Here's Who We Think Performed The Best Gigs Of 2018

Each year, The Music team and contributors take a deep dive into the year that was, scratch our heads and try to jog our memories for what were our top picks of the year. The votes have been cast, the results have been tallied and 2018's best and brightest can finally be revealed. So far we've shared our Album Of The Year and Song Of The Year, and today comes the Local & International Live Performances Of The Year.

Local Live Performance Of The Year

Who else could win Best Aussie Live Performance but Gang Of Youths? They’re easily the hardest-working band in the business and gained the most votes from our writers by far. They kicked off the year doing the festival rounds, before headlining Splendour In The Grass, playing the NRL Grand Final - befuddling some sports fans who had no idea who they were - and finally ending the year with a huge sellout national tour, breaking venue records along the way. They’ve even found time for US and European excursions, playing just about every summer festival they could, as well as SXSW. It’s all an impressive effort and altogether stands as testament to the power of their live sets.

Gang Of Youths are joined in the top ten by a stack of other Aussie rockers from across genres – from the heavy music of Parkway Drive, to the indie/alternative of Alex Cameron and Emerson Snowe, the melodic punk of Luca Brasi, and the snarling rock of Drones offshoot Tropical Fuck Storm. It’s no surprise that our writers enjoy brutal rock music – the type of shows where you can hurl yourself into a mosh – considering the category’s previous winners: mostly Violent Soho and Nick Cave/Warren Ellis projects. Only Carmouflage Rose represents hip hop/rap this year, but he can easily hold the genre up on his own, delivering unique performances at mid-range festivals and small venues, with just his excellent debut EP Taste in his arsenal.

Kira Puru’s groovy pop is some of the best in the country right now – it’s fun and fiery and sizzles on stage, and if you thought you could keep your hips in check at one of her shows, you’ll be very quickly found wrong. Meanwhile Courtney Barnett’s rock music is at times guttural, taking on a garagey bend as she wails on her guitar and lets her clever lyrics speak for themselves. She took out Best Aussie Live Performance back in 2015 and it’s only a matter of time before our Album Of The Year winner does it again.

The Top Ten

1. Gang Of Youths

2. Parkway Drive

3. Kira Puru

4. Courtney Barnett

5. Alex Cameron

6. Emerson Snowe

7. Luca Brasi

8. The Presets

9. Tropical Fuck Storm

10. Carmouflage Rose

Past Winners

2017: Midnight Oil

2016: Violent Soho

2015: Courtney Barnett

2014: Violent Soho

2013: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

2012: Dirty Three

2011: Grinderman

International Live Performance Of The Year

Our live act list is super diverse, showing that our writers’ pool is super diverse – just as it should be. But of course the winner is Kendrick Lamar, our Artist Of The Year for 2017. Seeing Lamar live is the kind of visceral experience any devoted hip hop head would sell their left foot for. And we’ve just gotta be grateful he even deigned to bring DAMN. down this way. Being in a stadium or Splendour where the entire crowd is singing along to 2018 Hottest 100 Winner HUMBLE., and being able to watch Lamar, possibly the best rapper of the ‘10s, at the height of his powers, is a privilege.

Historically The Music love a big act – a retro(ish) act playing a kind of once in a lifetime show: see 2017 winner Patti Smith, 2016 winner The Cure, and even 2015 winner Blur. That’s not saying all those names aren’t still current, just that they reached the peaks of their powers maybe a few years ago (don’t @ me). They’re still worth seeing, it’s a huge bucket list thing, and often they’re still incredibly talented, the kind of seminal artists who broke an entire genre, which honestly probably explains the high standing of everyone from Grace Jones to the obvious Bob Dylan to even The Killers this year. Jones at 70 years old still puts on an unrivalled R&B show, while Nobel Prize winner Dylan, at 77, is someone you’d be a fool to miss. Sure, The Killers don’t have that kind of longevity, but they did define the sound of indie-rock in the ‘00s, and for some reason as late as March 2018, their 2003 hit single Mr Brightside was still in charting in the UK.

Folk singer-songwriter Aldous Harding breaks up the nostalgia-fest, the 28-year-old’s more intimate live shows an excellent counterpoint to the massive venues the rest of our top five can captivate. She’s on her own here in our top ten: the acts making up the rest of the top ten – Panic! At The Disco, Queens Of The Stone Age - can all command large venues, but that closeness a smaller venue affords is part of what makes her live shows feel so special. Whether you caught her in Melbourne or Sydney, or at Laneway Festival, there’s no denying Harding’s more understated singer-songwriter talent and the way she can move a crowd.

The Top Ten

1. Kendrick Lamar

2. Grace Jones

3. Aldous Harding

4. Bob Dylan

5. The Killers

6. Panic! At The Disco

7. Queens Of The Stone Age

8. The Bronx

9. Pink

10. Mogwai