The Best Live Acts Of 2013
How good is live music?
Live music, it's what we live and breathe here at theMusic. Every week we send intrepid souls out to beer barns, dive bars, convention centres, racecourses, nightclubs, folk clubs… just about anywhere there's someone playing music for the entertainment of others.
Australia has had its fair share of pretty special tours come through in the past 12 months from acts based both overseas and at home, so it was a tightly contested battle for both the international and national shows of the year. Let's break it down for you now…
The Best International Live Acts Of 2013
1. Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band
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Bruce Springsteen at the Brisbane Entertainement Centre. Photo by Terry Soo.
We were very excited when the Boss announced he'd be back in Australia and, when Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band finally arrived after a ten year absence, the whole country went nuts. He played a stack of mammoth sold out shows and made us realise why people all around the world rave about his live show and have done for decades. Even without the Big Man Clarence Clemons the show completely ruled and we're so excited to see it happen all over again early next year.
2. Beyoncé
Beyoncé at Rod Laver Arena. Pic by Robin Harper.
It seems our writers like their shows big and spectacular, as the recent visit from Beyoncé – the artist we consider the undeniable queen of pop music right now – ranked as the second best tour of the year. It was rather spectacular; plenty of pyro, plenty of flying around the room, plenty of screaming kids and, most importantly, plenty of those incredible R&B/pop numbers that have made her such an important force in modern music.
3. Neutral Milk Hotel
It was the show we never expected we'd see; but we did see indie legends Neutral Milk Hotel and it was glorious. While the Harvest Festival they were booked for never eventuated, the band still came to Australia for the very first time this year for some east coast dates, which saw them perform alongside fellow indie kingpins M.Ward and Superchunk. Australia was one of the first territories to see the band after they reformed earlier in the year for their first dates this century and hearing those songs sent chills down our collective spine; we truly felt lucky to witness it.
4. James Blake
James Blake at the Sydney Opera House. Pic by Jodie Matthews.
He's already appeared highly in our Album of the Year, Artist of the Year and Song of the Year polls, so it's no wonder that two visits from UK indie-R&B/post-dubstep superstar James Blake has netted him a slot in our top international tours of the year. His slot at the Sydney Opera house saw our writer call him “unarguably the best hummer in the world”, while in Perth “Blake's soulful voice [was] sounding just as good as it does on the record”.
5. Japandroids
Japandroids at Corner Hotel. Pic by Kane Hibberd.
Another act that decided to grace us with their presence twice in 2013 was Canadian posi-rockers Japandroids and damned if they didn't make their good vibes rub off on us at each and every show they played. Wide grins, big sweaty hugs and mass sing-alongs were the order of the day as the duo slammed through tracks from both their brilliant records.
BRISBANE REVIEW – BRISBANE LANEWAY REVIEW
SYDNEY REVIEW – SYDNEY LANEWAY REVIEW
MELBOURNE REVIEW – MELBOURNE LANEWAY REVIEW
PERTH REVIEW – PERTH LANEWAY REVIEW
The Best Australian Live Acts Of 2013
1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at Sydney Opera House. Pic by Linda Heller-Salvador.
Okay, we lied about this one being tightly contested. The return of Mr Cave and his band to Australian venues at the beginning of the year was so good that our writers had no issues remembering it when it came time to list their favourite shows of the year. Whether Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will return to our shores in 2014 is up for debate; but you bet we'll be there if they do.
2. Violent Soho
Violent Soho at Crowbar. Pic by Stephen Booth.
They've always been a great live band; from early days in Brisbane dive bars to the main stage at Splendour In The Grass, Violent Soho have always put every ounce (pun intended) of what they have into their live performances and our writers recognised that in 2013. The small club dates they played as preview shows for their Hungry Ghost record in August were absolutely ridiculous – complete stage dive-fests – and the bigger shows they played after the release of the record were even better because you could see what the fuck was going on.
3. The Drones
The Drones at The Forum. Pic by Jesse Booher.
We've been going blue in the face saying this the past few days; but The Drones kicked arse in 2013 and this extended to their brilliance on the live stage. The addition of Steve Hesketh on keys is genius, the new songs sound just as great as the old ones on the live stage and Gareth Liddiard is one of the more unlikely brilliant front men we've had the pleasure of watching dominate on the live stage over the years. It's a shame they didn't get the chance to strut their stuff at Harvest, but they'll be devastatingly good on Big Day Out, we've no doubt.
4. Neil Finn & Paul Kelly
Neil Finn & Paul Kelly at the Brisbane Convention Centre. Pic by Rick Clifford.
Yep, we know what you're thinking. We don't feel right calling Neil Finn an Australian, but it feels a hell of a lot better than calling Paul Kelly un-Australian, don't you reckon? These shows were magical; so many amazing hits, two incredibly charming performers, a band with a family feel and just a genuinely unpretentious evening of some of the best music that has ever come out of our part of the world.
5. Big Scary
Big Scary at Oxford Art Factory. Pic by Cara Sayer-Bourne.
After sneakily scoring a spot in the Top 20 Albums Of The Year, Big Scary make their second appearance in our 2013 poll spectacular thanks to the quality of their live show. It's not that they're playing huge venues or headlining festivals or what have you, but a series of sold out headline dates as well as support slots with the likes of Bernard Fanning have put them in front of an awful lot of people this year and they've been damn entertaining each and every time.
This is all well and good on a national level, but how were these results skewed state-by-state?
We have writers in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – here is how they voted.
SYDNEY'S FAVOURITE AUSSIE LIVE ACTS
1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2. You Am I
3. Horrorshow
4. Neil Finn & Paul Kelly
5. The Drones
MELBOURNE'S FAVOURITE AUSSIE LIVE ACTS
1. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
2. Saskwatch
3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4. Neil Finn & Paul Kelly
5. The Bennies
BRISBANE'S FAVOURITE AUSSIE LIVE ACTS
1. Violent Soho
2. Big Scary
3. Neil Finn & Paul Kelly
4. Jeremy Neale
5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
PERTH'S FAVOURITE AUSSIE LIVE ACTS
1. sleepmakeswaves
2. Chet Faker
3. Tomas Ford
4. British India
5. The Drones
So how does hometown bias impact on the results?
Click the image to see a larger, actually readable version.
Violent Soho certainly benefitted from the love bestowed upon them by writers in their native Brisbane, polling hugely among our writers there, but the same can't be said for The Drones who shocking didn't get a single vote from writers in their closest home city of Melbourne.
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