Best of: Top 25: My favourite concert photos of 2018

The experience of the concert itself cannot be separated from the photos. The photos are a reminder of what was; a method of communicating what the show was like. I can't objectively say, "This is a great photo from a performance I just didn't dig." So, my favourite concert photos may as well be my favourite concerts, or performances of the year. They capture, in image form, something special from a performance that moved me.

Click through on the venue/festival names for the full posts of photos.

As always, a special thank you to all the wonderful industry people who let me into the festivals and venues to make these photos and take in these shows, and to you for looking at the photos, reading my words, and listening to the music.

And if you haven't checked them out yet, follow the links to my Favourite Songs of 2018 and Favourite Albums of 2018 posts. It was a great year for music!

I couldn't be more pleased with this shot of Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne at Riverfest Elora. After shooting from the pit, I got a good spot to take in the rest of the show. It gave me a perfect spot to capture Wayne Coyne surfing across the crowd in his hamster ball. I love the balloons, the fans' hands and Wayne's pose in the ball. Check out all the rest of my shots from this set here, including the laser hands and an exploding, confetti filled balloon. Woot!

July Talk are one of my favourite live bands. They attract huge crowds and create a frenzy every time they play. I knew going in that this show at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern for CMW was going to be crazy due to the intimate size of the venue combined with their fans' enthusiasm. This shot captures the band, some of the crowd and the scrum of photographers at the front to capture it all. What a crazy time!

Dizzy has become one of my favourite bands with their intimate tunes and Katie Munshaw's unselfconscious and emotive stage presence. This shot from Field Trip captures the joy of Katie's performance perfectly.

Frightened Rabbit is one of my favourite bands. I love the songs so much. I was so happy to see their performance at The Mod Club celebrating the tenth anniversary of The Midnight Organ Fight. I never thought that it would be my last time ever seeing Scott Hutchison perform. Scott's passing broke my heart for so many reasons. I didn't know him personally, but I'm saddened that his illness caused him to take his life. We need more awareness of mental health issues and need more help so that people like Scott get the help they need to live another day and help others.

I'd never seen Yeah Yeah Yeahs perform live until Field Trip. I loved their show and loved them again at Osheaga. This shot of Karen O typifies their performance and the spectacle they put on while playing such amazing tunes.

One of my favourite bands: Chvrches. One of my favourite venues: The Danforth Music Hall. And one of my favourite lenses: the fisheye. What more can I say?

A very early 2018 show by Alexis Krauss and the rest of Sleigh Bells at The Mod Club yielded this shot. It took quite a bit of post-processing but I love how it turned out. The band always puts on a high-energy show and I just love their music.

Pale Waves puts on a polished show and Heather Baron-Gracie delivers some awesome stage moves. I liked this one from their show at The Velvet Underground.

At this year's Riverfest Elora, Sam Coffey and The Iron Lungs became my new favourite band. Their songs are amazing, their energy infectious and their Sam's stage presence unparalleled. And I love that I got this shot.

Brutal Youth put on a gigantically intense show at The Horseshoe Tavern ahead of The Creepshow's headlining set. I love this shot, capturing the power of the performance.

Dream Wife has to get recognition as a band that absolutely blew my mind with the power of their performance. They may have been warming up The Horseshoe Tavern crowd for Sunflower Bean, but they made sure not one person in attendance would forget about them. Incredible.

I got to see Johnny Marr twice in 2018. This shot is from the intimate first show at The Velvet Underground. I felt so lucky to be there and to capture this absolute legend of alternative music, songwriting and guitar playing in action. Wow. His performance later in the year at The Phoenix Concert Theatre was amazing as well.

The Hold Steady are one of my favourite bands and put on an incredible live show, thanks in large part to their enthusiastic and dedicated fans. This year, I went to all four nights of their four-night stand at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. I only brought my camera on the first night and this is one of my favourite shots. Once again, the fisheye comes into service to capture the whole band on stage.

Yungblud blew my mind with his energy at his NXNE performance at Yonge-Dundas Square. He was hard to keep up with and he provided so many amazing photo opportunities. I just love this moment in particular. The next time I saw him, he had a broken leg, but still put on a manic performance at The Rivoli.

The legalization of cannabis in Canada was a momentous occasion as we became the second country on the planet to legalize recreational cannabis. Local radio station Indie 88 put on a party at The Phoenix Concert Theatre to celebrate and Japandroids headlined. They're one of my favourite bands, they put on a great show and I got both of them in this photo! The rest of my pics are here.

One of the only artists to have two photos on this list, Sam Coffey and The Iron Lungs put on amazing live performances. This shot of Sam with his winged costume from their show at The Phoenix Concert Theatre opening for Frank Turner was just perfect. Now if I could only capture a really good jump shot of him...

This year, photographer Brad Goldstein started contributing to One In Ten Words. His shots are fantastic, but this shot of Leon Bridges at Echo Beach stands out. I look forward to more of Brad's contributions in 2019.

