Sunday, December 30, 2012

Dude, I Was There!


One of my favorite concerts of the year was held during MusicFest Northwest, but wasn't actually a part of MFNW, when My Morning Jacket played an outdoor show in McMenamin's Edgefield in rural Troutdale, Oregon.  Some magic combination of MMJ's epic jams, the beautiful setting, the sunset, and the fact that my being there was totally unplanned (my itinerary had me seeing Kishi Bashi in the basement Doug Fir Lounge over in Portland) all made it a very special show.  The quality of this fan video isn't professional but it isn't all that bad either, and it does give a fairly good impression of what the show was like.  As I recall, this number was about a third of the way into the set.

I don't like to rank anything as "Concert of the Year," as that's such a relative title, and many shows deserve top ranking for one aspect of the performance or another.  But, because such things are traditional at the end of the year, here in chronological order are some of my favorite concerts of 2012:
  1. Akron/Family, Drunken Unicorn, January 14
  2. Thurston Moore, The Goat Farm, February 8
  3. Allo Darlin' & The Wave Pictures, 529, April 28
  4. Damien Jurado, The Earl, May 23
  5. Sonic Generator performing Steve Reich's Drumming, The Goat Farm, July 27
  6. Dirty Projectors, Variety Playhouse, August 9
  7. M83, Bumbershoot, Seattle, September 3
  8. Low, Bumbershoot, Seattle, September 3
  9. Black Mountain, Doug Fir Lounge (MFNW), Portland, Oregon, September 8
  10. My Morning Jacket, McMenamin's Edgefield, Troutdale, Oregon, September 9
  11. Animal Collective, The Tabernacle, September 30
  12. David Byrne & St. Vincent, Cobb Energy Center, Marietta, Georgia, October 3
  13. TOPS, Farm 255, Athens, Georgia, October 6
  14. Sharon Van Etten, Terminal West, October 27

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