Sadly the only band I've seen this year (who aren't some cover band I stumbled across in a pub when overnighting in some obscure English town) were Acid Reign in Camden Town.

They were a lotta retro-thrashin' fun though. Helped by the fact they have a genuinely funny frontman.

I came from California to catch that show and that was possibly the strongest, tightest performance I have ever seen. Absolutely savage, I'm just sad I couldn't make it to California Deathfest this year, lineup was okay but I'm still sad.

Along with this show, fucking Power Trip with Exodus and Obituary. I still haven't been able to use my knee properly, that was one of the rowdiest shows I've been to.

Honorable mentions to Sadistic Intent/Blood Incantation/Arizmenda/Qrixkuor, and to Transmetal/Terrorizer/Disgorge/Sadistic Intent (it was Transmetal's first show in LA in almost 10 years).

Oranssi Pazuzu at MDF left a very strong impression. Very active on stage, massive sound, just a complete mindfuck of a performance. Probably my favorite set the whole weekend. First time in the U.S. too.

I'd pay significant dollars to see these guys in Australia. Hope they make their way down here.

Sólstafir+Myrkur: That was a great surprise. Myrkur was great, her voice is truly beautiful and the songs sounded clearly and powerful. I didnt like Sólstafir when I saw them 5-6 years ago but this concert blew me away, perfect sound and atmosphere and the band´s performance was 1000 times better.

ADE(epic death metal from Italy): very few people and the hall sucks but the sound was amazing and the performance was brutal.

Finsterforst: great set-list and sound. I loved how profesionally and powerfully they played although the attendance was really poor, very nice guys by the way.

I missed this but cool!

Check this out:
https://www.metal-archives.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=2770273&sid=3425bd56bccfe4eb112d4070e4f25a22#p2770273

Sitting in a pool in Vegas while drunk out of my mind and watching Blood Ceremony was probably my favorite live music moment this year.

Probably Iron Maiden in Liverpool. They were on top form, and Bruce sounded fantastic. I caught Alice Cooper twice as the remaining living members of the original group played the encore. Superb shows from the Coop as usual. Battle Beast also put on a great show in Manchester, with some good support from Gyze and Majesty.

I was gutted to miss Kreator / Sepultura / Soilwork / Aborted. Had a ticket to the Manchester show but a collapsing wall at Liverpool's main train station a few hours before the show meant I couldn't get there (it stopped all in and outbound trains from the station for a fair few days).

Non metal wise, I saw three Tori Amos shows (London, Manchester, Glasgow), all of which were brilliant. Manchester was the pick of the bunch due to the energy (she just seemed more into it on this particular night), set list choices and meet and greet beforehand.