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue were a huge highlight of Field Trip this summer. I love this shot for the interaction between the band members and how that tambourine kind of becomes a halo.

The colours, the motion, the intensity of this shot sums up a Metric live show. I captured the band as they returned after some time away with a great set at Field Trip.

Dizzy is the other act that made it onto this list with two photos. This one is from their incredible performance at Royal Mountain Records Festival at The Royal Botanical Gardens' Arboretum in Hamilton. The way the sun shines through the stage smoke and the natural backdrop of trees, along with Katie's unbridled joy and enthusiasm make this one of my favourite shots.

I remember being really tired by the end of the first day of Hillside. I dug deep to walk all the way to the stage that Cadence Weapon was performing on. But the shots I was able to get of his performance made it worth it. Here's my favourite from that set. Check out that fierce determination on his face.

Carole Pope is an inspiration; for the music she made, for the battles she fought, for being badass and courageous and bold and confident and trailblazing and empowering. So many people would not be able to live the lives that they can today without people like Carole putting up with and fighting through adversity that no one should have to endure. And the music that Carole made with Rough Trade made a strong impression on me from a very young age. It was an honour to witness her performance at Riverfest Elora and to capture these photos. Special thanks to the wonderful people who let me interrupt their view so I could capture these images.

Barns Courtney puts on a crowd-pleasing performance. I love the way this captures Barns surfing The Danforth Music Hall crowd as he and his band heated things up for The Wombats.

Calpurnia is one of the biggest breakthrough bands of 2018. I saw them perform three times and photographed them twice; first at Royal Mountain Records Festival and then at The Phoenix Concert Theatre. Great band; great tunes; great people. Thanks to the band for sharing my photos, special thanks to Finn: really glad you liked the photo and shared it, and thanks to Calpurnia’s fans for following and liking so many of my shots this year. Stick around for all the great music I’ll continue to capture in photos.

The ambience at a festival or concert does a lot to contribute to the experience. The setting for Royal Mountain Records Festival at The Royal Botanical Gardens' Arboretum in Hamilton was so idillic; the wide open space, so perfectly surrounded by mature trees and the fact that they left the back of the stage open to that natural backdrop, left a solid and positive impression on me. This post has links to every performer from that magical day. I can't wait for more festivals on this beautiful site.

Sleigh Bells at The Mod Club - Concert Photos

Sleigh Bells have got to be one of my all-time favourite bands. I've loved the band since I first heard "Rill Rill" when their debut album Treats came out in 2010. I've seen them three times now and I think I love them more every time.

If you like them on record, you will love them live. Buzzsaw guitars, crazy-intense drum machine beats along with Alexis Krauss' exquisite singing and insane energy come across so well from the stage. The crowd goes nuts and the energy exchange between the band and audience builds and builds.

This show started off with "Blue Trash Mattress Fire" from their new EP Kid Kruschev. The set then jumped back to Treats, on to 2016's Jessica Rabbit, 2013's Bitter Rivals, and 2012's Reign of Terror. I would have loved to hear "Lighting Turns Sawdust Gold" but their set was pretty much perfect as-is. Alexis jumped into the crowd during "Crown On The Ground", which capped off their main set, and again during the final tune of the encore, "Rill Rill".

Another awesome show by the brilliant Sleigh Bells that only serves to make me want to see them again as soon as possible.

Check out my favourite Sleigh Bells tunes, following the order of their powerful setlist.

"Riot Rhythm"

"Favourite Transgressions"

"Comeback Kid"

"I Can Only Stare"

"It's Just Us Now"

"Bitter Rivals"

"Infinity Guitars"

"Demons"

Final song of the main set, "Crown On The Ground"

First song of the encore, "And Saints", which was featured on my Favourite Songs of 2017 list

"Rill Rill", which I've never heard them play live before.

Best of: Top 25: My favourite concert photos of 2017

So a lot of humanity decided to double down on stupid in 2017. What are you going to do? There’s no cure for it. And America may be becoming the world cancer. And people have to learn to respect each other and treat each other right. Shouldn’t be difficult, but somehow it seems that it is.

But we have music. And most of the experiences around it are filled with joy, love and positivity. I personally find that I need music in my life, and especially the live music experience, to make my heart right, and to give some balance, and to make me feel like a complete being.

Artists are often tortured souls, with feelings they can’t and won’t contain, with stories to tell, visions to share, a different worldview, a sense of being out of place, of not fitting in, of sadness mixed with passion, of being different, but a desire to share and find like-minded souls. Thank you to the artists brave enough to listen to their guts and to take the risk to put themselves out there. It’s not easy to be that vulnerable and work that hard for art. I often wish I had done more to put my own art out there.

Take a look at my other Best of 2017 lists: My 50 Favourite Songs of 2017 and My 20 Favourite Albums of 2017. 

