The Year That Was 2020

We didn’t expect to be writing this. Usually at this end-of-year juncture this spot in the magazine would be filled by a snappy hit-list of major events from the past 12 months, including A-list reunions and notable splits, festival highlights and mega-shows.

That didn’t feel quite right this time. Not least because many of the sort of things we’d ordinarily pick out simply didn’t happen. For the first time since Classic Rock’s inception, the rock lover’s diary has looked completely different: No festivals. No tours. None of the face-to-face activity we’d typically take as a given.

Instead, ever since we took our laptops home back in March (“Three weeks!” we said. Oh how quaint that seems now), we’ve lived through our screens. A whole new language has evolved: terms such as ‘social distancing’, ‘Zoom