As we edge ever closer to the end of 2015, Total MK wanted to take a little look back at some of the top live shows we encountered during the past 12 months.
Enjoy five today, and five more tomorrow.
All remarkably good, but wildly varying in content and genre, these are our picks of the year...
Julian Lloyd Webber – The Stables, Wavendon February 22
A rare chance to enjoy an intimate evening in sound with one of our finest classical musicians.
This date was the opening night of a UK tour with the world-famous cellist and conductor.
A herniated disc in his neck has forced Julian to retirement as a musician, so it was all the more special to see him on stage conversing, sharing stories and anecdotes from a lengthy career spent recording and playing live with many of the world's finest players.
While he talked, his wife Jiaxin - herself a superb cellist - handled the musical accompaniment.
Video footage also figured during the evening: “I have gone through the old tapes and pulled out some incredible stuff, all sorts,” Julian told me before the show.
And true to his word, footage aired featured remarkable players and singers spanning Stephane Grappelli to our own Dame Cleo Laine. A special evening.
Chas & Dave – Milton Keynes Theatre, March 1
Putting the class into the Cockney with musical aces that are classic knees-up monsters; Gertcha, Ain't No Pleasin' You, Margate, The Sideboard Song, Rabbit...every one a winner.
Chas & Dave took the stage with no frills or set, just piano, keyboard and drums, and all of those terrific titles.
Chas & Dave are one of those rare acts who really do have wide ranging appeal – behind us, a couple of hefty middle-aged blokes are on their feet doing the cockney shuffle. In front of us?
Three generations of the same family are lapping up the tunes, and when Rabbit airs, the eight-year old grand-daughter (and doll) are on their feet dancing and singing. There ain't many who can induce such widespread cheer, and this music making is keeping them young too, I reckon.
“You are dead right...” Chas agreed, during a pre-show chat.
“My Mum used to say 'music keeps you young', and I don't feel any different in my head than I did 40 years ago.
“I can't run as fast as I used to,” he says with a giggle, “...but everything else is the same. As you say, as long as my fingers are working, and they are. I make sure of it...”
Black Spiders – The Craufurd Arms, Wolverton, May 29
Axe-wielding, blisteringly ballsy metal by the Northern upstarts who can pen a beer-soaked rock anthem in almost the same time as it takes to throw the devil horns.
Theirs is real rock n roll; It's unkempt, unashamed and uncontrollable, and at a long overdue return to these parts, the quintet laid bare material from their albums Sons of the North and This Savage land, and showed why they are also unbeatable.
Download Festival – June 10-12, 2015
It was a taut bill this year, and one that allowed us to chart the rise and rise of some of rock's survivors, and hard grafters.
Watching Maryland's Clutch debut on the main stage to a raptuous response was a buzz, and reconnecting with Corrosion of Conformity after a decade was a thrill. Total highlights.
But there were more – watching Dub War, and Ice-T and Bodycount stage front was immense.
And Eagles of Death Metal were magnificent crowd pleasers. With Jesse Hughes stage front, and 'Diamond' Dave Catching to his right, they could never be anything short of sensational.
Feel good fall-out from the unstoppable rock n rollers.
Motley Crue, L7 and Kiss all managed to raise the heat too, which was no small feat considering the weekend was a decidedly sodden one.
Milton Keynes made the main stage when Heart of a Coward opened proceedings on the Saturday.
Despite the muddy hell that was endured all weekend, Downlaod 2015 will be looked back on as a vintage year by us...
Charlie Wood, with Jacqui Dankworth & Dame Cleo Laine, Rectory Gardens, Wavendon, July 5
The Music in the Garden series of summer shows celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2015 with another programme of musical finery, and Charlie Wood was a programme highlight.
He pulled tracks from his current New Souvenirs opus, and was joined in musical play by his wife Jackie and mother-in-law, Cleo.
The family affair was a fantastic roll through classy music making, played out alongside our ever unpredictable weather.
But though sunshine and showers collided off stage, on it, there were only rays.
