IBS's Best of 2011: Top 15 Concerts

Music festivals kind of throw a wrench in the whole "best concerts" thing, so I'm going to do my list based on individual sets, regardless of opener or whatever. This was definitely a tough list to narrow down — 2011 has been my best year for concerts by a mile; Nos. 1-8 were some of the best shows I've ever been to — but here they are. The 15 best concert sets I witnessed in the past year:


15) Cut Copy @ Pitchfork Festival - I really hope to catch these guys at a non-festival venue some time soon because their endless output of energy would be a blast to catch in a dark, dance-friendly setting.

14) Fitz and the Tantrums @ Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival - Speaking of dance-friendly, this show was a blast. It was great to see a fun show outdoors in my college town — and with a great handful of friends, no less.



13) Neon Indian @ The Firebird - This small-setting show was bursting at the seams with Alan Polomo's big blast of chillwave funk.


12) Yeasayer @ The Blue Note - Playing in a college town in the summer isn't exactly an ideal setting, but these guys put on a really strong and steady performance and were some super nice dudes after the show.


11) tUnE-yArDs @ Pitchfork Festival - I've said it before, but witnessing Merrill Garbus's vocal looping live needs to be on your to-do list. I'm really sad I missed them when they hit up St. Louis this fall.

10) Dom @ LouFest - I didn't know Dom from Adam coming into this set, but the band has a perfect live sound, and they put on one of the catchiest sets I've ever caught.


9) St. Vincent @ Liberty Hall - Annie Clark was having some problems with her mic and guitar, which gave an unsettling start to the set, but these slip-ups just made her all the more enchanting when she got into her groove. It was as if we were rooting for her, and she came through with a mesmerizing show.


8) TV on the Radio @LouFest - This was my second time this summer catching TVOTR, and seeing them up close was pretty incredible. They have a very unique stage presence — it's energetic but very controlled — and "Wolf Like Me" might be one of the best songs I've seen performed live.


7) Deerhunter @ LouFest - Bradford Cox is such a funny looking dude. That has nothing to do with anything, but he's so skinny. Anyway... "Nothing Ever Happened" to "Horses" to "Helicopter" is just an undeniably brilliant musical threesome. Ugh, so good.


6) Animal Collective @ Pitchfork Festival - They don't play any of their music that anyone's ever heard at their live shows, which would be a turnoff if this wasn't Animal Collective we were talking about. They put on a hypnotizing show and somehow make the new stuff sound so good that it doesn't even matter if you've ever heard it.

5) Bon Iver @ The Pageant - The magnitude of this show — nine band members, including two drum sets and a bass saxophone — is kind of mind boggling if you think of Bon Iver as that "Skinny Love" dude. He's able to translate his emotion to a live show, whether he's just playing a guitar or fleshing out every minute detail of his girl-crazy brain with a complex orchestra of awesome sauce.


4) Walk the Moon @ Mojo's - This is one of those shows that will stick with me for a while. I was actually at this show to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., but Walk the Moon stole the race — er, show. They were perfect, IMHBO (in my humble blogger's opinion/I'm Home Box Office). The engagement and raw energy with which they play combined with my unfamiliarity with the band — I saw them again later in the year, and it was good, but having seen them already reduced the effect — resulted in one of the most memorable shows of the year.


3) Beirut @ The Pageant - I don't talk about it much anymore, but I played trumpet for eight years, so this was kind of a brassgasm for this former band geek. And the members of Beirut don't just play the trumpet (and tuba and trombone and euphonium and accordion); they play it well. The multi-faceted instrumentation lends itself to a magnificent live sound. Combine that with Beirut's underrated and consistently spot-on melodies and you've got yourself one hell of a show.


2) The Hold Steady @ LouFest - What I love about the Hold Steady is how it just sounds like a summer's night — hanging out with friends and adventuring and all that stuff of June-to-August lore. It's awesome, especially since I love summer (hell, I named my dog after it). So actually hearing Craig Finn and Co. on a warm summer's eve was really a dream come true.

1) Fleet Foxes @ Pitchfork Festival - I raved enough about this show here, but, simply put: This is the best set I've ever heard. Period.






Some other bands I saw, lest I forget: Asobi Seksu, The Bel-Airs, Big Sean, Cat Power, Cate Le Bon,  Curren$y, Cyhi the Prince, Das Racist, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Destroyer, Dismemberment Plan, Jason Derülo, K Ishibashi, Kathleen Nelson, Kopecky Family Band, Kreayshawn, Laetitia Sadier, Mavis Staples, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, of Montreal, Questlove, Reptar, Shawn Christopher, Smith Westerns, Superchunk, Surfer Blood, The War on Drugs, Yip Deceiver, Yuck, !!!