Best of 2011

Before we get too much further into the still-quite-new year, I should get my ratings for the increaingly old one out of the way.  2011 was my official Year Of Live Music, so here are my Top 10 Music Moments of the year.

1. Elbow at Glastonbury.  Didn't know who they were before they started.  Still don't much care for most of their songs.  Only saw them at all because they were sandwiched between two other acts I wanted to see.  But my word, their frontman has some stage presence.  And One Day Like This was virtually the official anthem of the festival. 
2. Do You Realize - Flaming Lips.  The encore after playing through the whole of their Soft Bulletin album, and the crowd goes berserk!  I'm in the second row, slightly right-of-centre.  Wayne Coyne has just Zorbed over me. 
3. Roger Waters performs The Wall at Manchester.  Having seen the same show a couple of months earlier from the back of the O2 arena in London, this time I am 6 rows from the front.  A lot of the light show happens behind me. 
4. Bono phones the International Space Station.  Yes, Glastonbury again.  And yes, it was clearly pre-recorded not live as Bono claimed at the time.  But a moment of unadulterated showmanship from one of the true masters of the crowd-pleaser. 
5. Thunder's farewell gig.  The undisputed highlight of the High Voltage Festival.  Other bands suffered with sound quality, rain, or mediocre peformances.  Thunder, a band I have previously regarded as having done a decent debt album and then gone downhill, show me exactly why they have maintained a fanbase for the last two decades.  I'm in the second row, dead centre. 
6. Kill It Kid's album release gig.  OK, I hadn't heard the new material.  And riots in London meant the album wouldn't physically be in shops for several more months.  But Chris Turpin has re-invented himself as a guitar virtuoso to stunning effect - and I get that effect from the exact centre of the front row.  When Turpin opens his eyes between songs, it's me he sees.  I feel strangely pressurised to show that I am having a good time.
7.  Glenn Tipton shakes my hand.  Having reached the front and centre of the High Voltage first day at the end of the first act, I have resolved not to move until someone plays Breaking The Law.  I keep my resolve through the goit behind me trying to climb over the top of me at the start of Judas Priest's set, and finally after the encore I get my reward. 
8. John Otway locks himself out; Willie Barrett opens the dustbin.  In front of an audience of 30 in a pub in Glastonbury, during their 40-Odd Years reunion tour, Otway rushes off stage to take an encore, while Barrett makes clear that he won't engage in these games.  What Otway hasn't planned for is that the only stage exit leads outside onto the patio, through a door that only opens from the inside.  After a couple of minutes of hyperactive mime from Otway, Barrett dispatches an audience member to let him back in.  Tied for this 8th spot in my list, Barrett plays the opening to Really Free stood next to a wheelie bin.  When the chorus comes around, he suddenly opens the lid, revealing his amp inside and blasting the audience, before closing it again to muffle the next verse.  You can probably get the same effect with a pedal, but it wouldn't have the same effect. 
9. The Wurzels.  So that's why they've been going for so long. 
10. The X-Factor doesn't get Christmas number one.  Enough said.