If there’s one thing I did this year, I gigged. These are the notes for my (soon to be written) extensive 2011 gig review.

Looking back on the last twelve months as we oh so love to do at this time of year, I couldn’t think of any real stand-out events. There have been no emotional traumas, no one has left my life suddenly and I haven’t made any life-altering decisions. 2011 is therefore destined to be the year nothing particularly spectacular happened. After the three years previous packed full of drama with barely a break you’d figure I’d be glad of a rest but it feels more of a lull and borderline dissapointment.

Until I consulted my gig book that is and remembered the eighty-two evenings of live musical brilliance I’ve encountered this year (it would’ve been eighty-three, but I attended a Ben Francis Leftwich gig in October, sadly); perusing my list I’ve recalled the unique memory of each gig and realised I haven’t wasted my year at all. The cities I’ve travelled, the singing, the dancing, time spent with friends old and new. Will I ever do eighty-three gigs in one year again?

Here’s to 2011, the year Emily Rowan gigged. And to the next eighty-three, next year let’s make it a hundred.