OK, I’ll admit it, I cheated. Naming my favorite live performances of the year on Morning Becomes Eclectic was far too hard so I purposefully disqualified three of the bands who also made my Top 10 Albums of the Year list — Best Coast, Black Keys and Band of Horses. They were all awesome, of course, but I wanted to highlight some of my other faves.
See below and check them out in the archives over the holidays!
1) Rufus Wainwright (watch the whole thing. With a box of tissues)
2) Avett Brothers (I been hearing a lot about this band, but I did really get it until I saw them live. Oh, and you can catch me dancing in Master Control the video. Ha)
3) Local Natives (One of my favorite bands of 2009 finally made their live debut on MBE. It was everything I hoped for.)
4) Janelle Monae (A highlight of KCRW’s Berkeley Street Sessions)
5)The xx (SXSW is always one of my favorite weeks of the year, but this is one of my favorite sessions we’ve done from Austin)
6)Vampire Weekend (they brought a horn section!)
7) Fruit Bats (in my mind, a hugely overlooked band.)
8 ) Broken Bells (their songs defined the early part of 2010 for me. Oh, and they played “Insane Lullaby” from Dark Night of the Soul)
9) Chromeo (dance party!)
10) St Vincent (her first MBE performance, with songs from both of her excellent albums)
Runner Ups
Two Door Cinema Club (their U.S. debut)
MGMT (I don’t care what anyone else says, I loved their psychedelic sophomore release. And they were really out there for this performance. A lot more fun than a band just going through the motions.)
Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck (they taped this especially for KCRW, pretty cool!)
Dr. Dog (one of the most dependably good bands in the indie universe.)
Josh Rouse (I love all his albums. Seriously. All of them)