Here is the top of the list, my favorite shows of the year. This is the continuation of the post I made earlier in the week of #6-10 of this list, so check that out. Anyway, on with the rest of the list…

5. Los Campesinos! – Empty Bottle – 5/26/08

Love these guys, absolutely love them. Had heard some bits and pieces one way or another about these guys on the interwebs and then saw they were coming to town for a 2 night stint at the Empty Bottle and I just knew I had to see what the fuss was about. I picked up their album and was instantly a huge fan of it. When I first heard the album I had a bit of a ‘holy shit’ reaction to it as I thought it just had that perfect combination of pure rock energy with true creativity and cleverness that you don’t see everyday. The show did not disappoint at all and they continued to impress from start to finish. The songs they have lend themselves incredibly well to a live show and the fact they can keep in sync so well with so many members and still have it melt faces in such a way is really impressive. If they weren’t tight as hell on stage this kind of stuff wouldn’t work, but they are tight, and this shit works, big time.

4. Of Montreal – House of Blues Dallas – 11/14/08

As I said in my review and as anyone who has seen these guys can attest to, their show is unreal and totally beyond description. And on top of that, their show this year was even fucking crazier than the show last year, actually way more so. It essentially became rock and roll meets a broadway stage show with just mindbending moments for pretty much every single song. It wouldn’t work as well either if they didn’t sound great live but they really do and actually add a lot of depth and energy to songs that sometimes may be a little too technical on the album.

3. Les Savy Fav – Pitchfork Music Fest – 7/20/08

Never got to do a proper review of this show thanks to all of our server issues throughout the latter half of the summer and fall, but this show completely blew my mind. I saw the webcast from Coachella so I kind of knew what I was in for, but it becomes even better when you are there in the crowd at a summer festival just like this. You literally never know what Harrington is going to throw at you, and it just results in pandemonium. I think I rate it a little higher than Of Montreal simply because even though the randomness and insanity is of a similar sort, but whereas Of Montreal brings it in stage production, Harrington brings it straight literally to the fans and that is just so rock and roll. It doesn’t take him long to jump into the crowd and get started. There are many outfits, he got in a garbage can and had the crowd carry him around for a while. The other thing that makes it work though is that the band sounds really tight live and has a great sound. And closing with a Superchunk cover was probably the most awesome thing ever. Even though this wasn’t #1 or #2 in total shows, I think hearing “Precision Auto” close out this set was tied as the number one concert moment of the year for me with “The Bends” from Radiohead’s show in Dallas. Make sure and check out all the wild pictures I got from the set here.

2. Wolf Parade – House of Blues Chicago – 7/8/08

These guys are just amazing. They already garnered our top album of the year honors earlier this week and then they really could only be beaten out by the brilliance of who I’m sure you know is #1 here. On the former list I think they benefited a little from that other band not releasing their album this year. This was my favorite show I went to in my awesome time in Chicago mainly because this was the penultimate moment of seeing a band that was not necessarily mega popular but had a crowd that was so into it that it basically felt like the Radiohead show, with people singing along, etc. When you had everyone belting out all the lines from Apologies to the Queen Mary and At Mount Zoomer it was just an awesome experience. It also helps that this band absolutely kills live and is one of my favorite live bands going today. They 100% rock and melt faces and bring a great energy and fever to the stage that builds with the songs into 100% awesomeness. If you get a chance you have to go see these guys as they really bring an incredible show and are certainly one of the best bands going today.

1. Radiohead – Superpages.com Center – 5/18/08

Had the extreme pleasure of seeing Radiohead twice this year, and while their set at Lolla was pretty good, it still didn’t really measure up to this show from the 1st leg of their tour this year. I stayed up all night on waste back in February I think to get some kick ass seats for this bad boy and we wer not disappointed. Ended up with killer seats and the band came out and absolutely blew minds. Seeing these guys for the first time for myself was an absolutely crazy experience and I won’t soon forget it. I pretty much almost lost my shit when they dropped into “The Bends” during one of the encores. They really transcend all of the factioning of music right now and really bring something that is fresh unique yet still totally rocks. In Rainbows is one of my favorite albums ever and it was really cool to see them play those tracks live alongside some of their classics. It seems like the band really reached a new level of energy on this tour and this show was just great. As with everyone else here, but especially with them, see these guys if you possibly can.

Radiohead – Reckoner – From In Rainbows
Les Savy Fav – The Lowest Bitter – From Let’s Stay Friends
Of Montreal – Nonpareil of Favor – From Skeletal Lamping