The Plastic Bag Awards 2009

The end of the year and, in this case, the end of a decade, always leads to lots of awards and it's no different here in the Plastic Bag - time for the Baggies! There's some stiff competition this year since I've been to 39 gigs, 20 theatre trips, 6 films and 5 'entertainments' - that's a busy year! So, let's jump straight in...

Best Film

Once again this year, I haven't seen many films - not sure why but I haven't been particularly attracted to very many films this year. The nominees are:

• 'Milk'
• 'The Watchmen'
• 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'
• 'Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince'
• 'Broken Embraces'
• 'A Christmas Carol'

This represents my total cinema-going this year. I liked learning about Harvey Milk, the daftnessness and special effects in the sci-fi films, the darkness in 'Harry Potter' and the sheer traditional sentimentality of 'A Christmas Carol', but the award goes to Almodovar's storytelling in 'Broken Embraces'. It's yet another classic in the making by Almodovar with some of his usual cast playing excellent roles, with no little sly humour as well as sadness. And Penelope Cruz not only looks gorgeous as ever but works her own bum in this one rather than a prosthetic. Well done to all!

Best Theatre - Drama

I added four Shakespeare plays to my list this year, only one of which I'd seen before (and that was 30 years ago) so that's not bad, and two productions make it into my top five. The nominees in the drama category are:

• 'The Pitmen Painters'
• 'All's Well That Ends Well'
• 'Hamlet'
• 'A Doll's House'
• 'Time & The Conways'

The only new play in these nominations is 'The Pitmen Painters' and that's the one that wins the Baggie this year. I loved the fairy-tale setting of 'All's Well' and 'Hamlet' is one of my favourite plays but this production was a bit too much of a star vehicle for Jude Law. 'A Doll's House' was an eye-opener seeing Gillian Anderson up close and on stage and 'Time & The Conways' was a great introduction to the storytelling of J.B. Priestley (of which I'd like to see more), but 'The Pitmen Painters' touched me on a number of levels and deserves to be seen more widely. Well done to all involved in this great production.

Best Theatre - Musical

It's been an odd year for musicals, with a few opening based on films ('Sister Act' and 'Legally Blond' spring to mind) and others have been revived, but I haven't seen many - one of the ones I did see, 'La Cage' was nominated for a Baggie last year. The 2009 nominees are:

• 'Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert'
• 'La Cage Aux Folles'
• 'Into The Woods'
• 'Sweet Charity'

All the nominees deserve their place in the list but the award goes to the draftest, most camp and over the top show, with brash costumes and big performances, in other words, it goes to 'Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert'. Some of the set pieces were so over the top they didn't even physically touch the stage, such as the Divas descending and floating mid-air while they did their bit and the selection of disco music made this drag-queens-a-go-go in the most colourful and mad costumes ever seen. It's not a bit of fluff, but it is fun!

Best Theatre - Entertainment

This is my catch-all category for bits of theatre in its broadest sense that aren't drama or musicals. The nominees this year are all comedy shows, some with music as well:

• David Benson: 'To Be Frank' (Frankie Howerd)
• Justin Bond: 'Rites Of Spring'
• Sandra Bernhard: 'Without You I'm Nothing'
• Janeane Garofalo

The award goes to Janeane Garofalo who I saw at the Bloomsbury Theatre over the summer. I'd not seen her live show before and was delighted by her random flights of fancy, un-pc views and her general stage-presence that made her very watchable. I'd happily see her play live again.

Best Gig

I've seen 39 gigs this year so that gives me a wide selection to choose from, but it makes it very difficult to narrow the scope down to just five nominees and one outright winner. I've seen some of the artists more than once over the year and I've changed my mind several times in the run up to announcing the Baggies but I'm going to stick with:

• Grace Jones at The Roundhouse
• Madonna at The O2
• Pet Shop Boys at The O2 (December)
• Ray Davies at Hammersmith Apollo
• Public Image Ltd at The Electric Ballroom

'What?' I hear you cry - no Buffy Sainte-Marie? no Amanda Palmer (despite seeing her three times over the year)? no Divas of Motown? I know, I know, but harsh decisions have to be made and, oddly, I've picked Grace Jones at the Roundhouse, my first gig of the year and three of my final four gigs of the year from just before Christmas. Madonna is there for spectacle and classic songs. But who, in my view, deserves the Baggie for 2009?

