2019 was a one-of-a-kind year for me. I saw (exactly!) 400 shows over the course of the 365 days in the year, something that would have seemed astonishingly impossible to me if you had suggested it to me even a year ago. I didn’t set out to see (way!) more shows than I’d ever seen, it just sort of happened (almost 50% more than my previous high). Sure, there were a few extras squeezed in to goose the total up a little, but for the most part, these were shows I wanted to see and almost all of them were worthwhile, most quite amazing. Perhaps even crazier, I wrote a typically-not-that-short review of almost all 400 of them. I don’t know exactly how I managed either feat, but please do read some of what I wrote, taken in toto, pretty much every bit of my livemusic philosophy and outlook is contained inside those reviews. I actually have entertained the idea of somehow putting those 395+ reviews and putting them into a book of some sort, if only I had infinite time and energy!
To whittle down the year to a top whatever list when you’ve seen 400 shows is a ridiculous proposition, but that won’t stop me from trying to weed out my absolute favorites from a year that was literally more-than-one-a-day awesome, as far as livemusic went. During the year I tried to “rank” shows by giving them anywhere from 1 to 5 stars. There were no 1 star concerts and very few 2-star outings. All told, there were 80ish 5 star shows. They are all listed here. For completeness, a full rendering of the 400 shows I saw in 2019 can be found here, essentially a for-public-consumption version of my own NedBase spreadsheet. Feel free to share and let me know if there are any questions, comments, etc. Always happy to hear from you.
For the record, I spent way too much on concerts in 2019 and have resolved to exhibit more self-control with my spending. I am setting a budget for myself in 2020 and intent to keep it. Still, I will try to see as much as I can within those constraints and will happily accept any freebies along the way ;).
As for last year, here are the raw numbers:
400 shows (totalling over 550 sets!). Almost 450 bands seen. 230 (over 50%) seen for the first time in 2019. 122 different venues in 20 different cities/boroughs/towns. Artist seen the most: Wayne Krantz, seen 34 times (!!!).
My favorites in 2019. As I usually do, I cheated and while this looks like a top twenty, there are probably more like 50 or more shows represented below. Not going to write too much for each since I already reviewed all of these. I put these into some rough order but also the order doesn’t really matter that much, I loved all these shows and way more (had much trouble whittling it down). I’m sure you could talk me into swapping half of these out for 10 others that were just as well-loved-by-me. Follow links for more words.
- Newport Folk Festival @ Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, 7/26–28
There’s no beating Newport Folk which seems to be best weekend ever every year for al song as I’ve been going. The highlights are too numerous, the specialness too special. The combination of soul-refresh, music and surprises can’t be be topped. This is the more-than-just-music musical event of my year every year. You should go. My full Newport write-up is here.
2. Phish @ Madison Square Garden 12/30
There’s a reason why you go see a band like Phish (and, really, there is no other band like Phish) a couple hundred times. They continue to surprise you, even on their worst nights, and, every once in a while, you find them on one of their best nights. That was the 12/30 show. I found it to be an almost perfect Phish show with one of the best jams I’ve ever heard them do. I also had an absolute blast at this show. Funny enough, before Monday night, I wasn’t sure Phish would make this list at all, and here they are at practically the top spot. My review of this one can be found in this posting.
3. Bill Frisell @ various
As promised, I’m going to cheat. I saw Bill Frisell 7 times in 2019, solo, duo, trio, quartet… all 7 times were 5 star brain-busters. Each time I saw Frisell play felt like a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, a lucky-to-be-alive affirmation, a chance to learn, once again, again and again, what it means to be beautiful. Bill is at the top of his game and thank the livemusicgods for the opportunity to see him so much in 2019. Perhaps my favorite place in the world is in the room where Bill Frisell is playing guitar, no matter with whom, my eyes closed, lost in the purity of his tone, chills over my entire body, tears in my eyes. Nothing better. (UPDATE! Bill Frisell joined Yo La Tengo on 12/29 in what turned out to be a listworthy favorite. I saw him 8 times in 2019!). You can find various reviews of Bill Frisell over on the Medium site.
4. Wayne Krantz @ 55 Bar all year long
As mentioned, I saw Wayne Krantz 34 Thursdays this year, 33 at 55 Bar in various configurations worthy of a separate spreadsheet. They were all great, of course, why else would I return week after week, but when it was really on, wormholes opened, the space-time continuum tore itself to bits and the universe screamed fuck yeah into the void. I think I caught all but maybe 4 or 5 of Krantz’s 55 Bar sets and the regularity kind of heightened my senses as to all the amazing and mindblowing intricacies of what Wayne is doing… unbelievably every damn week for only $15 a pop. The week-to-week shifts and echoes made this residency a truly special thing for me in 2019. If it’s Thursday night, all roads lead to 55 Bar. Somehow managed to find something new to say about WK every week myself, so pick a couple random weekly entries and read more.
