2011 was a fantastic year for concerts. The Music Pill (and friends) got to see huge festivals at amphitheaters, intimate shows in venues that could barely fit 1000 people, and pretty much everything in between. While most shows were pretty good, only a handful had all the variables in place to make it a true top-tier show. This blog is meant to recognize those shows that really stood out among the best for one reason or another – to give props for the tireless effort that these musicians put in to transform their music into a live experience.

When looking at these awards, keep in mind that I am really trying to award the best “shows” and not “my favorite bands that I got to see live.” While I certainly understand enjoying a live performance simply because you really like the band, that defeats my purpose and so I will try to remain as unbiased as possible. What I try to focus on are shows that change my opinion of a band because of their abilities on stage. I certainly can’t remain completely unbiased, because I’m human, but my goal is to recognize shows that really make me want to listen to that band at home, and not the other way around.

The concept for this post started when I realized that there were so many solid albums released in 2011. By only releasing my “top 10” I was eliminating a lot of albums that I enjoyed that others may think are brilliant. I have no illusions that others have exact (or even similar) tastes in music as I do, and therefore I wanted to pass these albums along as ones that are worth your while, especially if you don’t particularly care for some of my top ten albums. Most of the albums on this list are considerably less metal than my top ten list.

So, without further ado, these are my Random Category Awards for 2011. Hope you enjoy!! (You can click on the album title for a Youtube Link of what my favorite song from the album is).

On to the Top 10!!

Since my interest is in exposure and not in the actual ranking, and since I have a job, I didn’t bother ranking albums 6-10. Those five get honorable mention (and are in no particular order) and then the top five are ranked in order based on what I thought was the best.

Here we go. The inaugural Music Pill awards for top 10 albums released in 2011. Buckle your seatbelt. (You can click on the title of the album for a Youtube clip from my favorite song from that album)