The Best of 2024 – Part 1 – Music

I think it has come to that time of the year where I’d list the various highlights of 2024. It will no doubt be a bit of a hotch-potch of a list. I haven’t been to a lot of gigs this year. I haven’t had too many days out. I haven’t read much either – despite all the reading material I’ve had to be exposed to for uni this year. I haven’t been exposed to too much new music, either. So, as I say, it will probably be a small list of quite niche categories. Let’s see!

Top 3 Gigs of 2024:

A quick overview of the gigs I’ve been to this year (so far!) reads like this (in date order):

Few surprises as to who appears most on the gig list again this year. But as we all know, quantity does not necessarily equal quality. So, does it mean that naturally by order of number of gigs, Hamish is at the top of the gig tree? Well, there is obviously a very valid reason as to why I go and see HH as often as I do. If he wasn’t putting on a stellar show again and again, why would I keep on going to see him, right? 

With that in mind, of course one of his shows will top the list. That in itself makes it awkward for the only full-length headline show he performed out of the list above this year was February’s Barras gig. The others were ‘album showcase’ shows of a shorter length (and cheaper ticket price) but not necessarily lesser in quality or intensity. I am only going to pick one HH show though, and because of that, I do have to give a mention to the Liquid Room show in Edinburgh. It was the first time I experienced Hamish in his home town as a headline act (of course I first saw him performing in Edinburgh in 2022 at the SM show at Princes Street Gardens) and it was nothing short of sensational. The crowd was amazing. I met the wonderful Dawn at that gig. It had been the first time in ages since I’d gone to the capital. It was a perfect night and I even got back home and was in bed at a decent hour. But! For the magnitude of it all and for the incredible performance (which ultimately resulted in guitarist Andrew Pearson busting his leg), as well as seeing one of my favourite songs from the Angel Numbers album being performed, it has to go to the Barrowland Ballroom gig from 10 February 2024. 

Second would be one of the most recent gigs I’d been to. Lo Moon at St Luke’s was an incredible show. They are so fantastic. I am dying to see them again. I still need to buy their album! Get into their back catalogue, really delve into their music. Along with Lo Moon themselves as the main act, it was also great to see Zoe Graham once again. She made the worst gig of 2024 have something salvageable to it. She saved it from being a total write-off of an evening. At the Lo Moon gig, she only enhanced the experience. I really do hope they return to the UK very soon as I will definitely see them again. 

Third – and it is only just a fraction of a difference – is The Anchoress at the Craufurd Arms in Milton Keynes in August. Catherine put on the most powerful show that night. Also her support act of Ebony Buckle was fantastic. Catherine has a spectacular live band behind her. Charlie Cawood, Leoni Jane Kennedy (who also played as a solo support) and Keir Adamson have such fantastic musicianship and the camaraderie that Catherine feels towards them is very evident. It was just a very special evening. 

• A caveat to this list is – I still have three gigs left to go this year: Travis at the Hydro (with Hamish as support) and both Del Amitri shows at the Barras. So…there is potential for the top three to change. 

Live Song Highlights of 2024: 

‘Sons and Fascination’ by Simple Minds at the Hydro 29/03/24: All the songs from this album mean so much to me. I never thought in a million years that I would ever see the song performed live. They performed it only three nights previously in Bournemouth and I had just assumed it was one-off or it wouldn’t be performed in Glasgow and I would get to see it. They had another gig in between in Cardiff and it wasn’t performed (at least not for the gig itself, it might have been for the soundcheck – I’m not sure) so I convinced myself it had been a blip. Someone had filmed it in Bournemouth and I didn’t watch the footage initially. I just didn’t want to get exposed to it and then want to wish with all my heart they’d perform it in Glasgow. The following day I buckled and I watched it and I was a hot mess. I cried my eyes out, singing along with Jim, tears streaming down my face. I tried so hard to stop myself from wishing to see it in Glasgow. I just didn’t think it would happen. Come the night of the first Glasgow show…third song in…I started crying all over again. 

