Plant, Prine and 2006

I still haven't written about the John Prine gig I went to a few months ago, and I had intended to before the year's end but I guess I've missed that deadline now! If I had already written about it, I'd have said it was one of the unexpected highlights of the year. I say unexpected because there are certain gigs I've attended last year where I knew they would be great; Springsteen at the Albert Hall back in May, for example, or CSN in Birmingham. Robert Plant at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on December the 12th would also be included in my list of surprisingly excellent gigs of 2005. The thing about both of these gigs were that my expectations were not astronomically high. I'm certainly more familiar with Plant's work than I was with Prine's, but didn't hold either in such high regard as someone like Steve Earle or Springsteen, and so wasn't expecting anything like the charismatic, absorbing performances that I got. After seeing both live, I have a new appreciation for their talents; indeed, both Prine and Plant's latest albums would easily be included in my top ten of 2005 (assuming that Prine's album was released in 2005, I can't be bothered to check this morning). Looking back, 2005 was an amazing year for gigs (Sigur Ros and Bob Dylan aside), and I look forward to some great gigs in 2006. Some of which are already booked…