‘Best of 2009’ Archives
Nikki’s Choice: Top 5 Shows in 2009
Mono Live in NYC May 09, 2009 This was the first time I had ever flown anywhere to see a show. In actuality, it was something of a leap of faith as I had never even seen MONO live before. I was told from a friend who had seen MONO several times, "MONO is the only band whom I actually want an encore from when they complete. If they are going to play with a 24-piece orchestra, this could be the [...]
Nikki’s Choice: Top 5 Seattle Hip-Hop Artists of 2009
Macklemore Macklemore is humbly standing front row center in the hip-hop community right now. The love that he has earned in the hearts of Seattleites will not prove to be fickle; each fan that he has amassed will be a fan for life. Macklemore is at the top of my list for a number of reasons. First and foremost is the quality of his lyrics. I’m not talking about, “And We Danced,” [...]
Nikki’s Choice: Seattle’s Most Influential in 2009
Naming someone as “most influential” has got to have people rolling their eyes if for no other reason than the fact that it just sounds pretentious. In truth, I almost didn’t even do this category, but when I thought about why I wanted to do this post in the first place, I had to. This post is to honor Larry Mizell Jr. He was born in the hip-hop community, raised in it, lives is, breathes [...]
Nikki’s Choice: Favorite Seattle Post-Rock in 2009
So the first thing that I need to address with this post is that I'm not naming my choice for best Seattle post-rock in 2009, I'm declaring my choice for favorite Seattle post-rock in 2009. If I were naming the best Seattle post-rock by merit, this post would be Sleepy Eyes of Death-centric. Instead, I would like to give Sleepy Eyes of Death an honorable mention for being one of the best shows I [...]
Nikki’s Choice: Seattle’s Best Indie-Rock in 2009
Of all the indie-rock bands that are tearing it up this year, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band were on the top of my list. For someone to be named dominant in any genre, they would need to have the full package. Does Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band fit that bill? In 2009, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band completed three full U.S. tours. They have graced Sasquatch 2009, SXSW, Noise Pop, Pop Montreal, Bonnaroo, [...]
Nick’s Choice: Top 5 Shows of 2009
I keep an actual paper planner of all the shows I have been to. Writing this brought back some great memories of the past year, and I also got a look at how empty the next year currently is. Here in no particular order are my Top 5 Shows of 2009. Visqueen @ Tractor Tavern As Suzi pointed out, I have a thing for Visqueen. I have seen them several times, at Bumbershoot, some at REVERB and [...]
Jason’s Choice: Top 5 shows in 2009
Picking out a measly 5 shows is a pretty difficult task and I could add at least another 20 to the list. Actually it's next to impossible....so before I get started, here are a few honorable mentions. And let's be clear, these are shows that moved ME in particular. These are shows I loved. Champagne Champagne@ EMP during Bumbershoot was a fantastic spectacle to behold. The Show was tight, [...]
Gabriel’s Choice: Top 5 Shows of 2009
I went to more shows in 2009 than I have in many years--possibly since I was a teenager in Miami, going to hardcore shows twice a week. Things have changed. I don't think I made it to more than two or three punk shows this year. Everything's varied now and it makes me feel grown up if not a little sad for the loud passion of the past. For my top five, I won't use numbers. I don't have the one [...]
Suzi’s Choice: Top 5 Shows of 2009
Before I unveil my list of top 5 live music shows that I attended in 2009, I want to make a couple things clear. First, I need to point out that I am a relatively new SSG writer, having joined the staff in October 2009, and thus I have attended many more shows in the latter half of the year than the beginning. Second, the main criteria I used for ranking shows was my overall judgment of how the [...]
