My five best gigs of pre-coronavirus 2020

You don't need me to tell you we're living in strange times. There's a killer pandemic. A massive lockdown. Governments around the world are being exposed as useless charlatans. And everyone's on edge - going quietly mad.  And as if that wasn't bad enough - there are no gigs! I've already complained about this (OK, mock-complained). No, fine, even I - yes even I, Nilucico on noise - understand we can't have gigs right now, sweaty, tightly-packed affairs where everyone's breathing their horrible beer-fumes (and much else) into your face. In truth, some of the gigs I go to are so sparsely attended I could easily socially-distance by four metres not two, but hey - I get the point. No gigs. So, in recognition of these extraordinary times I too am taking an extraordinary step. Yes, that's right, I'm posting my best gigs of 2020 list now! Well, the first quarter of it anyway. Whether we even make it to the end of the year and my usual 20 best gigs of the year post, is anyone's guess (maybe Matt Hancock can bear this in mind when he thinks about lifting the lockdown, even though he is of course scrupulously following the scientific evidence at every stage). Anyway, my annual list is normally 20 gigs so here it's five - five covering the first three months before the COVID-19 lockdown. In fact, though I went to a few things in March before all the venues slammed shut, these weren't my faves, so I've only got Jan and Feb. And, in keeping with this minimal theme, no non-London ones either. Wouldn't you know it - a half-decent Nottingham show in March was firmly on my radar, but then got ... COVID'd. RIP that gig. So here, without further ado, are my five best gigs of pre-coronavirus 2020:

Guru: Blondies, London, 23 January

Lively stuff! An energetic, wiry front-man - a Dickensian urchin in trackie bottoms - spent half the gig either jumping up and down on the spot or careering into the crowd. Musically, it was grime-inflected aggro-punk - plenty of attitude with a bit of tempered aggression. I even heard a trace of Neils Children relish in the vocalisations at times. As usual in this narrow little bar, I spent half the gig trying not to get eviscerated against the exposed-brick walls. Yes, lively.

Holiday Ghosts: Lion Coffee + Records, London, 31 January

Already current faves through past exposure (including predecessor band the Black Tambourines), this was perhaps the best of the handful of HG gigs I’ve turned out for. Banging out super-tuneful, skiffle-inflected, beefed-up pop, HG’s intensity came out in this pleasingly small venue. Half an hour of this - a rhythm guitarist lunging forwards dangerously and with intent, singer-guitarist Sam Stacpoole fast-fretting his way through dozens of sinewy chord changes - and I was hooked. A large intake of alcohol may have helped as well. Groovy!

Holiday Ghosts with their sinewy chord changes

Night Shop: Moth, London, 19 February

Easily the biggest gig I went to in this period (or for ages), there must have been at least 200 people in attendance. Resisting my usual impulse to immediately bail out at the sight of a packed room, I wormed my way to the front, waited an eternity for Justin Sullivan (aka Night Shop) to appear, became highly impatient, but then … enjoyed the entire thing. Gently swinging, busker-friendly guitar/singer-songwriter stuff, this was polished, charming and genuinely cool. And Sullivan’s relaxed Californian manner was a plus.

Justin Sullivan being cool

Joseph Futak: Lion Coffee + Records, London, 22 February

An Edwyn Collins-style baritone croon from Futak and subdued guitar and bass backing, we were in low-key and gentle territory, but that's sometimes a good place to be. Here and there, in fact, it was all genuinely beautiful. If it's kept free of cliche and over-romanticism, I can happily listen to this stuff for hours. In this case it was about 35 minutes.

Ex-Vöid, Shacklewell Arms, London, 27 February

Though one of the band's two singer-guitarists had "HEAVY" tattoo'd on her arm, Ex-Vöid were entertainingly (and probably unashamedly) poppy. The songs were mostly "classic" revved-up emo-pop stuff, with nice break-downs and noticeably good (tricky-sounding) guitar from the back-up singer. As he said himself, "If you know, you know. Otherwise it's all just noodling." Which is true, very true.

Just noodling: Ex-Vöid

And that's it. Yep, a good er, couple of months in live music. When will we back with more? Hopefully pretty soon. But only when the scientific evidence allows ...