Year in music: Our critics’ top 10 concerts of 2024

In a year of big stadium shows and cool underplays, we must point to two brat happenings on the concert scene.

The oddly named Minnesota Yacht Club was a welcomed, well-organized, well-attended, musically rich two-day, in-town festival at the underused Harriet Island Regional Park featuring Alanis Morissette, Red Hot Chili Peppers and others. That was a mouthful, but so was this massive fest staged by C3 Presents, promoters out of Austin, Texas, who promise a return in 2025. Can’t wait.

It’s hard to believe that the worst venue in the metro was the site of our consensus pick for top concert of the year. Go figure. Sturgill Simpson turned it out for a fulfilling three hours in the thankfully underused Roy Wilkins Auditorium, where sound goes to die.

1. Billie Eilish, Xcel Energy Center, Nov. 11. Working with a full band for the first time, the 22-year-old wonder delivered a masterwork, combining imagination and technology to enable her mostly intimate and sometimes hard-hitting music to connect with authentic personality and genuine emotion.

2. Sturgill Simpson, Roy Wilkins Auditorium, Sept. 25. This super-generous multi-hour marathon breezed by with top-notch songs and captivating but not overlong solos.

3. Samara Joy, Ordway, Sept. 14. What remarkable range, technique, instincts, creativity and commitment by this jazz singer, an old soul at 25.

4. Jon Batiste, First Avenue, Feb. 22. The New Orleans polymath’s extraordinary Twin Cities underplay was full of his enriching music, generous spirit and luminous personality.

5. Vijay Iyer Trio, the Dakota, Jan. 19. The inventive and celebrated jazz pianist mixed the melodic with the rhythmic and impressionistic, making his intellectual jazz highly accessible.

6. Jack White, First Avenue, Oct. 23. Wham, bam, turn it up to 11, maniacal dude, in this excited-to-be-there underplay.

7. The War & Treaty, Minnesota State Fair, Aug. 27. With their roof-raising, love-kissed performance, the husband-and-wife duo impressed like the next gen duo of Al Green and Aretha Franklin gone gospel.

8. Foo Fighters, Target Field, July 29. The performance was everlong and ever-thrilling, and the ageless Chrissie Hynde and Pretenders, as openers, were as coolly galvanizing as ever.

9. Shelby Lynne, the Dakota, Jan. 24. Exploring the soulful Dusty Springfield catalog, the moody Americana vet blended the sad and the sultry in a torchy minimalism.

10. Sierra Ferrell, First Avenue, April 26. The refreshingly quirky country-adjacent singer lit up Minneapolis with her delightful personality and becoming playfulness as well as first-rate songs and solid musicianship.

Bonus: Cornbread & Jam, Cedar Cultural Center, Aug. 9. This was a book event, part Q&A and part first-ever performance by the father-and-son duo of piano men Cornbread Harris, 97, and Jimmy Jam, 65. An evening of tears of joy and unerasable smiles.

1. Sturgill Simpson, Roy Wilkins Auditorium, Sept. 25. How did a country twanger put on the best jam-band show of the year? How did a songwriter sidelined by vocal injuries sing so powerfully? How did the Twin Cities’ worst concert venue sound so good?

2. Jack White, First Avenue, Oct. 23. It wasn’t the big-name/small-venue factor. It was seeing the White Stripes frontman return to the loose energy and bluesy undercurrent his old band displayed back when First Ave was still a big room to them.

3. PJ Harvey, Palace Theatre, Oct. 2. The enigmatic British rocker’s first local gig in seven years went from the hushed vibe of her new album to a hair-raising second half filled with her still-alternative-sounding ‘90s alt-rock hits.

4. Peso Pluma, Target Center, Aug. 2. Who knew mariachi horns and other traditional Mexican music would blend so well with boombastic hip-hop?

5. Billie Eilish, Xcel Energy Center, Nov. 10. No Finneas, no problem. The electro-pop wunderkind’s biggest and rowdiest production to date didn’t bury her intimate and personable strengths.

6. Wilco, Palace Theatre, Dec. 15. Night 3 of the Chicago rockers’ no-repeat weekend was a tad rockier and steadier than the rest of their brave deep-dive.

7. Nicki Minaj, Target Center, April 28. A very late start to her first Minnesota gig in 13 years didn’t spoil her hard-hitting, classic rapper flow and fun diva personality.

8. Faye Webster, Palace Theatre, Aug. 4. Atlanta’s “But Not Kiss” hitmaker played with tempos, volume levels, musical genres and lyrics for one of the year’s jazziest and most sonically innovative rock shows.

9. Minnesota Yacht Club, Harriet Island, July 19-20. The ambitious festival deserves an overall year-end nod for its well-organized inaugural run and heavy reliance on women and Minnesota acts in its lineup.

10. Matthew Sweet, Turf Club, Feb. 16. He was in strong form and good spirits with the Bangles’ Debbi Peterson on drums; which made his debilitating stroke in October more shocking. Ultimately the show I’m happiest I saw in 2024.