A year has passed and gone

It’s that time of the year again. Lists. I hate them but it seems like every blog in the world has them, so I guess I’ll do the same. Here are my personal highlights from the world of entertainment in 2006.

Best Concert: And the winner is…..Bruce Springsteen.
Despite my security scare, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, I had a wicked time at these concerts. These were quite simply, breathtaking gigs which were better (gasp!) that Dylan or the Stones (my other two favourites). He was on fire on stage, blitzing through amazing songs written over a hundred years ago with a seventeen piece Rock 'n Folk band. What a man, what a band and what a concert (or two concerts if you want to get technical). If you ever have a chance to see him live do. I would quite happily sell a kidney just for 10 minutes watching the Boss in person again.

Honourable mentions go to: Arctic Monkeys at Brixton Academy, the Raconteurs at Lowlands and the Charlatans at Brixton (always good for a laugh). Oh! and the Stones as well.


Best CD: And the winner is….Not sure yet.
Tough one this, there have been some good tunes in 2006. The Arctic Monkeys was good, although I haven’t listened to it in ages. Despite initially dismissing this as a record which will not last, I’ve listened to Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins', Rabbit Fur Coat loads in the last few weeks. Amazing record and a lovely, sensual and real voice. I’ve also loved Tapes 'n Tapes debut album the Loon, which technically was a 2005 album. So I’ll have to go with… Jenny Lewis. However, I change my mind about this kind of thing all of the time, so perhaps it’s all irrelevant.


Best film: And the winner is….The Departed.
Martin Scorcese is absolutely amazing, nearly everything he does is ace. The Departed is no different. It is also the first film where I’ve not shouted ‘Matt Daaaaamon’ (see Team America) when he came on the screen in the cinema, because even he looked cool. The rest of the cast is great with Jack Nicholson, Leonardo Di Caprio, Mark Wahlberg and Ray Winstone. Brilliant soundtrack as well. Watch this now, and then buy it on DVD when it comes out and make all your friends watch it. If this doesn't win an Oscar then the whole ceremony is some kind of a sham (I know that it is and I also know that it probably won't, except for 'best crew canteen', or something like that).


Best TV: And the winner is….The Daily Show.
I started watching this when it came on TV in the UK on More4 this year. Great programme - political satire at its best and most rude. Like Have I Got News For You, but on cocaine. Brilliant stuff. Also there’s so much in America to be rude about that they never run out of ideas. Great to see that there are some Americans who are still normal and who see Bush as a buffoon. To be fair before the programme came on air over here in the UK, we only thought that Michael Moore was really anti-Bush.


Bob Dylan's Dreams