Time to take a toll on 2018. As ever i keep track of what i read and what i listen too (via this blog and via the playlists published here).
On the show side 2018 was just perfect, up to and including away trips that turned out to be great shows: Sick Of It All and Descendents (among others) in Barcelona and Dag Nasty in Bremen – with the some of the same mates.
Here is the tally:
| Bands seen: | 89 | ||
| Shows attended | 37 | ||
| Venues | Shows | Bands | Bands/Show |
| Hafenklang | 16 | 31 | 2 |
| Monkeys | 7 | 15 | 2 |
| Molotow | 4 | 13 | 3 |
| other | 10 | 30 | 3 |
Ok, the Hafenklang is the clear winner this years, after loosing out against the Monkeys last year. It’s proximity, i guess, paired with rooster. And it’s more than in 2017! More shows! More bands!
What did surprise me 2018? Hysterese, H¥ENA, Daikaiju, Yard Bomb, The Haermorrhoids, Es War Mord, The Scanners, The Hacklers, Ultra Razzia and The Clowns. Best show i attended? Adolescents – For Steve at the Hafenklang. Never ever i experienced a venue filled with so much love and appreciation and a tight unity between those up there and those down there. Stunning feeling.
The best picture from shows you will find with the hashtag #thereaintnuthinbetterthanlivemusic on Instagram. Follow me if you dare.
And a gentle reminder that you need to go out there, to your local clubs, to experience this. Make an effort!
Bands i would have loved to see? Hakan! MEGA! Youth Avoiders! Good Riddance! The Windowsill! And a wee bit more surf! What did i really miss? Punk Rock Raduno in Bergamo (i was in Barcelona for the mighty Descendents, bad bad timing).
And on the reading front? Here we go:
| # of books | # of pages | |
| Crime | 59 | 22.971 |
| Music | 7 | 1.990 |
| History | 4 | 1.049 |
| Scifi | 1 | 352 |
| Total | 71 | 26.362 |
That is actually less books (-2) but more pages (+1.106) read in 2018 and i made an effort to buy more books that are related to music. Best read there was Alice Bags Bio!
Meine Lieblingsserie ist inzwischen die vom Polar Verlag, da kommen wirklich tolle Bücher raus. Aber auch Pulp Master hat einige Highlights, vor allem Tom Franklin und Rick DeMarinis. Größte Überraschung: Lisa Sandlin und James Carlos Blake.
Save 2019 my friends, if you like what i spit out here please leave a comment of appreciation or hate.
nb: Fun fact on the side – in 2018 i put all my records to Discogs and now can start to report the size of the collection: 4.732 releases are in there!