It was another sensational year for live music in the Bay Area.

It started off in the winter, with such former hitmakers as Bryan Adams and Air Supply delivering fun shows, and then continued right into the spring with multi-act showcases like Punk in the Park (with the Dead Kennedys!) and BottleRock Napa Valley.

Summertime was a blast, as Megan Thee Stallion visited Chase Center and Sabrina Carpenter headlined Outside Lands. Then it was time for fall, which brought the world’s best free music festival — Hardly Strictly Bluegrass — and so much more.

So many fun shows. But there were some that truly stood out and will likely stick with us for months, if not years, to come. These are those 10 shows, listed in order of greatness.

1 Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Sept. 1, Chase Center, San Francisco: It was the chance to experience one of the greatest catalogs in popular music history — that of the Electric Light Orchestra — one last time in the Bay Area as Lynne & Co. brought their farewell tour to the house of the Warriors.

And what a grand goodbye it was, as the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and his extremely talented 12-piece backing band delivered one stone cold classic after another during the 19-song set.

The arrangements simply sparkled as the musicians managed to artfully usher ELO’s meticulous rock-meets-classical studio recordings into the live arena. Those all-time great tunes -- “Can’t Get It Out of My Head,” “Strange Magic,” “Mr. Blue Sky,” etc. -- were further bolstered by a mind-blowing array of special effects, laser lights and videos, combining to create what was nothing short of the most visually entertaining rock show of the year.

2 Olivia Rodrigo, Aug. 2, Chase Center: “Welcome to the Guts Tour,” Rodrigo said at the start of the show. “Tonight is going to be so much (expletive) fun.”

She’d then back up those words — and how — by performing what was certainly one of the most deliriously joyous and exuberantly entertaining pop music spectacles that we’ve seen in the first half of this decade.

Yeah, this former Disney Channel star is the real deal, having already managed to fashion a full headlining show’s worth of tremendous tunes from just two album releases.

She’s sensational with the up-tempo numbers — launching 15,000 fans into full-on dance mania — and even better with the slow somber ballads, filled with lines that translate like diary entries whispered into your ear.

Plus, her ability to connect with the crowd is on the same ridiculously high level as Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, resulting in moments of synergy that make everyone in the house -- parents included -- feel like they are existing in the very center of the universe.

3 Bruce Springsteen, April 1, Chase Center: Springsteen and his legendary E Street Band put on an amazing show on March 28 at Chase, filled with heroic performances of some of the finest rocks songs of all time. Springsteen’s energy level was off the charts and his vocals were terrific. Just a tremendous evening of rock ‘n’ roll, all around.

The crazy thing was, however, that he’d then return to the same venue a few nights later and deliver an even bigger and better show.

Changing up the setlist significantly from Night 1, Springsteen lifted this April Fools’ Day gig to towering heights as he added such A-listers as “Light of Day,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “My City of Ruins” and “Glory Days” — as well as an exuberant encore cover of “Twist and Shout” — to the fold.

If I had to pick — and I do, since it’s my job — I’ll say Night 2 was a just a bit better.

4 Danny Elfman, Nov. 3, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View: “I can’t believe I’m back,” Elfman said in bewilderment. “I can’t believe I’m alive. I mean, what the (expletive)? Really?”

Oh, he was very much back — and very much alive — during an all-too-rare concert performance in the Bay Area just a few nights after Halloween.

Backed by a grand ensemble of musicians, including a full orchestra with brass, string and woodwind sections, Elfman used the occasion to touch upon numerous facets of his wondrous career — from the ska-influenced new wave of Oingo Boingo to his Oscar-nominated film scores to the industrial rock of the solo effort “Big Mess” — in a 32-song set that felt like a cohesive and profound musical statement. It all underscored that Elfman is one of the greatest artists of our time.

5 Xscape, SWV, June 27, Toyota Pavilion, Concord: The two iconic ’90s R&B acts put an end to their squabbling — which was well-documented on the Bravo channel reality TV mini-series “SWV & Xscape: The Queens of R&B” in 2023 — to put on a co-headlining tour that was an absolute joy to behold.

Performing in front of a packed house in Concord on the tour’s opening night, Xscape and SWV mixed and matched their songs and performances during one jumbo-sized set. The most memorable moments came when the two trios blended all six of their voices on the Clark Sisters’ powerful gospel number “You Brought the Sunshine (Into My Life),” the gorgeous Xscape ballad “The Arms of the One Who Loves You” and the fun show-closing cover of Lil’ Kim’s “Not Tonight (Ladies Night Remix).”

6 Pulp, Sept. 16, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco: Jarvis Cocker & Co. — in one of just five North America stops in their 2024 tour — illustrated all the reasons why it’s the finest Brit-pop band to break big in the ’90s, moving through 19 equally articulate and artistic cuts in just over two hours.

The whole group sounded great, but Cocker — as always — was the focus of the crowd’s attention throughout the night as he twisted and contorted his body in bizarrely hypnotic ways while crooning in his own dashingly charismatic fashion.

7 Cowboy Junkies, June 9, Bimbo’s 365 Club, San Francisco: The Canadian quartet has been the most consistently excellent act of the last 35 years, having first caught the public’s attention with the definitive lo-fi masterpiece “The Trinity Session” in 1988 and going on to release one gorgeous offering after another through the decades.

Still featuring all four of its original members — Timmins siblings Margo (vocals), Michael (guitar/songwriter) and Peter (drums) as well as bassist Alan Anton — the Junkies also continue to be an absolute joy onstage, even when they are wading through (as they often do) utterly bleak and desperate topic matter. The push and pull of Margo’s alluring vocal work with brother Michael’s harrowing lines continues to fuel this band to such great heights.

8 Stanley Clarke, Hiromi, Sept. 5 SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco: Terence Blanchard kicked off his inaugural season as SFJAZZ’s executive artistic director by presenting this pairing of topnotch talents, who combined forces for 90 minutes of superb musicianship on opening night of SFJAZZ’s 2024-25 season.

Hiromi displayed a staggering degree of musical virtuosity on the piano, yet it was the undeniable joy that she found in creating the music that really made her performance so special.

And Clarke definitely lived up to his mighty legend, using those mighty mitts of his to coax and command such amazing sounds from the bass.

9 Pablo Cruise, May 9, Guild Theatre, Menlo Park: These ’70s hitmakers from Sausalito showcased their versatility and overall musical talent in a 14-song set that balanced radio friendly pop, jammed-out instrumentals, CSN-style folk and, of course, plenty of yacht rock.

The group sounded superb from start to finish, underscoring once again that Pablo Cruise may well be the most underrated band in Bay Area music history.

10 Buzzcocks, March 14, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco: The greatest pop-punk band of all time was playing its first Bay Area | concert since lead singer Pete Shelley died at the age of 63 in December 2018.

Yet, concerns that the Buzzcocks might not be worth seeing without Shelley’s famously high and nasally vocal work, were answered by Steve Diggle. Taking the band under his wing, he managed to deliver a show that did justice to the Buzzcocks’ mighty legacy.