2011 was a great year for shows, I went to a lot of them, and as it is almost the end of the year, here is my list of the 10 best concerts of 2011. It was quite hard to classify them, since the list is so eclectic, I loved them all for different reasons.
10. Dhani Harrison at Bardot: I was curious and intimidated, because he was the son of a Beatle, and in real person, he looked so cute, friendly, with not an ounce of self-importance. The music was the best part, inventive, electronic and going into some Radiohead territory at times. And yeap, he looks very much like his father.
9. Fiona Apple at Largo: It was my first time seeing the delicate, wonderful Fiona, she was very thin, but had the strength of a dozen, she was flying, she was volatile, she was the funny hostess and, she didn’t even sing many of her own songs; rather she sang old tunes, very old tunes with so much nuance in her voice! She was intense, moving and so damn sexy.
8. Jackson Browne at the Satellite: A show announced at the last minute, a legend in a tiny place, a proposition difficult to resist at… and I was under his nose. He played all his classics and a few Warren Zevon’s songs. It was the beginning of July, and I was not running on empty.
7. Mogwai at the Mayan theater: It was a sort of discovery for me, I had never heard of them before this year, and I bought a ticket (one of the few I bought this year actually, but this is another story) since I was quite in love with their album fantastically entitled ‘Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will’. They did not disappoint me live, going to other levels, other dimensions, it was truly a fantastic symphonic music.
6. Bright Eyes at the Hollywood Forever cemetery: It was my second encounter with Conor Oberst, and a quite different one from the first one. From an almost acoustic show in a very intimate venue, to a full band in the whole cemetery, Conor was quite a different person. He was fast and energetic and also did a genuine crowd bath at the end, after a little bit of Bono-like preaching,… Ah Conor I forgive you anyway.
5. Fucked Up at the El Rey Theater: It would really be a shame if Damian Abraham was really quitting the band as he said he wanted to do; he is a total showman, he is adored by the crowd and everyone literally wanted a piece of him. But Fucked Up is everywhere in the media now. The fact that Fidlar and the mighty-scary Trash Talk were opening, didn’t spoil anything.
4. Paul Simon at the Music Box: Yes, I was nostalgic, yes it was the feel-good show of the year, I have a long story with him, but so what? I was probably listening to him in womb thanks to my family, and there is nothing wrong with nostalgia! That said, he was in good shape, doing what he had always done, playing a picture perfect show of 24 songs, no less.
3. No Age + Black Flag = No Flag at the Mac Arthur Park: I had the feeling I was attending some kind of historic event that will be carved in stone in the park somewhere,…'Here No Age and the partial line-up of Black Flag played on July 21st', hey they gave some commemorative posters! Initially, it was a No Age concert, but they had announced some unexpected guests. When the crowd saw Chuck Dukowsky and Keith Morris join the punk duo on stage, they went totally crazy, and welcomed them like the second coming of the messiah or something. It was chaos, jubilation, and the security could not control anything anymore.
2. The Flaming Lips at the Hollywood forever cemetery: actually this should count for two, because I attended both nights!! The first night, they played ‘the Soft Bulletin’ in its entirety, the second one, they performed their take on Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. It was everything you can expect from a Lips’ show and even more, balloons, confetti, giant Wayne’s bubble, characters of the wizard of Oz, and lights, multicolor lights, all the senses were on non-stop ecstasy, or acid, or whatever you like to be on. All coming from the crazy imaginative delirium of Wayne Coyne's brain. I just wonder how they can top this next time, as he said he wants to do this every year.
1. Iggy and the Stooges at the Palladium: I still can't believe how Iggy was able to stage dive so many times, and crowd surf with so much ease at 64! He is still the iconic strong beast all muscle, sweat and blood on stage. At one point, after a come back from the crowd, I thought he was in danger, he kneeled down, was touching his nose, but it lasted like a fraction of second, and he was back on his feet before I know it. It was not your average show, it was riotous, chaotic, epic … something you cannot forget.