Best shows of 2019

[concertgoer]

My favorite shows this were twigs, Vampire Weekend and Robyn
For festival sets my favorites were Janelle , Ariana and Kacey at Lolla

[nanatod]

this yr, there were a lot of reunions of bands that I missed during their heyday, and who I finally caught up with for the 1st time for me -- Jesus Jones at Wire, Mott the Hoople at the Chicago Theater, Bikini Kill at riot fest, misfits at rosemizon, and stereolab at pitchfork. They were all fine, and I'm very, very, glad I attended these, but my favorite shows were in 2 other categories:

new (to me stuff) that I thought kicked butt: linda gail lewis, kate moss playing blues w/ smiley tilmon, railroad earth (altho it's not a high barrier to meet, best jam band ever?),naked giants (but not csh who aren't for me), ian noe, sincere engineer.

but the very best times I had at shows this yr, were (ironically) acts I had seen multiple times, who I went in anticipating would just mail it in, but in retrospect were at the top of their game this yr: Bob Dylan (4th time is the charm), Kristin Hersch (5th time is the charm), Fear (2nd time), Roomful of Blues (2nd time -- last time was in the mid 1980s!), Jacob Dylan (2nd time), Leann Rimes (always ready to perform), Jason Ringenberg (4th or 5th time), Low (3rd time is the charm), Kanye (yay, northerly isle), Lucero (2nd time is the charm), Ace Frehley (3rd time is the charm, but his audience still sucks).

finally each and every act I saw on the one day I went to Lollapalooza, Friday, was terrible, except for Snails and for Bring Me the Horizon, who were I guess a little bit ok.

[llamaoftime]

Man between VW topping/being on so many of these lists (including my own) and jamming some of the live sets today, I honestly might just make a point to travel to see them again next year.

[postfontaine]

1. Vampire Weekend - White River Lawn
2. The National/Courtney Barnett - Hill Auditorium
3. Sharon Van Etten/Nilufer Yanya - Majestic Theatre
4. Japanese Breakfast/Foxing/Charly Bliss - Crofoot Ballroom
5. PUP/illuminati hotties - Elevation
6. Nilufer Yanya/Pixx - Deluxx Fluxx
7. Anderson Paak - Meadowbrook Amphitheatre
8. Robyn - Masonic Temple Cathedral Theatre
9. Kacey Musgraves/Natalie Prass - Royal Oak Music Theatre
10. Sleater-Kinney - Majestic Theatre
11. Foxing/oso oso - Royal Oak Music Theatre
12. Pinegrove - Majestic Theatre
13. Soccer Mommy - The Loving Touch
14. Trail of Dead/Protomartyr - MOCAD
15. Stereolab - Royal Oak Music Theatre
16. Explosions in the Sky - Masonic Temple Cathedral Theatre
17. Haley Heynderickx - The Ark
18. Vince Staples/JPEGMAFIA - Royal Oak Music Theatre
19. James Blake - Royal Oak Music Theatre
20. Bully - Otus Supply
21. Lucy Dacus - El Club
22. Better Oblivion Community Center - Agora Theater
23. Cold Cave/Adult. - Majestic Theatre
24. Jason Isbell/Father John Misty/Jade Bird - Fox Theatre
25. Blanck Mass - UFO Factory

1. Orbital - Movement
2. Rosalia - Lollapalooza
3. Belle and Sebastian - Pitchfork
4. Lizzo - Mopop
5. Vampire Weekend - Mopop
6. Julia Jacklin - Forecastle
7. Mitski - Lollapalooza
8. Anderson Paak - Forecastle
9. Chvrches - Forecastle
10. Sky Ferreira - Pitchfork

[fiveiron83321]

Orville Peck @ Lincoln Hall is definitely my top show of the year

[ixquit]

Didn't get to see all that much this year, but of the little I did I'd say mine would look something like this..

Manchester Orchestra - Riot Fest set
Tool - St. louis pre album drop
Manchester Orchestra - METN set at Riviera
The Flaming Lips - Riot Fest
Incubus / Badflower - Peoria radio fest

[zircona1]

1. Power Trip w/Red Death - STL, The Ready Room
2. The Jesus Lizard - Nashville, Marathon Music Works
3. Spiritualized - The Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul
4. Flipper w/David Yow and three other good bands I don't remember the names of - FUBAR, STL
5. Mdou Moctar - Cafe Berlin, Columbia

[venom]

i went to the same amount of shows in 2019 as 2018, which was the lowest number of shows i saw since 2004. i guess that doesn't surprise me. i had a good peak there for a while.

some of my favorite sets of 2019:

hot chip @ all points east
primal scream @ all points east
troy anderson @ empty bottle
jawbox @ metro
kacey musgraves @ metro
beach house @ riverside
b-52s @ riot fest
jenny lewis @ goose island block party
robert earl keen @ hardly strictly bluegrass
say sue me @ empty bottle

[cosmo]

by date:

FIDLAR @ The Truman
Pixies @ Sprint Center
Men Without Hats @ Ameristar Casino
Metric @ 80/35
The Strokes @ Lollapalooza
Mitski @ Lollapalooza
Tenacious D @ Lollapalooza
Cage the Elephant @ Northerly Island
Peter Frampton @ Starlight
Courtney Barnett @ Maha Fest
Guns n' Roses @ Voodoo Fest
Beck @ Voodoo Fest
Japanese Breakfast @ Voodoo Fest

[lollaman44]

I missed this the first go around and is always one of my favorite threads of the year.

Top shows by date:

Jeff Tweedy at the Pageant - First time seeing him solo despite Wilco shows hitting No. 20 this year.
Foals/Preoccupations at the Pageant - Awesome performances from both. Got way too intoxicated with the dudes from Foals after...
Beck/Spoon at Riverport - Cage sucked but we snuck up to about row 15 before Beck came on.
Orville Peck at the Pageant - They moved this from Blueberry Hill's Duck Room, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten a ticket. Very glad they did.
PUP/Illuminati Hotties at Delmar Hall - First time seeing either and they both killed it.
Raconteurs at the Pageant - So happy they came to St. Louis ... even if it took most of the year.
Son Volt at Delmar Hall - They sounded terrific. So did the UT songs.

HM: The Flaming Lips under the Arch at Fair St. Louis - A friend got us VIP passes and ended up very close to the stage.

Also first time since 2005 that I didn't go to a fest. Thanks Lolla and LouFest...