2018 hasn't been an overly great year for music. There's only been about 12-15 records that have really wowed me thus far and I'd be stunned if that suddenly changed over the next couple weeks. Live shows, on the other hand, couldn't have possibly been much better. Nearly every concert I went to this year featured at least one outstanding performance and the amount of true disappointments were very minimal. Having to whittle all of that excellence down to the 10 best is a beautiful problem to have, especially in a year where great albums weren't overly abundant. After some painful internal debate over the past week, I finally have a list I'm comfortable with. Hope you enjoy.
Concerts I attended in 2018:
2/5: BROCKHAMPTON, House of Blues, Boston, MA
2/10: Machine Head, Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
4/3: Lorde/Run the Jewels/Mitski, TD Garden, Boston, MA
5/7: Turnstile/Touche Amore/Culture Abuse/Razorbumps, Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
5/19: Flatbush Zombies/Kirk Knight, House of Blues, Boston, MA
5/26: Boston Calling (Jack White/Queens of the Stone Age/St.Vincent/Royal Blood/Daniel Caesar/The Menzingers/Lillie Mae), Harvard Athletic Complex, Allston, MA
6/14: The Black Dahlia Murder/Whitechapel/Fleshgod Apocalypse/Aversions Crown/Shadow of Intent, Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
7/21: The Summer Slaughter Tour (Between the Buried and Me/Born of Osiris/Veil of Maya/ERRA/The Agony Scene/Allegaeon/Entheos), The Palladium, Worcester, MA
9/7: Drake/Migos/Roy Woods, TD Garden, Boston, MA
10/10: Denzel Curry/City Morgue, Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
10/16: Kali Uchis/Gabriel Garzon-Montano, House of Blues, Boston, MA
10/20: Revocation/Exhumed/Rivers of Nihil, Brighton Music Hall, Allston, MA
11/1: Behemoth/At the Gates/Wolves in the Throne Room, House of Blues, Boston, MA
12/2: Travis Scott/Gunna/Trippie Redd/Sheck Wes, TD Garden, Boston, MA
Honorable Mentions: Denzel Curry, Jack White, Behemoth, Migos, Exhumed
10.Entheos: Playing in the undesirable mid-afternoon opening slot on a 10-band tour package didn't throw this vastly underrated progressive/technical death metal act off their game in the slightest. Their explosive 20-minute set packed a wallop that almost no one else on this impressive lineup full of veteran bands even came close to matching.
9.Queens of the Stone Age: I passed on multiple opportunities to see QOSTA over the past 5-6 years because I wasn't big on any of the records they've released since Lullabies to Paralyze and found the YouTube videos of their recent live shows that I'd seen to be very underwhelming. Now that I've finally set this ridiculous vendetta aside, I feel like a fucking dunce for not going to see them sooner. Between the parade of massive riffs that drive the bulk of their songs and their larger-than-life stage presence, these guys are a reminder of how much fun pure rock-and-roll shows are when they're executed properly.
8.Flatbush Zombies: While they were exceptional at Boston Calling in 2017, seeing Flatbush Zombies in a club setting with an audience that's solely comprised of their fans was like giving performance-enchaining drugs to an athlete that was already naturally elite. Having a group of people actually feed off the insane energy they bring to the stage made this feel like a rowdy metal/punk show, and that beautifully ferocious atmosphere combined with their always superb technical skills reaffirmed why they're in the running for the title of best live hip-hop act on the planet right now.
7.Kali Uchis: Over-the-top live spectacles delight me to no end, but a subdued, minimalist display of pure artistry can be just as effective when the individual is talented enough. Armed with nothing but a backing band and some killer dance moves, this relatively brief headlining set was a stunning showcase of her hauntingly beautiful vocals, musical versatility and limitless star potential.
6.Lorde: Huge pop stars routinely get crucified for their reliance on backing tracks and/or lip syncing to cover up their deficiencies as a singer in a live environment. None of those dreaded critiques can be applied to Lorde. Her singing is even more impressive live than it is on record and this incredible, emotionally-charged vocal performance helped anchor this powerful set in support of her terrific 2017 record Melodrama.
5.St.Vincent: Thanks to an impressive run of knockout performances to close out the show, Boston Calling ended up being the best show I attended in 2018 by a comfortable margin. I say this with no disrespect to the other excellent performers that graced the stages in Allston that Saturday in late May, but Annie Clark was the clear MVP of the day. Her 60-minute set was a wild ride that featured bizarre psychedelic visuals, a tremendous range of vocals and bold, wildly successful instrumental rearrangements of her songs that left my jaw on the floor while also making me appreciate her 1,000x more as a musician than I did in coming into the show.
4.Revocation: Watching David Davidson and co. put on an awe-inspiring technical clinic was a joy as always, but this spectacular setlist that included a bunch of material I hadn't heard before ("Chaos of Forms", "Existence is Futile", "The Blackest Reaches", "Only the Spineless Survive") was the catalyst behind this special set. A relative lack of setlist diversity was the only issue I ever had with Revocation's shows and simply fixing that problem went a long way in making this the most enjoyable Revocation show I've seen to-date.
3.Machine Head: With longtime guitarist Phil Demmel and drummer Dave McClain set to exit the band at the end of this current touring cycle, their future is murky at best, so I'm glad that I got to see them one final time while they were still at their powerhouse best. Managing to put together a 2+ hour set that is consistently compelling and perfectly-performed from a musical standpoint is a truly incredible feat, especially when every member of the band is either pushing or over 50. Bonus points for somehow getting the material from their messy, WTF-inducing new LP Catharsis to (mostly) work live.
2.The Black Dahlia Murder: 2018 was light on full album sets for me, but thankfully Black Dahlia was able to fill that void with a crushing front-to-back performance of their most recent record Nightbringers. Their 2017 masterpiece is a non-stop ripper that was designed to mosh, headbang and just generally have a good time while listening to, which in turn brought out the best that these always jovial dealers of extreme metal destruction have to offer as a live act.
1.Between the Buried and Me: SHYMALAN TWIST INCOMING: A band that I've spent countless hours fawning over, especially live, takes home Performance of the Year yet again. A dynamic setlist that blended A+ material that they hardly play live anymore ("Extremophile Elite", "Informal Gluttony") with several of the finest cuts from both halves of this year's Automata saga ("Blot", "Condemned to the Gallows", "Voice" of Trespass") and old staples ("Selkies: The Endless Obsession", "Disease, Injury, Madness") made this one of the clear standouts in the sea of tremendous performances that I've been fortunate enough to see from them over the past decade.
Miscellaneous Awards:
Top Shows:
5.Summer Slaughter
4.Lorde/Run the Jewels/Mitski
3.Revocation/Exhumed/Rivers of Nihil
2.Machine Head
1.Boston Calling
Biggest Surprises:
5.Gunna
4.Aversions Crown
3.Gabriel Garzon-Montano
2.Exhumed
1.Queens of the Stone Age
Biggest Letdowns:
3.Whitechapel
2.Fleshgod Apocalypse
1.BROCKHAMPTON
Artists I hope to see in 2019:
5.2 Chainz
4.Greyhaven
3.Ariana Grande
2.Dance Gavin Dance
1.Lana Del Rey
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