Top 20 Favorite Shows of 2014
Not counting music festivals, I managed to see exactly 100 live concerts in 2014. Previous to this year, I had seen in the ballpark of 25 concerts, I think? I couldn’t have ever expected to see this many shows, but thanks fo relocating to Los Angeles as well as picking up freelance work writing about music, I was able to make it to a shit ton of concerts. In August, I saw live music for seven straight days, something I wanted to do my whole life. I upstaged that by seeing shows 10 straight days in October, and all of a sudden in December, 100 seemed a realistic goal. I hit that mark with the Dec. 20 Saves the Day & Say Anything show at House of Blues on Sunset.
I’ve had an impossible task of narrowing down my favorite 20 shows. I saw a number of arists on multiple occasions, and for the case of diversifying the list, I’ve only included the best show of each artist I saw multiple times. Otherwise, this list would’ve just been Jenny Lewis seven times and various other things. Shit, even choosing which Jenny show was the best was a near impossibility.
And without further ado:
20. Counting Crows + Toad the Wet Sprocket — Greek Theatre (LA), Aug. 17
August and Everything After is one of the first albums I ever digested beginning to end, over and over again, as a kid. Seeing Counting Crows perform a number of classics from that album was a pretty big thing for me.
Lead singer Adam Duritz has the tendency to go on long tangents within his songs when performing live, like he did with “Round Here”. It is somewhat frustrating not to be able to sing along, but at the same time, inspiring to see someone so taken by a song they’ve performed hundreds of times and breathe new life into it. The night was brought to another level when he sang a few verses from Lou Reed’s “Pale Blue Eyes”, which I’ve now heard three different musicians cover over the years (Joseph Arthur, The Killers).
Toad the Wet Sprocket were another ‘90s throwback I was psyched to get a chance to see.
19. Lykke Li — Hollywood Palladium, Sept. 23
I was already booked to go cover La Roux at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. When TheScenestar Twitter account released set times, it showed that Lykke Li would play at 9 PM and La Roux would go on at 10:30. The two venues are just blocks away from each other, making it my second chance in less than a week to see two shows on one night.
I was not super familiar with Lykke Li but had heard many people I respect rave about her. I was not disappointed one bit. Her interpretation of Bruce Springsteen’s “She’s On Fire” was a fantastic cover. Everything off her 2014 album I Never Learn was jaw-dropping. And one of the few songs I knew, “I Follow Rivers” was amazing. I won’t miss her the next time around, either.
18. Rise Against — The Wiltern, Sept. 16
I had seen these Chicago rockers play a few weeks earlier at the inaugural Los Angeles version of Made in America Festival and had a blast. At the last minute, I bought a ticket to see them at the first of their two nights at The Wiltern. My best friend I grew up with always loved these guys and I remember playing them often on long road trips, but I fell out of touch with their music when he passed away a few years ago.
Seeing them live — it brought back tons of memories of my friend to the forefront of my brain. When lead singer Tim McIlrath played “Swing Life Away” on acoustic guitar, holy shit. That was the song I probably heard nearly a thousand times riding in my friend’s car. Was one of the more memorable moments of live music for me.
17. Ben Howard — El Rey, Oct. 27
Knew little about Ben Howard going into his show, left thinking he might be the next coming of Damien Rice. Guy has serious songwriting chops and the fullness of his band brought everything to life. “I Forget Where We Were” has been in heavy rotation ever since hearing him play it at this show. His album of the same name quickly became one of my favorites of the year.
16. Phantogram — Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Sept. 5
My first introduction to the fabled Hollywood Forever Cemetery and to Phantogram live. Both went together better than peanut butter and jelly.
A huge fan of their Voices album (which I considered one of the best of 2014), they reminded me of how good some of their older jams are, like “Mouthful of Diamonds”.
This was also the moment where I think I fell in serious love with vocalist Sarah Barthel. Ironic, given their hit song is called “Fall in Love”.
15. Kate Nash — The Roxy, Apr. 14
Kate Nash has always been a guilty pleasure of mine ever since her debut album Made of Bricks when I was just out of high school, I think. I won tickets to see her play at The Roxy (my first time there) and didn’t know what to expect.
I was blown away by this simple fact: KATE NASH IS A FUCKING ROCK STAR.
Yeah, that same girl who sang “Foundations” was on stage in a pink dress my niece would love to add to her collection, helping people stage dive while she straight rocked out.
I love the song “Sister”, which is a punk rock jam if I ever heard one. She played many songs from that debut album but mixed in some of her heavier shit along the way. She closed the night with the perfect cover, the ‘90s one-hit wonder “Bitch” by Meredith Brooks. It was quite a momentous way to end the night. It was awesome running into Kate Nash a few times in LA and telling her just how much of a bad ass I thought she was, like at FYF Fest.
