Review of 2024

This has been my busiest year for gigging and probably my quietest for London gigging in quite some time (excluding COVID years). This year I attended 222 gigs or concerts, everything from punk to classical, two were even Evensong at Canterbury Cathedral. About a third of gigs this year were local.

2024 was The Horn’s 50th birthday. To celebrate, I aimed to attend 50 gigs. The final total was 59. As an experiment, it was a very enjoyable one, featuring touring artists such as Sleeper, Personal Trainer, Steve Mason, Dead Pony, and Divorce, plus a lot more local bands. While the quality of local bands was variable, it was nice to see the development of young talented artists. Highlights being The Skive, Deadbeat Bracket and WTKD. In 2025, I will continue the trend.

2025 is going to be a big year for the Horn. The current owners are stepping back from the business and Luke and Shane, who have done a great job of managing the Horn and programming its music are hoping to take over the business. Under their management, The Horn can only go on to new highs.

Elsewhere in Hertfordshire, Club 85’s future is no clearer. They are still open. The plans to build flats have stalled and they been offered the opportunity to buy the existing pub and club. However, I’m not convinced they will be able to find what is a considerable amount of money. Hopefully, they prove me wrong.

2024 saw a sponsor backlash for The Great Escape. After bands boycotted SXSW, some bands called into question Barclays sponsorship of TGE, causing a significant number of artists to pull out. TGE’s reaction was to put blinkers on, ignore the controversy and audience, leading to a festival where we were constantly checking the app to avoid walking across Brighton to find an artist had pulled out. Ironically, many of the bands who pulled out of the main festival, played the unaffiliated shows. Their actions probably saved the festival from more criticism. I spent most of my festival at these events leading me to question if I need to buy a ticket in future and instead make a day trip and save myself an expensive hotel. Currently, I don’t plan to attend TGE in 2025 and I’m looking for an alternative city festival.

Despite my best efforts, updates to this website has been pretty poor. By the time I get home from a gig and edited my photos, it’s 2am and the next night I’m back out gigging. I need to find a way to keep on top of the site. Hopefully, 2025 will be better.

Best Festival: Krankenhaus

Despite some horrendous weather, Krankenhaus continues to be a home away from home for Sea Power fans. 2024 was another great festival featuring artists such as Nadine Shah, Lias Sauodi, Snapped Ankles, BC Camplight, The New Eves, Islet and Lanterns on the Lake.

Best Gig: Nadine Shah at the Social

It has been another good year for gigs. It was great to catch the Kills again. Hinds were full of energy at Lafayette. Benefits new lineup and material takes them into new territory, but they are every bit as visceral as before. Snōōper‘s performance at the Moth club was chaotic. Ezra Furman at the Union Chapel felt special. Porridge Radio provided three of my favourite sets of the year. All were stripped back sets just featuring Dana. Sea Power played several great sets. Their set at the newly refurbished Brighton Corn Exchange was a fitting way to open the venue. The Murder Capital tried out new material at the Moth Club. My highlight though was one of Nadine Shah’s sets. She played the Social for a Gigs for Gaza event, something she passionately believes in and her stripped back intimate set was special.

Album of the Year: Sprints, Letter to Self

Best New Band/Artist: The New Eves

Mistakenly believing they were a Last Dinner Party adjacent band, despite hearing great things, I hadn’t been in a rush to catch them. Finally catching them at The Great Escape, I was captivated by their fresh take on alt-folk. Their set at Krankenhaus cemented my belief that they will have a strong 2025.

Favourite Photo: Abi Fry at Birmingham Town Hall

After photographing over 200 gigs, working out what is my favourite photo is difficult. In some ways, it should be a photo from Benefits gig at the George Tavern. It was basically lit via strobe. As I don’t use flash, it was a challenging gig and I did manage to get some interesting results using long exposures. But I like composed shots and there was an element of luck to these photos. I also really loved photographing the Paraorchestra playing a 360 degree concert. Lots of opportunities to capture an orchestra as they played. But my current favourite shot is of Sea Power’s Abi Fry in silhouette at Birmingham Town Hall. It’s simple but effective and despite photographing Sea Power more than any other band, something I’ve never had the opportunity to capture before.