As the nights draw in and the end of the year is nigh, I have started to reflect on my favourite gigs and albums of 2009. In the near future, I will be writing about some of them on this very blog….

I have been to plenty of brilliant concerts this year, from Morrissey (get well soon, Stephen) on Great Yarmouth Pier, to Richard Hawley playing all of Truelove’s Gutter (probably my favourite album of 2009) at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, a reformed Mott The Hoople raising the roof at Hammersmith Apollo and the Pet Shop Boys doing their art-disco-pop extravaganza at O2.

I also really enjoyed seeing cult indie act Spearmint play their A Week Away album in its entirety at the ICA, Blur’s comeback show and how could I forget McCartney walking on stage with Neil Young in Hyde Park, to do a duet on Day In The Life. 

But my favourite gig of the year so far has to be Bad Lieutenant (Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris from New Order’s latest incarnation) at London’s Heaven last week. Why? Because now, looking back, I can distinctly recall the precise moment when I thought to myself – ‘this is the best musical moment I’ve had all year’.

The first half of the set saw the band mostly playing material from their recent debut album – think New Order without the twangy bass and, occasionally,when guitarist Jake Evans sings, a poppier version of Doves. You can’t argue with that.

We even got a nice surprise when they launched into Tighten Up – a Smiths-style gem from Electronic’s first album, when Bernard collaborated with Johnny Marr. So far, so good, but the best was yet to come.

Bad Lieutenant slipped into a cool, guitar-heavy version of Out of Control – a track Bernard recorded with the Chemical Bros that sounds like I Feel Love-era Donna Summer meets New Order, funnily enough.

Towards the end of the live outing, as if that tune wasn’t great enough on its own, the song then seamlessly segued into a killer version of New Order’s Temptation.

Man, the place went mental. I thought I’d died and gone to……. Ahem.

Bathed in a strobe light, showered in over-priced lager and hugging the grown men stood next to me, I raised my pint glass in the air and toasted the genius of Sumner, as the sound of a thousand indie discos reverberated in my brain.

I can also remember turning round to face the crowd and see the looks on their faces. This is something I only do at truly special gigs.

Just as I was thinking it couldn’t get any better, we then got versions of Joy Division’s Transmission and Love Will Tear Us Apart for the encore.Not bad, eh?

As 2009 gigs go, that one will take some beating, but seeing as I’m going to watch The Charlatans play acoustic at The Social tomorrow and Billy Bragg do a set in my local next weekend, anything is possible….

I’m pleased to announce that a brand new song has emerged from my latest recording session with UK alt.country act Quiet Loner. (aka Matt Hill)

A demo version of Death of a Popular Hairdresser is now available to listen to at www.myspace.com/seanhannamlyricist

I wrote the lyric and Matt wrote the music. If features Matt on lead vocals and all instruments (guitars, bass and drums), while I simply pitch in with a spoken word piece on the chorus and help out with some ‘oohs’ and ‘la-la-las’ in the middle eight section.

Recorded and mixed by Matt in one night, the song was up online within about five hours of us making it, which is not bad, even if I do say so myself. We’re so punk rock, man.

Inspired by a newspaper billboard I saw in Harrow-on-the-Hill, which simply read ‘Death of A Popular Hairdresser’, the song is a tawdry tale of drink, drugs, sex, C list celebs and scissors.

When I wrote the lyric, I dreamt up a ficticious storyline of a girl and a guy who enter the murky world of celebrity culture and fashion, which, ultimately, leads to their demise, and sadly, the premature death of one of them. I’ve always wanted to write a ‘story song’ – this is my first attempt, so please be gentle with me.

In my head, I wanted it to sound like Squeeze meets the Pet Shop Boys – I think the words are my attempt at being Chris Difford. It hasn’t turned out that way – it’s actually more of a Billy Bragg country-pop song, I guess – like something from Talking To The Taxman About Poetry.

As Matt said, just imagine a full band version, with Johnny Marr playing a jangly riff and Ian Mclagan laying down some warm Hammond organ. Maybe one day…..  I really love the middle eight, which has some Beatlesy backing vocals. I think the end is a bit Beatles, too – the way Matt finishes on ‘hairdresser’ is very Paperback Writer.

And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like ‘And cut’…..

Well, I thought it was funny, anyway……