2015 in Music

2015 was good, musically. Music isn't the most important thing about a year, but it is one of the first places my mind tends to go when you ask me how that year went.

"Suzy," you might say, scratching the back of your neck because that's what you do, "how was your 2015?"

And I'd stop and think for a minute, wondering if you have lice or not, and then I'd say, "Very good, actually."

And you'd say, "Why? What about it?"

And I'd just start listing bands. Bands I saw and bands I heard about and bands I spent a lot of time listening to and bands that released new albums and so on.

And in five or six years, if we were to meet again and you were to ask, "Suzy, when last did I see you?" my brain would click along for a minute and then I'd answer, "I don't remember the exact year...but it was the year Dan Mangan played Darke Hall with Hayden." It sounds obsessive but it's not; it's just a thing.

So, My 2015, In Music:

Live

The music scene in Regina right now is a little sad, not a lot going on compared to other years, but I managed to see some fun shoes with some fun people. There was the time back in March when a little old lady gave me two tickets to see Dan Mangan and Hayden on the condition that I call her the next Monday and tell her how it was. I took Robyn and it was amazing. In May or June, a little jazz club called The Capitol opened up downtown, and Barclay and I hit it up a few times for live jazz, which is always fun. In August, we went to Montreal and checked out a drum festival - that counts as live music, right?

Folk Fest happened in August too - I always go to Folk Fest. This year, the notable acts were Bahamas, Basia Bulat, Alysha Brilla, Jenny Lewis and Blue Rodeo. I won a couple of tickets to the main stage in a contest put on by the CBC (I was the only one who entered, so. Hullo). I took Hannah. For sure the best part was standing in a crowd of mind-losing-50-something-year-olds as Blue Rodeo played Lost Together (the one thing I'm excited for in old[er] age is to go see bands who were big when I was younger and pretend like I'm young again while the actual young people stand there silently, staring at me like I'm crazy. I think that'll be fun).

My friend Ashley used to work at a large venue near where I live, and sometimes when shows wouldn't sell out she'd give me the leftover tickets. I took Barclay to a Pink Floyd cover band for his birthday, and a group of about ten girl friends to a Stevie Nicks/Mick Jagger/Rod Stewart/Heart cover show in October. Both experiences were absolutely ridiculous, but in the best way. I have a newfound affinity for artist impersonators.

In September, Theresa took me to see the Regina Symphony Orchestra, which was so stinking moving, and in October, I won tickets (yes, I win a lot of tickets. Because I enter a lot of contests) to see Hawksley Workman. His show was okay, but he didn't play Warhol's Portrait of Gretzky, so whatever. The opener, however, was a woman named Fiona Bevan. Her, you guys...

So, yeah, not a lot of live music this past year, but a pretty good free show streak for sure. For those concerned about supporting your favourite artists, I'm kicking off 2016 by actually paying for a concert.


Not Live

Here's a little collection of my favourite songs this year (not all of them are actually from this year, but they'll probably always remind me of it), which I found on the radio (Seinabo Sey) or blasted on repeat in my car (Pink Floyd) or fell in love with at a show (Fiona Bevan) or let play in the background while I wrote during nap times (Cloud Boat). Yep. Good year.