THE BEST CONCERTS OF 2021
OUR FAVORITE SHOWS FROM A YEAR OF PENT-UP EXCITEMENT TO HEAR LIVE MUSIC
The return of live music was not a given in 2021, as evidenced by the fact that most concert venues were closed for at least the first half of the year because of the COVID-19 shutdown.
That made the resumption of in-person concerts, after nearly 16 months of shuttered stages and remote livestreams, a cause for celebration and caution.
Concerts were back at last, but for how long? And how safe was it to attend them? The latter question took on greater urgency by late fall when some European countries began shuttering events again.
In San Diego, as elsewhere, health protocols and comfort levels varied from show to show and venue to venue, indoors and out.
But the record number of 2021 sellouts here at such disparate venues as the Belly Up, the Casbah, Humphreys Concerts by the Bay and the San Diego Symphony’s new Rady Shell at Jacobs Park spoke volumes. Clearly, music fans wanted to experience live performances again, in real time and in person, sitting, standing and dancing with like-minded fans.
These are 10 of my favorite 2021 concerts.
(tie) Willie Nelson & Family Oct. 17, Cal Coastal Credit Union Amphitheatre at SDSU;
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram Sept. 11, AimLoan.com 11th annual San Diego Blues Festival, presented by the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank, Embarcadero Marina Park
There’s a 66-year age difference between Willie Nelson and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, but both share a passion for music as deep and vibrant as it is irresistible.
Nelson, 88, sang with renewed strength and suppleness, following several years of failing health (his decision to stop smoking pot shortly before the pandemic began is clearly paying dividends). He made even his most weathered songs — including the blues-drenched “Night Life” — sound, much like Nelson himself, utterly and wonderfully timeless.
Ingram, 22, was electrifying from the first note of his rollicking opening number, “She Calls Me Kingfish,” to the final guitar flurry of his concluding selection, “Catfish Blues” (a song that is five years older than Willie Nelson). Playing up a storm and singing with gusto throughout, onstage and standing in the audience, Ingram all but levitated at times. So did cheering fans hailing an ascending new star.
Nas Aug. 10, Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Accompanied by the San Diego Symphony, New York hip-hop mainstay Nas’ first concert anywhere since late 2020 was a rousing trip down memory lane. He enthusiastically revisited his landmark 1994 album “Illmatic” with palpable verve for a sold-out audience that included La Jolla
power couple Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz.
Granted, such Nas gems as “N.Y. State of Mind,” “One Love” and “The World Is Yours” don’t offer much latitude for orchestral arrangements. And the one-night-only exclusion of many profanities in his lyrics left some fans tongue-tied as they rapped along. But the concert’s triumphant air was undeniable.
Ziggy Marley May 30, Petco Park
Attendance was reduced to 7,000 in the 42,445-seat stadium, and seven of the 10 musicians onstage were masked. But that didn’t stop the late Bob Marley’s oldest son, 52-year-old Ziggy Marley, from repeatedly scoring with his exhilarating renditions of such enduring Bob Marley gems as “Get Up, Stand Up,” “Rasta Man Vibration” and the show-closing “Jamming.”
Rufus Wainwright Aimee Mann, Sept. 10, Humphreys Concerts by the Bay
True to the title of his sixth selection, “Romantical Man,” the golden-voice Rufus Wainwright sang his heart out on a starry night that explored musical tales of love won, lost and imagined. His own songs soared and ached, most notably “Only the People That Love” and the tender “My Little You.” And his salutes to two fellow Canadian troubadours — “Harvest Moon” by Neil Young and “So Long, Marianne” by Leonard Cohen — were sublime. Kudos, too, for Aimee Mann’s wonderfully engaging opening set.
Also worth cheering
Stewart Copeland’s “Police Deranged for Orchestra,” with the San Diego Symphony, Aug. 27, Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Ledisi, with the San Diego Symphony, Aug. 17, Rady Shell at Jacobs Park Chris Isaak, Oct. 20, Humphreys Concerts by the Bay
Gary Clark Jr., Sept. 8, Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Erratic Impulse, July 28, Freedom Park, Morley Field
george.varga@sduniontribune.com