This is a bit of a different post. Different in that there’s no picture at all!

Instead, I wanted to review my year in live music. Obviously, the last couple of years, 2020/2021, were pretty bare in terms of live music. So, getting into this year, I really wanted to see a lot of bands live. I also know that Austin is getting really expensive to live in, so I really wanted to support the local scene by going to shows and a lot of the acts I saw were Austin based.

All told, I saw about 55 artists play, though there are a few doubles in there. Those doubles were: fuvk, Haru Nemuri, Mobley, Bad Bad Hats, Pastel Ghost, and Ginger Root. So the number of distinct artists I saw was 49.

Of that 49, 24 of them are Austin based. So about half. Of the artists I did end up seeing, I had only known of 12 of them at the beginning of the “music year”. I put “music year” in quotes because for me, the “music year” starts with the first set of artists announced for SXSW, which is usually in October. Since a lot of the artists I saw were in some way related to SXSW, I think it’s fair to start my knowing of the artists at that point and not at the actual beginning of the year. To be fair, some were announced in January/February but I don’t actually know which ones those are so it’s better to not make that assumption.

All told, I saw a lot of really awesome shows. I can’t really think of any that stood out in particularly bad ways. Even ones I stumbled into, whether as an opener for another artist or just to kill some time in the SXSW schedule, were really great. Considering so many are Austin based, it really reminds me of how talented and varied the Austin music scene is.

I would like to call out some highlights though. Mobley was one of my most listened to artists of the year and his shows are so fun and high energy. As a one man show, it’s a pleasure to see him switch off from keys to guitar, drums to vocals.

Die Spitz at the end of the year has some of the most aggro and intense fans and had me experience my first mosh pit, though I was far off to the side.

Zach Person, the opener to Emily Wolfe, was a really pleasant surprise. I was definitely there to see Emily Wolfe, who also had a great show, but I didn’t know Zach Person going in and he was great.

Caroline Rose was probably the weirdest show of the year. I didn’t end up taking many pictures of her show, and then the roll got messed up (Portra 800 +1). But it was a really intimate and weird show. It was part personal therapy, part music, and it was a really heartfelt and cozy show. Definitely not hype and definitely not normal, I think it was a way for her to get back into performing and just let off some stuff she’d been keeping in for the last couple years.

Bad Bad Hats had a surprisingly funny show. Part comedy and a great 3 piece band, it was enjoyable both times I got to see them play.

Pastel Ghost was probably my favorite electronic focused show. To be fair, I didn’t really see that many electronic shows. But, the vibe and structure of the lights and music worked really well together and it was fun to see and take pictures of.

I put together a playlist of one song for each artist I saw, assuming they exist on Spotify. There are extra songs for an artist if I saw them more than once. You can find it here.

That’s it for me, one more post about 2022 then some thoughts on 2023.