14. GROUPLOVE + Warpaint — Cosmopolitan Boulevard Pool, Apr. 10
I came here to see Warpaint, and was blown away by GROUPLOVE. I had grown tired of that “Tongue Tied” song from too much radio play. But they absolutely crushed it and kept playing song after song that was catchy as hell. Their energy and the chemistry between them was undeniable.
Their cover of Beyonce’s “Drunk in Love” made my list of favorite live covers of 2014.
Warpaint put on a helluva show too, but it was nearly ruined for me by the drunk and obnoxious girl near me who kept yelling “WOOO! DESTINY’S CHILD!” (because Warpaint is all girls, I guess?) At one point I had to turn to her and say “Shut the fuck up!” Warpaint would end up making my Coachella with their performance during weekend two.
13. CHVRCHES — Hollywood Palladium, Sept. 19
I was way, way late on the CHVRCHES bandwagon. I mildly enjoyed their “The Mother We Share” song that caught fire and didn’t really do much to check them out further than that. I missed their Coachella set because of a massive conflicts with Bombay Bicycle Club and BANKS. But I got a chance to cover them at the Palladium, and they crushed.
Their set was filled with PDA and even one breakup in close proximity to me. Their concert made me go home, listen to their album for weeks and weeks, and re-fall in love with synthpop. And with Lauren Mayberry, yeah.
12. ZZ Ward — The Independent, Apr. 6
I knew one ZZ Ward song before checking her out in SF. I was on a quest to see as many Coachella acts as I could before the festival in an effort to help narrow down who to see when it rolled around. ZZ Ward made it impossible to skip her Coachella set, she was so good.
She showed the vocal prowess of Adele with a more bluesy vibe and her charisma and stage presence was infectious. Her backing band had serious chops and I went home and listened to her album on repeat for awhile.
11. Ryan Adams + Jenny Lewis — Fox Theater Pomona, Dec. 11
Ryan Adams produced Jenny Lewis’ excellent record The Voyager this year, and that chemistry translated extremely well to their live show, as I wrote in my review.
It’s clear the two have great respect for one another. During Jenny’s portion of the show, Adams played guitar on the songs he helped produce, “The New You”, “She’s Not Me”, and “Love U Forever”. Even with obnoxiously loud girls from Orange County being loud as shit, they couldn’t ruin her set.
Adams paid respects to Lewis during his set with his own version of “She’s Not Me,” which was totally unexpected and the first of a handful of times he would do it on their dates together. Someone in the crowd yelled out “Take the boat!” and Adams made up a song on the spot, that sounded pretty kick-ass. It was one of the best ways I’ve seen fans begging being handled ever. I’m not overly familiar with Adams’ catalog but quickly went home and looked up some of the songs he played. “Let It Ride” and “La Cienega Just Smiled” were quick favorites, as were the songs Lewis came on stage to help sing, “Oh My Sweet Carolina” and “Come Pick Me Up”.
10. Justin Timberlake — The Forum, Nov. 24
Let me start by saying JT is not my usual cup of tea, at all. But it cannot be denied that he is one of the best performers out there today. Few performers’ shows exceed that of a concert, but JT was an “event,” as I mentioned in my review at GrimyGoods.com.
It takes balls to cover both Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson — let alone back-to-back — but Timberlake pulled it off. He also included a partial cover of the Bell Biv Devoe classic “Poison”, which ignited the crowd. A personal favorite of mine was “TKO”, not just for the boxing reference.
9. Lorde + Majical Cloudz — Greek Theatre (LA), Oct. 6
It’s incredible how far Lorde has come along as a performer, and she’s quickly become someone I hope my five-year-old niece grows up looking up to rather than some of her teenaged contemporaries. She’s got such confidence on stage and is an excellent performer. She legitimately killed it at one of LA’s most notable and large-scale venues.
“Tennis Court” still gets massive play in my car while I’m driving.
Because I’m doing this for the thrill of it, killin’ it
Never not chasing a million things I want
Some have criticized the odd way in which she moves, but it is very clear she gives zero fucks, which is how it should be. She’s simply feeling it while she’s on stage.
8. Mark Kozelek — Great American Music Hall, Mar. 1
No phones, no cameras allowed. It made Mark Kozelek’s intimate music feel that much more personal. Known for sometimes getting into it with fans, Kozelek had a lot of fun with the crowd, mostly at their expense. It broke up the seriousness and solemness of his music quite nicely. He looked at the crowd at one point, counting “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve guys, all in a row,” Kozelek said. “And these guys probably came from far away, distant places to get this fucking close to me. I appreciate it, I’m just making a point.”
