CityLife

Katie Popperwell's top five

QUITE A YEAR: Elbow's Guy Garvey

My Brightest Diamond @ Sacred Trinity Church - Shara Worden is like a cross between Jeff Buckley and Kim Gordon. Put her in a church with cabaret-style performance effects and you practically have a formula for a religious experience (for a certain type of whimsical riot girl anyway).

No Age @ Islington Mill - This gig made me feel like I was at CBGBs in the ‘70s; their post-punk LA hardcore rampaging transformed the most beard-stroking of gig goers into reckless headbangers in a matter of minutes.

Everything Everything @ Deaf Institute - An unexpected entry. These boys are sparklingly talented and combine casual lyrical intelligence with relentlessly catchy melodies and top notch harmonising. It helped that they were also rather easy on the eye...

Elbow @ Apollo - The homecoming gig after the Mercury Prize. Need I say more? The X-Factor touches, glitter guns and balloon nets, were the icing on the cake.

The Whip @ Academy 2 - These guys are getting better and better. Their fans are almost feverishly excited and their live performances have a raw energy that feels more substantially punk rock than the 'dance' label allows.