The year in review

Whenever I come home from a show I take the ticket stub out of my pocket and tuck it into my whiteboard. Needless to say, there were a lot of stubs this year.

No. of acts (not including the huge lineup at Jazz Lives): 57
No. of shows: 32
No. of times I got carded: 28
No. of times my old, expired driver's license wasn't accepted as proper ID: 1
No. of times I saw Joel Plaskett this year: 3
No. of times I saw the Grates: 2
No. of times I blacked out at Lee's Palace from the poor air circulation: 2
No. of band T-shirts bought: 4, but only 2 bought at shows
No. of Keiths and rye-and-gingers consumed (but not necessarily at the same time): unknown

Best show of 2006: Tied between the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s for the raucous crowd and the Flaming Lips for the trippy, totally immersive experience.

Shows that just plain rawked: The Dears, Hot Chip, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Les Breastfeeders, My Brightest Diamond
Shows that went on too long: Band of Horses, Cat Power
Shows at which I nearly passed out: Band of Horses, Cat Power
Shows that won me over: Camera Obscura with the Diableros
Shows that overwhelmed: Ladytron, Flaming Lips
Shows that underwhelmed: Band of Horses, Calexico, Cat Power (sorry, she's very lovely but she tends to pick two or three chords and stick with them)
Shows that traumatized: Kids on TV, Fiery Furnaces
Shows that grated on the nerves: Fiery Furnaces, Spiral Beach
Shows that surprised me by how much I liked them: Classic Albums Live does the Beatles
Shows that I really enjoyed at the time but have since faded from memory: The Rapture, Belle & Sebastian, Stereolab, The Futureheads, Wolf Parade, The Strokes

Coming up in 2007: Peter Appleyard, Golden Dogs, Jazz Lives, Sebadoh, Sonny Rollins, more free indie acts at Nathan Phillips Square, and word on the street is that Dave Frishberg might be coming to town. Yeah!
Bands I hope are coming (back) to town: Final Fantasy, Gogol Bordello, Les Breastfeeders, My Brightest Diamond

Also planning a trip to Seattle in the spring. I'm bound to catch some good acts there (hopefully including the Trucks and the Earaches).

Major discoveries of the year: yéyé (French pop from the '60s), the Beatles, live opera

Favourite albums of 2006: Aberdeen City - The Freezing Atlantic, Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds, Found - Found Can Move, The Grates - Gravity Won't Get You High, My Brightest Diamond - Bring Me the Workhorse
Honourable mentions (all good stuff by favourite bands, but these albums didn't resonate with me as much as their previous ones, or as much as the ones listed above): The Dears - Gang of Losers, TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain, Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
Guilty pleasure: Justin Timberlake's Futuresex/Lovesounds. I'm so ashamed.
The album on top of everyone's Best of 2006 list that I didn't check out: The Decemberists - The Crane Wife.
Anticipating albums in 2007 by: The Bravery, Hexes & Ohs. And PJ Harvey is apparently working on new material, but no word on when that'll be released.

Happy new year!