The previous New Year’s Eve parties I’ve been to have been quite bland to say the least. They had their drunken moments but even with the amazing company, I always felt alone. 2009 NYE was a complete disappointment to say the least.

With the insane music ride coupled with the loneliness entailed by yet another traditional celebration, I decided to take the loneliness out in London and go to one of the many New Year’s Eve party in the city.

Truth be told, I found out about Foals playing for Flowerpot’s NYE party first before I made this decision thanks to a number of flyers being handed out during previous gigs.

When I got my second flyer, I stared at it at home for a few minutes, made sure Foals on the flyer was not just a DJ set and purchased a ticket right away.

Despite going to the party alone, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Unusual for me but this time, I arrived quite a bit late for the show as I couldn’t get off work earlier than 8 in the evening.

This meant missing support acts which sometimes provide decent surprises. Support for the evening was Chad Valley and Trophy Wife. I will try and give them a listen sometime. Apparently, Trophy Wife is good friends with Foals which could only mean good things.

Once I arrived at The Forum, I attempted to leave my coat in the cloakroom but this proved to be an absolute nightmare. Tried the one downstairs but after 15 minutes of hardly any movement, a guy came over saying there’s another cloakroom upstairs. Thinking the queue would be shorter, I went upstairs and found a much longer queue. Stayed here and tried to be patient for around 20 minutes until I gave up since there was only 20 minutes left until Foals comes up onstage.

At this point, I decided to join another queue, this time for a pint of lager. As soon as I reached the bar and gave my order, Foals came up on stage.

Now, I’ve seen Foals a “few” times already and it’s safe to say I know what to expect. Twice in 2010 headlining the iTunes Festival and another for their Total Life Forever album tour. Both shows were pretty much exhilarating and epic. And I left both being quite a sweaty mess.

They started playing at a quarter to 11 and opened up with Blue Blood followed by Olympic Airways. Their setlist for the evening is similar to their recent tour setlist but with less songs. To note, The French Open was missing which was slight disappointment but Hummer was thrown in the mix which sort of redeemed things.

Cassius was a crowd favourite as usual. I’m pretty sure that by this was the third song as I already down the pint I had so I could interact more with the crowd and just enjoy myself.

At some point, Spanish Sahara was played which keeps on sounding better live each time I hear it. When I first heard it back in Heaven, it wasn’t as polished as it is now and back then, I didn’t like it. It’s such a beautiful song and is easily one of my favourite songs from Foals.

Other songs played during the evening were Red Socks Pugie, Miami, Balloons, Total Life Forever, and Electric Bloom.

I am plenty sure they also played Tron which they haven’t played (in a gig I’ve been to) in ages.

At 5 minutes to midnight (or so), they started playing Two Steps, Twice which I somehow expected as there isn’t really another song more fitting in their repertoire to end and start a year.

With less than a minute to midnight, Foals built up the excitement in the atmosphere with the guitar portion in the middle of the song, dragging it out until it was close to midnight. Then, it was time for the “Pa-pa-ra” portion, still building up as there was still a few more seconds to midnight.

At almost midnight, the chorus came in and the whole place got absolutely crazy. Confetti falling from everywhere. It was epic. It was amazing.

Here’s a messy and wild video I took of the few seconds before and after midnight.

After the epic song, everyone greeted each other a Happy New Year and Foals left the stage. Caribou DJ set was on afterwards.

I stayed for another pint, enjoying the DJ set and trying to relax a bit. After the pint, I decided to go home even though DJs were still playing and would be until 4 in the morning.

Even though I basically paid 30 quid to see just one band (playing a shorter set than usual), it was well worth the money. It was an absolutely amazing experience. So much better than watching millions of pounds of taxpayers money being blown up by the Thames.

This was might not be the best Foals gig I’ve been to, but it will sure as hell be one of the most memorable ones ever. Foals. Two Steps, Twice. HMV Forum. 2011.

I am now thinking why the hell I haven’t been to a NYE gig in 2007, 2008, and 2009. I am now looking forward to another one to close what would hopefully be an incredible 2011 and welcome 2012.

That’s 12 months away though. In the meantime, it is time to start filling this year up with incredible experiences to make 2011 as good and if possible, better than 2010.

Happy New Year!

