MY TOP 10 SHOWS OF 2004

There were too many great shows in 2004 to narrow this down but hey, top 10 lists are in season. !!! and Wilco, The Flaming Lips, and Sleater-Kinney are still to come, but for now, and in chronological order, let's go:

Dizzee Rascal - February 7 at Volume. The stage for Dizzee's debut US performance was an 18 wheel flatbed truck in a warehouse in Brooklyn. What else to say? Volume, we miss you dearly.

Franz Ferdinand - February 19 at the Bowery Ballroom. Tons of energy, no banter, and a near-flawless set. They weren't rock stars yet but they had the poses down. The rest, of course, is history.

Michael Mayer - March 13 at Volume. The night my love for Kompakt officially became an obsession. We stayed till the last beat at 5 AM because the music was just too good to walk away from.

Magnetic Fields - May 21 at the Town Hall and November 18 at Zankel Hall. The first time was better for being my first Fields show, the second was better for the front row seats, and together they made up for missing all 69 Love Songs at Lincoln Center a few years ago. (And the setlists were close enough that I'm counting this as one.)

Wilco - June 8 at Irving Plaza. I was sold on new touring guitarist Nels Cline after one song, but set closer "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" was the knockout blow on an amazing night.

Sonic Youth - August 13 at Webster Hall. That this show made this list despite my distaste for Webster Hall tells you how good they were. Of course, Thurston Moore riding his guitar into the crowd at the end of "Expressway To Yr Skull" would work in pretty much any venue.

Fiery Furnaces - September 25 at the Bowery Ballroom. I got to see the Furnaces three times this year, and this one was the clear winner. Bowery's stellar sound was perfect for their set of medley madness. Oh, plus I got pretty close to Eleanor.

LCD Soundsystem - October 30 at the Tribeca Grand. Could LCD actually live up to the hype on stage? Absolutely. "Yeah" was the stuff of dreams live and the closing "Transmission" cover was pure bonus.

Deerhoof - November 3 at the Knitting Factory. See this band once and you'll realize why they scheduled two sets in one night at the Knit and sold both out. Drummer Greg Saunier's intensity was therapeutic and then some the day after Bush won.

Yo La Tengo - December 9 at Maxwell's. This show reminded me why I fell in love with this band six years ago. And after all those years, I finally heard "Pablo and Andrea" live.

Honorable mentions: The Pixies (if only I was healthy), The Rapture, Curiosa Festival, The Shins, U2
Biggest disappointments: Colder, M83, TV on the Radio
Artists I sadly missed: Junior Boys, Mouse on Mars, United State of Electronica, The Prosaics, Joanna Newsom, Michael Mayer at APT, and on and on...