Sat 31st Dec: Gigs of 2011 in terrible BB Twitpics

T.E.E.D at The Scala

Snoop Doggy Dog, Kentish Town Forum

Patrick Wolf at The Garage

Janelle Monae at Glastonbury Festival

Bjork's Biophilia at Manchester Festival

Mark Ronson, International Business Ltd (Ghostface Kilah), Camden Roundhouse

Beth Ditto at LOVE magazine party instore at Libertys

Cocknbullkid at XOYO

CREEP at Stag & Dagger Festival, Shoreditch

Azari III at Lovebox festival

Major Lazer at Notting Hill Carnival

Modeselektor at Kentish Town Forum

Spankrock at The Scala

Tom Vek at CSM

Shed Seven at Shepherds Bush Empire

Katy B at CKone party, Village Underground

Azelia Banks at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Patti Smith at St Giles-in-the-fields

I have a major bug-bear about mobile phones ............. in the fact that they are totally destroying humanity on many, many levels. From the coltan that is mined in The Democratic Republic of the Congo as the element conductor in the handset and the corrupt industry that surrounds it ................ to the simple fact that a generation of parents are distracted, absorbed in their messages rather than making crucial basic bonding communication and contact with their children ............

.............. to the shame of going to gigs where the audience are watching an act thru the camera on their iphone rather than experiencing the physical vibes infront of them. This is why I consciously hold tight to my blackberry in my pocket instead of sticking it in the air to add to the mass of screens hovering above the crowd ( = the modern equivalent of putting your lighters up). For this reason, the one quick snap I snare when a band come on to stage is usually absolutely terrible and here are some of those twitpics which you will have to read the captions to decipher!!!! It's become an obligatory part of being at a concert to alert your Twitter followers to where you are and what band you are enjoying............. and something I squirm with envy and torture myself by reading when I'm not at a particular event. The worst this year was missing Azelia Banks at Koko earlier this month when I was ill at home under my duvet. BUT I did get to see her earlier in the year thanks to Keely Hunter for tipping me off about 212 when it first ate YouTube before the sudden media bandwagon of replacing the lording of Lana Del Ray to ranking Azelia as coolest act of 2011 in opinion polls ..........

If I had my own top performances of the year in addition to Azelia it would be:

Patti Smith with Patrick Wolf at St Giles-in-the-fields

Bjork's Biophilia at Manchester Festival

Prince at Hop Farm Festival

Janelle Monae (and Wild Beasts) at Glastonbury Festival

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs at Scala

Kwes at Shacklewell Arms

Gwilym Gold at Shacklewell Arms

Thanks so much to all my tenuous connections in the industry who tapped me up with press passes this year - I'm so, so grateful to be living out my teenage dream of working with musicians! Looking forward to more in 2012 and hoping for less views obscured by phones XXXX