Self Esteem – Well I’m at least a year slower than the rest of the PBs crew, but Self Esteem made it over to the US touring Prioritise Pleasure this year. As a group we have spoken to great extent about Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s music. But finally seeing their live show was something special. Bringing not just a band on this international tour, but also several dancers meant we got treated to a stadium worthy show in a ~600 cap venue. When artists are being squeezed financially from all angles, I felt lucky to see something so ambitious. It was fun, emotional and impactful.
Matt Paul
Kevin Morby – I wasn’t overly excited when I got to New Century Hall. I liked Kevin Morby well enough at that point, and thought his latest album was his best so far, but I was mostly attending as a casual fan who desperately needed a night out.
90 minutes later, and I would probably call myself a Kevin Morby superfan. I can’t remember the last time I saw such amazing charisma on stage, such a deft performer and showman. Surrounded by an incredible band (and a top class saxophonist who looked like Ron Swanson and stole the show on several occasions), the songs I knew took on a new dynamic life and the ones I didn’t blew my socks off. Kevin Morby became one of my most listened to artists of the year after that night, and I now don’t understand why I hadn’t been obsessed all along.
Fran Slater
Billy Nomates – I went to see Billy Nomates, aptly, on my own. And while recognising that ‘Spite’ is not my story either personally or for the male privilege I nonetheless hold, shouting along to ‘little boy don’t think you quite understand / don’t you act like I ain’t the fucking man’ had to be the most cathartic moment of the whole year. The mood both on and off the stage was far more positive than when I had last seen Billy Nomates and it was a delight to see and hear songs from what was also one of the albums of the year in Cacti come to life that night. She is truly a solo artist and defiantly so. I have never seen anyone bring as much energy as she does, and did back in April.
James Spearing
Christine and the Queens – I have seen a lot of gigs in 2023, potentially one of my most prolific years for gigs yet, but there’s one performer that stood out in my mind more than anyone when I had to write this. Christine and the Queens is so far past a mere ‘favourite’ of mine at this point, their music is essential and integral to my life and as a live performer it’s hard to think of anyone as important in music right now.
I saw two CATQ shows in 2023 and both gave me completely different things. The first was a relatively ‘simply’ staged run through of new songs, tracks from last year’s fantastic French album Redcar les adorables étoiles as well as plenty of hits like ‘People I’ve Been Sad’ and ‘Doesn’t Matter’. Hearing Red perform ‘IT’ on a stage for the first time since sharing his truth in his gender identity was one of the most emotional moments of the year for me, his cathartic emotion coming through in every moment of that gig.
The second time was a front to back run through of this year’s vast and ambitious Paranoïa, Angels, True Love a gig that despite a terrible choice of venue (it should have been a theatre stage not an empty box of a venue) was one of the most powerful performances I have ever seen It felt so much more than a performance, a necessary outburst of emotion, music and dance held together by his central presence as a performer. As closing song ‘Big Eye’ reached its almighty peak I was genuinely in tears, so overwhelmed by the most engaging performer I have ever witnessed.
Sam Atkins
Arctic Monkeys – Manchester’s Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground is not a good place to watch live music. I’d been there once before, to see Radiohead in 2017, and spent most of the event’s duration side-stepping the drunken collective in front of me, and craning my neck at an awkward angle to see the stage. It was always going to take something special to take me back, but the universe decided that this was, after nearly 18 years of fandom, finally my chance to see Arctic Monkeys live.
My Dad tried for tickets on behalf of my 15-year-old self at Hull’s Ice Arena in 2006 to no avail. I watched their full Glasto set, enraptured, in 2007 – on TV. I was at Leeds Fest in 2009, but on one of the days they weren’t headlining. Time passed, I got older, it maybe wasn’t meant to be. But then, my girlfriend got offered a couple of spares at work and here we were, getting drenched by someone’s beer/piss as ‘Brainstorm’ erupted. Narrowly avoiding the mosh-pit carnage during ‘Crying Lightning’. Watching the sun go down from the sidelines for ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’.
I don’t know if I’d have felt such warmth and appreciation for a band that I treasure if I hadn’t had to wait what felt like a lifetime for this moment. So despite the location, I loved it.
Tom Burrows
Benefits – I have never seen so many eyes on stalks at a live show before. As the room rumbled under the power of the drums and bass, and Kingsley Hall roared into the microphone, grown men and women in the front few rows were looking at each other with their jaws wide open. I am a veteran of probably thousands of gigs at this time in my life, and I have never heard a noise like this before.
As well as the energy and power of the performance, Benefits offer a connection to anyone who is sick to death of austerity, neglect of the poor, and a political system that aids the few and fucks over the many. Standing in that room for forty-five minutes was the most cathartic moment of my whole year.
Fran Slater
The Weeknd – I was able to see some of the biggest stadium gigs of the year and I could have picked basically any of them here. Coldplay are unmatched for me when it comes to a stadium show; I finally got to watch P!nk fling herself around a packed out stadium on wires; Boygenius basically made every venue they played feel like a stadium and Beyoncé is Beyoncé. All incredible gigs.
But it was The Weeknd that felt like seeing an artist at their highest peak and revelling in that fact. The run of songs from his recent albums came alive among a phenomenal lighting and stage rig, while his power as a central performer through song after song was legendary. He would drop tracks from his first mixtape and a stadium crowd would sing every lyric, as an OG fan it was impossible to believe what I was witnessing. Among tried and true stadium shows this year, the one that left me with the most was probably the one I had expected the least from.
Sam Atkins
Black Belt Eagle Scout – Black Belt Eagle Scout released one of my favourite albums of the year with the beautifully atmospheric The Land, The Water, The Sky. Katherine Paul’s music was one of my first finds when I joined the PBs podcast years ago. Seeing them live for the first time was fantastic, especially in one of my favourite small venues in Brooklyn. Paul and her band had so much chemistry on stage and were exceptional in the execution of these soaring epic indie rock tracks. Hopefully we can get another Black Belt Eagle Scout album soon because I want to see them back on tour ASAP.
Matt Paul
Kelela – Last year I declared Manchester Cathedral as my favourite venue in the city, but I think after this year New Century has just about become its equal. The music hall was restored to its former glory last year, and is virtually unrivalled for sound and space in the city (the pints are extortionate though, so it doesn’t have everything). My favourite of the gigs I saw there this year was Kelela’s live show. I didn’t love her much anticipated Raven album on record, but my word she brought it to life with a captivating one-woman performance. The bass shuddered through the springy floors, and her voice was flawless – soulfully taking us on a journey through her new tunes, the mid-career R&B bangers on the Hallucinogen EP, and the early Night Slugs-produced bops on her Cut 4 Me mixtape. I’d not previously committed much time to the latter, but that changed on the drive home and in the weeks after. On saying her goodbyes, she was visibly emotional with gratitude about the love shown to her in the room, but speaking on behalf of the audience, the pleasure was all ours.
Tom Burrows
Bluedot Festival – Bluedot, our first full weekend camping festival experience since 2018, and first with kids, was undoubtedly the highlight of July. There’s plenty to talk about from the festival but I’ll stick with a top three for music – all acts I’ve never seen perform live before: Dry Cleaning were on top form on the main stage despite the rain, Elkka played a stunning late night set and I finally, FINALLY got to see Róisín Murphy live. She was worth the wait with tune after tune, keeping things fresh with remixes and new arrangements, nifty camerawork and a warehouse full of costumes. What a performance.
James Spearing
Picky Bastards 
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