Best of the Year: 2021

 It has been another year of greatly reduced gigs, for very obvious reasons.

Nevertheless, amid the cancellations some gigs still went ahead, including a number of live, online transmissions.

The online gigs (T-Rextasy, The Skids, Big Country, Gary Numan and Midge Ure) were very good, but nothing can match the real live experience.

Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that a lot of people had forgotten how to behave in public after the lockdowns and several gigs were tainted by sheer doltery.

Some venues need to rapidly tighten up their policies on vaping, serving virtually endless amounts of drinks during the gigs and morons talking loudly and repeatedly over the shows.

The worst offenders this time could be found at the gigs featuring The Bluejays, The Wandering Hearts, Amy Macdonald and, worst of all, Paul Weller.

An extraordinary about of people appear to be exempt from wearing masks too. I don't believe it - but that's another story.

Here is a quick spin through the gigs I saw during 2021.

Calling Planet Earth

The Wandering Hearts

Amy Macdonald

Bootleg Blondie

The Bluejays

Bowie Experience

Holy Moly and the Crackers

Nine Below Zero

The Skids

Emma Stevens

Totally Tina

Jane Weaver

Paul Weller

The gig of the year was undoubtedly Soft Cell, who were fabulous from start to finish - and the audience was perfectly behaved too.

Soft Cell

What will 2022 bring, I wonder? I have tickets for shows which have been repeatedly pushed back for years now but hopefully they will eventually go ahead.