But it was the music that makes this show so memorable. His 2014 album Benji rated as one of my favorites of 2014. Kozelek’s songwriting is extremely memorable for the fact he includes so many personal details in them. Almost 100 percent of what he sings about is his actual reality. It makes songs like “Gustavo.”
“This is a song about a Mexican contractor who fucked up my house,” said Kozelek before playing it, one of the highlights of the night.
“My gardener asks had I seen Gustavo?
I just laughed and I said fuck no
Not since that night he left
His hair combed back, headed for Tahoe”
What also made the show especially memorable was getting to meet Kozelek for a few minutes before he went on stage. I had previously written about Kozelek for a boxing blog I used to contribute to. Kozelek’s project Sun Kil Moon is named after a former fighter who passed away, and many of his songs dealt with the sweet science. I was able to setup an interview with him through e-mail about his boxing fandom and have traded e-mails with him semi-regularly ever since. You can read about my full experience meeting Mark and talking boxing with him over here, if you’re inclined.
He played 23 songs in full, and many of the ones I wasn’t totally familiar with, like “You Missed My Heart” and “By the Time I Awoke” become new favorites. I actually preferred the live versions he played, just him and an acoustic guitar, with the occasional piano.
7. The Black Keys — The Forum, Nov. 6
It was this performance that convinced me that The Black Keys are on the verge of being the No. 1 rock band in all of the United States. I still think they are behind the Foo Fighters — but perhaps not for long. I feel like The Forum is such a big place, it can be hard for people to fill the entire arena with their sound. But that wasn’t a problem for these Chicago rockers. They crushed it.
They played what I considered the best live cover I saw in 2014, Edwyn Collins’ ‘90s hit “Girl Like You”, a song that fits their sound to perfection.
6. Fleetwood Mac — The Forum, Nov. 28
I traded having my NYE off in order to get the night off on short notice to cover this show — the first Fleetwood Mac performance in LA with Christine McVie back in the band in almost two decades. It’s a decision I don’t regret one bit. The day after Thanksgiving, I was extremely thankful to get to see this classic and legendary band perform together. They seemed to enjoy it just as much as I did. Seeing McVie kill it on “Say You Love Me” and Stevie Nicks with Mr. Buckingham on “Landslide” were some of the more memorable moments of 2014 for me. “Go Your Own Way” is one of my all-time favorite songs and they brought the house down when they performed it. Twenty-four songs performed over more than two hours, what a marathon.
5. HAIM — The Wiltern, Aug. 8
There’s nothing not to love about these three sisters from the Valley. They sound even better live than they do on their album, much more rock ‘n’ roll.
They played all of the hits off their Days Are Gone release, something the entire crowd seemed to be fully knowledgeable of. Everybody, from the Valley girls to the bros, were singing along to everything. Every HAIM show I’ve been to, it’s always turned into one big sing-along, with judgment left at the door. It’s the ultimate crowd experience. When even the bros know the intricate chorus to songs like “Falling” and “Forever”, it’s a sight to behold.
Their encore-beginning cover of Beyonce’s “XO” was entertaining as hell and well executed.
These girls definitely have a bright future ahead of em.
4. Sharon Van Etten — The Independent, June 30
Sharon Van Etten’s Are We There was one of my favorite albums of 2014. Each song had a more full effect than on previous works as she utilized a variety of new instrumentation to backup her amazing songwriting. Seeing these songs performed over the course of two nights in a matter of three days was fantastic. Her show at The Indy in SF was a bit better than a few nights ago at El Rey in LA, for a couple of reasons. She had a bit more rapport with the Indy crowd, though she was magnanimous in both spots.
As I noted in my review for Showbams.com, she sure smiled and laughed a lot for someone who writes about heartache more than anything else. Quite simply, she was unbelievably mesmerizing but was able to pull you back in from the brink with her witty between-song commentary. At the end of the show, she even mentioned how they ran out of pot and she would give a setlist to whoever threw some on stage. A plastic baggie quickly made an appearance, much to the laughter of the crowd. Highlights included “You Know Me Well” and “Afraid of Nothing” from her 2014 album, as well as old favorites “Don’t Do It” and “Serpents”.
3. Nine Inch Nails + Soundgarden — Hollywood Bowl, Aug. 25
Ever since obtaining Ben Harper’s Live at the Hollywood Bowl DVD in high school, I’d been wanting to make it to the historic venue. My first chance to do so was for this show, a blast from the past as two of the premier rock bands of the ‘90s played a doubleheader.
Soundgarden played 12 songs, highlighted by a number of songs from their Superunknown album that was celebrating 20 years, an album that was supremely important to me as a young kid. “The Day I Tried to Live” and “Fell on Black Days” were just a few of the highlights. Chris Cornell is, in my opinion, one of the best male vocalists today without question.