5. Joe Russo’s myriad projects: Pirata, Infinite Jets, Boyfriends @ various
Good Lord, how I cheat at this. But how can I not? How could I reduce the output of someone like Joe Russo to just one band, let alone one set or show? While Russo has graced us with a range of projects over the years, mostly one-offs or what-happened-to-them? Bands, 2019 saw several high-level A+ bands become real bands and man, were we lucky to be able to catch a bunch of them. From the two-guitar freeform of Pirata (sick!) to the thoughtful bliss-beauty of Infinite Jets or the jazz-from-another-dimension improv of Boyfriends, some of the best shows of 2019 were ridiculous hopefully-not-just-once bands with Joe Russo holding it down.
6. Julian Lage week @ various 8/18–23
Everything Julian Lage does is some newfangled magic, a how-he-do-that of guitar wizardry that makes your head hurt. I saw Lage a bunch this year and it was all am-I-drooling amazing, but this week in particular was something else. Over the course of a few days in August, I witnessed Julian play in a guitar trio with the aforementioned Frisell and Gyan Riley at the Village Vanguard, went guitar-to-guitar with Nels Cline in the totes ridic Nels Cline 4 at LPR and then went mindbender duo with Kris Davis at the Jazz Gallery and Marc fucking Ribot at Happylucky No 1. I mean… holy crap, amazing! Reviews contained here (and here).
7. Dave Harrington week @ Threes Brewing (and more) 1/31–2/9
If the third week in August was Julian Lage week, the final days of January and beginning of February was all about Dave Harrington who played with a different group every night at Threes Brewing for a week — a week that included an incredible night of the Merry Pranksters with Nels Cline amongst other improvisational delights. I then managed to catch him playing a low-key awe-inspiring trio date at LunAtico with Jeremy Gustin and Spencer Zahn, all leading up to a headlining set at the Freaks Ball at the Bell House, the debut/once-only intergalactic ensemble Drums->Space. Did I mention that this all was a part of Dave putting out one of my favorite albums of the year that week. Wowwowow! Reviews here and here. And while I’m here, it had nothing to do with this February album release week, but on 10/29, Dave and Spencer played duo in a “salt cave” and it was one of the most mystical, mindful musical experiences of my life and absolutely deserves to be on this list and here is as good a place to put it. Read about that night here.
8. Live From Here @ Town Hall, various
My livemusic year had many arcs that stretched long over the calendar, including those mentioned above. Perhaps none were as affirming as a year filled with Live From Here with Chris Thile. The show moved to NYC permanently which meant many chances to catch this one-of-a-kind loveletter to music and damnit, I caught as many as I could. In the end, I made it to 8, which included a very special night at Carnegie Hall as well as guests ranging from Paul Simon to Big Thief and plenty of amazing new originals and covers and just about everything else.
9. Widespread Panic @ UNO, New Orleans, LA, 10/31–11/2
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Widespread Panic on Halloween or in the south or just as fucking awesome as they were this weekend in New Orleans. Funny, I don’t know if any of these 3 shows were 5-star’ers, but taking the weekend as a whole, one of the best rock-your-balls-off parties of the year, no-brainer in my top ten. The Halloween proper show was a brilliant show-long gag which may be one of the best I’ve ever seen. So great to have some WSP in my life again. The Cap shows were killer as well. Standalone review of the Halloween show, rest of the shows covered here.
10. Woodsist Festival @ Arrowhead Brewery, Accord, NY 9/28
This one-day festival was one of the more chill, perfect, vibus maximus music days I had in 2019. The weather, the scene, the setting and, of course, the music could not have been any more perfect. Every set was a charming win, with some extra-oomph sit-ins and a crazy good all-too-rare set from hosts and personal faves Woods. What a great fucking day that was. Full review here.
11. Oh Sees @ Warsaw 10/18 & 20
There are few bands I love to see live more than Oh Sees and their now-annual trip to Warsaw proved once again. I can’t say I regret missing the middle night if only because I saw another great show in between (Altin Gun), but even playing largely the same set, multiple nights are still not enough. Light-my-soul-ablaze headbang-til-you’re-sore awesome. Gosh, I love these guys. Reviews here.
