We’re Lost In Music’s 2020 in Review

What is usually one of our favourite activities to complete has been something we’ve been putting off…it’s a bit heartbreaking to look back at a year of events that didn’t happen 😭

Now we’ve done it, those gigs we were lucky enough to attend in the first few months feel almost a lifetime ago. A memory that will forever remain with us is sitting in the haunting theatre hall of eartH in Dalston waiting to see Jack Garratt showcase his new album after time away. It was just days before the reality of the pandemic hit but, looking back, the signs were already there that everything was about to change.

While 2020 has been difficult for everyone for a multitude of different reasons, it was really tough having such a huge part of our lives disappear overnight. Be it the gigs, the festivals, the venues, the first times, the repeat occasions, the new discoveries, the favourites – each new cancellation or postponement announcement disappoints as much as the first did.

We’ve moved from a world of in-person experiences to watching events play out online – while it has been incredible to see so many artists and promoters embrace digital, we are counting down the days until we can be back in a sweaty room or field, surrounded by all the other people starved of their live music fix this year, united in our love for music. With so little support given to the industry, please do whatever you can to play your part in helping save our scene 🙏🏻

Until then, here are our 2020 highlights…

Let’s start with this year’s playlist. This time, of course we’ve taken a track from each artist we’ve seen (or multiple if we’ve seen them more than once), but we’ve also honoured the acts we were due to see but haven’t been able to. We’re hoping those gigs or festivals will go ahead next year. Give it a listen:

Our favourite moments:

A bit of a different one this time, featuring both gigs and the things that have helped us get through the year…

1. Glass Animals – Village Underground, London – 17/02/20 (we didn’t think we were going to make it to this gig after we missed out on tickets but friend of the blog, Maria, managed to get us guest list in the final moments!)
2. Jack Garratt – eartH, London – 09/03/20 (our last gig pre-Lockdown 1.0)
3. 30-day song challenge – As the pandemic set in, we all found new ways to cope. One thing we did was participate in the 30-day music challenge with our Gig Fam. We enjoyed it so much that, when the 30 days were up, we kept going, choosing a new category to add on each day! Here are our picks:
4. OAW Original Radio – Kate (‘the Hackney Hipster’) now has a regular slot on Friday’s lunchtime show, hosted by Brian Whitnall
5. Instagram Live and Live Stream gigs – both our least and most favourite parts of this year, offering us a way to still connect with the music we love

And the most disappointing – all of the cancellations and postponements 😒

Our favourite live acts (that we were able to see):

1. Glass Animals
2. The Murder Capital
3. Jack Garratt
4. Bicep
5. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes

Our favourite new acts (the ones we’ve just discovered):

Back next year!

Our favourite venues:

1. Village Underground, London
2. Alexandra Palace, London
3. 100 Club, London
4. eartH, London
5. The Lexington, London

Our least favourite venue this year remains SSE Wembley Arena – extortionate prices and useless service! 

Our favourite albums:

1. Glass Animals – Dreamland (released 7^th August)
2. Jack Garratt – Love, Death and Dancing (released 12^th June)
3. Caribou – Suddenly (released 28^th February)
4. IDLES – Ultra Mono (released 25^th September)
5. Mindchatter – Imaginary Audience (released 21^st October)

Really looking forward to Bicep‘s Isles due for release in January 2021! 

Our year in numbers:

• Number of gigs – 14 (only 14!! 4 of which were online – do they still count?)
• Number of gigs cancelled or postponed – also 14 (let’s hope these happen in 2021, particularly those acts that are onto their third reschedule)
• Festivals – 1 (this has been one of the biggest voids this year)
• Number of festivals cancelled or postponed – 5 (including Glastonbury – SOB)
• Number of bands we hadn’t seen before – 1 (missing all our new discoveries!)
• Act we saw the most – this is a 3 way tie between Glass Animals, Jack Garratt and The Murder Capital with 2 times each (although each included a live stream gig)
• Number of venues – 9 (we’re hoping our venues survive to see us back next year)
• Number of geographical locations – 1
• Number of countries visited – 1 (just the UK) 
• Times we ventured further afield than the UK – 0 
• Number of flights taken – 0 
• Number of trains taken – 0 
• Spotify says Kate listened to a whopping 40,449 minutes of music from 1,760 artists (849 new artists) spanning 480 genres (modern rock being the top one) and, unsurprisingly, was in the top 0.5% of Glass Animals listeners! Music really has been the answer this year ❤️

So, that’s it for 2020 – it certainly hasn’t been the year we were expecting and we’re hoping 2021 will see us return to something closer to what we love most. The 2021 calendar is already jam-packed with postponed gigs and festivals, including Glastonbury‘s 50th Anniversary (which we are praying can take place next year). Until then, stay safe everyone and let the music play!

You can stay tuned on our musical fun and adventures over on our Upcoming Events page.

We’re Lost In Music x

You can check out some of our favourite pictures from 2020 over on Flickr and Instagram or visit our YouTube channel for live clips. Links to all of our music archives can also be found on our Past Events pages.

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