I love Scotland's Biffy Clyro. Their show at The Phoenix in Toronto was incredible. I'm pretty pleased I managed to get this action shot of singer Simon Neil. From the moment I snapped it, I've loved it. Check out the rest of the photos from this show here.

Mother Mother are always fun to shoot. This shot came from their show last summer at Riverfest Elora. It breaks all kinds of rules, and I can't stop looking at it. That must mean something. The rest of the photos from this show are here.

You don't see a lot of accordion players in bands these days, and you certainly don't get as many who can look as cool playing it as Gogol Bordello's Pasha Newmer. It's another shot from Riverfest Elora that I just can't stop looking at. The rest of the Gogol Bordello shots from this show are here.

Ah, summer, how much I love thee. And I love I Mother Earth, too. This shot came from IME's end-of-summer show at The Ex. Edwin's enthusiasm and energy are captured perfectly here. The rest of the photos are here.

USS got the crowd going full tilt at Riverfest Elora. I love this shot of Jason "Human Kebab" Parsons riding on a wave of the crowd. All my pics of USS at Riverfest Elora are here.

The photos of Pale Waves from their show at The Baby G somehow begged for more contrast. In the end, not much grey remained. I really enjoyed the band's show and how the photos came out. They're all here for your amusement. They're back in town on April 9 at The Velvet Underground. Hopefully, I'll capture more shots of the band at that show.

I knew The Dirty Nil would give good photos based on what I've seen from some of my photo friends. I was not disappointed. The hard part was picking one photo to include in this list. All the photos from The Dirty Nil's Riverfest Elora show are here.

Sumo Cyco are a fantastic live band and an awesome band to photograph. Skye Sweetnam, a.k.a. Sever, and the guys do their best to rock the crowd and I can only try to keep up and capture some of that energy. I loved this shot from their high-energy CMW show at The Bovine Sex Club. All the photos are here.

The Balconies are a fantastic live band with great songs and are wonderful to photograph. I loved this shot from their CMW show at Adelaide Hall. Sadly, the band is calling it quits. Happliy, there are a couple of shows left for us all to enjoy them one last time. Click here for show info. I'll be at The Horseshoe show on February 1; hopefully with camera in tow. All the pics from the band's CMW show are here.

I love Wolf Alice and I've been lucky enough to photograph each one of their Toronto shows. I like this severe crop of singer-guitarist Ellie Rowsell from their recent Danforth Music Hall show. All the pics are here.

Cults was one of the first bands I ever photographed with a proper camera back in 2014. I got to try again when they played Lee's Palace again this year. This is my favourite shot of singer Madeline Follin. The rest of the shots are here.

This year marked my first time attending and photographing Osheaga. I got to spend the weekend in Montreal for a rain-soaked adventure shooting for Canadian Beats. These shots of Lorde, Death From Above 1979 and Rag and Bone Man are some of my favourites. All of the coverage is over at Canadian Beats' site and their Facebook album.

I got myself right up front for Japandroids amazing Danforth Music Hall show. I questioned my wisdom since I'm not much of a mosh pit guy, but the crowd was great and the band allowed me some great photos. This is my favourite from this fantastic show. The rest of the pics are here.

If you've read this blog much before, you know of my love for the music of The Lowest of the Low. I had a perfect spot for their sold-out Danforth Music Hall show and caught many amazing shots, including this one. The rest are here.

Sleigh Bells put out some of the most sonically unique, high-energy earworms that you'll ever hear. They put on one of the most incredible live shows, too. This shot of Alexis Krauss from NXNE Portlands is one of my favourites. I can't wait for their Mod Club show on January 28. I'll be there, hopefully with my camera.

K.Flay puts on one hell of a show. The music and her presence make for a powerful experience. I love this shot from the show this past summer at Riverfest Elora. Check out the rest of the pics here. I'm hoping to be at The Danforth Music Hall on March 15 to experience it again.

Broods singer Georgia Nott is an incredible presence on stage. I embraced the red for this shot from their show at Danforth Music Hall. The rest of the photos from that show are here.

The Pursuit of Happiness has been one of my favourite bands for decades. Their debut album Love Junk spun it's perfect power pop on my turntable and then on my i-devices throughout the years. I loved every second of their show at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern for the dive bar's 70th anniversary and I hope to see them again soon. All my photos from this show are here.

Bully rock. They put on a great show at Lee's Palace and this photo captures the attitude and energy of singer Alicia Bognanno. The rest of my shots are here.

I liked this moody shot from Slowdive's Danforth Music Hall show earlier this year. The rest of the photos are here.

I love the interaction between Stars' Amy Millan and Feist during Broken Social Scene's performance at Field Trip this past summer.

I love the brotherhood captured by this shot of Le Trouble from their CMW show at Adelaide Hall. The rest of the photos are here.

As night fell, the trees behind the stage at Riverfest Elora revealed greater and greater evil. I captured this photo but was too terrified to get closer. All my Riverfest Elora pics are available from this post.