Hello again friends. Just as in 2008 I once again queried Denver’s best, brightest and most prolific music writers for their take on the year. While I didn’t get replies from everyone, the ones I received were funny, interesting, enlightening and seasoned with all the delicious flavors that each bring to the table. It’s long, but great. If you are not familiar with these folks — shame on you. Links all around, so become their friends, you’ll be a better person this time next year.

**Happy New Year to all. Bring on 2010**

Click through to read the full piece….after the jump.

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[Photo cred: House on the Corner]

2008 is over. Your still lingering, all day hangover from yesterday is probably the best reminder of that (Its funny to me that the first hours of every year are spent in such an intoxicated state). So, while the after effects of too much partying comes quickly before the first Friday night of 2009, I’m confident the lessons of recovery will be heeded by few.

You might wonder what this tangent has to do with a compilation of opinions from fellow Denver-based bloggers? It has everything to do with it. I originally planned to post this on New Years Day, with the thought that people would like to reflect back on another year gone while moping around and picking up the pieces of the night before. Turns out the last thing I wanted to do is sit upright in front of a computer, being that sitting upright was a struggle in and of itself.

From a questionnaire I sent to prominent writers covering the Denver scene, here is what refer to as the final purge of 2008. Bree Davies, Julio Enriquez, Sean Porter and a couple of the lovely ladies from the satirical Donnybrook Writing Academy share their favorite musical moments of last year. You can read mine at the very end.

For those playing at home, the questions…

*What was your favorite live show of 2008?
*What was your favorite live moment of 2008?
*Best show that nobody saw?
*Most fun show of the year?
*What was the oddest thing you saw this year?
*Can’t miss local act for 2009?
*[Write your own]?

Bree Davies
Bree Davies.com
Denver Post’s Reverb blog

What was your favorite live show of 2008?

It was a tie for me between Gang Gang Dance and Wu-Tang Clan. Both shows blew my mind…I had somehow never witnessed GGD or even listened to them, even though many of my friends have cited them as an influence in their own music. If you can give me, a permanently sober individual, a head-trip that lasts for hours after a show, you’re one of the best bands in the world. Other than Gang Gang Dance, I have only ever felt that way when I witnessed Sonic Youth and High Places (also a band I saw 4 times this year who were awesome!)

And the Wu, well, I had low expectations for their performance. Rap shows generally disappoint me (I went to see the GZA a few months before, and when he hadn’t appeared by 1am, I left the show), even though it’s a large chunk of what I listen to on a regular basis. But the Wu made the Ogden feel like a house show. I couldn’t keep my eyes of the RZA, and Raekwon and Ghostface fucking brought it. They treated us with decade and a half old hits, and you could just feel the love in the air. I’ve heard you have to catch them on an “on” night or they are just horrible, but it was hard for me to imagine they could be anything less than phenomenal after that show. It also made me wonder how dudes that good feel about most of the half-assed crap that is played on the radio.

What was your favorite live moment of 2008?

Lil’ Wayne lying on his back and simulating oral sex on a lady during “Pussy Monster,” at the KS-107.5 Summer Jam show in June at Fiddler’s Green. This kid is like James Brown! He shakes a leg and the crowd loses it. Wayne really came up over the last year and a half, and there’s a reason. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. I am a Weezy follower for life.

Best show that nobody saw?

Starfucker, at some random bar in Brooklyn…I spent the better half of the year living in NY with my good friend Sarah Cass, and she hooked these guys up with a last minute show when they came to visit us. They played a show at a rasta bar with Denver-native/NYC-transplant Timothy Thomas Cleary, and it was really fun. Sarah was obsessed with “German Love,” so we’d been listening to it over and over again for months. Seeing Starfucker doing it live gave me chills.

Most fun show of the year?

Yelle (October 24th, Ogden Theater). I think I compared it to a throwback Tiffany/Debbie Gibson mall-mania performance. The girl is cute, and she knows it. The crowd vibe was good, and she was just fun to watch. Her cute French backing band/dudes were bouncing all over the place, and she got everyone dancing. I felt like I was listening to a live, French version of the “Get In Shape, Girl!” tapes I had as a spandexed-child in the 80s.

What was the oddest thing you saw this year?

Billy Corgan playing these huge drums with furry mallets at the Smashing Pumpkins show at the Ogden…along being one of the worst shows I’ve witnessed in the last five years, it was one of the most perplexing. I didn’t get the drums, or Billy’s teenage-goth-nerd costume. He looked like a reject kid from the smoker’s corner at my high school in the 90s.