I'm pleased to announce that the Baggie for Best Gig of 2009 goes to Public Image Ltd. I've waited 30 years to see and hear some of those great songs played and John and the lads played for over two hours, mining a great selection of songs and presenting them in a tight and forceful way. I hope there is new PiL material next year and a new tour. I'll be there.

Best Live Performance

This category is for the best individual live performance of a song and previous winners include The Human League (2008) and Siouxsie (2007). The nominees this year are:

• Grace Jones: 'Hurricane' at The Roundhouse
• Pink: 'Sober' at The O2
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: 'Soldier Blue' at The Queen Elizabeth Hall
• The Unthanks: 'The Testimony Of Patience Kershaw' at Shepherd's Bush Empire
• Pet Shop Boys: 'It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas' at The O2 (December)

Narrowing down the hundreds of individual performances I've seen this year at 39 gigs is a hard task, and narrowing it further to just one is even harder - the drama and madness of Grace Jones, the aerial acrobatics of Pink, the powerful performances of Buffy and Rachel Unthank, and the smiling, happy and daft joy of the Pet Shop Boys with their dancing Christmas trees.

Simply for what it was and when it was, I must award the Baggie for best performance to the Pet Shop Boys and 'It Doesn't Always Snow At Christmas' at the O2 just before Christmas. A very happy memory indeed!

Best New Album

There's been a bumper crop of new albums this year, many re-mastered/re-released and loads of new compilations. This year I'm sticking to new albums in the sense of new music and previously unreleased music. The nominees are:

• New York Dolls: 'Cause I Sez So'
• The Unthanks: 'Here's The Tender Coming'
• Maximo Park: 'Quicken The Heart'
• Pet Shop Boys: 'Yes'
• Ray Davies: 'The Kinks Choral Collection'

All of these are great albums packed with great songs, some charming and some challenging. I could easily have added 'Between My Head And The Sky' by Yoko Ono Plastic Band but awards need to follow rules (even self-imposed rules).

The award for Best Album 2009 goes to 'Yes' by the Pet Shop Boys, an unrelentingly positive album even when dealing with difficult and tragic subjects. The extended version includes the great 'This Used To Be The Future' with Phil Oakey which is a big plus. The sheer bouncy joy of songs like 'Love, Etc' and 'Pandemonium' make this, for me at least, the best album of 2009.

Best New Song

This category attempts to single out the best new song of the year, not necessarily best new song released this year, but the best song I've heard for the first time this year so I include discovering 'old' songs for the first time. How do you narrow down thousands of new songs to just five nominees? Here's my attempt:

• Grace Jones: 'Williams Blood'
• Pet Shop Boys: 'Love, Etc'
• Julie Felix: 'Masters Of War'
• Maximo Park: 'The Kids Are Sick Again'
• Blondie: 'We Three Kings'

I heard the Julie Felix version of Dylan's 'Masters Of War' by accident on a programme about folk music and have been captivated by it, not solely by Dylan's vitriolic lyrics but by Julie's interpretation. Same with the glorious 'Williams Blood', the bouncy 'Love, Etc' and the power pop of 'The Kids Are Sick Again', but I must single out Blondie's 'We Three Kings' if only for the sheer number of times I've played it in the past few weeks in the run up to Christmas. If the new album is anything like this freeby single downloadable from Blondie's website then it'll be a landmark indeed. Well done Blondie!

Best Legend

Once again this year, I've seen a good selection of legends from the '60s and '70s, particularly with the Motown 50 celebrations going on this year:

• Grace Jones
• Buzzcocks
• Marianne Faithfull
• Yoko Ono
• Patti Smith
• Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
• Mary Wilson
• Ray Davies
• Buffy Sainte-Marie
• Gladys Knight
• Brenda Holloway
• Chris Clark
• Lulu
• Chaka Khan
• Steeleye Span
• John Lydon & PiL

I loved seeing Yoko and Patti, meeting Buffy and being astonished when she said she reads my blog, seeing and meeting Brenda Holloway and Chris Clark (who I never expected to see singing live), seeing Ray Davies sing those classic Kinks songs in the pouring rain and, of course, the ever entertaining and challenging John Lydon telling me not to be so shy in front of him.

The Baggie for Best Legend goes to Chris Clark for her sheer delight at singing to a big live audience and her happiness that people still want to hear her sing - we do Chris, so please come back soon!

And there you have it, the Plastic Bag Awards for 2009. Congratulations to all the nominees, to the winners and, indeed, to everyone I've seen, whether nominated or not, for making it a very entertaining year.