One name dominated 2024’s live music scene – Taylor Swift. Her massive UK stadium tour included an unprecedented eight shows at Wembley Stadium and apparently generated revenues of £1bn for the UK economy.

The picture at the other end of the scale was not so rosy with over 350 grassroots venues around the country currently at risk of closure over the next twelve months. Dwindling audiences and changes to the tax system are making it harder for small venues to break even and we are in danger of losing a large chunk of the training grounds for the stars of the future. As ever the property developers hover, waiting to strip the decaying carcasses of local scenes across the country.

Touring itself has become increasingly expensive with many bands struggling to cover their basic costs. Merch sales are frequently the difference between breaking even and making a loss. At the same time, the merch cuts requested by the larger venues continue to inflate prices to the extent that a bog-standard tour t-shirt is now close to forty quid.

Dynamic pricing was already establishing a hold in 2023, but the announcement that Oasis (well two of them) were reforming for a UK tour in 2025 and the resulting ticket debacle brought the concept to the wider masses. Waiting in a soul-sucking booking queue for hours only to see the ticket price double before your eyes left a very sour taste in many punters’ mouths.

Nonetheless, there were still plenty of artists and bands eager to take to the road whether that just be for the pleasure of playing to a live audience or to widen their fan bases with an eye on those big tours. Successfully avoiding the soulless arenas, I clocked up 72 gigs across the year seeing 183 different bands starting in Reading’s Facebar and ending at the Scala in Kings Cross.

First up were Eater, one of the earliest bands on the British punk scene and almost certainly one of the youngest at the time. Forty-eight years on and singer Andy Blade pulled off a masterstroke recruiting the excellent up and coming Jo Jo and the Teeth to be both his support band and backing band.

Eater - Jan 24 The aforementioned Reading Facebar continues to attract a diverse number of artists both new and established. It may not have the greatest stage or lighting but the sound is impeccable, the staff friendly and the drink prices are very reasonable for this part of the world.  Local promotors such as Club Velocity, Heavy Pop and Runnin’ Blue are really putting the town on the national gig circuit. Beans on Toast, Sleeper, The Urban Voodoo Machine, Snuff, Roddy Radiation and the Skabilly Rebels, Hard Skin and The Tom Robinson Band all put on memorable sets on the venue’s main stage. Over in the small room, both the incredible Heathen Apostles (USA) and Los Fastidios (Italy) made very welcome returns. No doubt they will be back in 2025. Special mention must be given to Crazy Cowboy and the number of rockier bands he has brought to the Facebar. The annual Crazy Cowboy all-dayer was full of surprises including Zacthelocust, The Karma Effect, Greyfox Conspiracy and Gorilla Riot. Sadly a few days later, we learnt that Cory James, singer with Zacthelocust had passed away suddenly leaving a young family.
Along the street at The Butler, the Friday Night Blues crew started to put on monthly gigs attracting some of the best names in UK blues to the town. I managed to catch a masterclass from Michael Messer & Chas Jankel whilst Mudlow’s take on Louisiana swamp blues never disappoints. 
The current local live scene is in good shape with Third Lung, Who Ate All The Crayons, Reliant, Eat Daddy Eat and Masquerader all putting on successful shows across town. Local stalwarts The Pink Diamond Revue continue to amuse and beguile in equal measure with their pulsating psychedelic soundtracks. Marisa and the Moths are flying the flag for alternative rock with their legions of loyal fans up and down the country. Building on the success of their debut, sophomore album ‘What Doesn’t Kill You’ continues to win them fans and bigger gigs and festival appearances are imminent for 2025. There can’t have been too many people putting money on nineties shoegazers (and Reading band) Slowdive selling out Hammersmith Apollo in 2024, but here we were with a devoted and surprisingly young crowd worshipping every note the rejuvenated band played.
Over at Camden’s Roundhouse, a reformed Jane’s Addiction played a blinder of a set whilst the underlying tensions between Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro were still three months away from the ultimate collapse of the band (again) on stage in Boston. Another band renowned for imploding after a bout of frenetic creativity are The Wildhearts. The ‘classic’ lineup of CJ, Ritch and Danny has gone again and Ginger Wildheart introduced the latest incarnation of the band to an expectant crowd at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Mixing old and new material, the new iteration was thoroughly entertaining but lacked the caustic punch of previous lineups. The Wildhearts Jun 24
The Vive Le Rock awards show continues to be one of the most fun and chaotic events in my calendar. In between the awards we had quality sets from Theatre of Hate, Ruts DC and Sham 69 whilst the Vive le Rockers were joined by a succession of stars including Toyah, Chris Spedding, Republica’s Saffron, Beki Bondage and VLR head honcho Eugene Butcher. Toyah - Apr 24 Sham 69 - Apr 24 Elsewhere in London, Amigo the Devil made a welcome return with his full band to play at Islington’s O2 Academy. Japan’s Love Bites played to a packed Islington Garage demonstrating their prowess whilst Sweden’s Conny Bloom brought his funk metal band Electric Boys to the Camden Club. I loved photographing this show – the Camden Club is a fantastic venue although the drink prices will make your eyes bleed.