Also, Trace Cyrus of Metro Station reaching from the stage to the balcony of the Gothic…with his hands. The kid is like seven-feet tall or something.

Can’t miss local act for 2009?

I can’t say I’ve seen much local music that is new or that I haven’t already loved forever (Ian Cooke, The Swayback), but The Rouge and The Knew both impressed the hell out of me. And Hot White is a band my friend pointed me toward who are from Parker…and if their live stuff is anything like their Myspace recordings, I think they are going to rule!

Also, I think everyone in Denver should know about my friend Lindsey Thorson’s Denver Show and Tell Project. She comes up with a theme every month for a song, and invites any and all Denver bands/performers to record a track fitting the flexible, creative guidelines and send it her way. Then she posts them for free download on the Myspace page. What a cool way to get Denver bands’ music circulating!

Best venue staff:

I covered countless shows at the Ogden Theater for the Denver Post this year, and their staff was just awesome, from the box office ladies to security. As a press person, there can be a lot of red tape when covering a show, or almost none, and a lot of it depends on how a venue is run. I’m not a drinker, and often a DD, so it’s nice when a venue doesn’t make you BUY water. Also, Paul, the stage manager, always lets me stand at the side of the stage on the stairs to take notes on a show, making my job infinitely easier.

Julio Enriquez
Cause=Time & Denver Post’s Reverb blog

What was your favorite live show of 2008?

Explosions in the Sky @ Ogden Theatre & Cut Copy @ Larimer Lounge.

What was your favorite live moment of 2008?

Watching Radiohead at Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco overcome several power outages and still achieve one of the best lives shows, ever.

Best show that nobody saw?

Fleet Foxes & Blitzen Trapper (04.14.08, Hi-Dive) and Yeasayer/MGMT (2.04.08, Hi-Dive).

Most fun show of the year?

Lou Reed tribute with What Laura Says Feels and Thinks.

Oh No! Oh My!

Ezra Furman

Yo La Tengo

Dr. Dog

My Morning Jacket

Thurston Moore,Mark Kozelek

Moby & Lou Reed / Fader Fort/ SXSW

What was the oddest thing you saw this year?

Stephen Malkmus & Blitzen Trapper on stage at the Gothic, or having Zooey Deschanel in my face at the DNC Diesel party.

Can’t miss local act for 2009?

Young Coyotes.

Best act at Monolith?

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson rules school!

Angora Holly Polo (aka Erin Barnes)
The Donnybrook Writing Academy

What was your favorite live show of 2008?

I’m biased, but it would obviously be the Donnybrook Fundraiser for Rich People at the Larimer Lounge. Because I got to help pick the bands. We had Everything Absent or Distorted, Widowers, Porlolo, Magic Cyclops, Blue Million Miles, Rabbit is a Sphere, Jim from cat-a-tac, I’m A Boy, the Missing DuFrenes, and an impromptu rap by Colonel Hector Bravado. I also got to play tambourine with EAOD, which was the fulfillment of my life’s ambition.

What was your favorite live moment of 2008?

Super nerd dance party at the end of Blood on the Wall @ Larimer Lounge – you can read about it here.

Best show that nobody saw?

The Mary Onettes at the Hi-Dive. The pains they took to get to Denver – from Sweden, then in America driving straight for two days from Seattle, was only rivaled by how thin the crowd was on a weeknight, which was only rivaled by how amazing, excellent, and tight their show was, which was only rivaled by how positive they were about the whole experience when we talked to them after the show – they in their adorable accents. Story here.

Most fun show of the year?

The one that comes to mind right now is the Blue Million Miles show when it was guitarist Jeff Shapiro’s birthday, and people kept forcing him to take shots onstage, and he almost threw up lots. I think we started it, too….either that or the Chain Gang at the Hot IQs video release. He was fucking fantastic!

What was the oddest thing you saw this year?

Peelander Z at SXSW…they blew my mind!

Can’t miss local act for 2009?

Wentworth Kersey.

Best outdoor show of 2008?

The Labor Day Farm party at Marquis Magazine editor BFJ’s house with These United States, Young Coyotes, and Ego vs. Id. There was a swarm of bees attacking the stage and its inhabitants at any given moment, which provided that extra level of suspense. We were all sitting on picnic blankets and drinking beer on this farm, which did indeed have chickens, and when These United States played we lit sparklers and gave them out to the kiddies.

Ivyy Goldberg, Esq (aka Annie Cohen)
The Donnybrook Writing Academy

What was your favorite live show of 2008?

