after classic and also allowed post reunion material to shine.
The king is dead, long live the King of the Dead!
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