1.Kanye West
In the words of Richard Kingsmill, it was the 'Year of the Ye.' Not only did he dominate music news throughout the year but he also dominated end of year critic lists and album sales charts around the world. His incident with Taylor Swift continued to hound him but the music community forgave and forgot as Kanye started his brilliant GOOD Friday series, releasing a new track onto his blog free of charge every Friday night (Hawaiian time, so Saturday night in Sydney) the songs were varied in quality but more often than not had people sitting up and paying attention. Add to that the mini-movie he made for Runaway, his first shot at MJ-dom. In support of the film Kanye travelled to all corners of the planet including Sydney which sent many of his Aussie fans into a frenzy, and was ultimately a stroke of genius on his part as it reminded everyone that he was still alive and fighting after Taylor-gate and that he hasn't forgotten about his fans all over the world. But in true Kanye style he was never too far from controversy thanks to his Twitter account which he updated frequently with lengthy rants about everything from loneliness to his hatred of the media. But buried beneath all that was an album, 13 tracks of unparalleled production and a guest list unlike anything seen before.
2.The Edge appears at Glastonbury
On 23rd November 2009 the worst kept secret in music was finally made public, the biggest band in the world U2 was going to headline the 40th anniversary of the biggest music event in the world, Glastonbury. But a matter of weeks before the mega event disaster struck. Frontman had suffered a serious back injury during rehearsals and required immediate surgery, ruling U2 out of the festival. Gorillaz were quickly named as replacements but everyone knew it would not be the same without the stadium trotting Irishmen there. But over an hour into Muse's Saturday night headlining spot, out rang the opening moments of The Joshua Tree followed by its creator The Edge. Here is what followed:
3. Thom + Jonny appear at Glastonbury
Staying with the massive festival, the biggest surprise organiser Michael Eavis had was not The Edge on the Pyramid Stage. That honour went to one of the smallest stages on the site, which played host to one-third of two time headliners, Radiohead. Rumours about a surprise appearance by Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood spread like wildfire and was proven to be true late on Friday. The duo played an hour set to just a few thousand very appreciative fans. It was rumoured that the following video was captured by a member for Vampire Weekend, it truly encapsulated the beauty of the festival:
4. Splendour in the Grass announces its line up
For the past few years festival lineups have been invariably met with animosity and criticism. That all changed on April 15 with the announcement of the Splendour in the Grass 2010 line up. Moved from Byron Bay to the larger Woodford site in Queensland and from 2 days to 3 days, this was always going to be a huge event. But the lineup was jaw-dropping. Headliners included The Strokes, Ben Harper and the Pixies. Debut album superstars included Mumford + Sons, Florence + The Machine, Two Door Cinema Club and The Temper Trap. Personally there were no fewer than 32 acts on the lineup that grabbed my attention, almost as many as Glastonbury. It was possibly one of the best festivals this country has seen in a very long time.
5. AC/DC tour Australia
After nine years of waiting Australia's most successful entertainers finally returned for a home soil tour. What was incredible about the tour was the money it generated. According to Billboard Boxscore, across 13 shows in Australia the band earned close to $100 million in ticket sales alone playing to over 700 000 fans. Their 3 night stay in Sydney alone made $27 million and was named the Highest Grossing Music Event of 2010 anywhere in the world. Incredibly 2nd place went to their 3 nights in Melbourne and 3rd place to Download Festival, headlined by AC/DC.
No comments:
Post a Comment