This year I have attended numerous gigs, festivals and events, but these top 5 stood out by a mile and are events, which I would more than recommend my readers to attend in 2019!
5.The Wombats returned this year with their long-awaited album ‘Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life’. They toured academy’s across the UK including Manchester Academy, which I attended in March. The scouse band churned out hit after hit, including classics such as ‘Moving To New York’, ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’ and ‘Greek Tragedy’. The band’s performance was of high standard, but they seemed used to the audience reaction, therefore didn’t come across as enjoying it themselves much. Other aspects of the show made up for this, including a giant inflatable balls and a dancing Wombat making a feature on stage.
4.G-Eazy was once my guilty pleasure, I have loved his music since ‘Me, Myself and I’ ft Bebe Rexha made the charts in 2015. However, after seeing him at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse, I am no longer hiding my appreciation for his music. G Eazy (Gerald) seemed to enjoy every song he performed, which the crowd reflected straight back at him. Gerald ended the show with the fan favourite ‘No Limit’ to which every single person sang along to his, A$ap Rocky and Cardi B’s lyrics. G– Eazy thanked the crowd and vowed to return, which I suggest fans to attend when he does.
3.Paramore was the first gig I attended this year. Their latest album ‘After Laughter’ was my favourite release of 2017 and Hayley, Josh and Zac performed every song from the album perfectly. The new era caused split reaction with the fans, but I’ve never seen the band enjoy themselves so much on stage. Old hits such as ‘Still into You’, ‘Caught Myself’ and ‘Misery Business’ still made an appearance. This was before the band announced that they would no longer perform Misery Business, due to the recent controversy over the lyrics that Hayley wrote at just 16. I loved every second of the performance and would love to see them again perhaps in a more intimate show, smaller than large arena, which they performed at on this tour.
2.Bring Me The Horizon was the last gig I attended of the year and the one I was most looking forward too. The Sheffield band did not let me down, as lead singer Oli’s vocals sounded better than ever before. The set ranged from their two new singles ‘Mantra’ and ‘Wonderful Life’, a medley of songs from their heavier albums ‘Count Your Blessings’ and ‘Suicide Season’ and even an acoustic version of hit single ‘Drown’. The energy that the 5-piece put into their Alexandria Palace show was incredible and I am thoroughly looking forward to their latest album ‘Amo’, which is set to be released on the 25th January.
1.Benicassim is a festival just a few hours away from Barcelona. I went in July of this year and it was an amazing festival in every aspect, which I would highly recommend. The site wasn’t over packed, the music acts such as Travis Scott, Catfish and The Bottlemen and Liam Gallagher performed amazing sets, with only a few acts letting the overall line up down. The Kooks and Wolf Alice didn’t perform to expectations, the open stage in the sunshine just wasn’t the right place for them. But, Benicassim was still the music highlight of the year, spending the day on the beach and returning to the site each night to dance on the notorious South Beach or watch world famous acts perform until 3am. Next year’s line up already looks amazing with first headliner Lana Del Rey, The 1975 and Blossoms.
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