Year in review: The live music gigs that made the greatest noise in 2022 | Newcastle Herald

Gig schedules for months on end simply read “cancelled” or “postponed”.

Thousands of livelihoods evaporated for everyone from artists, to support crews to venue bookers, and many left the industry permanently.

In terms of the recovery, there were many false dawns. Socially-distanced seated shows never sufficed and the subsequent Delta and Omicron waves continued to cripple the supposed comeback year of 2021.

In 2022 music fans finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

In March the troubled Under The Southern Stars at Maitland Showground became the first music festival in Australia since early 2020 to host international talent, when US acts Cheap Trick and Stone Temple Pilots and British post-grunge band Bush performed.

The Hunter’s biggest annual festival, Groovin’ The Moo, bounced back in April with international bands Wolf Alice (UK) and Milky Chance (GER) and the unseasonal cold spring and summer was heated up by the return of the big winery shows led by Crowded House, Ireland’s The Corrs and Las Vegas legends, The Killers.

Still, the music industry isn’t completely back to normal. This That and Scene & Heard cancelled their 2022 festivals due to financial factors brought on by rising insurance, a weaker economy and glut of competition.

Ticket sales are also slower across the board compared to pre-COVID times.

Despite the gloom, live music found a way and continued to thrill. Perhaps more than ever.

Here we revisit 10 of the best concerts in the Hunter in 2022.

YOU’D be hard pressed to find a more spectacular show to draw the curtain on 2022.

The Killers were simply brilliant. This was a masterclass in stadium rock, and how to transform a 20,000-person arena into a singing and heaving mass.

The Las Vegas new-wave revivalists had Hope Estate’s mostly 30-something crowd singing along from the minute the gun-fire guitar riff of When You Were Young blasted across Hunter wine country.

The near-two-hour set was filled with anthem after anthem as charismatic frontman Brandon Flowers tore through Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine, Smile Like You Mean It and Read My Mind.

He was the consummate rock’n’roll frontman mixed with a heavy dose of Las Vegas pizzazz.

We wrote: “Flowers might be 41, but he was as energetic as ever, running around the stage in his black suit and leaping up onto the platform above the crowd like he was Tom Cruise jumping up on Oprah Winfrey’s couch.”

It’s difficult to remember a louder singalong than what Hope Estate generated for the closing Mr Brightside.

“You know God made Saturday nights for rock’n’roll,” Flowers told the audience. He made a believer out of the most cynical.

BEFORE stepping inside the Newcastle Entertainment Centre everyone knew this was going to be a special night.

There was heavy anticipation in the air. For more than 40 years Midnight Oil have earned a reputation through blood, sweat and unapologetic conviction as one of Australia’s best ever live acts.

In their farewell Newcastle show, Peter Garrett & co reached their own high bar and surpassed it.

We wrote: “It was blistering. It was typically infused with forthright progressive politics. Most of all, it was a bloody good rock’n’roll show, orchestrated by a band who over more than 40 years have built a reputation as an electrifying live act.”

Despite this being The Oils’ moment, they were generous as ever in using their platform to promote the next generation.

Talented singer-songwriters Leah Flanagan and Liz Stringer joined on backing vocals and took many of their songs, and in particular King Of The Mountain, to fresh harmonic heights.

There were no teary farewells when The Oils left the stage after their 23-song set. But what they did leave us with was an unshakeable belief in the power and passion of rock’n’roll.

THERE’S plenty of great entertainers, but watching a true artist at work is a far more elusive experience.

Nick Cave is a performance artist. He doesn’t merely play his songs, he sacrifices a slice of his soul on stage as if performing an exorcism for the front row.

Last week’s performance at the Civic Theatre with his long-time Bad Seeds and Grinderman collaborator, Warren Ellis, was an evening of strange contrasts.

Cave was warm and personal, and even funny, but his beautifully-mournful lyrics spoke to his personal grief and existential fear. This was coupled with Ellis’ chilling electronic soundscape and three-part harmonies of backing singers Janet Ramus, Wendi Rose and T Jae Cole.

While the set was dominated by Cave’s most recent albums Ghosteen (2019) and Carnage (2021), his power to engage the audience ensured the new material sat nicely with old favourites The Ship Song and Into My Arms.

“For pure theatrics Hand Of God was magnificent,” we wrote. “Ellis’ throbbing synths created the tension before Cave stepped into the crowd like a southern preacher pressing the flesh with a faithful congregation, who chanted “hand of God” as if in a trance.

“Many thought the pandemic would have eliminated this sort of audience interaction, but human touch and connection have seemingly grown more essential to Cave.”

CROWDED House could be forgiven for thinking some higher power didn’t want this concert to happen.

Firstly it was postponed from April after Neil Finn caught COVID at Bluesfest and then a spectacular lightning storm threatened to wash out the sold-out Hunter Valley show when the weather turned nasty during the support set from Boy & Bear.

However, Crowded House and Bimbadgen persevered and we were rewarded with a triumphant singalong that included a treasure trove of classics like When You Come, It’s Only Natural, Split Enz cover I Got You, Weather With You and Don’t Dream It’s Over.