2020 Year in Review … Just Missed a Million
A global pandemic and the literal ass end of a historically bad presidency forced a hard reset in 2020. Bullshit be damned, a lot of good emerged from the rubble, both musically and otherwise. With 102 days between shows pre- and post-COVID, my family shared the dinner table 102 straight times – a record unlikely to be broken with the return of youth sports, Hebrew school, and (hopefully) live music. New friendships were formed that I now couldn’t imagine living without and I’ve reached new levels of intimacy with old friends – I wouldn’t give that back for anything. The state of the world saddens me, especially today, on the heels of what was perhaps the worst day in American history. So I write in an effort towards levity and distraction. With no further ado, here’s how it shook out.
On January 1, 2020, I set a goal to dance 1,000,000 steps. On March 3, with 206,818 in the books, things were looking up. My last show pre-COVID was The Brothers at MSG on March 10 and it was my twenty-third of the year. Now almost a year later, we still have no clue when it will be safe to return to sold out arenas. But the fact that I managed to see another 39 shows and dance another 678,238 steps is some kind of miracle and I appreciated every last one of them. I also committed to write a review of every show I attended and I nearly made good on that promise, writing about fifty-nine out of sixty-two. My words have been published on nationally prominent sites like Live For Live Music, regional sites like NYS Music, and local sites like Asbury Vibes. And with your love and support, a little website called marckomito.com has had over 10,000 views. WOW.
As one of my new friends so eloquently stated, “Good music, good people, good vibes. So many people are suffering. Everyone is having a hard time in some way. We need to lift each other up. Music is the scaffolding.” With that quote as their mission statement, Summerfeet was at the nexus of all things right and good in the world. Their local shows, many of which were played in backyards (mine included!), became rallying cries for love and friendship as this band of brothers spread love through music.
Trey Anasastio, in addition to writing a gazillion songs and dropping a quarantine album (average at best ::shrug::), shared his gift in a historical eight-show residency that raised over $1 Million for the Divided Sky Fund during The Beacon Jams. A good friend wrote some incredible reviews that can be found here.
Then there was Marckomitoville … Five shows, eight bands (seven different), nine visits from the cops (just five too many lol), seventeen sets of live music, twenty-eight performance hours, forty-five new friends, two-hundred-eighty-two total guests, one-thousand-three-hundred in charitable donations, and one-hundred-seventy-five-thousand-five-hundred-thirty-two steps. Yowza.
But the MVP award for 2020 goes to GOOSE, a band who took flight and exploded onto the national scene as they broke down barriers, pushed boundaries, and pioneered an effort to redefine the new normal. They played online shows, did a virtual tour, and played drive-ins and socially distant pod shows before capping the year with a holiday stream from a Rockerfeller Center rooftop. Check out their year in review.
Browse my homepage or run and use the search bar for a review of all shows listed. Or just click the links cuz I made it easy for ya.
Favorite 3-night run … JRAD @ The Cap (2/21, 2/22, 2/23)
Favorite 2-night run (Pre-COVID) … TAB @ The Cap (1/10, 1/11)
Favorite 2-night run (Post-COVID) … Goose @ South Farms (11/6, 11/7)
Favorite 2-night run (Post-COVID) Runner-Up … Goose @ South Farms (9/16, 9/17)
Best performance of a new band … The Bogie Band ft. Joe Russo @ Brooklyn Bowl 1/12/20
Breakout band … Dogs In A Pile
Breakout artist .. Mike Jaskewicz
Band of the year … Goose
Honorable mention and a very close second place … Summerfeet
Best solo performance … Tom Hamilton 9/4/20
Best revival show … The Brothers @ MSG 3/10/20
Show of the year … Jon Batiste @ Rockwood Music Hall 2/24/20
Most seen bands:
Cosmic … 11
Summerfeet … 7
Goose … 6
Dogs In A Pile … 4
JRAD … 3
Karina Rykman … 3
Most missed shows for ticketed events:
Pearl Jam … 6
JRAD … 3
Goose … 3
The show I missed (twice) that I’m still not over … Circles Around The Sun ft. Scott Metzger
Most visited venues:
Marckomitoville … 5
Capitol Theatre … 5
South Farms … 4
Woodbrige HS … 4
Favorite venue … Marckomitoville (duh!?!)
Most steps (Two Set Show) … Dogs In A Pile @ LNC 10/31/20 … 21,900
Most Steps (Three Set Show) … Cosmic @ Marckomitoville 10/3/20 … 29,339
Most Steps (One Day) … Marckomitoville: Black Dogs In A Pile Edition 8/8/20 … 44,942
Year end show total (all but 3 reviewed on marckomito.com) … 62
Step total … 885,056
Love wins y’all.