12. Kikagaku Moyo + Minami Deutsch @ Warsaw and The Broadway 11/15
Two awesome Japanese psychjam bands on the same bill. It would have been enough just to see them both get the fuck out there at Warsaw at this don’t-miss mid-November hit. That show alone was a on-the-list winner. But the aftershow jam session where the two bands combined in the much tinier Broadway for some late night fuckyeahness. I mean… fuckyeah! One of those if you’re there you were there and if you weren’t you weren’t kind of nights. Thankfully, I was there. Review.
13. New Masada Quartet matinees @ Village Vanguard 4/14 & 6/9
Nothing against the “old” Masada Quartet (one of the all-time great bands, period), but this New Masada Quartet is some lightning-in-a-bottle-shit, shining so brightly it puts a genuine happy-as-can-be smile on John Zorn’s face, which is no easy matter. He’s done it time and time again, put together just the right musicians at just the right time playing just the right music. We say “special” all the time, but this is really capital-S special, or maybe all-caps SPECIAL. They played 2 matinee gigs in the spring, 3pm sets at the SPECIAL Village Vanguard, bright sunny days that became timeless dark jazz club nights, downstairs in the historic lair, Zorn and Lage and Roeder and Wolleson mixed magic spells and started something special. Their fall return for a proper run at the Vanguard only retroactively cemented these afternoons as gigs of the year. Review here and here.
14. Ben Goldberg et al. @ The Stone 8/15
Sometimes you just don’t know what you’re getting into. That’s often the case when you go to the Stone. You see the names on the billing and you think hey, those guys are pretty good and you go. And sometimes you hit gold and sometimes you’re struggling with the most challenging music you’ve ever heard. On this night, a night with three vibraphonists leading a large band of those-guys-are-pretty-good’s, a night when I had no clue what I was going to hear, on this night I hit gold and then some. If you want to know more, best to read my review of the show. Mind. Blown. Review here.
15. William Tyler & Friends @ Union Pool 6/13
Every time William Tyler comes to town it’s a got-to-get-there show. This one was no different and on its own, just as a William Tyler show, it was pretty great. But the second half of the show featured an array of guests, including Steve Gunn (!) and Adam Schatz (!) and the pretzel-knot flexibility of Tyler’s talent and collaborative spirit pushed this unassuming night in Williamsburg to probably the best WT show I’ve seen. Review.
16. My Morning Jacket @ Forest Hills Stadium 8/10
I freakin’ love My Morning Jacket, but they’d been out-of-sight/out-of-mind for over a year, so I came this close to remembering why I love them so much. And, really, who knows if/when they come back. But if their burn-it-all-down rager set at Forest Hills back in August is all I have to remember for the foreseeable future, so be it. They crushed it with a no-frills ass-kicking MMJ show of the highest order on a perfect night in Queens. Freakin’ love ’em. Review.
17. Brandi Carlile @ Madison Square Garden 9/14
The best of the best rise to the occasion on the biggest stages. Watching Brandi Carlile break down in tears in acknowledgement of the moment at MSG and then go on to deliver an epic show, the kind of show where 10 years from now people will be saying they were there when they weren’t because the legend is so great that it will sweep them up into the experience. That’s the kind of show this one felt like. Epic. Review.
18. The Bad Plus @ LPR (1/7) & Village Vanguard (3/20) & Jazz Standard (6/27)
One of my absolute favorite bands of the century is The Bad Plus. After a change in personnel that had me wondering/realizing that maybe Orrin Evans was the right pianist all along in 2018, the trio proved it and then some over 3 different sets in 3 different rooms spread evenly over the first half of 2019. I love this not-new-anymore version of the Bad Plus, I loved all 3 of these shows so much and am overjoyed that they remain a must-must-must on my livemusic radar. Looking forward to more. Reviews here and here and here.
19. Frankie & the Witch Fingers @ The Broadway (8/17) and The Sultan Room (10/26)
I’m getting deep into the part of my list where about a dozen or so shows could fill this slot. When I think back on all the up-and-coming bands that I got my hair lit on fire by in 2019, I think I have no choice but to make sure that the two sets I saw from these guys make the list. Reviews here and here.
20. Yo La Tengo, Bowery Ballroom, 12/29
Maybe it’s recency bias, but somehow managed to luck into seeing two of my favorite shows of the year on back-to-back nights that happened to be two of the last 3 nights of the year. That’s just the kind of livemusic year I’m having. This wasn’t the last of the twenty, but it was a late entry so I’ll keep it down here. Anyway, all I have to say about this is that Bill Frisell sat in with YLT for the entire set and it was a dream I never knew I had. Better than I could have ever imagined, a night of pure musical magic. Please read the review. What a show, what a week, what a year of livemusic it was! Thanks for reading!
