Best Gigs of 2025

I went to so many great gigs this year, it was actually really hard to choose a top ten this time! I had to leave out great shows from artists like Margo Price, Tift Merritt, Pearl Charles and Wet Leg, to name but a few, even the fantastic Thurston Moore show where he brought out his beautiful dogs and I got to pet them! But of course, once again, the year was all about seeing MJ Lenderman again, twice! And both shows were mind-blowingly good. 

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings at the Palladium

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

Palladium, 27 October 2025

It's something really special when you manage to make a grand old theatre like the Palladium, home of many a famous musical and of course the Royal Variety Performance, feel like you are sitting on the back porch of an some Southern house listening to two folk artists, at the peak of their powers, playing just for you, but that's what happened tonight at this concert with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

My Favourite Albums of 2024

My top albums of 2024:

 

MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks

Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood

Kacey Musgraves - Deeper Well

Mary Timony - Tame The Tiger

St. Vincent - All Born Screaming

Kim Gordon - The Collective

Laura Marling - Patterns In Repeat

Jack White - No Name

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Woodland

Sturgill Simpson (as Johnny Blueskies) - Passage Du Desir

Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More

Sierra Ferrell - Trail Of Flowers

Best gigs of 2011

Looking back at my list of gigs for this year I feel more uncool than ever because so few would ever grace the pages of NME and a good many are actually in their 50s and 60s. Not that I care anymore because I can say without doubt it's an honour to see some of the legends I've had the pleasure of seeing for the first time this year. Plus I got to see a few exciting up-and-comers too, so I'm not completely without hope in the cool stakes! Anyway, here's my annual list of my 10 favourite gigs of the year.

10. Janis Ian at Cadogan Hall and Judy Collins at Leicester Square Theatre

(Sorry, I can't decide between these two!)

9. Emmylou Harris at the Royal Festival Hall

8. Laura Cantrell at Mondo Water Rats

7. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings at Hammersmith Apollo

6. The Twilight Singers at Concrete

5. My Brightest Diamond at St Giles In The Field

4. Jonathan Wilson, Dawes & Jackson Browne at The Borderline

3. Marianne Faithfull at the Barbican

2. Patti Smith at St Giles In The Field

1. Sufjan Stevens at the Royal Festival Hall

Gillian Welch at the Hammersmith Apollo

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

Hammersmith Apollo, 23 November 2011

"I just looked around at all the stage I'm not using," quipped Gillian Welch at the start of the show and it's true that she, along with partner and musical accompanist David Rawlings, do look slight on the vast and historic Hammersmith Apollo stage. But, man, do they manage to fill it with their voices and Rawlings' amazing guitar playing. The Apollo may be far from intimate but by the end the show it certainly felt like it was.