Thursday, December 15, 2011

The 36 Best Live Performances of 2011


















"The night life ain't no good life, but it's my life." I will have taken in over 365 individual performances in 2011 by New Year's Eve.. The following list of my favorite ten percent of these shows is deceptive. While hip hop is the dominant force in popular music, the genre is underrepresented. Only the charisma and vibrant catalogs of Weezy, Black Elvis, Tech and Ye and Jay allowed them to overcome their otherwise sketchy presentations. The reverse is true of jazz. Kansas City's jazz renaissance is, if anything, underrepresented here. Matt Otto and Jeff Harshbarger, pictured in the accompanying photo, are my second and third favorite musicians in Kansas City. And finally, how is it possible that Knuckleheads, the region's best venue, didn't make the cut?

1. KC Sound Collective- Blue Room

2. Deftones- VooDoo Lounge

3. Daniel Johnston with Capybara- Beaumont Club

4. Janelle Monae- Independence Events Center

5. An Evening with Virgil Thomson- Helzberg Hall

6. Matt Otto Quartet- Blue Room

7. My Morning Jacket- Uptown Theater

8. Diverse with Tony Tixier- Grant Recital Hall

9. Lil Wayne- Sprint Center

10. Joe Lovano & Us Five- Gem Theater

11. Goitse- Washington Square Park

12. Civil Wars- Crosstown Station

13. A Perfect Circle- Kansas Speedway

14. People's Liberation Big Band- RecordBar

15. Jay-Z and Kanye West- Sprint Center

16. Bon Iver- Uptown Theater

17. Motley Crue- Sprint Center

18. Tedeschi Trucks Band- Crossroads KC

19. Deborah Brown- Gem Theater

20. Enter Shikari- Sandstone

21. Pat Metheny and Larry Grenadier- Liberty Hall

22. Kool Keith- Czar Bar

23. Old Crow Medicine Show- Crossroads KC

24. Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience- VooDoo Lounge

25. Clutch- Midland Theater

26. Del McCoury with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band- Lied Center

27. Stone Sour- Penn Valley Park

28. Ingrid Fliter and the Kansas City Symphony- Lyric Theater

29. Grisly Hand- Plaza Art Fair

30. Marilyn Maye- Jardine's

31. Jonathan Butler- Gem Theater

32. Hearts of Darkness- Crosstown Station

33. Micah Herman Quintet- RecordBar

34. Tech N9ne- Midland Theater

35. Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra- Helzberg Hall

36. Guns N' Roses- Sprint Center

I conducted similar exercises in 2010 and 2009.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

1 comment:

Rick in PV said...

The catholicism of your taste is inspiring, Bill. Keep up the good work.