JOHN’S CONCERT COLLECTION: 2023

THE YEAR IN YOUTUBE

I’ve been hemming and hawing about doing a rundown of my favorite live clips of 2023 for months now. At first, I thought it could be a nice companion blog to the one I wrote last April about performances from 2003, but then I remembered the stupid self-imposed rule I made for myself regarding year-end lists: I don’t do them. Then I sort of forgot about the idea altogether. Now, here we are, dangerously close to February, dangerously close to being fully out of “year-end list” territory, if that door hasn’t already been closed, and I have decided that this idea, while maybe not great, is better than certain alternatives. For example, you don’t need to hear my dumb ass write about Pitchfork. 

I spent a decent amount of last year staring at a grubby laptop or phone, watching live dispatches from Anytown, USA. There is no question that I should be getting off the couch and going out more, but I did that for over 20 years. It’s nice to kick back and scrub through material. Often, these shows feel so familiar that I can almost transport myself there: It’s both 2023 and 2003, and I’m a kid in a well-lit VFW hall, thrashing around to a hardcore band … I know that consuming video on the internet can be depressing, and there’s plenty of reasons for that—here I’m supposed to say something about “the algorithm”—but it’s still exciting to get a scene report. 

Elizabeth Colour Wheel “Live at The Sanctuary, Oklahoma City, OK 5/22/23”

I mean it as a compliment when I say that this is the most perplexing live set I watched all year. Deconstructed screamo? US Maple meets Indian Summer with Diamanda Gálas on vocals? There is a keytar in the mix? The guitar player has a Thunder Zone sticker? I’m not exactly sure how to process Elizabeth Colour Wheel, but there’s so few live acts that elicit confusion on their level, and that’s something I’m always going to applaud. It’s the kind of band that comes to your town and blows your teenage mind. It’s the kind of band that has the potential to change a small scene forever. 

BabyTron “Live at Detroit Pistons Halftime Show 11/22”

This one is from November 2022, but we’re all going to let that slide. Basketball halftime entertainment has really progressed over the years. Growing up, I don’t remember any mid-career rappers playing between halves at Bucks games. If we were lucky, we got a juggler. BabyTron at Little Caesars Arena raises the stakes considerably. Graded on the curve frequently needed for contemporary live rap, BabyTron does an OK job keeping up with his backing tracks until his Shitty Boyz crew members come out. There’s tepid breakdancing and cryogenics. The crowd doesn’t seem to be all that engaged. I’m aware: It’s a hard gig. Michigan rap is a studio art form. 

Target Scammers “Live at Jones Library, Amherst 9/23/23”

A lot of the time, I can’t remember how I ended up finding a live video, which is the case here. I like Target Scammers; I like the sound of a Fender guitar through a Fender amp, especially in the context of a fast punk band. It transmits a feeling of rough R'n'R chaos, almost arty in its skinniness. So, fuck it, plug it in. It’s sloppy punk singalongs for all inside a Western Massachusetts library. “I broke the fucking cable!"

Adernodome Rave at Trans-Pecos, Queens 1/6/23

The New York City rave scene was strong in 2023, and events at Trans-Pecos in Queens were one part of the equation. This particular rave, if you want to call it that, is documented with snippets of each DJ. Pacific Northwest rep Deejay Chainwallet rinses ragga jungle and gabber kicks; Lexxy Jax plays bouncy hardcore; DJ Chaotic Ugly, a member of Machine Girl, hits ‘em with some wobbly business. The crowd stays frenzied throughout. If there is a thing that unites a lot of the videos today, it is the idea of “the pit.” The pit comes in many forms.   

Lucy “Live at House of Blues, Dallas 9/13/23”

Lucy is the most charming live performer in America right now. As a veteran of the solo backing track freakout scene, I think that Cooper B. Handy is doing right by the lineage. Here, he is on tour supporting King Krule, warming up and winning over the crowd with nervy dance movies and high knees and classic pop songwriting. His harmonica solo plays especially well in the Lone Star State. I saw a photo taken from this same tour that warmed my heart: three kids in homemade Lucy shirts. Now that’s a stan army I support. 

Big Clown “Live at Goner Fest 19, Memphis”

Deep south art garage magic in the form of a down-tuned three-string guitar and a singer dressed up in clown makeup. “Frogman” is a legit swamp rock hit. I think Goner Fest 19 was in 2022, actually, but it’s nearing midnight and I’m getting tired. I leave for Milwaukee tomorrow. I’m doing a show on Saturday at the club I’m going to write about next. 

Polo Perks and AyooLii “Live at Cactus Club, Milwaukee 4/29/23”

Cactus Club is my favorite venue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over the past 20 years, I’ve played more shows there than I can count, almost every one of them with the legendary Alex “Pekka” Hall behind the boards. We are going to get you that Pekka interview on John’s Music Blog, and that’s going to be an exclusive. Anyway, it warms my heart to see the new wave of 8th note clap rappers using the room—the same room The White Stripes played early shows in—and filling it up with forward thinking youth energy. AyooLii and the whole Runalongforever team actually played Cactus a few nights ago, and from the looks of the footage I saw, it seems as if the scene is reaching a boiling point. Here is some no less intense documentation from last April; also on the bill that night was Brooklyn “sample drill” master Polo Perks. I want to start a band that sounds like AyooLii meets Melt Banana.

Converge “Live at Outbreak Fest 6/23/23”

Let’s go across the pond for a minute to a country that I like but is also home of the worst hamburger I have ever eaten. Outbreak Fest is a giant gathering of hardcore kids that happens every year in Manchester. Since 2011, it has slowly grown to encompass a fairly wide variety of music. Last year, there was everyone from Death Grips to Jesus Piece to Earl Sweatshirt. It was legends Converge, though, that played one of the more memorable sets for me, a loser at home staring at a YouTube screen. I almost get Metallica at Woodstock 99 vibes here: “We’re just going to put our heads down and play.” The band pummels through 45 minutes of material that sounds better live than on record. Mid-career excellence.

Wednesday “Bull Believer (Live at Mohawk, Austin)”

I’m not going to cap and say that I’ve been deep in the Zoomer shoegaze trenches. Great sentence. Shoegaze is not my favorite genre, and most of the new music I’ve heard in the genre hasn’t done anything to change that. The more internet-rap-adjacent end of the new school shoegaze spectrum has at least seemed to sonically reorient the sound a little. I’m thinking about an act like Quannnic, who I’ve often considered posting on the blog but never have, and whose vocal style on this song has as much in common with Lil Uvi Vert as it does Slowdive. On the more traditional end of the spectrum, there’s Wednesday, who rock with a pronounced Americana influence. “Bull Believer” is eight minutes long, and it has a stirring headbanger grand finale. It inspires a bit of polite moshing. A polite pit.

JELEEL! “Live at Rolling Loud Cali 3/15/23”

I’ve said something to this effect before, but I guess I’ll say it again, one more time for the new subscribers: John’s Music Blog favorite JELEEL! is to Playboi Carti what Andrew W.K. is to Death Metal Legends Obituary—members of that band also played in W.K.’s live unit—which is to say that JELEEL! takes an uncompromising sound palate and turns it into a major key positively slam. Nothing gets the pit going like a backflip.