‘Once Upon an Acid Glance’ by Hamish Hawk at Barrowland Ballroom 10/02/24: I hadn’t seen him perform it before. I think it’s the one and only time it has been performed live. It was just an extra special treat from that Barras show. It’s a beautiful album opener from Angel Numbers. It was just lovely to hear it. 

‘Easy Money,’ ‘How Soon Is Now?’ And ‘There’s a Light That Never Goes Out’ by Johnny Marr at Kelvingrove Bandstand 25/07/24: The first was an earworm for WEEKS afterwards and the other two jostle for position as my favourite song by The Smiths and he performed them both impeccably on the night. And to be fair, his gig is very much in the runner-up spot just below that top three. He was fantastic. 

‘Unravel’ and ‘The Heart is a Lonesome Hunter’ by The Anchoress at Craufurd Arms 16/08/24: These two songs from The Art of Losing mean the world to me and Catherine performed them both to perfection at that Milton Keynes show. 

‘Evidence’ by Lo Moon at St Luke’s 05/11/24: Just phenomenal. I can’t express it better than that. 

New Music Finds of 2024:

Zoe Graham: I first became aware of her from her being the support for Echo and the Bunnymen in August at Kelvingrove Bandstand. She just played solo on guitar with a loop machine but she was amazing. Her song ‘Evilin’ was the highlight of that show. And when I saw her again supporting Lo Moon, I was a wee bit swooned when she looked to me and pointed with her guitar head while delivering the line in ‘Evilin’ ‘No one could work quite as hard as you’ with emphasis on the ‘you.’ I actually gushed. I will be seeing her again in the future. 

Ebony Buckle: Ebony’s music is not usually the genre I would seek out. I’m not really the biggest prog/prog-folk lover but there is something wonderfully ethereal in Ebony’s style that I like. Plus, she’s an Aussie. Us Aussies need to stick together. I really enjoyed her set when supporting Catherine and I bought some of her music at the merch stall after the show. It’s really soothing and I enjoy it. 

Album of the year:

Well, this one is probably going to be a pretty easy prediction given the number of times I’ve played it, as well as the number of times it continues to play from start to finish in my head without me actually having to play the album … drum roll please….

A Firmer Hand by Hamish Hawk – did you think it was going to be anything else? Honestly?! Lol. To be fair, I haven’t really exposed myself to much ‘new’ music this year. I’ve been bad in that anyone new I’ve discovered this year, I haven’t delved too much into their music. I need to rectify that, particularly when it comes to Zoe Graham and Lo Moon. I also delved into a band called Badbadnotgood whose music I was exposed to looking around the racks of Monorail several weeks ago. 

The only other physical releases I have invested in this year have been by The Anchoress and Field Music. Their album Limits of Language has been getting some play from me but much like a predictable animal, I’ve been most absorbed in Hamish and A Firmer Hand. 

Single of the year: 

‘Men Like Wire’ by Hamish Hawk.

This song has had a looooong gestation period for me. I was first exposed to it last year at Blackpool when he played the Bootleg Social in August 2023. So, it was pretty much a full 12 months (well, from near the end of August 2023 until ‘Men Like Wire’ was released as a single in the second week of July 2024) until I heard the official studio recording of the track. What I love about it is its grit, executed in a style in which Hamish excels at, filled with varying cultural references and turns-of-phrase such as ‘a hand-me-down Jacques Brel’ and ‘an uncanny Frankie Valli’ as well as exposing me to the term ‘vainglorious’ which I had hitherto not heard of. It feels like a man questioning why he finds other men attractive. What is it beyond the mere physical that makes men ‘worthy’ of being desired? That’s how I interpret it anyway. 

I will do a part two for this where I’ll discuss other aspects of the arts: Books, podcasts, exhibitions, etc.