It was a deep year. So deep that amazing shows from St. Vincent, Lake Street Dive, Def Leppard, Chappell Roan, Madonna, and Pearl Jam didn’t make this list. What did was sets from pop, rock, punk, baroque, and genre-bending artists.

Olivia Rodrigo, April 1, TD Garden

The best mainstream pop songwriter of her generation, Oliva Rodrigo is a rock artist. She writes clever and visceral punk hooks complete with rumbling electric guitar parts and enormous crescendos. And she ran through those hooks with volume, force, volume, fury, volume, intensity, volume, electricity, and volume at the Garden (see “All-American Bitch,” a righteous, raw rant that triangulates “Bad Reputation,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Just a Girl” to absolute ragged perfection). But her magic trick is giving her heartbreaking ballads the same gravity as the loud songs. Oh, those slow-burn-to-towering-crescendo-four-minutes-of-mainlining-catharsis ballads. Those downtempo gems about plain old breakups and the relentless burden America asks teenage girls to walk around with. Those delicate-and-sinewy songs that reach into fans’ chests and pump blood to their guts, seeing their pain, angst, conflicts and truths. Expect her to be in football stadiums soon because rock lives!

The Ghouls, May 4, Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble finals at Sonia, Cambridge

Oh, hey, did I mention rock lives! More proof: The Ghouls won the 2024 Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble and it wasn’t even close. From the opening crash of the caterwaul of glory that is the band’s 2023 single “Hellbound” (a bit of good Weezer, fast Nirvana, and atomic punk Van Halen), the Ghouls steamrolled the audience with relentless noise and enthusiasm. Later the band played “Careless Whisper.” Amazing. The win came a year after the members met at UMass Lowell. Can’t wait to see what happens in another six months.

Janet Jackson, June 28, TD Garden

Janet paused, let the lights come up a little on her and her dancers, and smiled. The packed TD Garden roared with affection. Then she let the 10,000 plus fans know, “I can go all night.” They roared louder. At this point in her career, the 58-year-old can do what she wants. What she wanted to do was remind Boston her catalog is deeper and more diverse than any of her would-be peers — 39 songs from 10 albums running from “Nasty” to “Feedback.”

Tedeschi Trucks Band, Oct. 4, Wang Theater

Tedeschi Trucks Band covered the Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Blind Faith, Derek & the Dominos, Taj Mahal, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Joe Tex, Blind Willie McTell, and Prince (“D.M.S.R.,” no joke). And yet Tedeschi Trucks sounded exactly like themselves all night. Whatever that means. Homegrown hero Susan Tedeschi played guitar leads the ’60s Chicago scene would have loved. Derek Trucks did Son House, John Coltrane, and Steve Cropper all at once. The 12-piece band mixes up acid rock, jazz fusion, beat poetry, and r & b. No limits, no genre, no better live band working today.

Handel and Haydn Society, Dec. 1, Symphony Hall

Handel’s “Messiah” is an oratorio. An oratorio tells a story but, unlike an opera, it’s not a piece of theater. This shifted a bit with the Handel and Haydn Society’s 171st consecutive year performing Handel’s masterwork. All the soloists were delightful, but soprano Jeanine De Bique brought a level of drama, charisma, and joy rarely seen in an oratorio. The orchestra and choruses (including the debut of  CitySing!, a chorus built of local adult and teen singers) followed her into the drama and joy under the direction of new H+H leader Jonathan Cohen.

Janet Jackson stunned at the TD Garden in June. Here, she performs at the World AIDS Day concert event at the NRG Arena last December in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images for AIDS Healthcare Foundation)