2009 was a very interesting year for me as both a concert-goer and reviewer. Early in the year, I started writing for the KEXP Blog, which resulted in me attending some shows, events, and festivals I never would have attended otherwise. On the other hand, some combination of focusing on writing for the KEXP Blog, feeling burnt-out on writing reviews (and writing in my blog in general), and being busy with other projects that caused me to develop a backlog of reviews to write, resulted in a hiatus of writing reviews for my own blog.

Even in the first half of the year, I often had long delays in getting my reviews written. I made only one post in March, not a concert review, and so in April I was still writing about shows I saw in February, as well as catching up on March; my April reviews were done in May, and one May review ended up being done in July, along with a summary post for the June concerts. Having just gone through my calendar and my email, I've also discovered that in the second half of the year I even stopped taking any notes at a lot of the shows, so in several cases I only know which band I was specifically going to see and not who else was on the bill. I forgot that I'd stopped taking notes, and now I'm annoyed with myself.

As a result, at the moment I'm writing this, I can only link to reviews from the first half of the year, save for the few times in the second half when I posted about reviews I did for the KEXP Blog. I do want to get at least some kind of short summaries written for the "missing" reviews, so hopefully over the next few weeks I'll be able to update this post with links to the rest. For now, though, here's the list of concerts I attended last year, with links to reviews when available.

January 2009
First concert at Neumos
Hazelwood Motel, The Animals at Night, Black Daisy

Second concert at Nectar Lounge
KJ Sawka, novaTRON, Shift Crew

Third concert at Chop Suey (same post as previous review)
Supreme Beings of Leisure, Carmen Rizzo, DJ LA Kendall

February 2009
First concert at the Showbox at the Market
Lykke Li, Wildbirds & Peacedrums

Second concert at the Sunset Tavern
Point Juncture WA, Hotels, The Animals at Night

Third concert at Chop Suey
Annuals, Jessica Lea Mayfield, What Laura Says

March 2009
First concert at the Crocodile
Hotels, New Faces, Romance, The Globes

Second concert at Neumos
Black Mountain, The Sadies

Third concert at the Showbox at the Market (KEXP review)
Tricky, Anomie Belle

April 2009
"Zeroth" concert at the New Crompton (did not write a review)
Christy & Emily

First concert at the Crocodile
Head Like A Kite, Wild Orchid Children, Partman Parthorse

Second concert at the Sunset Tavern
Franz Nicolay, Mostly Dimes, Moneybrother

Third concert at WaMu Theater (KEXP review)
My Bloody Valentine, Kurt Heasley, Brightblack Morning Light

May 2009
First concert at Neumos
Spectrum, Mono in VCF, The Fading Collection

Second concert at Chop Suey
Hotels, Erik Blood, Silver Teeth (missed seeing this band)

Sasquatch Music Festival 2009
Saturday: Owl City, Doves, King Khan & the Shrines, Sun Kil Moon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, James Pants
Sunday: Hockey, John Vanderslice, St. Vincent, The Airborne Toxic Event, M83, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head (aka Brite Futures)
Monday: Deerhoof, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Grizzly Bear, School of Seven Bells, Fleet Foxes, Tobacco, Chromeo

Third concert at Neumos
"John in the Morning at Night" benefit for KEXP: Pela, U.S.E., Iran, Throw Me the Statue

June 2009
First concert at Nectar Lounge (KEXP review)
The Juan MacLean, The Field

Second concert at Nectar Lounge
KJ Sawka, DJ Crime, DJ NoiseMaker

Third concert at the High Dive (same post as previous review)
Furniture Girls, Hotels, Born Anchors, Anomie Belle

July 2009
Saturday at the 2009 Capitol Hill Block Party
Hotels, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, New Faces, The Thermals, Gossip, Sonic Youth

KEXP Concerts at the Mural
July 31: Blitzen Trapper, Throw Me the Statue

August 2009
KEXP BBQ
Champagne Champagne, Born Anchors, Japandroids, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Viva Voce, Dinosaur Jr.

KEXP Concerts at the Mural
August 14: The Dodos, Army Navy
August 21: Fruit Bats, The Moondoggies, Johnny and the Moon

First concert at the High Dive
Elba, Another Perfect Crime, The Animals at Night, Skeletons with Flesh on Them

Forgotten concerts! Beehive played at the Dead Baby Bike Rally afterparty on August 7, and Hempfest on August 16

Second concert at the Crocodile (KEXP review)
Emilíana Torrini, Anya Marina

Third concert at Neumos (I actually wrote this for KEXP, but it was pre-empted by Bumbershoot and MusicFest NW coverage)
Bat for Lashes, Other Lives

September 2009
Saturday at Bumbershoot 2009
Hotels, De La Soul

First concert at El Corazón
Freezepop, Anamanaguchi, Ambulance for Angeles, Blunderbear, Ocean of Algebra

Second concert at Chop Suey
Lesbian, Kinski, Arbitron

Decibel Festival 2009 (my summary post; links below are to the KEXP reviews)
Thursday night: Michna, Lusine, Deepchord presents: Echospace, Sweatbox showcase: Ctrl_Alt_Del / Mikael Stavöstrand / Derek Plaslaiko
Friday night: Rob Hood, Frank Bretschneider, Wighnomy Brothers, Nerd Revolt, Electrosect
The Weekend: DJ Struggle, Dave Aju, Mary Ann Hobbs, Codebase, Jerry Abstract, Tim Exile, Reagenz, Mimosa, Alter Ego, An*ten*nae

October 2009
Archive summary for the month

First concert at Chop Suey
Loney Dear, Asobi Seksu, Anna Ternheim

Second concert at Neumos
School of Seven Bells, The Depreciation Guild, Warpaint

Third concert at the New Crompton
Google Maps (Jackson Tegu), Letters, Overcome by the Power of Love

Fourth concert at the Moore Theatre
Grizzly Bear, The Morning Benders

Fifth concert at the High Dive
Shim, Spanish for 100, Stereo Sons

November 2009
Archive summary for the month

First concert at the Crocodile
Hotels, Apes of Wrath, Alligators

Second concert at Heaven
KJ Sawka, (forgotten DJ)

Third concert at Nectar Lounge
Tubaluba, BeleBá, Thione Diop & Yeke Yeke

Fourth concert at Cairo Art Gallery
"Expo 87": CMYK, other bands I didn't watch

Fifth concert at the Crocodile
Head Like A Kite, Foscil, The Animals at Night

December 2009
Archive summary for the month (with November)

KEXP Yule Benefit
The Thermals, The Cave Singers, The Builders & The Butchers, Grand Hallway