The AlexReviewsGigs End of Year Awards 2024

What sort of blog doesn’t finish up the year with some sort of annual awards list to celebrate the good, the very good and the unbelievably good from the previous twelve months? Not this one for sure! So here we are, the first ever AlexReviewsGigs end of year awards! And for the winners it’s not just the glory, there are wonderful and unique certificates for any of the artists mentioned on this list – to claim yours just get in contact by some form of electronic communications (Twitter is probably best)

The ‘Oh my Gawd’ I Can’t Believe this is Freaking Happening Award

Eighteen years is a long time in music, or well, anything really. Nowadays bands seem to be back for the inevitable reunion tour before they’ve given their fans enough time to truly miss them. So when Hope of the States announced their return after almost two decades away it felt that the comeback shows were going to be something special as well as a bit of unfinished business for a band whose original run seemed to be struck with misfortune at every opportunity.

And indeed they were as special as they were unexpected. Attending the first night of the tour at Manchester Gorilla was a strange mixture of disbelief that this was happening combined with utter joy that a band that had burnt briefly but brightly were back. Whether the return proves to be a permanent one or just four brilliantly received shows remains to be seen, but for one long weekend in December the UK music scene rang again with a sound that was sad but hopeful.

Read about Hope of the States’ comeback show here.

The So Good I Had to See Them Repeatedly Award

There were three acts that I managed to get to see three times across of 2024, but as all of the Lucia and the Best Boys and one of swim school‘s were as support acts the award goes to The Last Dinner Party who were headliners each time I saw them.

From the intimate surroundings of Hebden Bridge Trades Club at the start of the year to headline shows at Manchester Victoria Warehouse and Sheffield Octagon as part of their autumn tour, The Last Dinner Party provided captivating entertainment each time. Whilst they courted some negative press later in the year with the interrogation of single males at their concerts and shows called off, the strength of their new material suggests they aren’t going to be one album wonders.

Read about The Last Dinner Party’s performance at Hebden Bridge Trades Club here and at Manchester Victoria Warehouse here.

The Best Show for Under Twenty Pounds Award

The cost of gig ticket price has been a major talking point of 2024, whether it revolved around Ticketmaster’s use of dynamic price or simply around Ticketmaster itself. But thankfully there’s still plenty of affordable live shows out there, often putting the more expensive shows to shame. Whilst I managed to somehow grab tickets to established names such as The Hives, Maximo Park and Bush for under the very arbitrary limit for this award, nothing compares to seeing a young and hungry group in a tiny venue out to show the world what they’re made of.

As such swim school walk away (or should that be paddle away?) as winners of this award, for the opening night of their maiden headlining tour back in April. Overcoming any nerves they may have had they put in an electric performance which is one of many reasons for their presence in many a publications hot lists for 2025.

Read about swim school‘s performance at The Deaf Institute in Manchester here.

The Best Album Launch Show Award

With the sad demise of music based TV shows and a functional music press artists are having to come up with more and more innovative ways to promote the release of new material and as such it feels like more and more are relying on intimate album launch shows (and the subsequent social media frenzy from those in attendance) to get the word out.

The challenge though with an album launch show is that often the audience won’t be familiar yet with the new songs being performed. As such Desperate Journalist‘s launch shows for their fantastic fifth album No Hero showcased how to do it, mixing in new songs along with fan favourites to tremendous effect. And as an added bonus the band were charming and funny at the post show signings.

Read about Desperate Journalist‘s performance at Rough Trade Liverpool here.

The I Never, Ever Expected to Hear this Song Live Award

Sometimes all it takes is for an artist to add an unexpected song to their setlist to turn a good show into a great one. That song that they recorded thirty years ago that seemed to have been lost from their memory in the passing decades.

Whilst Liam Gallagher has promised the Definitely Maybe 30 tour would celebrate not just the album itself but the entire era, the middle run of non-album rarities was a treat for any diehard Oasis fan, back in the days when a reunion still felt utterly improbable. And whilst the Morning Glory B-sides may be stronger, the likes of Fade Away and (It’s Good) to be Free still rank up there with Noel’s best work. But it was the site and sound of twelve thousand fans joining Liam to sing D’Yer Wannabe a Spaceman that felt the most joyously unlikely moment of the evening.

Read all about Liam Gallagher’s performance at Sheffield Arena here.

The I Didn’t Know Who You Were When I Walked in But I Kind of Like You by the Time I Left Award

The problem with city centre festivals that see you trekking across a city centre following a badly planned schedule is that after a while you just want to sit down, put your feet up and enjoy something a little bit different. Which is where Red Rum Club turned into unlikely saviours during the 2024 edition of Neighbourhood Festival.

Whilst I didn’t realise that some trumpet infused rock music was what I needed at that point in proceedings it definitely energised me for the most of the day. And it was all enhanced by the majestic environment of Manchester’s Albert Hall, which seemed very different at four o’clock on a sunny afternoon than previous visits during the dark and cold winter. And just for good measure they then put in an equally enjoyable performance supporting Blossoms a few weeks later.

