My Favorite Concert of 2011

Another year has quickly passed me by and I hate to admit it, but I sadly didn't attend nearly as many shows this year as I would have liked. With that said, I did get to see three great shows by three of my favorite bands so choosing which one I enjoyed the most was very difficult.

In April, I did get to see longtime loves of my life Duran Duran perform at a smaller venue here in Houston. It was packed and hot as hell, but I loved every minute of it. Two days later I finally got to see my girls from Warpaint rock out at Fitzgerald's. Damn, that was a great show, definitely one of my all time favorites out of all the shows I've been to in my life.

But it was one show that just left me stunned. Maybe it was the venue being smaller and I was actually near the stage, near the speaker able to take in every note and every word. I'm talking about the Echo & The Bunnymen show that I caught at Warehouse Live back in May. I've seen Ian McCullough and Co. perform before, but this show surpassed that and all of my expectations. They toured the U.S. performing their first two albums Heaven Up Here and Crocodiles in their entirety. Everything just came together to create the perfect show. The atmosphere was great from Will Sargeant's first note on the guitar to Ian's first breath of his sexy raspy voice as he smoked his cigarettes on stage hiding behind a pair of dark sunglasses. Heaven Up Here is a masterpiece that should be in every music lover's collection. "A Promise," "Turquoise Days" and "Zimbo (All My Colours)" are my favorite gems from that album, but overall that was an excellent followup album to Crocodiles. There is just so much emotion captured in each song. They released a live album from this tour as well! Definitely worth checking out!

So I bid farewell to 2011 but am happy for the three shows I did get to catch. I am definitely going to get out to more shows next year, especially smaller named bands playing. Two great shows I already am planned for are Adam Ant in Dallas and my Houston favorite, theSouthern Backtones are finally releasing their long awaited new album "La Vie En Noir" and celebrating in style with a CD release party on February 11th! And I will most definitely be back with pictures and videos galore! Until then, have a very safe and happy new year everyone! Keep rockin' and keep supporting live music!