2025 - My Favorite of the Year

Another long year, made slightly more bearable by a ton of great entertainment. For the 32312380th straight year, I found myself saying “It’s been a great year for [thing].” And while I don’t see as many live shows as I did in my prime, almost every show was an Important Band for me. So let’s start with those.

CONCERTS

  • OASIS - Met Life Stadium, September 1. Look, I saw Oasis at The Stone Pony when Liam flipped off the crowd for 3 songs, so I’ve seen them at their worst. The fact that 30 years later they played maybe the most fun Stadium Show I’ve ever seen is remarkable. Liam sounded so good, even for the 2nd night of back-to-backs. They made Judy Greer cry. There’s so much to dislike about Oasis and the "Lad Culture” of their heyday, but fuck if Noel Gallagher isn’t the greatest sing-along songwriter of his generation.

  • Destination:Superdrag (The Troubadour, LA, June 20/21, Bowery Ballroom, NYC, October 3/4). If I really had to pick my favorite band, its probably Superdrag. Great shows (though none probably matched the first Chicago 2024 show). Getting the chance to shoot the shows was a huge bonus. I got an email from a random fan at the first LA show about how important the photo I got of him and his friend was that was super touching.

  • The Beths, [all over the place]. I wrote about seeing a bunch of The Beths shows this year so just go read that if you want.

  • Karate, Underground Arts, Philly, June 12. The novelty of seeing Karate again has started to wear off since they’ve played more consistently the past few years, but I’ve never get tired of hearing Sever live.

  • Alcest, Union Transfer, Philly, February 20. The best metal band in decades finally comes back to the states.

  • Other noteworthy shows:

    • The Decemberists, Wind Creek Casino, Bethlehem, PA, July 22. A killer version of Rusalka, Rusalka / Wild Rushes, and a cover of Paranoid the day after Ozzy died.

    • Bob Mould (3 shows)

    • The Dandy Warhols, Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore PA, May 14

    • Rocket, Warehouse on Watts, Philly, November 7.

ALBUMS

As for the music itself, it’s almost impossible to keep up with it all, and I didn’t do a very good job of that this year for sure. There’s the The Beths latest, and a number of bands that would fit perfectly on a tour with them (fanclubwallet, Fortitude Valley). There’s more and more variety in black metal, from consistent greats like Saor, to guitar-riff masters Wode, to the what-the-fuck-is-going-on dance metal of Witchyre, to the one-woman maelstrom that is Lust Hag. The resurgent power of 70 and 80s metal continues to grow stronger every year, from Scorpion Child’s gothy metal, to Time Rift’s hard rock, to Castle Rat’s Sabbathian medieval fantasy. Shoegaze and the 90s are back in a big way from Momma’s Veruca Salt homage, to Coach Party’s shiny grungey pop, to FOMIES’ fuzzy garage rock. So my favorite albums, in no particular order:

SONGS

There are a good dozen potential Song of the Year contenders for me. Momma’s “I Love You (Fever) would be the winner in just about any other year. But ultimately, its got to be The Beths’ Take. As I wrote in the tour recap:

The single encore for most of the tour, it’s a definite deviation from the bright guitars and harmonies that made the band’s reputation. [Bassist Benjamin] Sinclair’s fuzzy pulsing bass, and [drummer Tristan] Deck’s almost dance-y drums power the song forward. [Singer/Guitarist Elizabeth] Stokes takes a rare guitar solo, bouncing around the stage, burning through a repeated note over and over as it becomes more distorted and wailing. The lyrics are obtuse, moody; the background vocals are short yelps, almost harsh. It’s a dark song to end the show on. It gives me chills.

Some other songs that blew my mind:

For the worst song, it’s probably that Limp Bizkit/Morgan Wallen thing. But let’s go with a favorite thing I hate: breathy lounge music from actors. Emma Hunt is gorgeous. Her music is so bad, and Subway Trash is a great example of why.

TV SHOWS

I still watch way too much TV. Some highlights:

  • Say Nothing [Hulu] - Adaptation from book about the Northern Ireland "Troubles".

  • Cunk on Life - Hubble Scene [Netflix]

  • A Muerte (“Love You To Death”) [Apple TV] - Guy diagnosed with cancer falls for party girl.

  • Severance S2 [Apple TV]

  • 50 Years of SNL Music Documentary [Peacock]

  • The Studio, especially S1 E2 (The Oner) [Apple TV]

  • The Righteous Gemstones [HBO Max]. It wasn’t my favorite season, but it deserves a spot for Keefe’s Satan Piss monologue alone.

  • Conan O'Brien Must Go S2 [HBO Max]

  • 100 Foot Wave - S3 E4 (The Eddie) [HBO Max]

  • Ocean (David Attenborough documentary) [Disney+]. Attenborough stops fucking around and shows how we’re destroying the oceans - its a hard watch.

  • The Diplomat S3 E6 [Netflix]

  • Death by Lightning [especially Matthew Macfayden] [Netflix]

  • Loot S3 [Apple TV]

  • Dexter: Resurrection [Showtime/Paramount+]

  • The Lowdown S1, E5 [the Peter Dinklage episode]

Worst TV show I saw this year was probably Lioness S2. S1 was bad enough, I don’t know we wasted time with S2.

BOOKS

A really good year in books - I read more than I expected, which was a bonus in itself.

OTHER RANDOM STUFF

  • The Conan and Jordan podcast episodes.

  • The Wrestling Brain Twitch channel/podcast/discord

  • The Vanity Fair Trump Administration photoshoot. GENIUS.