2009 really shaped up to be a pretty musical year. I saw more shows in 2009 than I have in past 2-3 years and I got turned on to a lot of new music, well new for me. New music emerged in the tail end of the year from Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions and Alice In Chains and saw them putting out some of the best music of their careers. I discovered some amazing music that was new to me but necessarily new such as Cat Power’s “The Greatest” and California heavy metal band In This Moment’s brilliant 2008 release “The Dream.” On the live front, Drive By Truckers melted my face off in Asheville, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions floated me away in Atlanta and KISS showed a nearly sold out BiLo Center that their best days aren’t behind them but ahead of them.
2009 will also forever be known as the year that Phish fans were shut out left and right from their 2009 reunion tour. Despite all the harsh feedback from fans regarding the 1-3 second sellouts of these shows, the band and company seemed to care little about it and seemed pretty content to just be selling out shows regardless of how the tickets were purchased. Phish also managed to disappoint me with lackluster shows that were played like four guys walking on eggshells. They did manage to have about 3 shows that turned my head but nothing that blew me away. Phish also released an album of new material that was full of great songs (if not some of their best) that were played with 1/2 of the energy which was reminiscent of The Black Crowes “Lions” album. Unlike KISS, I’d have to say that Phish’s best years are behind them so I’ll be just fine enjoying the ’94-’96 shows in my archive.
The internet is without a doubt the greatest thing to ever happen for music dorks and bootleg fans all over the world. 2009 was the year that I discovered an array of Bootleg blogs. What was as one time nearly impossible or affordable was now made free and convenient. What was once a $50.00 bootleg back in 1985 on a crappy, scratchy vinyl record was now in clear and high quality digital formats such as MP3, SHN and FLAC for free! I went absolutely bat shit over these and found myself with high quality bootlegs by Dio, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and KISS just to name a few. I have downloaded so many live shows that I am going to have to listen to them one at a time just to assure that I get to listen to them all.
2009 was a great year for The Great Southern Brainfart and I’d love to thank each and every one of you who came to read the blog. The blog experienced it’s best year to date and I had a really great time keeping up with it. I got some great feedback from my followers and I got some really great hate mail as well. Whether you liked what I had to say or not, I really dug the comments and feedback. I hope that you all will keep coming back and sharing your thoughts, opinions and feedback.
2010 is already shaping up to be a great year with even more interviews, editorials and reviews than before. The “Live Stuff” portion of the Brainfart will be updated twice a month and I already have some great shows lined up for download so keep your eyes and ears opened!
Last but not least, for those that don’t know, one of the best ways to keep up with The Brainfart and it’s updates is by following us on Twitter and by using Google Reader. If you already have a Gmail account, just head over to http://reader.google.com and start setting it up. Keep up with all your favorite blogs (including The Brainfart). It’s a great tool and something that I couldn’t live without!
Thanks again ya’ll and I hope you all have safe and Happy New Year! See ya’ll in 2010!
Don
The Great Southern Brainfart
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