I finally caved in when I saw tickets for a show at Union Chapel. Purchased a ticket and finally listened to them.

And what I heard was just plain beautiful. If you’ve never heard of them, you should give them a listen. If you watch Chuck, you would have heard their song Christmas TV as it was used for the Season 2 finale.

The venue was Union Chapel, a congregation church in Highbury. It’s a grade II listed building and is a beautiful Victorian gothic building. It was a shame that the outside was being restored and was full of scaffolding. The inside was majestic. You have to check out the panoramic shots on their website. You will be amazed. I spent most of the evening just admiring the beauty of the venue.

As it’s a church, there were seats and by the time I got there, the place was quite full already. I had to sit quite a ways towards the back but since it was a small venue, the view was pretty good.

The acoustics in the place were astounding. I am in no way an audiophile but I felt the sound waves traveled and bounce around the venue perfectly. One could shout without being on the microphone and be heard crystal clear.

The first support for the evening was Sweet Baboo who were already playing when I arrived. They are a nice folk band and as per their Myspace page are listed as gospel as well. The vocalist was quite a sweet chap and talked quite a bit on stage. He did turn to be quite funny which is all good.

Next up was The Wave Pictures which were another fun guitar band to watch, just good, simple and upbeat music.

Both support bands suited the venue and the evening perfectly.

The evening was for Slow Club and Charles and Rebecca eventually took stage. This is their 3rd straight year playing at Union Chapel a few days before Christmas. I must say that Rebecca looked quite glamorous more so than I really expected.

They played a number of new songs from their forthcoming album but of course, belted out a number of old ones which actually sounded much better live than on record.

Notables would be the most upbeat and happy song for one with a title called Giving Up On Love, then a personal favourite, Our Most Brilliant Friends.

Because We’re Dead was quite brilliant as well even though Rebecca said she’s tired of the song and will be retiring it soon. In that case, I’m glad to have heard it once. Then there’s It Doesn’t Have To Beautiful.

For the most part, it was just Charles and Rebecca on stage but for a few songs, they were joined by a full band.

During their encore, they played Christmas TV (such a fantastic song) and a cover of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). At this point, everyone was asked to stand up and sing along. It was a very fun yet unusual experience.

It’s been awhile since I enjoyed a gig while sitting down and this was a perfect band, venue and gig to do so. While sitting down, you had the chance to concentrate on watching the band play and of course, the glorious music.

Rebecca’s voice just filled up the venue quite adequately. The simplicity of using just a few instruments was a great change from what I normally listen too.

I know it came way too late, but I finally got into Slow Club and I really enjoy their music. Seeing them live was absolutely fantastic so much so that as soon as I got home, I booked tickets to see them next year at Shepherd’s Bush. This time, I’ll be dancing and hopefully, square dancing.

I do believe they are another band I discovered through Jeph Jacques’ of Questionable Content. To say the man has brilliant taste in music is a clear understatement.

When I noticed they supported Vampire Weekend for their London shows, I was mildly disappointed in grabbing tickets. Due to the number of gigs I go to, I somehow decided to skip Vampire Weekend which I now regret after listening to Contra and Giving Up The Gun a few more times. A week later, they introduced Ratatat as support.

Thankfully, Ratatat announced a headline show of their own and I got tickets right away as the show did sell out.

Thing is, I was unsure about this gig as I didn’t realise they released two albums (LP3 and LP4) after their second album, Classics, which is the last album of theirs I heard.

I wasn’t disappointed and had a nice evening of pure earporn.

Venue for the evening was Heaven (Under The Arches) which is one of my favourite small venues which aren’t in Shoreditch or Camden. With that said, there really aren’t any other small venues I’ve been to in London.

Support for the evening was Minotaur Shock, a solo act from Bristol who does electronica. He was a fairly decent act to listen to on stage while waiting for Ratatat. It was fun watching him switch from one instrument to the other. Decent electronica to chill and relax to.

Despite enjoying the music, I was still doubting why I was here this evening.

These doubts disappeared as soon as Ratatat came up on stage and started the evening by playing Bob Gandhi.  It was another evening to simply enjoy great music.

Most of the songs are from the newer albums which I barely had a chance to listen to. Despite this, the whole set just fit like a glove and sounded perfect. All songs had a familiar feeling to it.

