Best concerts of 2011

The British trio's first Chicago show since the '90s does not disappoint. In contrast to the more subtle, creepy dynamics of the band's early incarnation, this show amps up the toughness and turmoil that always undergirded its music. Beth Gibbons no longer sounds like she¿s on the verge of a nervous breakdown, her voice piercing through a wall of drums and feedback on "Threads" and "We Carry On," while Geoff Barrow makes like Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, orchestrating everything from amid a nest of instruments in the back. Best of all is a relatively sparse creep-through-the-graveyard on "Wandering Star," with Adrian Utley's guitar shivering in the darkness.