2008...

So, just to let all of the absolutely zero people that read this blog know... Over the next week I will be posting up my top 10 tunes of the 2008, top 40 albums of 2008 and top 10 miscellaneous releases of 2008, plus a couple of bits on the best gigs I've seen (of which there have been a lot of incredible shows... so it's going to be hard to pick the best).

But right for now, here's a list of the BEST MOMENTS of 2008. And most of them involve bands.

5. My Bloody Valentine reforming... although my chance to go and see them was messed up by financial errors on my own part, it's good to know that such an important band are back with us. God bless you, Kevin Shields, and all who sail in you.

4. Another reformation was that of Rival Schools... I was lucky enough to catch them at the Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, and I have to say, it was easily one of the greatest shows I've ever seen. Those songs sound just as fresh as they did when I heard them 5 or 6 years ago, and the new material sounded absolutely stunning. If they record a tune called "Sophia Loren" then we're all in for a treat.

3. The trailer for the new Star Trek movie... I have been seriously worried about this movie. As a life long Trek fan, to hear that the original crew were being resurrected using new actors struck fear into me. I couldn't quite comprehend how it could possibly work, and I was worried that one of my favourite sci-fi franchises of all time was about to be turned to shit. But when I saw the trailers for the new film (due out May this year) I got really excited. Not only do the new crew look great, but it looks like the movie could be a blinder! Yeah, fair enough, bringing a Romulan in kind of messes up any kind of canonicity, but hey, it's 43 years on and we might as well just accept it and watch it for the piece of art that it is.

2. Another band reformation... this time in the shape of Far. Now, this band is one of the bands that got me interested in a little genre called emo (along with The Get Up Kids, The Promise Ring and Braid), a genre that I still adore, despite it's increasing unpopularity. Jonah Matranga has long been my hero when it comes to music, so to hear that they were reuniting for a short tour was exciting news; this means that I've now seen pretty much everything he's done live. I caught them on two dates: Newport (TJ's), a really intimate affair with about 150-200 people, and then in London (ULU), where there were more people (probably around 1500 or more). It was incredible to see how the band worked in both environments, and it was a great chance to recapture that feeling I got at the age of 13 when I first heard Water & Solutions.

1. And the best news of the year for me was yet another band reforming... but this one was something else. No other band than THE GET UP KIDS! I don't know if there are many bands that I could listen to every day for the rest of my life and not get bored of, if any... but The Get Up Kids tick a little box marked "forever" for me. I discovered they were reforming through a friend of mine in the States... rumours abounded, some people said it was horseshit, some said it was true. Ultimately it turned out that it was indeed true. And from that point on, I have been excited. They only played one show in 2008, a tiny 200 only show where they played Something to Write Home About in its entirety. I was not there. But who cares? They're touring over 2009, and I should be in the US in May to catch them at Bamboozle. I saw them years back two nights in a row in London, but it would still be amazing to catch them again. This band changed my life, seriously. And they're back. And I'm still giddy and weak at the knees from the news of it.

So, coming soon, the other lists. All should be up by the end of next week, so watch this space. Whoever you are (or aren't).