Time for another hardy perennial thread. The only difficulty in picking a favourite, this year, is deciding between Albert Hall first night, Albert Hall second night and Somerset House. The latter was a very different occasion, of course, and hugely enjoyable but the thrill of hearing the new songs for the first time (plus the GMB gathering) makes my favourite gig:

Goldfrapp @ Albert Hall, Manchester (1st night).

I've been to around 30 gigs this year. Some are easy inclusions in the rest of my top 10 and after some pondering, the rest of my top 10 are:

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds @ Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Dandylion @ Beta, Copenhagen
John Grant @ Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
London Grammar @ Oran Mor, Glasgow
Steve Mason @ Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh
Laura Mvula & Beth Rowley @ Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
Pumajaw @ Summerhall, Edinburgh
Sigur Ros @ SECC, Glasgow
Lisa Stansfield @ Queen's Hall, Edinburgh

I've been to 2 Festivals this year and seen some amazing performances. My favourite was unexpected in that it was a jaw-dropping visual spectacle, vibrant, uplifting and completely different from what I'd envisaged. My favourite is:

The Knife @ Electric Picnic.

The rest of the top 10 were easy to pick:

Bjork @ Electric Picnic
David Byrne & St Vincent @ Electric Picnic
Chvrches @ T in the Park
Dark Tasche @ Electric Picnic
Foals @ T in the Park
Kraftwerk @ T in the Park
Meltybrains @ Electric Picnic
Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters @ Electric Picnic
Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ T in the Park

Looking forward to 2014. I suspect those gigs I've got booked already will feature highly in next year's list.