Top 30 Live Acts of 2012

2012 was a good year for live music in the UK, and we’re not talking about the massive overgrown and overpriced festivals (sigh), but the day-to-day gigs in the cities.  Despite the heavy saturation of the music industry, we managed to dig out some gems, experiencing a massive array of talent from the UK, Japan and beyond.  Notably, the UK continues to produce some fantastic female musicians, and it’s just a matter of time and evolution before the industry matures sufficiently to recognize this surge and make the most of it, hopefully encouraging further diversity in both the music itself and the industry overall.  Knowing the foot-dragging patriarchy of the media and music industries, we’re not exactly holding our breath…

Our month-by-month 2012 gig highlights are coming soon…

For now, here are our top 30 favourite live acts of 2012:

ALANIS MORISSETTE  > VIDEO “Hand in my Pocket” (live)

ANI DIFRANCO   > VIDEO “Smiling Underneath” (live)   > PHOTOS

AUSTRA   > VIDEO “Lose It”   > PHOTOS   > INTVW#1   > INTW#2

BO NINGEN   > VIDEO “Koroshitai Kimochi”   > PHOTOS

CLOCK OPERA   > VIDEO “Belongings”   > PHOTOS

COMANECHI   > VIDEO “Death of You”   > PHOTOS

CRYSTAL CASTLES   > VIDEO “Not in Love”   > PHOTOS

DELPHIC   > VIDEO “This Momentary”   > PHOTOS

FEIST   > VIDEO “I Feel It All”   > PHOTOS

GARBAGE   > VIDEO “Push It”   > PHOTOS

GOSSIP   > VIDEO “Love Long Distance” > PHOTOS

GROUP A   > VIDEO Free Pussy Riot Tokyo event (live)   > PHOTOS

JESCA HOOP   > VIDEO “Born To”   > PHOTOS

THE JEZABELS > VIDEO “Easy To Love” > PHOTOS > INTVW#1 > INTVW#2

KARIN PARK   > VIDEO “Restless”   > PHOTOS

LUCY ROSE   > VIDEO “Bikes”   > PHOTOS

MOLOTOV JUKEBOX   > VIDEO “I Need It”   > PHOTOS

NITE JEWEL   > VIDEO “One Second of Love”   > PHOTOS

PATTI SMITH   > VIDEO “Because the Night” (live)   > PHOTOS

PEACHES (DJ)   > VIDEO “Talk to Me”   > PHOTOS   > INTVW

RACHEL SERMANNI   > VIDEO “The Fog”   > PHOTOS

RADIOHEAD   > VIDEO “High and Dry”

SAVAGES   > VIDEO “City’s Full”   > PHOTOS

SICK OF SARAH   > VIDEO “One Night Stand”   > PHOTOS  > INTVW#1  > INTVW#2

SUZANNE VEGA   > VIDEO “Left of Center”   > PHOTOS

TELEPATHE   > VIDEO “So Fine”   > PHOTOS

UH HUH HER   > VIDEO “Wake to Sleep”   > PHOTOS

VILE IMBECILES   > VIDEO “Jennifer”

THE XX   > VIDEO “Intro”   > PHOTOS

2:54   > VIDEO “Sugar”   > PHOTOS