Best concerts of 2008

Live music is one of the few things left in modern life that refuses to be compressed into a convenient little file. Albums are souvenirs. Concerts are where songs earn their scars.

I spent a fair amount of 2008 standing in dark venues, humid festival tents and overcrowded arenas, watching musicians prove that a great performance has very little to do with perfect sound and everything to do with conviction.

Thåström in the sunset.

These are some of the ones that stayed with me, even after the last notes left the room.

• Yazoo in Glasgow – Their debut album “Upstairs at Eric’s” from 1982 was one of the first vinyl records I listened to. Back then, I never imagined I’d see Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet in Glasgow over two decades later. Nostalgia is usually a dangerous drug, but this time it actually delivered. (Read more about the Yazoo concert and the Scotland trip)
• Thåström in Gothenburg – As the summer sun slowly disappeared behind the treeline, Thåström stripped decades of music history down to the essentials. Semi-acoustic versions of songs from Imperiet, Ebba Grön and his solo career proved that great songwriting doesn’t need volume.
• Suicide Commando at Arvikafestivalen – The previous time I’d seen Johan van Roy, the sound was about as subtle as a cement mixer. This time everything clicked right from the opening. The bass hit like a sledgehammer and the whole audience seemed powered by the same industrial-grade battery. (Read more about Arvikafestivalen 2008)
• Grinderman at Way Out West – Let’s be honest, Grinderman isn’t The Bad Seeds. Some of the songs wander around looking for a destination. But Nick Cave possesses that rare quality shared by only a handful of performers, the ability to make you watch him even when he’s not at his absolute best. Charisma is difficult to define, impossible to fake, and worth the price of admission. (Read more about Way Out West 2008)
• Tom McRae in Gothenburg – He walked on stage armed with little more than fragile songs and a dry sense of humor, accompanied by friends from Hotel Café. The result was intimate without becoming sentimental, a rare balance. (Read more about the concert)

Vince Clarke, Yazoo in Glasgow.

The year also included Thermostatic, Sigur Ros, Kent, Broder Daniel, VNV Nation, Combichrist, Rotersand, Cryo, Sista Mannen På Jorden, Ladytron, S.P.O.C.K., The Flaming Lips, And One, In Strict Confidence, The Crüxshadows, System, Aimee Mann, Cut Copy and enough other bands to ensure my hearing continued its slow, inevitable decline.

Next year already looked dangerously expensive. Tickets are safely tucked away for Front 242, Depeche Mode, Jean-Michel Jarre, Morrissey and a few other magnificent fossils who stubbornly refused to leave the stage. Long may they continue.