Here’s the full setlist for that evening, once again from Setlist.fm.

• Bob Gandhi
• Grape Juice City
• Mirando
• Mandy
• Loud Pipes
• Falcon Jab
• Mahalo
• Wildcat
• Neckbrace
• Lex
• Party With Children
• Drugs
• Shempi
• Gettysburg
• Seventeen Years (encore)
• Bare Feast

It was unusual evening as gigs often involve singing and screaming along with the band, but it was nice to just listen this time and let the music sink in and be absorbed slowly and properly. It’s good for the digestion.

Regardless of the silence when it came to singing, it was more than made up for the crazy riffs, beats of the tom tom, and funky tunes played on the synth. Of course, there was some dancing to be had that evening.

This evening reminded me why I love Indie music so much, it’s just pure and clear. Untainted from the hands of greedy record labels who just want more green on their hands.

Ratatat have the freedom to do what music they want, and what they do is just beautiful.

Everytime I came back to listen to Funeral, my mind would be blown. It’s that amazing of a record.

Sadly, after more than 3 years, I never had the chance to see them. In 2007, they played at Alexandra Palace and back then I was quite broke and didn’t feel confident about commuting to Alexandra Palace. They played in festival as well which are a no go for me and I could only watch with envy on the television set while they performed at Reading this year. Despite the idiot bot, watching them live on the television set was already a surreal experience.

In the 3 years I’ve been here, I’ve seen every favourite band of mine except Arcade Fire and Tegan and Sara.

When they announced their European tour for their fantastic new album, The Suburbs, I made good use of my O2 Priority Ticketing access to secure a a ticket.

In the excitement of it all, I purchased another ticket via their pre-sale link on their website. Later found out around November, that I did indeed order a ticket from two sites. I was finally going to see Arcade Fire and I couldn’t care less that I have two tickets.

Venue was at The O2 Arena a day after heavy snow covered London. It was cold and trains got delayed a little. Managed to get there before my friend so all was good.

Support for the evening was Devendra Banhart who was a bit underwhelming for such a huge venue such as The O2 Arena. His music was nice and easy to the ears, quite lovely for chilling but certainly not suited for stadium gigs.

It was still pretty easy to move around the arena at this point, but as soon as the support band finished, the crowd started to inch forward and slowly start to fill the place up.

Arcade Fire came up on stage around 9 in the evening and performed Ready To Start to kick of the evening. Quite an excellent choice as it is one of my favourite tracks from the new record and not to mention because of the title.

This was then followed by a Neon Bible song, Keep The Car Running and then one from Funeral, Neighborhood #2 (Laika) which really increased the already energetic pace they were going through. Movement from the crowd was seen at this point.

With first 3 songs taken from each of their 3 albums, this started to turn out as quite an excellent setlist already. Since this was the first time I’m seeing Arcade Fire, I was wishing for as much songs played from Funeral as possible as it is still my favourite album followed by The Suburbs and then Neon Bible.

As you can see from the setlist below, I was not disappointed as they played 7 songs from Funeral and The Suburbs.

• Ready To Start
• Keep The Car Running
• Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
• No Cars Go
• Haiti
• Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
• Rococo
• My Body Is A Cage
• The Suburbs
• The Suburbs (Continued)
• Crown Of Love
• Intervention
• Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
• Rebellion (Lies)
• Month Of May
• Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
• We Used To Wait (encore)
• Wake Up (encore)

Neon Bible was a decent album but it does not come close to The Suburbs. We shouldn’t even try comparing it to Funeral. Still, they picked 4 good songs from the album and threw it in the mix.

Highlights for me would be everytime a song from Funeral was played as I’ve been listening to this record for 6 years now, and it goes with out saying that I know this album best. It’s also the record which made me fall in love with this amazing band.

Thing is, the whole setlist is pretty much amazing. Every song was magical in it’s own way. I would have wished for Modern Man though but it’s not a big deal since this set really blows things out of proportion.

My Body Is A Cage was brilliant and spell binding. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) was an incredible mix of traditional instruments and some techno beats. Regine’s voice was simply angelic as well. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) followed by Rebellion (lies) was absolutely perfect. Arcade Fire then closed their set with Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels).

