Best pop concerts of 2018: From David Byrne and Kendrick Lamar to Joan Baez, Jeff Beck and Slayer

Commercially speaking, one of the biggest stories of the year in pop music was that English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran’s 2018 world tour grossed a record-setting $432 million, while Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” tour grossed $277.3 million. Together, these two tours accounted for 14 percent of the overall gross of the Top 100 Worldwide Tours, as ranked by Pollstar magazine.

Artistically speaking, the biggest music story of the year in pop music was also the saddest.

Aretha Franklin, the mighty Queen of Soul and one of the greatest artists of the last century in any genre, passed away Aug. 15.

She was 76 and had been in ill health in recent years. But that didn’t prevent Franklin from stealing the show during her performance of Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like)” at the star-studded Kennedy Center honors in late 2015.

Another great Detroit-bred vocal great — former Temptations’ lead singer Dennis Edwards — also died in 2018.

So did such diverse music greats as country-music wiz Roy Clark, blues dynamo Otis Rush, jazz trumpeters Hugh Masekela and Roy Hargrove, Irish singer Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries, producer and DJ Avicii, versatile song stylist Nancy Wilson and San Diego-based percussion legend Jack “Mr. Bongo” Costanzo, 98, who gave his final performance just nine days before he passed away.

What all of the above artists shared, in addition to making classic records, was an ability to light up a concert stage. My top 10 concerts of 2018 had a similarly illuminating quality. (Most of the links below are to my reviews of those concerts.)

1. David Byrne, April 12, San Diego Civic Theatre

Thirty-five years after he redefined what a live-music experience could be with Talking Heads’ landmark “Stop Making Sense” concert movie, which was filmed at several shows at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles, the former head Head raised the bar even higher. His “American Utopia” tour was a jaw-dropping feat of musical craft, innovative staging and pinpoint execution. While every move Byrne and his two-woman, nine-man band made was exactingly choreographed, their movements were always seamlessly executed in a manner that enhanced the music. It was a stunning display of sound and vision that exceeded the sum of its many, meticulously deployed parts.

2. Jeff Beck, July 22, Mattress Firm Amphitheatre

Rock, blues, jazz, funk — this tireless English guitar legend and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee transcended styles and his instrument with peerless mastery in a career-spanning performance. Beck’s band, anchored by drum marvel Vinnie Colaiuta and former Prince bassist Rhonda Smith, was spectacular.

Kendrick Lamar accepts the trophy for Best Rap Album at the 60th annual Grammy Awards in January in New York. On April 16, he won the Pulitzer Prize for music for the same album, “Damn.”

(Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)

3. Kendrick Lamar and SZA, May 13, Mattress Firm Amphitheatre

If this polarized nation is ready to seriously discuss divisive racial and political issues, it need look no further than the songs of Kendrick Lamar to get the conversation started. The first hip-hop artist to win a Pulitzer Prize for music, he delivered a galvanizing performance that included several of his songs from the “Black Panther” film soundtrack. Second-billed SZA accomplished the rare feat of commanding the attention of a nearly 20,000-strong amphitheater audience with a set dominated by her introspective ballads.

4. Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss, Aug. 10, Humphreys Concerts by the Bay

At 85, country-music icon Willie Nelson is still a devoted road dog who is seemingly always on the road again. Where his 2017 Humphrey’s performance was hit-or-miss, this year he was clearly engaged throughout. Alison Krauss and her impeccable band opened with a set that was a marvel of hushed intimacy and finely honed nuance.

5. Eagles, Sept. 22, Petco Park

The 2016 death of Eagles’ co-founder Glenn Frey sounded the death knell for the biggest-selling American rock band ever. Its 2017 resurrection with two new members — Vince Gill and Frey’s young son, Deacon — was as improbable as it was inspirational. The group’s Petco Park concert saw the revamped group soar anew in an extended performance that includes songs by two of San Diego’s most famous singer songwriters, Tom Waits and Jack Tempchin.

6. Ry Cooder, Aug. 19, California Center for the Arts Escondido

Touring for the first time in 10 years, to support his first album in six years, this singular champion of American roots music sounded like a man reborn. His remarkable bottleneck guitar solo on “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?” was alone worth the price of admission, while his band — anchored by Cooder’s percussionist son, Joachim, provided wonderfully sensitive support.

7. Slayer, May 10, Valley View Casino Center

The pioneering thrash-metal band kicked off its world farewell tour with a take-no-prisoners concert that combined brutal riffs, pile-driving beats, piercing guitars and unrelentingly grim lyrics. It is unclear why Slayer has decided to call it a day and this ferocious concert offered no insights about their motivation.

8. Joan Baez, Oct. 30, Humphreys Concerts by the Bay

Like Slayer, this long-reigning queen of folk music is embarked on a farewell tour of her own. Her voice may not reach the heavens as often as it once did, but Baez has lost none of her fire or her commitment to the social and political causes that remain inseparable from her luminous music..

9. Chris Stapleton, Aug. 16, Mattress Firm Amphitheatre

While not quite as consistently incandescent as his 2017 concert at the same venue, this Nashville maverick still ignited with impressive regularity on gritty songs that draw almost equally from country, rock, blues and soul. His full-bodied vocals were matched note for note by his biting guitar playing.

10. Jade Bird, Sept. 8, the Casbah

Only 20 at the time of her debut San Diego show at the Casbah, this precocious English singer-songwriter has still not released her first album. But she delivered her well-crafted, Americana-drenched songs with poise and panache. Her album should be worth the wait.

george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevarga