Best Gigs of 2012

karaokeman

Its that time of year again, what are the best gigs you've been to over the last year?

I understand some of us still have a few to see in the next week, but I'm sure this thread will stay active until then, feel free to update when necessary.

My best three were;
1. Leonard Cohen at Kilmainham
2. Stone Roses at Phoenix Park
3. Robbie Williams at the O2 (he put on a good show)

Some honorable mentions also go to Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (twice), many EP acts (Alabama Shakes, Bat For Lashes, Dexys, God Is An Astronaut, Elbow), Florence among others.

Mushy

God is an Astronaut at vicar street was my best one.

Rammstein is a gig everyone should see.

LETS BE AVN IT

Kasabian at marlay park with support from Noel Gallagher is my pick. Epic night

Rothko

Stone Roses
Japandroids
Cathy Davey

kbell

Obituary - button factory
Anthrax - Academy

Furious-Red

Bruce Springsteen
Foo Fighters
Kasabian/NGHFB

Dibble

Django Django in the Grand Social
The XX in the Olympia
Florence & The Machine in the O2

shamwari

Just two gigs for me this year:

Simple Minds at the Olympia

And going to see Band of Friends in the Village this coming Friday. Really looking forward to it!

melekalikimaka

Die Antwoord - utterly insane gig

Saganist

Noels HFB's @ O2 in Feb was Great.

nomoreindie

kurt Vile: Whelans
Papa M: Workmans club
Michael Gira: Button factory
Mono: Button factory
codeine: Spain

And the worst
Baxter Dury: wretched live, so bad

MeetReality

Nicolas Jaar - London Roundhouse
Little Dragon- London HMV Forum
Santigold - London Heaven and Button Factory Dublin
Modeselektor - Field Day London
Julio Bashmore - Twisted Pepper Dublin
Maya Jane Coles - Twisted Pepper Dublin
The XX - The Olympia Dublin

old gregg

Lamb of God

Duff

The Black Keys, Justice and Frank Ocean - Lollapalooza.

Shreddy Krueger

Rammstein

Whatsernamex33

Snow Patrol in the O2, wayyyy back in January.
Keane, Olympia.
The Coronas, O2.

MonkstownHoop

Stone Roses in Heaton Park
Tom Petty in the O2

notnumber

Porcelain Raft in the Pearce Center
Echolake in the Workmans
Public Image Limited
Exitmusic in Whelans
Death in Vegas in Vicar Sreet.

Great year for gigs,many left off the list !:D

Pierce_1991

Mumford & Sons in the O2
Frank Turner in Whelans
Jack White in the O2

Didn't see as many gigs this year coz I went to the euros but those three were great

karaokeman

nomoreindie wrote: »

And the worst
Baxter Dury: wretched live, so bad

As for gigs that were less than fantastic, I'll name mine.

The Cure at EP disappointing, while technically good they were boring at times.

Temper Trap and Florence at PP too, although I heard Florence Welsh wasn't well that day.

RHCP were only half as good as they were the previous year in the O2.

rednik

Tom Petty - 02
Hawkwind - Button Factory
Thin Lizzy - Olympia
Paul Simon - 02
Chris Cornell - Olympia
Guns N Roses - 02

Jimmy Iovine

Watch the Throne.

I think it's very unlikely that I'll see too many gigs over the rest of my lifetime that will surpass that.

mojesius

Paul Simon - 02
Alabama Shakes - Electric Picnic
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - RDS

LowOdour

Chris Cornell - The Olympia
The Black Keys - The O2
Frank Turner - Roisin Dubh

symbolic

Ghostpoet with Alt-j supporting, whelans

Dry the River, whelans

We Are Scientists, the village

Om, button factory

Neurosis & godflesh, hmv forum

Bosnian rainbows, button factory

lordgoat

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Watch the Throne.

I think it's very unlikely that I'll see too many gigs over the rest of my lifetime that will surpass that.

Congratulations you win. Go past go, collect $1000000

Watch The Throne was the gig of 2013. I might close the thread now.

Jimmy Iovine

lordgoat wrote: »

Congratulations you win. Go past go, collect $1000000

Watch The Throne was the gig of 2013. I might close the thread now.

It was so good that it defies time :P.

Tech3

Squarehead @ Bourkes.

Gonzovision

Modeselektor
Animal Collective
Fr. John Misty
Bon Iver
Grimes

StaticAge11

Muse was my gig of the year.
Close second was Machine Head in the Olympia

aka accounts 2010

Best year I've had gig/festival wise in a long time:

Top 5 Gigs: (R.O.I & N.I)
1. Muse @ O2 Dublin
2. Foo Fighters @ Tennents Vital
3. Stone Roses @ Phoenix Park
4. Snow Patrol @ O2 Dublin (also excellent at PP)
5. James Morrison @ Ulster Hall Belfast

Top 3 English Gigs:
1. Stone Roses @ Heaton Park
2. SHM @ Milton Keynes Bowl
3. Thin Lizzy @ Apollo London

Top 3 Festivals:
1. Electric Picnic
2. Indiependence
3. Forbidden Fruit

A V A

1.watch the throne, the 02 dublin
2.the xx , the olympia dublin
3.Rammstein, the 02 dublin
4.george fitzgerald , twisted pepper
5.blink 182, the 02 dublin

daenerysstormborn3

Hot Chip at EP

languagenerd

Has this thread already been done this year or am I having ridiculous deja-vu atm? Either way...

1) Billy Talent in The Academy (Dublin) - was great to see them in such a small venue and they were really on form that night!
2) New Found Glory at the Kerrang! Tour
3) Snow Patrol in the O2 in January
4) The Milk at Trinity Ball (didn't know who they were but their set was a lot of fun!)
5) blink-182 in the 02 - but mostly for the combination of them and the support bands (Four Year Strong and All American Rejects), didn't think blink themselves were as good as the previous show.

Niall09

Went to Swedish House Mafia at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam a few weeks ago. It was pretty special and probably the best night of my life!

Went to Dance Valley too which was great.

bodhrandude

Mostly festivals for me.
Django Django - Body & Soul Festival

Toots and the Maytals - Liss Ard Festval

Squarepusher - Electric Picnic

Toast

Philip Glass with his ensemble and full choir / orchestra playing along to Koyaanisqatsi at the Barbican will be the gig I remember most from 2012. I thought I knew that film and soundtrack well but seeing it live was a literal out of body experience.

Primavera was pretty limp though that was probably due to some bad choices on my part and the new larger layout making it harder to stage hop. Just for pure fun Justice was the best thing I saw that weekend. Musically I felt Other Lives were the most memorable. A huge amount of other acts felt like they were going through the motions. That included usually reliable acts like Beach House, The Cure, The Rapture etc.

EP had some excellent moments with Explosions in the Sky and Sigur Ros but I'd seen them both before. Late night Ham Sandwich in the Salty Dog deserves a mention.

Rammstein was 10 years too late for my musical tastes and no amount of fire could make me forget I didn't care for the music anymore. Technical impressive show though and it was on a scale you just didn't get in this country until the O2 came along. You kids don't know how lucky you are. In our day you'd be lucky to get a cardboard cutout of the band and a cassette of their greatest hits (they upgraded to CDs sometime in the late 90s).

Best: Can't decide between Watch the Throne and Rammstein - tie

Worst: RHCP at Croker - just the sound. It was absolutely godawful, I couldn't hear them.

thebaz

Saw many gigs in 2012 , but Mavis Staples was sublime at NCH

Other gigs that rocked my boat -

Christy at EP
Patti smith also at EP
Mark Lanegan

but Mavis Staple truly has a voice of gold

weser777

notnumber wrote: »

Porcelain Raft in the Pearce Center
Echolake in the Workmans
Public Image Limited
Exitmusic in Whelans
Death in Vegas in Vicar Sreet.

Great year for gigs,many left off the list !:D

Boss, each to their own n'all, but how are Echolake, & Exitmusic in your top 5?..I was at both those shows, n at Echolake, there was about 10 people at it n they were on stage for about 25minutes, n about 20 people at Exitmusic..they were very very good, but to say they were in your top 5?..ye musta seen some pretty poor shows

I seen Porcelain Raft in Vancouver back in April this year - again, about 30 people at it, n even if it was 300 people at it, he was excellent, but meh - defo not up there with the best I've seen all year...each to their own n'all, but an unusual list....

Best 5:

Coldplay in Vancouver
Black Keys w/ Arctic Monkeys in Vancouver
Tanlines in Vancouver
The XX in the Olympia
Edward Sharpe in the Olympia

Worst 5:

Neon Indian in Vancouver
Clap Your Hands Say Yea in Vancouver
Fun. in the Academy

some great gigs to look forward to this year!!

Dietsquirt

Emeli Sande in The Olympia, intimate and great

Mike Guide 69

Two of my standout gigs of last year:

Ryan Adams-Olympia : Briliant intimate acoustic gig,played most of his songs off the current album with a few classics particulary in the second half of the show. He also engaged with the audience slagging off the CMA's and Rednecks in general, hillarious!!!!!!

The Waterboys - Bord Gais Theatre, 1st half of the show, they played a lot of rare old stuff from their early albums. Second part taken up with the playing of the WB Yeats songs before coming backing out and blowing away the audience with "Dont Bang The Drum (an epic 10 minute version), "Whole of The Moon" and finishing up with "Fishermans Blues". If you've never seen The Waterboys live, you are missing out on a truly amazing experience of seeing one of the greatest live bands in the world

blueshed

Stone Roses in Belfast

Foo Fighters in Belfast

Ham Sandwich @ Vantastival

The Riptide Movement @ Knockanstockan

edhead

Mike Guide 69 wrote: »

Two of my standout gigs of last year:

Ryan Adams-Olympia : Briliant intimate acoustic gig,played most of his songs off the current album with a few classics particulary in the second half of the show. He also engaged with the audience slagging off the CMA's and Rednecks in general, hillarious!!!!!!

The Waterboys - Bord Gais Theatre, 1st half of the show, they played a lot of rare old stuff from their early albums. Second part taken up with the playing of the WB Yeats songs before coming backing out and blowing away the audience with "Dont Bang The Drum (an epic 10 minute version), "Whole of The Moon" and finishing up with "Fishermans Blues". If you've never seen The Waterboys live, you are missing out on a truly amazing experience of seeing one of the greatest live bands in the world

Was at both these shows.

Ryan's show that night kicked the life outta Belfast show next night as he wasnt half as talkative then, he's a damn funny guy. Belfast still was great, but nowhere near the heights of Olypmpia show. He turned it on that night in Dublin & was very appreciative of the whole night.

The Waterboys - great great gig also. Came with a buddy of mine who was skeptical at best, said it was best show he'd seen in few years. Great back up band Mike has currently, still keeping if fresh, super gig. I felt alive after leaving Grand Canal! Been 4 years since Ive seen them & they upped their game since then big time.

But my two gigs of the year that I find it impossible to seperate would be

Jack White in O2 & Anthrax in The Academy.

Only 4 days into 2013 & got 8 shows lined up already!

marwelie

Don't want to over elaborate the point but the best gig I've been to in years by miles and miles and miles was First Aid Kit in Vicar St in November.

Honourable mentions to Richard Hawley in the same venue during the same week and Muse in the O2.

Denalihighway

weser777 wrote: »

Boss, each to their own n'all, but how are Echolake, & Exitmusic in your top 5?

this phenomenon, while confusing to some, is generally known as subjectivity

sham69

1. Rammstein- What a show.

2. Chris Cornell unplugged at the olympia, amazing...