Top 10 Gigs 2006
The choices in these lists are in no particular order.


Mike Watt & Galluci
Café Pacifico
Two kids from a punk rock band in Sydney contact their hero, bass player extraordinaire from the Minutemen/fIREHOSE/Porno For Pyros/Stooges. He agrees to play a set of covers with their band in a Mexican restaurant with the Stooges sax player. Punk as fuck!

Iggy & The Stooges
Big Day Out (Sydney)
Jesus this is IGGY!

The Magic Numbers
The Metro
Truly joyous. Great songs and some of the greatest singing I have ever heard.

The International Noise Conspiracy
The Zoo
Unbelievable how few people were there to witness one of the last true punk rock bands going.

You Am I
The Tivoli
On fucking fire, I thought I was going to spontaneously combust.

The Arctic Monkeys
The Arena
Believe the hype.

The Grates
Splendour In The Grass
And we all just jump.

Paul Kelly
The Powerhouse
How many artists can play 100 original songs alphabetically, this man is our Bob Dylan.

The Go-Betweens Tribute
The Tivoli
An incredibly beautiful emotional experience.

Bob Evans
Homebake
Sang along so loudly that I annoyed everyone nearby and lost my voice.
Graham Ashton
Dew Process Recordings


Arctic Monkeys
The Arena
Sheffield’s success story of 2006 lived up to the hype with this explosive gig.

Brian Wilson
Splendour In The Grass
The Beach Boys visionary remains a haunted, frazzled figure, but that didn’t stop him leading his band through a compelling greatest hits set before a euphoric festival audience.

Jose Gonzalez pictured
Splendour In The Grass
Swedish acoustic chill-out merchant managed to make an enormous rock festival feel intimate.

Band Of Horses
The Zoo
There’s a haunting mellowness to their latest record, but these Seattle rockers cranked it live. Brilliant.

Queensryche
The Tivoli
Progressive metal fans were in heaven throughout. Just waiting for Dream Theatre now!

The Darkness
The Arena
Justin Hawkins’ tight-trousered warble in full flight and shape-pulling riffs aplenty. Hell yeah!

Kanye West
Brisbane Convention Centre
Hip hop with strings and a guest spot from De La Soul. Over the top and bombastic, but in a good way.

Midlake
The Zoo
With one of the albums of the year, Midlake firmly proved they could also cut it live.

G3
Brisbane Convention Centre
A boy-friendly shredfest, featuring Satriani and Vai. And while we didn’t get Dream Theatre this year, we did get a great solo performance from that band’s lead guitarist John Petrucci, with DT’s sticksman Mike Portnoy on the stool. Widdly-widdly!

Billy Joel
Brisbane Entertainment Centre
I know, I know, I’ve crossed some sort of line here. But let’s face it: the boy can play piano!
Matt Thrower
Rave Magazine