Best of the Best; 2018

That is it, another year complete. 2018 ended up being very productive in terms of shows and personal progress.

I worked through a lot of personal emotional pain regarding my father, whom passed away back in 2016. Currently, I am at peace with his departure from this world. I will forever be saddened by the loss but I no longer feel this cloud of pain hanging over me. That was a big milestone for me. I think it is important for people to be open about their pain and mental state, never hide what you are going through.

In the beginning of the year, I had planned to attend many fewer concerts but I didn’t abide by that plan. I made lots of choices to sneak off and see plenty of shows, it helped me work through that pain and in the end I am grateful for that.

The Concert Addicts brand saw growth in total visitors and total views across the main website and all social media streams. We managed to team up with several great partners to arrange coverage of their shows and even sponsor some of them with advertising deals. Things are starting to expand again and the additional demand absorbed much of my free time, in the end I had fun doing it and felt rewarded for my investment of blood, sweat, and tears.

In my annual moment of retrospect, I sat down and came up with a list of some my favourite things from this past annum.

Favourite album: The Struts – Young&Dangerous (Canada or USA)
Favourite song: Hozier ft. Mavis Staples – Nina Cried Power
Favourite new-to-me artist: Blood Red Shoes
Favourite movie: Hereditary

I took a little bit longer and came up with my top ten most loved shows of the year. It was a tough decision as there were a lot of contenders for the top, but after some deliberation these were my choices.

#10 – The Strypes @ Biltmore Cabaret
#9 – The Longshot @ Rickshaw Theatre
#8 – The Glorious Son @ Commodore Ballroom
#7 – Portugal. the Man @ Deer Lake Park
#6 – Arctic Monkeys @ Pacific Coliseum
#5 – Black Pistol Fire @ Skookum Music Festival
#4 – Foo Fighters @ Rogers Arena
#3 – Queens Of The Stone Age @ Commodore Ballroom
#2 – Jay-z & Beyoncé @ BC Place
#1 – Jack White @ Rogers Arena

Now that we got the top ten out of the way, we can look at things a little more holistically. In total, I saw 106 concerts and around 297 individual artists/performers/etc. Now that is a spicy meatball! Like I said it was a busy year.

Many of these shows I did not stay for the whole set. In some circumstances, I would leave after the first 3 songs, as is required for concert photographers, and then move on to a second or even third show in the same night. So, don’t look at my list and compare it to yours, because it would not be apples to apples. None the less, these were the bands/artists I was lucky enough to witness.

I managed to capture a lot of those bands in photograph, my most notable favourites to shoot include The Glorious Sons, Jorja Smith, Greta Van Fleet, The Longshot, Nothing More, Slayer, In This Moment, Foo Fighters, and Florence + the Machine.

Combing through my photo archive I managed to pick my top fifty favourite photos of 2018.

Photos © Jamie Taylor // Cryptic Photography

So, that is it. 2018 is over and we ring in the New Year tonight.

2019 looks to be the year of the farewell tour again with artists like KISS and Elton John and others planning “goodbye tours”. Take those words with a grain of salt, as we all know sometimes that is just wishful thinking or even a marketing ploy by the bands camp.

Thank you to everyone that followed, liked, retweeted, read, shared, or in anyway interacted with our content. I am forever appreciative of your open hearts and the love you show.

Thank you to every contributor that took time out of their day to create impressive and unique content for the masses. You are all truly amazing and I really need to take more time to tell you that more often.

Thank you all for a fabulous 2018. Now lets take on 2019 with open eyes and open hearts.