By any standards 2001 was an incredible year for Oxford music. This year saw the biggest ever live music event in the city’s history as Radiohead played their homecoming gig in South Park, supported by fellow local pop heroes Supergrass. Also joining them on the bill were The Rock of Travolta who helped spearhead a creative renaissance in local music alongside bands like Goldrush, Theremin, and Meanwhile Back in Communist Russia. While Goldrush were quickly snapped up by Virgin Records, Theremin earned themselves a publishing deal with Warners. Meanwhile TROT and MBICR were earning themselves a national reputation and releasing astonishing debut albums. On the heavier side, The Club That Cannot Be Named was establishing itself as the most exciting club in town with a stream of rising punk, metal and hardcore bands gracing their stages. Ride, the band who kick-started the whole Oxford music thing off a decade ago released their greatest hits and then reformed for a one-off performance for Channel 4. On top of all this there was Truck Festival, now established as one of the country’s best live music festivals; the most successful Oxford Punt ever and an overall rise in gig turnouts across Oxford as fans rediscovered the exciting bands on offer.

Sadly 2001 will also be remembered for the wrong reasons. Earlier in the year we lost two of the city’s best bands of recent years, The Egg and Black Candy. But their demise was nothing compared to the havoc wreaked upon the local venue scene by the scum at Six Continents who first closed the Fuggle and Firkin - Oxford’s premier blues venue - and then the Point, recently described as “the best small venue in Britain”, in the year that it had hosted the debut UK gigs for both The Strokes and White Stripes.

But, good or bad, we can look back at an eventful year, one that will be considered a benchmark for years to come. But don’t let it stop there, 2002 is just around the corner, and who’s to say it won’t be even better? Keep supporting live music!

clockwise from top: Headcount at the Punt; Radiohead in South Park; The Rock of Travolta at Truck; the Point; Ride; Goldrush.
Photos by Richard Hounslow, Gerard Wood, Pat Loughnane