Over in Tufnell Park, Aces n Eights remains one of those special venues that once discovered, you will hold dear. The basement décor resembles a decaying cabaret club whilst echoes of its bank vault past surround you. Upstairs in the main bar you can still find the best pizzas in London. This year it saw a life affirming set from Carol Hodge and Julia Othmer, two gigs celebrating the intertwined careers of Tom Spencer and Rich Ragany, a Joe Solo / Boss Caine double header and quality Americana courtesy of Jason Eady and Tommy Hale.   Jason Eady - Mar 24
I now have a few album covers to my name, but the one for Rich Ragany’s debut solo album ‘You Can Get Dark With Me’ is particularly special. The launch party at Camden’s Black Heart was a raucous affair with Rags suitably supported by The Continental Lovers and The Electric Shakes. Prior to heading to the venue for load in we managed to catch an excellent afternoon show from Frenchy and the Punk at the Dublin Castle. Rich Ragany Jun 24 Frenchy and the Punk Jun 24
With the likes of ‘Wednesday’ on Netflix and ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ on the big screen, goth imaginary is once again taking up column inches in the mainstream press. Making the most of this resurgence, some of the lesser-known bands from the eighties have been back on tour. The March Violets released only their third album in over forty years to great reception and capped it off with an excellent set at the Facebar. Keeping this old goth very happy, the likes of Ghostdance, Inkubus Sukkubus, Balaam and the Angel, Screaming Dead, The Cassandra Complex and The Go Go Cult all came to the Facebar. Special mention to Dr Diablo & the Rodent Show for recreating the Batcave along with a storming set that included a number of my favourite Alien Sex Fiend songs. Meanwhile over at Islington Hope and Anchor, Brigandage took us back to a time when positive punk was on the verge of becoming goth.

Summer is festival time and now that I’ve stopped going to Reading festival, other local festivals are on the radar. This year it was the turn of Fi-Fest (near Maidenhead) and the Wokingham Festival. As with smaller festivals you get a mixture of established acts, tribute bands plus up and coming talent. Fi-Fest saw a Bon Jovi and Kevin & Perry tributes sharing a decent sized stage with Heather Small and Cast.  The former M People singer still sounds incredible but it would have been more enjoyable if she had full band with her. I never cared for Cast in their heyday, but was pleasantly surprised at how many of their songs I knew. It was a really enjoyable set by seasoned professionals – their support slot on the Oasis reunion tour is well deserved.

It was Prog day over in Wokingham which meant the aural and visual delights of Spriggan Mist, That Joe Payne and Ozric Tentacles. Over in the second stage tent, Jimmy the Dog, San Demas and ones to watch Sonic Whip each brought their very different sounds to the festival. Spriggan Mist - Aug 24 For sheer rock n roll exuberance, two gigs rule supreme this year – Alice Cooper at Hammersmith Apollo and Michael Monroe at Camden’s Electric Ballroom. Alice has long mastered the art of theatrical performance and moving back to the smaller more intimate venue made the whole show even more special. Many have copied Alice but none have come close to the sheer enjoyability of his stage show. Alice Cooper - Oct 24 Michael Monroe is another of rock’s iconic physical performers bounding around the stage and climbing the lighting rigs like a man half his age. Little would we know that such antics would end up with a couple a broken ribs a few weeks later.  We were treated to all of Hanoi Rocks’ classic ‘Two Steps from the Move’ album followed by a selection of Michael’s solo material. Definitely one of my gigs of the year. On a much smaller scale the Vive le Rock X-mess party at Kings Cross The Water Rats is another highlight in my annual diary. This year saw excellent sets by Janus Stark, The Middlenight Men, Marc Valentine and Desperate Measures. In particular, I’ve seen Marc numerous times over the past twelve months and have never been disappointed by his perfect power pop. My last gig of the year was to be The Damned at the Roundhouse. Getting to the venue at 6.30 we learnt that the good Captain was ill and could not perform – the gig was cancelled. Had it gone ahead, The Damned would have bookended thirty-eight years of going to gigs. Instead, my last gig was Skinny Lister’s celebratory end of tour gig at Kings Cross Scala which was not a bad way to end the year.
Grassroots venues are the soul of the live music scene. Whether the proposed small grassroots levy to be attached to stadium and arena gig tickets will ever gain any traction is open to debate.  Stadium acts such as Enter Shakira and Coldplay (who are donating 10% of the bands proceeds from their 2025 Hull and Wembley gigs to the Music Venue Trust) are doing their bit to promote the cause which is admirable, but in reality, it is up to us the punters and promotors to make use of our grassroots venues.

You can pump vast amounts into a venue, but if nobody turns up the venue will still close. Buying advance tickets is a must – so many gigs are cancelled because of low ticket sales where the promotor is looking at a guaranteed loss the day before an event. At the same time, older promotors are increasingly risk-adverse relying on the same bands to bring their shrinking audiences in, whilst feeling increasingly lost at how to promote younger bands to their own peer groups. Gone are the days when solely posting gigs to Facebook would generate sufficient interest. We all need to adapt else we will be reduced to watching highly polished but bland TV coverage of stadium gigs we can’t afford to attend.

There are thousands of artists and bands out there performing every night of the week in a variety of venues across the country. They need your support so take a punt and go watch a band you’ve never heard off. You never know, you might be watching one of the stadium filling bands of the future. Indeed, one of my friends saw a very young American country singer playing at Kings College London Student Union way back in 2008 – her name, Taylor Swift.

Here's looking forward to 2025 and more gig fun.