Oh god, the clips episode!

Yeah, copping out on the post today and taking a (brief) look back at my year in live music. It’s funny that a couple years ago, I think I was looking back at a year where I hit around 60 shows and thought, “that’s crazy. I have got to scale back”. And now, with 2007 almost in the books, I’m looking at having gone to almost 100 shows PLUS all the festivals. As I write this, the Flickr set that provides the images in the above slideshow – which is more interesting/goes by faster if you move the delay slider to, like, two seconds – indicates that I’ve seen 319 live acts this year (I only missed shooting three of them). That’s… a lot. A co-worker recently remarked he’d never seen me not tired. Probably true.

And with so much to choose from, you can understand why it’s near impossible to pick out which I’d consider the “best” of the year – I saw a lot of great stuff. Of course, if you regularly read my reviews you might be under the impression I only saw great stuff – I’m quite aware that many of my writeups dwell on the well-buffed side of shiny but you understand that I rarely go see anything I’m not already favourably inclined towards. I have much better things to do than see shows I’m not really interested in let alone review.

But if I had to pick out some top shows of the year, I’d have to go with…

Patrick Wolf @ The El Mocambo – May 11, 2007
Wilco @ Massey Hall – June 30, 2007
Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ The Berkeley Church – September 7, 2007
Okkervil River @ Lee’s Palace – September 21, 2007
The National @ The Phoenix – October 8, 2007
Neil Young @ Massey Hall – November 26, 2007

…and that doesn’t even come close to all the highlights. It was a good year. It was a very good year.

But before I sign off, a few noteworthy concert announcements for 2008… Cat Power brings her Jukebox (out January 22) to the Kool Haus on February 9, tickets $30 on sale Thursday, full tour dates at Tripwire. All of you who avoided the Phoenix shows because the venue was too big… what, you thought they were going to get smaller? Or cheaper? Nah.

Also official – Nicole Atkins & The Sea’s first headlining show in Toronto… once again on a Sunday night – February 17 – and once again at Lee’s Palace. Tickets $10.50 in advance. I believe The Cloud Room are supporting this tour but don’t know for sure. Either way. Attendance is mandatory.

And The Drive-By Truckers are rolling back into town with a date at the Opera House on March 19, tickets $18.50. A bit of a smaller venue than last time but that just means more concentrated rock. Their new one, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, is out January 22. Update: First MP3 from the album is also now available, more to stream on their MySpace.

MP3: Drive-By Truckers – “Zip City”

And finally, Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of the year. You know you were waiting for it. And the AV Club’s Worst Films of the year? You probably weren’t waiting for it but you know you want it.