In no particular order, and keeping in mind that I can’t even remember all the gigs that I was at over the last decade, here are the top gigs that I remember as being among the best I saw over the last 10 years (complete with some ‘shaky cam’ (not mine) footage where possible!)
Queen (2015 – Glasgow Hydro)
A legendary band and I was thrilled to have finally seen them. They put on a great show and this is quite possibly the best gig on this list (see this blog entry for more details)
Bullet for My Valentine + Kill Switch Engage (2016 – O2 Academy, Glasgow)
A great combination of bands and an exciting, high energy gig. To be honest, I was surprised that KSE were the support act at this show, however BFMV were at their height in the UK at this point and on this show they brought their A game (along with some sharp suits!) with a tight and energetic performance. KSE were also fantastic, even with a more limited set than their normal headlining gigs they still had time to cover all their albums, so overall I had a great night at this one.
Bullet for My Valentine:
Killswitch Engage:
Sick Of It All (2015 – Classic Grand, Glasgow)
I see Sick Of It All (with a few exceptions) every time they come to Glasgow but this one was a little different. Not only were they on fire that night, but it was also the first time that I’d seen them at somewhere other than their usual venue, King Tuts. The extra space available made a difference to the show, while King Tuts is a very tight venue, with more room to move the mosh pits seemed more alive. Hard to fault SOIA whenever they play, they always bring energy and very real sense that they are doing this for the fans they love.
As covered in my other blog post, this was a fantastic gig, with Machine Head absolutely on fire. A fantastic gig to celebrate 25 years since Burn My Eyes was released
Slayer & Anthrax (2015 - O2 Academy, Glasgow)
Two legends of metal playing on the one night in Glasgow, count me in. Both of these bands put on great shows on their own, however seeing both of them together was something else (ok, we missed the Big 4 tour… but this was still awesome!). Anthrax were relentless in their intensity, as it had been a good many years since I had last seen them play it was great to hear the classics on stage again: Indians, Got The Time, Bring the Noise, I Am The Law and on any other night I would have been happy with that as the whole show, however after this we had Slayer on stage and as usual they blew us away.
Anthrax:
Slayer
Rancid (2012 - Barrowland, Glasgow)
Like Sick Of It All, this is a band that am compelled to see every time they are come to Glasgow – they are a band that just resonate with me, their music is infectious (Maxwell Murder is just a song that will always get me in the mood to rock out 😃 ). The gig brought this in abundance, mixing many of their classics with many from their newer albums, this was a gig that had me bouncing up and down from beginning to end.
Honourable mentions:
Fear Factory (2015 – The Garage, Glasgow) – had not seen them for a very long time and while Burton doesn’t quite have the vocal range he used to, the show was still fantastic
Pennywise (2014 – ABC Glasgow) – The punk legends put on a great show and I was finally able to tick them off my ‘list of bands I have to see’ list.. now when are NoFX coming to Glasgow?