First, four honourable mentions before I begin my countdown, for I considered all of these shows for my fifth place:
Esben and the Witch at Club Stereo, Nuremberg
Explosions in the Sky at the Melbourne Recital Hall (first night)
Midnight Oil at Amager Bio, Copenhagen
Roadburn Festival (day 4 only) at the 013, Tilburg (Author and Punisher, Come to Grief, Inter Arma, Les Discrets, Pallbearer, Pillorian, Temple ov BBV, Ulver)
5. We Lost the Sea at the Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney
I saw WLTS twice this year - once in January in Melbourne and once in December in Sydney. Good bookends. The first time, they were doing an encore run around Australia playing their new album Departure Songs in full, as the first round in 2016 had not come close to meeting demand. In December, though, they took things up a notch: touring to commemorate five years since The Quietest Place on Earth, their second album and the last to feature vocals by their former lead singer, who committed suicide the year after it came out. This show had all the emotion. All of it. They found a fantastic guest vocalist to take Chris Torpy's place and played most of Quietest Place, one song from the debut, and a few instrumentals from Departure Songs. I thought I'd seen immense performances from this band before, but this was on a level you will almost never see. Oh yeah, and Rosetta were the support, delivering the best of the three sets I've seen them play.
4. Pinback at the Columbia City Theatre, Seattle
Hard to choose which of the two concerts was better, because they kind of functioned as a unified whole: one night was all of Autumn of the Seraphs, while the second traversed their entire career, with not a whole lot of crossover between setlists. But I would have to take the second night simply because "Proceed to Memory" was the most powerful moment of either show, and it was only done that one time.
3. A Colossal Weekend at Vega, Copenhagen (Agent Fresco, Alcest, Anna von Hausswolff, Deafheaven, Emma Ruth Rundle, Mouse on the Keys, Mutiny on the Bounty, Oxbow, The Physics House Band, Redwood Hill, Speaker Bite Me, Sumac, Toundra, Tvivler, Valerian Swing, Yndi Halda)
Best festival I have ever attended, if you don't count my #1. Agent Fresco, Emma Ruth Rundle, The Physics House Band, and Toundra all deserve shoutouts for excellent performances. But the high point was without question Yndi Halda and Alcest back to back. I doubt I will ever experience such beauty in concert again.
2. Ride at the New Theatre, Oxford
My favourite shoegaze band launching their fantastic new album at a gorgeous theatre in their hometown? And I got a front row seat? And they did their longest setlist of the tour to date, throwing in a couple of sweet rarities for the hometown crowd? Holy hell this was incredible. "Leave Them All Behind" in the encore is a monumental experience I will never forget.
1. Roogaze 2017 at the Tote, Melbourne (Bloodhounds on My Trail, Hideous Towns, Flyying Colours, Kodiak Galaxy, Laedj, Lowtide, The Provincialists, Seance Mystere, Vim, White Walls, Zond)
Yeah, so, I organised this year's edition of Melbourne's shoegaze mini-fest. It took place on the night before I moved away from Melbourne and featured ten of my favourite local bands, plus my own band opened the night. It was the most meaningful concert I've ever attended. I can't describe what it meant to me to perform with a bunch of good mates on a lineup with so many local legends who were all only too eager to be on the bill and whose performances were all enthralling.