Another year has come and (just about) gone and as we approach day 365 of 2011, there is a lot of great music and music moments to reflect on. In keeping with something I started last year, here is a list of items that made MY year in music. While I know I’ve forgotten some moments, at least it’s a snapshot of what my ears and eyes were gravitating towards. Enjoy and here’s to an incredible year of music in 2012.
- My favorite album of 2011 is GROUPLOVE’s Never Trust A Happy Song
- After finally attending Bonnaroo, I totally see why my friend said “when you go, you’ll understand why it’s the best music festival”
- Lollapalooza was an amazing experience with incredible bands, amazing friends and killer access
- Being asked to write concert reviews for Vegas SEVEN which parlayed into band interviews as well – something that to this day I never thought would happen from a little blog I started about my love of music
- Continuing the writing by being asked by Vegas Rated, a national publication to write a few music columns each month
- Seeing Mumford & Sons at The Boulevard Pool at The Cosmopolitan, easily one of my favorite live shows ever
- I’m a lucky one living in Las Vegas since The Cosmopolitan and C3 Presents booked too many bands that I love for four night stints playing Book & Stage for FREE – to give you an idea, we’re talking Young The Giant, Foster The People, Aloe Blacc, Ryan Shaw, Fitz & The Tantrums, Allen Stone, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, Walk The Moon, Robert Randolph, Mayer Hawthorne, Tennis, and the list goes on and on
- Frank Turner, where you been all my life – England Keep My Bones is a album everyone needs to have
- Finally seeing The Strokes live(twice this year) and realizing just how badass they really are
- My blog post from March when Foster The People were coming to town
- The discovery of bands like The Apache Relay, The Belle Brigade, Ruby Coast, GIVERS and Smith Westerns
- Thank you Walk The Moon for providing some of the most fun of the summer with your spirited sets
- RedBull Soundclash with Cee-Lo and The Ting Tings, look it up if you don’t know what I’m talking about
- Marquee Nightclub Boom Box Room with Eric D Lux
- The return of Dispatch
- Middle Brother
- One more Furthur show in the books
- Saying goodnight to the bad guys with a final concert, oh man how I’ll miss The Black Crowes
- Stumbling upon Childish Gambino’s set at Bonnaroo and being blown away
- Gary Clark Jr.
- Late Night with Jimmy Fallon taking over as the king of late night performances thanks to The Roots as the house band and a great booking team
- Brands like Chevy and Nissan using indie bands for commercial music
- CC from Little Hurricane
- The Dirty Guv’nahs
- EDM grabbing America by storm
- Thankful for Avicii creating hit after hit after hit
- Spotify
- Seeing a late night Cults show in Chicago that completely blew me away
- Going to see a favorite of mine, Brett Dennen and having DAWES who opened just own the evening
- Seeing G. Love yet again and having him break into Freddy King Jr.’s “Look Over Yonder”
- Allen Stone, what a young talent
- Alabama Shakes, if you didn’t see my post on them, search, listen and become infatuated with Brittany Howard’s voice
- Finally seeing Lupe Fiasco in concert again, had to wait too long since the last time
- Robert Plant still rocking it like he was in his 20s
- Seeing The Black Keys in a nightclub, a ballroom and with 60,000 ppl and still getting the same feeling of rock and roll no matter the size or venue
- The Head and The Heart
- Catching Lil Wayne in concert, something I never thought I’d do, same with Eminem
- Buffalo Springfield, yes I can say I never thought I’d see them live but did
- My Morning Jacket won me back over after giving up on them
- Seeing Widespread Panic for what could be the last time
- Anyone else catch The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons and Bob Dylan at the GRAMMYs? Sick performance and totally put M&S on a whole new level
- The music from across the pond is quite amazing, lots of new bands and artists to be on the lookout for
- Big Troubles
- How incredibly awesome Daytrotter.com is
- In my opinion, one of the best singer-songwriters of today, James Morrison quietly released his third album, The Awakening
- Aloe Blacc, yes “I Need A Dollar” thrust him into the spotlight last year but damn, what an artist – incredible stage presence and one of the most talented musicians today
- O.A.R. dropping a new record that everyone needs to own
- IAMDYNAMITE – before it’s too late, go get SUPERMEGAFANTASTIC, these fellas are going to blow up, just wait and see in 2012
- The music video for Maps & Atlases’ “Israeli Caves”
- Welcome back Ryan Adams
- The sophomore release by Girls probably hasn’t gotten too much attention but WOW
- Youth Lagoon
- Thank you Damian Marley for getting everyone together to form SuperHeavy
- NewVillager, the videos may be a bit to artsy for me but the music, genius
- WU LYF chances are about 99% you have never heard of them but you need to know them pronto
- Uncle Mountain
- Nashville is for righteous music to me what Brooklyn was for a throng of indie bands
- If you get a chance to see the Black Lips, don’t pass it up
- Gimme Some by Peter, Bjorn & John
- “Up Up Up” was like a soundtrack for my year, big things coming for GIVERS
- · Fight For Your Right Revisited
- · I was thrilled to see Fitz & The Tantrums hit it big in 2011
- · Food is the New Rock blog
- G. Love’s latest, Fixin To Die which was recorded in North Carolina and produced by The Avett Brothers
- Seeing a mob of people at 1 p.m. on Friday of Lollapalooza for Young The Giant
- Catching Lynyrd Skynyrd perform for 200 people at the opening of their BBQ & Beer joint in Vegas
- Tedeschi Trucks Band – Revelator
- Another knock-out by Trombone Shorty
- The Cinema
- Paul Simon’s So Beautiful or So What
- Benjamin Francis Leftwich
- Wolf Gang
- Our little Book & Stage fan club, thanks for making the past year pretty damn incredible
- Skylar Grey I was truly impressed with her live show
- Raphael Saadiq did it again
- Tinie Tempah finally made it Stateside
- Ryan Bingham, thank you – great interview and your show definitely backed up your words, a true pleasure to catch a couple live shows this year
- Seeing the legend, Dr. John
- Scottish rockers Kassidy, definitely a band everyone should be listening to
- Audio, Video, Disco – love love love the approach by Justice on the new album
- Remixes of “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall”
- And waking up every day to listen and discover new music
Do You Hear The Music? 