Foo Fighters, The National Bowl, Milton Keynes, September 5 & 6
One man's pain was our gain when Foo Fighters were forced to reschedule their Wembley Stadium dates following Dave Grohl's now world-famous leg break.
'The snap heard around the world,' his people called it, but rather than bail out completely, he soldiered on, designed a pimped up throne with more lights than the average street, and brought the boys to play for us with a two night stand. Recuperation is an on the road activity for Grohl, and the band play blisteringly long sets, and succeed in the unlikely scenario of making a gig for 65,000 have all the intimacy of a bar gig.
Nice work.
(Pic David Jackson)
Support slots came from Brighton duo Royal Blood, and the master, Iggy Pop.
Our highlight? Has to be when Foo's reached for the heavy with blistering renditions of White Limo.
So good are they, we hot-foot it to Anaheim to see them again later in the month...
Wakrat, The Viper Room, Hollywood, September 14
A standard night out in a West Hollywood gigging staple, or so we thought when we split with $10 on an average Monday evening.
And then, all of a sudden, the blacked out 250 capacity club shook into life - there was a buzz in the air and a 'Who's who' of attendees.
Soundgarden/Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell is here, with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.
Ace producer Rick Rubin is a mere spit away...it's that sort of a night.
Turns out they, and we, are here to witness the debut live show of WakRat, the trio fronted by RATM bassist Tim Commerford.
They tear through material that will figure on their debut album, and Knucklehead, in particular, leaves its mark. Theirs is a sound that is heavy, powerful, rhythmic riff-matic mastery.
One of those 'We were there' nights.
The Moulettes & Nizlopi, The Stables, Wavendon, Milton Keynes, November 12
Multi-instrumental and ridiculously talented, The Moulettes returned to these parts during a co-headlining tour with Nizlopi, who do great things armed with only a double bass and acoustic guitar, and have a refreshingly unbridled passion for their sounds.
To hell with being too cool for school.
Moulettes are haunting and electrifying, wide-ranging and stark, eerie and sweet, and altogether unique.
We could pigeon-hole if you like, but we'd be lying.
They are a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a whole lot of cool.
Mondo Generator, The Portland Arms, Cambridge, November 26
Nick Oliveri has been hitting these shores the past few years, with just an acoustic guitar and a box of merchandise to fuel his Death Acoustic shows.
And seeing QOTSA fans invade the stage at his invitation for Feel Good Hit of the Summer is fine, but we've been aching to see the man at play with a full band onslaught again, and he delivered with a brace of November shows.
It's a Mondo career spanning set we receive, tracks spanning Shawnette to The Last Train, via Simple Exploding Man, F**k You I'm Free and plenty more taut slices of gnarled, raging brilliance.
Though he's never been far from the stereo, watching Oliveri sweating it on a stage to the devoted has been a long time coming and we make the most of it.
It's rock n raucous n illegal n improper n magnificent punk n roll from a real scene grafter.
The Atomic Bitchwax, The Craufurd Arms, Milton Keynes, December 2
Stoner rock aces with a playability so tight you'd not be able to nudge a rizla paper between their grooves.
Bassist Chris Kosnik is something else, all fingers to the fret for an astounding performance.
It's a respectable audience that attend, and one that comes ready to devour the New Jersey players' blend of jam-esque psychedelic tinged, rock riffery.
Masters of the craft, they are – and when they crank up No Way Man from the 2015 full-lengther Graviton, with its relentless riff and groove party, Christmas comes early for us.
