Source: morecowbell.net

I’ve been pouring over my list of shows in 2006, attempting to compile this list, but it’s nearly impossible to say which shows were better than others.

Take Sleater-Kinney for example. This was certainly the most dramatic show, and I have to tell the story surrounding that drama. I Metro’d to the 9:30, as I often do. Also, as often happens, I heard some sirens walking to the club; however, this time it was the Fire Marshall’s SUV screaming down 8th Street (the block the club is on). I thought, “I wonder where he’s going,” just to finish my thought in time to see the Fire Marshall stop at the club. His truck pulled along the side of a police car, fire truck, and an electric company’s vehicle. The front gate of the club was nearly shut and the front block of the club was blocked off. To keep this story from getting any longer, the show was canceled, but S-K returned to the club after another scheduled gig to play our show. It made the last time I would see S-K even more memorable, knowing they cared enough about the tour to come back and play this show even though it was making their last tour that much more difficult. Then they were off to Lollapalooza the next day. And in case you are wondering, a transformer directly under the club had apparently started a little bit on fire.

The rest after the fold.

The rest of the shows I saw last year had much less drama, but that certainly didn’t impact the quality or the crowd’s emotions.

The Appleseed Cast played an explosive set at Baltimore’s Ottobar, and had their amps turned at least to 10.5.

I saw M. Ward for the first time at the American-bandstand style Birchmere, and my jaw was open for his entire set. His guitar playing completely blew me away.

I finally took the jump to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at the 9:30 Club. While I wish I would have seen them in a smaller club, I’ve always enjoyed their music and had a long enough drought in shows that I went. It was a great concert, and I was really surprised as to how well the songs from their gospel-inspired Howl played alongside their rockers.

The Hold Steady came out strong and played a great set at the Black Cat. This was also my first time catching them, and I was definitely not disappointed (although the Budweiser may have helped, thanks Arnold).

I was fortunate enough to end my year with, My Morning Jacket and an epic performance at the 9:30 Club, and I managed to grab a few decent photos as well.

Addendum: I just realized I left out one of the best evenings of 2006: Wilco @ the 9:30 Club. As some of you may recall from mine and Travis’ previous post, we were fortunate enough to assist with the webcast of Wilco from the 9:30. It was a great show, that featured many of my favorite old Wilco songs. We had a great evening and hope to do it again sometime! Thanks to everyone who made that possible.

While many of the others were not terrible by any measure, I felt these were the most stand-out acts I was fortunate enough to see in 2006. And because I saw only 24 shows last year, here’s my list in its entirety.

The links will direct you to photos I took at the concerts.

Source: morecowbell.net

All of these shows have no cover! Thursday December 20th, 2007: Mel Gibson & The Pants @ Nomad (9:00 pm) iQuit Music …

Source: morecowbell.net

I’ve been pouring over my list of shows in 2006, attempting to compile this list, but it’s nearly impossible to say which …

Source: morecowbell.net

I figured i’d finish off my year end lists (Favorite Songs list to follow).
I didn’t see quite as many shows in 2006 …