Original image of Jake Heggie at Grant Recital Hall by There Stands the Glass.
I attended 154 concerts at 72 venues on 140 days during the first eleven months of 2025. Club-hopping accounts for the discrepancy. I didn’t attend any major festivals. The most expensive ticket I purchased cost $65. My total outlay for tickets, cover charges and tips for musicians was more than $2,500. A significant change in my personal life as well as the likelihood of my health insurance premiums tripling next year could mean that 2025 was my last hurrah as an avid concertgoer. If that proves to be the case, the fifty performances listed here are all the more meaningful.
1. Brad Mehldau and Christian McBride at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.
2. Callie Day and Isaac Cates at Grant Recital Hall
My Instagram clip.
3. Wayne Hancock and IV at Live at the Divide (Bozeman)
My Instagram clips are here and here.
4. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet at the Folly Theater
My Instagram snapshot.
5. Speed, Whispers, Spine and Stakes Is High at the Ship
My Instagram clips are here and here.
6. Swamp Dogg at the Lawrence Arts Center
My review.
7. 10cc at Ranch Mart Shopping Center
My review.
8. Terence Blanchard with the E-Collective and Turtle Island String Quartet at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.
9. OHMA at the 1905 (Portland)
My review.
10. Branford Marsalis Quartet at the Folly Theater
My review.
11. Jake Heggie’s master class at Grant Recital Hall
My review.
12. Angela Hewitt at the Folly Theater
My Instagram snapshot.
13. Traxman and Xanna at miniBar
My review.
14. Horsegirl, Sweeping Promises and Godcaster at the Bottleneck
My review.
15. Samara Joy at the Folly Theater
My review.
16. Nick Hmeljak, Henry Scamurra, Isaiah Petrie, Jordan Faught and Jaylen Ward at Westport Coffee House
My review.
17. Hayden Pedigo and Jens Kuross at the Ship
My review.
18. The Gesualdo Six at Village Presbyterian Church
My Instagram clip.
19. Militarie Gun, Liquid Mike and Public Opinion at the Bottleneck
My review.
20. Butch Hancock, Bonnie Whitmore, My Politic, Aaron Lee Tasjan and BJ Barham at the Woody Guthrie Festival (Okemah)
My review.
21. Dead Heat, Stakes Is High, Failure Drill and Honey at Howdy
My Instagram clip.
22. Leonidas Kavakos and Daniil Trifonov at the Folly Theater
My Instagram snapshot.
23. Isaiah Collier at the Old Church (Portland)
My review.
24. Destroyer and Jennifer Castle at the Warehouse on Broadway
My review.
25. David Chael, Danny Embrey, Gerald Spaits and Brian Steever at Green Lady Lounge
My Instagram clip.
26. Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift at Knuckleheads
My review.
27. Elvis Costello at the Uptown Theater
My Instagram clip.
28. Deborah Brown and George Colligan at Upcycle Piano Craft
My Instagram clip.
29. Alexander Adams, Seth Andrew Davis and Jeff Goulet with Shanté Clair and Krista Kopper at Grand Avenue Temple
My Instagram clip and snapshot.
30. Maria Ioudenitch and Navo Chamber Orchestra at Southminster Presbyterian Church
My Instagram snapshot.
31. Leonkoro String Quartet at the 1900 Building
My Instagram snapshot.
32. Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds and Dan Jones and the Squids at recordBar
My Instagram clip.
33. Made in France at the Market at Meadowbrook
My Instagram snapshot.
34. Lil Wayne and Tyga at the T-Mobile Center
My review.
35. Bachathon at Village Presbyterian Church
My Instagram clip.
36. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s “Becoming a Redwood: The Songs of Lori Laitman and Dana Gioia” at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
My Instagram snapshot.
37. Vanessa Thomas, Kara Smith, Michael Pagán and Steve Rigazzi at the Blue Room
My Instagram clip.
38. Crystal Gayle at Ameristar Casino
My review.
39. Joseph Genualdi and Sean Chen at White Recital Hall
My review.
40. Isaac Cates, Oleta Adams and Callie Day at the Church of the Resurrection
My Instagram clip.
41. claire rousey and Gretchen Korsmo at Holocene (Portland)
My review.
42. Garibaldi Trio at the 1900 Building
My review.
43. Les Arts Florissants with Théotime Langlois de Swarte at the Folly Theater
My Instagram clip.
44. Bram and Lucy Wijnands with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestraa at the Folly Theater
My review.
45. Vine Street Rumble at Shawnee Town
My Instagram snapshot.
46. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s “Cruzar” with Mariachi los Camperos at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.
47. David Finckel and Wu Han at the Old Church (Portland)
My Instagram snapshot.
48. Devin Gray at the Ship
My review.
49. Steve Cardenas, Forest Stewart and Brian Steever at Westport Coffee House
My Instagram clip.
50. Deftones, Idles at the Barbarians of California at the T-Mobile Center
My review.
Last year’s concert ranking is here.