Which now brings us back to the two song encore, starting with We Used To Wait which has an incredible video using HTML5 and Chrome. If you haven’t seen it, you must try it here. For the last song of the evening, Arcade Fire played Wake Up which is pure bliss. This is undoubtedly their best song and it’s the perfect way to end such a terrific evening.

Listening to this song play always gets me and hits me hard. Watching Arcade Fire perform this song online makes me tear up. Finally watching Arcade Fire in all their sheer brilliance perform this song on stage is a real highlight. A moment you would remember for a very long time.

It wasn’t just the amazing sound experience which made the evening great. Arcade Fire is composed of a number of musicians and seeing 10 of them on stage playing all sorts of instruments from guitars to accordions is just an incredible sight.

Things get even more interesting when they start shuffling around using a different instrument for each song. This was more evident with husband and wife duo, Win and Regine.

Then there’s “cereal guy” aka William Butler who is the most enjoyable person to watch when Arcade Fire is playing. It’s easy to spot him on stage as he is the one playing whatever instrument with the most enthusiasm in the band. If he is playing with drums, he is hitting hit forcefully, running around on stage and throwing it in the air. It would be hard to miss something like that on stage.

With that said, Richard was equally entertaining on stage especially when they played Wake Up and he would switch from accordions to drums.

After 6 years, I finally had the chance to watch such an amazing band which opened my mind to a world of amazing music. It took long enough but it sure as hell was worth the excruciating wait.

The sick indie side of me feels a little bad seeing and “indie” band only now after 6 years at a stadium venue with tens of thousands of other people. Still with such great music, this is one band I wouldn’t mind sharing with other people. If you can’t appreciate this band, there is something wrong with you.

This is easily one of the highlights of this incredible year. And I wouldn’t ever be caught not seeing them again the next time they are in town.

For some reason, I found such beauty and order in the chaos of their music which is described as Noise Pop.

The insanely profound guitar riffs, mad drum machine beats and Alexis’ singing just mixed together perfectly to create something which sounded absolutely beautiful but completely different from anything I’ve heard before.

This plus the notion of their insane live shows made me itch to see them as soon as I could. Unfortunately, tickets for The Lexington show had already sold out as this venue was tiny.

This being London, they were bound to come back again at some point. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long.

The venue was XOYO, a venue I’ve never been to before but knew would be a lovely place as it’s another venue in Shoreditch, a favourite part of town for me when it comes to music venues. Unlike Hoxton Square Bar, Cargo and Village Underground, this venue was right outside Old Street Station which is mighty convenient.

First venue in London I’ve been to which serves the ridiculously delicious Kopparberg cider which is something everyone of drinking age should try. I went through quite an ordeal getting a bottle as I didn’t have enough cash for a bottle and the cash machine inside was not working. Thankfully, I was able to go outside, get money from a proper cash machine and come back in. Most venues in London do not re-admit people. Then again, this is Shoreditch.

First support for the evening was Teeth which just about started the moment I came back from hunting down a pound outside.  Another synth band (surprise!) but they were actually quite good and interesting. A decent support band for an insanely crazy band. They did have some issues though finding their pre-mixed beats on their Macbook Pros. Sometimes, the technology which goes into music these days somewhat waters down the experience.

The second support band were called The Knocks. They were fun, energetic and got the crowd going but they weren’t much than glorified DJs mixing other artists songs and throwing in some vocals and instruments in the mix. Like I said, they were still fun to watch and at least didn’t bore me too much.

Now, Sleigh Bells. It was a mind-blowing experience. The moment the duo came up on stage, the energy levels shot up the roof and it never went down.

Not much in the way of set lists as I can’t remember and can’t find any resources online. Regardless, since they only have one album, I’d say they played pretty much each song. There weren’t any surprises just one insane song after the other. The energy Alexis had on stage was just incredible.

Infinity Guitars, Crown On The Ground, A/B Machines were highlights of the evening but just barely since the whole evening was pretty much crazy.

When someone said Sleigh Bells live shows were amazingly good and crazy, they weren’t kidding. This is one for the books. When it comes to energy levels for their shows, Sleigh Bells is comparable to Crystal Castles even though they’ve only been around for a year.

Sleigh Bells is probably my best musical discovery for the year 2010 for a new band. Biffy Clyro would be another, but they’ve been around for almost a decade.

I think I’ve just convinced myself to secure tickets for their NME Awards show in February of next year.