Trent Reznor simply puts on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. The charisma, the light shows, Nine Inch Nails was absolutely perfect for the Bowl.
“Closer” was maybe the darkest song I saw the entire audience sing along to in all of 2014. Every song just seamlessly transitioned into the next. I went to this show with three girls and had no idea how much they’d enjoy it, but they really had a good time. It was the perfect introduction to the Bowl, and the perfect way to end it was “Hurt”, which is a song that has always stuck with me ever since seeing it utilized in the old NBC drama Homicide: Life on the Street.
2. Damien Rice — Cathedral Sanctuary at Immanuel Presbyterian, Oct. 9
I had been wanting to see Damien Rice for YEARS and when tickets went on sale for his intimate gig at the Cathedral Sanctuary at Immanuel Presbyterian in Koreatown and quickly sold out, I thought I’d be missing out on my chance. I was fortunate enough to obtain a ticket to write a review for GrimyGoods.com, and it became apparent early in the set it was going to be one of my favorites of the year.
It was Rice, a few hundred people and a small but beautiful church. I was concerned what Rice would sound like without his former beau and backup vocalist Lisa Hannigan by his side, but he quickly quieted those concerns with the opening song “The Greatest Bastard” from his upcoming new album My Favourite Faded Fantasy. Rice surprised me with his humor and even had no problem recovering from a broken string during “Woman Like a Man”. He gave only a snippet from the title track in the encore before playing a version of “Volcano” that utilized about 50 percent of the audience appearing on stage.
The highlight for me was when someone yelled out “Take us to church!” and Rice responded by asking for the lights to be turned down, and then he played “Cold Water”, which led into his version of the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah”, easily the most beautiful rendition of the song since Jeff Buckley perfected it 20 years ago. It was so good it made my list of favorite live covers of 2014.
- Jenny Lewis — The Roxy, May 6
Prior to Jenny Lewis releasing her critically-acclaimed The Voyager on July 29, Lewis played a couple of warmup shows with her new band. The first one was at The Roxy, one of the more intimate venues in the LA and Hollywood area. There were a couple of things that went into making this my favorite show of 2014, and my favorite of the five different Jenny-headlined shows I saw.
First, I got there early enough to be one of the first people in line, and when they let us in, I was able to get close enough to be a few feet away from Jenny Lewis, my No. 1 famous-person crush for like 8 years running. Secondly, she played a bunch of songs off her upcoming album for the first time ever in a live format. “Slippery Slopes”, “The New You”, “Love U Forever”, and the encore-closing “She’s Not Me” were all debuted at this show. “Head Underwater” was a song I fell in love with when I saw her play it in 2012 in SF, and hearing her play it after only getting to relive it on YouTube for a few years was pretty spectacular. Some of these songs have become my favorite that she’s ever put out, so being there for the first performances of them was special. She also played the song “Completely Not Me” from the GIRLS soundtrack for the first and one of the only times during this show.
Jenny also dusted off some old Rilo Kiley classics for the first time in years. She played “A Man/Me/Then Jim” for the first time since 2007 (according to setlist.fm). She played “A Better Son/Daughter”, one of my two or three favorite RK songs of all-time, for one of the first times in recent years. She also played “Close Call” for one of only the handful of times on her tour and filled out the rest of her set with some of my other RK and Jenny faves — from “The Moneymaker” to “Silver Lining” to “Rise Up With Fists!!” to “Melt Your Heart”.
Perhaps the most memorable moment of the show for me was when I interacted with Jenny for a split-second. I had become aware she was a boxing fan in recent years due to her tweeting about it. I had covered boxing for much of the past decade and had seen her tweet she missed the Floyd Mayweather fight. In between songs I said, “How did you miss the Mayweather fight?” and she looked right at me and said, “I know, right!?” I could’ve died right there. As I said in my review for GrimyGoods.com, it was quite an emotional rollercoaster of a show.
It was hard to edge out other Jenny shows. Her show in Petaluma at the Phoenix Theater was memorable as it was the last headlining gig of her tour and she really crushed it. At her show at The Wiltern, I watched as a girl in front of me bawled her eyes out during “A Better Son/Daughter” and her friend comforted her, really putting forth what Lewis and Rilo Kiley’s music has meant to people over the years. But the proximity of which I got to see Jenny at The Roxy and the way her new band killed it while playing a show together for the first time made it my No. 1 of 2014.
Mark E. Ortega is a Digital Content Producer with NFL.com and a freelance music writer for GrimyGoods.com. He can be followed on Twitter here and e-mailed here.
