Cold comfort

In time, we might just come to look back on 2002 as a vintage year. It belonged, almost inevitably, to Coldplay, whose year began as late as June with an epic Glastonbury headliner, took off with ‘In My Place’, reached an incredible peak with A Rush Of Blood To The Head and culminated with a series of gigs for which the word triumphant may have well been invented. Fittingly, they were joined on tour by Idlewild, who also achieved a career high with their Remote Part album.

New blood came in the form of the explosive Hundred Reasons, who managed to emerge from the leafy surroundings of Surrey with the best rock record of the year. Indeed, with The Streets and Ms Dynamite also releasing astonishing, groundbreaking and rightly acclaimed debuts, it was one of the best periods for British music for years. Then again, who’d have thought that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers would have come up with an album of such depth and vision after all this time, that Johnny Cash would sound so inspired (although his advancing illness gave The Man Comes Around an extra emotional resonance) or that 24 robe-wearing Texans could be quite so fantastic as The Polyphonic Spree?

At home matters were similarly rosy. Gemma Hayes, Mundy and Damien Rice all reaped the benefits of a groundswell of popular support and were worthy of it, particularly Hayes, whose stunning debut brought her acclaim across the board – as well as across the water.

Meantime, Witnness brought a genuinely world class festival line-up to these shores. So what then of the year ahead? Expect great things from Berkley, with a superb record of bruising Steve Albini-produced punk rock under their belts; Creative Controle, producers of one of the singles of the year and set to release a debut album in the summer; Turn, who made huge headway this year and will hopefully be able to surmount line up changes; 8 Ball, possibly the band to bridge the gap between underground Dublin and the mainstream; and Kíla, surely set to receive the widespread acclaim they deserve for their constant innovation. My prediction: 2003 will be yet another dizzying ride.