Live Performance of the Year 2012

I didn't get to as many gigs as usual in 2012, but these strike me as the highlights. The Roscoe Mitchell performance is gig of the year for a whole host of reasons, not least because it represented sadly the first and last time I got to see the ebullient, wonderful Tony Marsh but also because of Roscoe's incredible prowess and ceaseless imagination.  The other gigs in italics might constitute a top 10, but I find it hard to rank gigs so formally.

Michael Chapman and Dean McPhee at The Lexington
Orchestra Baobab at The Barbican
D'Angelo at Brixton Academy
Field Music at King's College Students' Union
Lambchop and Cortney Tidwell at The Barbican (I seem to enjoy Lambchop more in concert than on record these days)
Sweet Billy Pilgrim at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen
Gail Brand and Mark Sanders at the North London Tavern
Roscoe Mitchell, John Edwards and Tony Marsh at Cafe Oto
Elvis Costello at Royal Albert Hall
Cath Roberts' Quaderaceratops at The Forge
The Afghan Whigs and The Make-Up at ATP
Jaga Jazzist at The Barbican
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in Hyde Park
Paul Simon's Graceland in Hyde Park
Robert Ellis in Hyde Park
Cambridge Folk Festival - especially for sets from Nic Jones, Roy Harper, Anais Mitchell and Michael Chorney, JuJu and Eska
Grandaddy at Shepherd's Bush Empire (better than I remember them being the first time around)
Dexys at The Barbican
Alasdair Roberts at The Old Queen's Head (Nest Collective)
The Golden Age of Steam at The Vortex
Radiohead at The O2
Christoph Stiefel/Trish Clowes at Pizza Express Jazz Club
Becca Stevens at Pizza Express
Grizzly Bear at Brixton Academy
Ambrose Akinmusire at Southbank
Korea Moves with Tim Garland at St James's, Piccadilly
Michael Wollny at St James's, Piccadilly
Liam Noble Solo Piano at St James's, Piccadilly
Gwilym Simcock at St James's, Piccadilly
Trish Clowes plays Barbara Thompson at St James's, Piccadilly
Jessie Ware at Brixton Electric
Julianna Barwick at Cafe Oto
Singing Adams at The Vortex