In his Best Live Music Acts of 2008 list, Paste editor-in-chief Josh Jackson wrote the following:
“On any given night, on any city in America, there’s a band or a singer/songwriter transcending the usual concert experience. At the most basic, they’re doing the same thing as thousands of others that same night—standing on stage, singing and playing some instruments. But there’s something about the way they’re doing it—the way the lights compliment the sound, the way they involve the audience, the way their music connects directly to your soul, the way they make you know that there’s no place they’d rather be than with you, and the feeling becomes mutual. The audience will remember that night for a long time, and the next time they purchase a concert ticket, it will be with the hope to see something as special.”
For this list, the Paste staff argued, voted and argued again to find the 20 acts from this decade that evoked the feeling described above. Below is what we came up with. Let us know what we missed:
[Above: Photo by Rob Inderrieden]
20. TV on the Radio
Come for the gloriously frenetic songs that have been rewritten for the stage, stay for Tunde Adebimpe’s slithering, hypnotic dance moves. He’s arguably the frontman of the decade, and his bandmates know this; it’s why they play so hard. Austin L. Ray
[Above: Photo by Rob Inderrieden]
19. Of Montreal
With an endlessly inventive stage show to match its inspired glam-pop tunes, Of Montreal is a concert experience unlike any other. As the band tears through its whimsical yet danceable anthems, ninjas lurk in the wings and masked body-suited drones prowl the stage brandishing heads impaled on spears. Last time I saw them, at show’s climax, frontman Kevin Barnes emerged almost entirely naked from a coffin full of shaving cream. The band’s über-creative, anything-goes, artistically immersive performances have to be seen to be believed. Steve LaBate