Seeing as I haven’t got round to writing up a proper review of Neighbourhood Festival you can read my slightly chaotic live tweeting of the event here.

The Wholesome Musical Moment of the Year Award

It’s always hard to pinpoint why, but sometimes concerts generate an indescrible sense of camaraderie between audience members. Hope of the States comeback show always felt like it had that potential to being the crowd together in that way, although I doubt many would have predicted that arguably the highlight of the evening would be when the band were offstage.

Whilst large concerts often see the coming together of the crowd to sing back the band’s lyrics – Glastonbury performances from Blur and Radiohead famously involving Tender and Karma Police, but in my experience the smaller the venue the less likely it is to happen. So to be part of the five hundred strong audience at the Gorilla that spontaneously joined together to lure the band back on stage for an encore by singing Enemies/Friends‘ closing lines of “Come on people, keep your friends close your enemies won’t matter in the end” was as emotional as it was spontaneous to mark the band’s return. And whilst the singing may not have been quite as in tune as it felt at the time, the joy across the audience member’s faces in this youtube video showed what it meant to those that were present.

Word of the Year Award

Whist the rest of the world seemed intent on celebrating it being a Brat summer, some of us had our year shaped by a completely different word. A beautiful, Italian, pasta based word. It all started at Liam Gallagher‘s Definitely Maybe 30 shows, where Digsy’s Dinner was transformed from that slightly odd song that you had to get through to reach Slide Away to a thumping romp, aided by a video montage celebrating the song’s lyrics – with focus on one particular word as shown below.

But then, possibly with copious amounts of alcohol involved, swim school decided to join the party, with a late night barrage of lasagne related tweets (sadly they’ve all since been deleted, asides from this beauty). A few weeks later and the inevitable happened… at the band’s Sheffield date supporting Pale Waves I couldn’t resist producing the least rock ‘n’ roll heckle of all time by shouting Lasagne at them between songs.

Singer Alice sighed into her microphone not to encourage the boys whilst guitarist and drummer Lewis and Billy cackled in the background. Chatting to Alice later at the merch stand she definitely appeared to see the funny side of it, although it’s yet to be confirmed if this is now a recurring feature of swim school gigs.

The Yeah, I had a Feeling the Band was on the Verge of Splitting And it Turns Out I was Right Award

Every once in a while you go to a concert and you can almost see the unhappiness and frustration seeping out of the musicians. And so it was when Sundara Karma, having failed to build on the success of their upbeat debut album, took to the stage at the Wardrobe in Leeds in August with as much time spent looking grumpy at each other and their equipment as performing.

What felt like an attempt to give their faltering career a kick start by dropping down to small club venues instead showed that their flame was ready to go out. Barely a month later a final farewell tour was announced, leaving us with nothing more than memories and the joy of stand out early single She Said.

Dedication to the Pit Award

It may reflect the need for bands to give their fans something a little special but it seems like more and more singers these days are finding an excuse to clamber into their crowds, this year has seen this simple act becoming more and more common. Whilst Brett Anderson’s escapades during The Drowners has been going on for years, but during 2024 I’ve also found myself shoulder to shoulder in moshpits with the likes of Abigail from The Last Dinner Party, Alice from swim school and Per from The Hives.

But for sheer dedication to the pit, The Amazons come out on top. Whilst singer Matt had adventured into the audience and crowd surfed throughout the show, it was during finale Black Magic that their true commitment came through. During the intro Matt whispered something to his fellow guitarist and bassist, which saw the three of them enter the crowd, complete with their instruments to perform the song’s middle eight, whilst fans circled disbelieving at the intimacy they were experiencing.

Overall Gig of the Year Award

And finally the big award. With forty two shows (as well as a good few festival performances) 2024 was a fantastic year for live music for me, but what came out on top?

In any other year numerous shows that I witnessed could have claimed the number one slot – Hope of the States euphoric comeback show, the opening night of Liam Gallagher‘s Definitely Maybe 30 tour, The Last Dinner Party‘s rise and rise or the perfect co-headline combination of the Manic Street Preachers and Suede. But only one act can claim the top spot.

So, after much deliberation the best gig of the year award goes to Alvvays at the Ritz in Manchester, ably supported by the brilliant Girl Scout. A headline set not built on glitz or gimmicks or showmanship, but eighty minutes of outstanding music by a band at the peak of their form. How the band follows up the genius of Blue Rev is anyone’s guess, but they’ll always have their incredible live performances to fall back on.

I’ll write up about the actual gig at some point very soon, but in the meantime you can my review of Alvvays at Wat Out West Festival here.

As a final note, thank you to all the wonderful artists who I have enjoyed throughout 2024 who didn’t get a mention in this post and to all the wonderful venues and their staff who have hosted shows that I’ve attended. And also to everyone who has supported this blog during its first months. I’ve got lots of shows booked up for 2025 so I’ll be back with more live reviews very soon!