Apps that genuinely fit into your life are always the best. There are those that you genuinely cannot function without, and those which fill a void you never knew you had until it was filled. With the release of Songkick today, a void I never realised I had, has now been filled. Filled to the point I just found out that Lostprophets -- who I happen to adore -- are playing in my home town this November. A good end to the day for sure.
So, what is it? In simple terms, Songkick is a pretty complete live concert tracker, promising "100,000 concerts in your pocket". The way it does it is what sets it apart from anything else which may attempt the same. It's beautiful for one. It's been designed with Android 4.0 in mind, so it looks stunning and there are no unsightly menu buttons when using it on the HTC One phones.
Upon firing up the app for the first time, it scans your Google Play Music library, Pandora and, if you have it, your Last.fm app, to learn what's there and what artists you like. Just like that, the app is filled with artists you like, and wherever possible you will be notified if said artists are on tour. Naturally it doesn't end there, there is the ability to manually search for artists, and you can re-scan your library at anytime, all within the "track more artists" area.
Concerts can be found by artist, or by location. It will find your location -- albeit it seems to generalize a little and offer broad areas. My location was decided as a town about 40 miles away, but no matter, my local venues were still listed along with others within the apparent catchment area. The listings are pretty detailed too, I noticed an incredibly deep listing of bands and venues in my local area that I probably wouldn't have found elsewhere.
Location isn't set to where you live either, there is a simple way to manually add locations for you to keep track on. When you find a show you like, Songkick will show you who is planned to play, and offer links to tickets from a variety of online vendors.
The "Your Calendar" section is exactly what it says, it keeps track of your favorite artists, and your concert plans. So, if you go to a lot of live shows, keeping track of them is real simple. You do need to create an account to make full use of Songkick, but for such effortless functionality it isn't really a great heartache.
There isn't really a lot more that needs to be said. The best apps are often those that simply do what they do, and do it well. Songkick definitely fits into that category. For someone like myself who loves going to live shows, Songkick has filled a need I never realized I had. Even after just a day, it has become one of my favorite applications, and one I urge everyone who likes their concerts to check out.
Download: Songkick
