Top Ten Gigs of 2023

In the time-honoured fashion of better late than never, here’s my top ten gigs of 2023.

A spoiler alert – Cafe Oto could feature quite significantly. I make no apologies for this.

It is driven by a few factors. Firstly, economics – the cost of greed/living crisis combined with putting my daughter through university means that I’ve got less disposable income to hand. Secondly – we didn’t get Glastonbury tickets this year, which often gives me the opportunity to see a bunch of people over the weekend. Finally, I’ve come to realise that the increased ticket prices combined with the more soulless venues and unadventurous artists mean that I was finding I was getting surprised much less often at these larger concerts. Paying £50 to hear someone run through the same set they were going to play thirty or forty times on that tour just didn’t appeal.

With that all out of the way, here we go:

Lucinda Williams at the Barbican: A defiant performance as Lu continues her recovery from a stroke. Plus we got both Stuart Mathis and Doug Pettibone on guitar and a Velvet Underground cover for good measure.

Wilco at the London Forum and Moseley Folk Festival: Two gigs in a week which fly in the face of my “no medium size venue” mandate. I’ll make exceptions for this bunch though. The only mild disappointment was we didn’t get to hear more than one song from their 2023 album Cousin, which was released a couple of months later.

Etran De L’Air at Cafe Oto: On a hot August night, these sub-Saharan nomads raised the temperature even higher. Illustrated what was possible with bass, guitar and drums in 2023. Pure joy.

Nik Bartsch’s Ronin at Kings Place: It’s the second time we’ve seen Nik perform and it wasn’t any less mesmerising. The one ECM artist that still brings the funk, no matter how zen it is. The Swiss keyboard player mesmerises and thrills.

Big Thief at the Hammersmith Odeon: The first of their two nights – plenty of new material and like Wilco, the model of how touring bands should approach these venues. Intimate and not afraid to try something different and potentially fail – although they most often succeed.

Mike Reed’s Separatist Party at Cafe Oto: Chicago contemporary jazz alumni meets spoken word meets analogue electronics. The subsequent album was one of my favourite of 2023. The show included my least-expected cover of the year, Black Sabbath’s Planet Caravan.

London Brew at the Barbican: A London Jazz Festival highlight. A sideways look at Miles Davis Bitches Brew, with a huge band including Nubya Garcia, Theon Cross and Dave Okumu amongst others. A real event.

The Dream Syndicate at the Lexington: Steve Wynn’s crew are the gold standard for bands reforming and pushing into new places. This time round they had Vicki Peterson of the Bangles on guitar and the Rain Parade supporting.

Codeine at the Garage: Not an emergency painkiller trip to the local petrol station, Codeine rolled back the years for an evening of slowcore that drew a surprisingly broad audience. The first time that I’d seen them and well worth the wait.

Modern Nature at Cafe Oto: This was my final gig of the year. The natural heirs to Talk Talk, the Blue Nile and David Sylvian. This was a run through of their latest album, No Fixed Point in Space with one new song. Jack Cooper’s band have a spare fragile beauty.

That’s a wrap then. I’ve already got a few gigs lined up for 2024 (no Glastonbury tickets though):

• Roisin Murphy, The The and the Smile at Ally Pally
• Enji and Ralph Townes at Cafe Oto
• the Osees at the Electric Ballroom
• Nils Frahm at the Barbican

Thanks to everyone who has read the blog during the last year and best wishes for 2024.