Since it’s inception, Monolith Music Festival has been taken over by Donnybrook. We show up, throw our press passes around, scam free food and booze, and generally act superior to everyone around us whilst taking in the great bands in the awesome venue that is Red Rocks. For two years now it’s been the highlight of the summer for Yours Truly. Check out the Donnybrook running diary (Donnybrook Does Monolith 2008) to see what I’m talking about.

Best show that nobody saw?

I was in some random bar during SXSW this year when this band called Fishboy played a kick-ass set that ended up being my favorite show of the whole festival. And that’s saying a lot, because I also saw MGMT that week. And we all know MGMT is, like, super-cool.

What was the oddest thing you saw this year?

Magic Cyclops sang a song about being from Iowa while wearing an Iowan flag. He sang it in a British accent. And later, Angora told me he’s actually from Ft. Collins. So yeah, that was kinda odd.

Can’t miss local act for 2009?

Angora and Ivyy will debut their thrash-metal band “Psycho Killer Pussy” sometime in the coming year. Be sure to bring a first-aid kit and a raincoat to any PKP shows you might attend, just trust us on this one!

Sean Porter
Gigbot

What was your favorite live show of 2008?

I was enrapt for the Spiritualized show — I felt harmonically in tune with every single note, start to finish.

What was your favorite live moment of 2008?

Buying Mr. Slim Cessna a couple of Miller Lites on the back patio of Emo’s at SXSW, then watching my partner-in-crime Todd get his whole world rejiggered as he witnessed Slim, Munly & the boys for the first time. The annual 12/30 Slim show continues to delight, it feels like a high school reunion where you like all of your classmates.

Best show that nobody saw?

More accurately, this is the best show I was at that I didn’t see. I foolishly blew a bunch of time chatting when I should have been watching Nick effing Cave!

Most fun show of the year?

The Porlolo CD release in the middle of July made me really remember why I love our little cowtown. The whole night just had a great flow: running into old friends inside, catching Erin’s effortlessly graceful set, teasing and laughing with my foot propped up on the Hi-Dive and then biking home after some beers, slightly tipsy while absorbing faint waves of the July heat with sprinklers going off around me.

What was the oddest thing you saw this year?

John Wenzel in the role of grumpy sound guy for the Kal Cahoone set at the UMS. The UMS itself is so odd that it shouldn’t work, getting a bunch of folks that love the scene to work very hard with little compensation to put together a great day-and-a-half of music that spills all the way down South Broadway.

Can’t miss local act for 2009?

I think the boys in The Knew are gonna be fun to watch this year.

Best Crouching Tiger, Hidden [Ricardo] Baca [founder and co-editor of Reverb, Denver Post music critic] photo of 2008:

Pretty Ricky doing his thang!

Me
Merry Swankster

What was your favorite live show of 2008?

A tie between M.I.A. at the Fillmore and TV On the Radio at the Ogden. M.I.A.’s was the most fun dancing I had all year. I saw her at Coachella and it was a bit of a trainwreck, so it was great to see a triumphant recovery. Seeing my girl up on stage right next to Mya topped the night. She got to chat with her off-stage and even scooped a bracelet! It’s metallic with swaths of turquoise – exactly what you’d imagine a bracelet owned by M.I.A. to look like.

TV On the Radio was just an amazing, passionate performance. New songs sounded great.

What was your favorite live moment of 2008?

The entire week of the DNC was an invasion of entertainment in Denver. Every night had multiple things going on all over town. The city’s air was charged with electricity. It reminded me of those special moments I associate most with NYC.

(DNC: Unconventional, Clipse, Rage, Ben Gibbard & Chris Walla, Obama speech.)

Best show that nobody saw?

Sissy Wish @ Hi-Dive sticks out since it just happened. That girl so badly deserved a bigger crowd,. Also, Ben Gibbard & Chris Walla playing acoustic Death Cab songs at a private event during the DNC. Thirdly, and for the insane stage art alone, the nod for unfortunately cavernous venue goes to the Bluebird’s hosting of the Secret Machines.

Best show I didn’t see…

Monolith! My disappointment was tempered a bit when Hercules & Love Affair dropped off the bill. (Thanks again to Chip for filling in.)

Most fun show of the year?

M.I.A. at the FillmoreM.I.A. at the Fillmore and Girl Talk’s out of control Halloween show at the Ogden. Both would also qualify as “Most sweaty”.

What was the oddest thing you saw this year?

Everything about Of Montreal entire show. It was amazing and horribly disturbing.

Can’t miss local act for 2009?

I’m hear Young Coyotes have some buzz.

What I’d like to see improved next year?

Colorado’s version of Coachella, the Mile High Music festival.