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Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAYDecember 22, 2025 at 12:00 AM

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There might not have been an Eras Tour to break billion-dollar records, but 2025 still produced stadium spectacles, innovative arena productions and impressive club performances from a slew of superstars not named Taylor Swift.

Classic rock returned with a voraciously received tour by AC/DC and a reminder of The Who’s mighty catalog on their last tour of the U.S. In smaller venues, power-chord rockers including Joan Jett and Heart roared with undiminished vigor.

Zach Bryan launched into stadiums, as did Post Malone with Jelly Roll, Chris Brown and Shakira, who dealt with stage structure snafus as she snaked across the country.

Coldplay finally wrapped its 3 ½-year Music of the Spheres stadium marathon, setting a record for the highest-grossing tour by a band (it hit the billion mark last year and added nearly $465 million from 59 shows in 2025, according it Billboard).

Chris Martin of Coldplay performs on a stop of the band's Music of the Spheres world tour at Allegiant Stadium on June 6, 2025 in Las Vegas.

And a special shout out to Katy Perry, whose Lifetimes tour earned scorn from anonymous internet haters. But in reality, those who actually attended know the show was fun, vibrant, clever and packed with her fizzy pop hits and goofy charm.

My past 12 months of concert-going included more than two dozen shows, most of them tour kickoffs, that included every new residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas (Kenny Chesney, Backstreet Boys, Zac Brown Band) that all impressed in different ways.

Here are the Top 10 concerts that resonated with me the most.

More: 10 best songs of 2025, ranked

10. Dua Lipa

Dua Lipa brought her Radical Optimism tour to Liverpool, England in June as part of the European run of her year-plus outing. She kicked off the U.S. leg Sept. 5, 2025 in Chicago.

Though she’d been touring behind her “Radical Optimism” album for 10 months before hitting the U.S., Dua Lipa was hardly on autopilot by the time she brought her pop spectacle to Chicago’s United Center in September, where she dropped 22 songs polished to precision. Whether writhing with her dancers during “Training Day” or high kicking through “Levitating,” her glee was apparent. Throughout the tour, Lipa offered fans a novel supplement: Performing a cover song from an artist associated with the city and sometimes bringing said singer onstage. Chicago welcomed Chaka Khan while other shows cheered Lenny Kravitz, Gwen Stefani, Billie Joe Armstrong and Lionel Richie among Lipa’s guests.

Read the full Dua Lipa review.

9. Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson paid homage to Stevie Nicks with her T-shirt the opening night of her residency July 11, 2025 at Caesars Palace.

For her second Las Vegas residency that began in July, Kelly Clarkson went home. At least her studio home, which she transported to the stage at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace for a show that both rocked and reveled in her authenticity. Dubbed The Studio Sessions, the concert was warm and inviting, an atmosphere cultivated by Clarkson’s personal artifacts – lamps, photos, her favorite studio mic – and her frank, unpretentious humor and storytelling. Of course, a Clarkson show requires her powerhouse vocals and she delivered 20 years of hits including “Because of You,” “Catch My Breath” and “Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)” with smiling gusto. Clarkson was forced to postpone most of her summer dates because of the death of her ex-husband and father of her children, Brandon Blackstock. She returned in November and has a set of dates in July and August for those who want to be dazzled.

See Kelly Clarkson's Vegas setlist.

8. Doechii

Doechii performed for more than 6,000 fans at The Anthem in Washington D.C. Oct. 21, 2025 as part of her Live From the Swamp Tour.

Seasoned beyond her 27 years, Doechii proved a vigorous bundle of talent during her October stop at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. as part of her Live from the Swamp tour. With a classroom and a stage-sized boom box as her backdrops, Doechii showcased her chameleonic style (short plaid skirts and combat boots, pinstriped suits, ab-baring two-pieces) as she rapped, danced, twerked and slithered through 24 songs. Her Busta Rhymes-influenced, breath-defying raps were both fierce (“Nosebleeds”) and fearless (“Crazy”). The Tampa native already nabbed her first Grammy this year and is up for five in February attached to her unshakable “Anxiety.” Expect to hear her name called often.

Read the full Doechii review.

7. Backstreet Boys

The Backstreet Boys' Sphere residency in Las Vegas maintains the cosmic theme of the group's 1999 blockbuster "Millennium" album.

Millennials, thy name is nostalgia. That could have been all the Backstreet Boys brought to their continuing Sphere residency that launched in July. But as the first pop act to employ the technical wizardry of the already-famed Las Vegas venue, BSB brought fans – predominately women wearing white who grew up shrieking for them on “TRL” – on a two-hour joyride. The mere sight of Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough and AJ McLean prompted those same ear-splitting squeals as the guys celebrated their 1999 smash “Millennium” album with a futuristic-themed show that spotlighted the album’s perfect harmonies (“I Want it That Way”) and lovelorn ballads (“Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely”). In another Sphere first, BSB also went airborne atop a vertigo-inducing (for them, anyway) platform. The boys are back in town starting late December.

Read the full Backstreet Boys review.

More: Las Vegas Sphere concerts: All the acts that are playing and how to get tickets

6. Kendrick Lamar and SZA

Kendrick Lamar and SZA teamed up for several songs in between their individual hits on April 19 at the Grand National Tour opener in Minneapolis.

Even casual fans of Kendrick Lamar and SZA would be impressed by their 2 ½-hour, 52-song romp that bobbed and weaved through their dichotomous styles. The first surprise was Lamar hitting the stage first at April’s tour opener at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The second was that SZA joined him after a few songs. This was no mere opener/headliner presentation. No, The Grand National Tour was crafted to swap lyrics (“30 for 30,” “Luther”) as well as allow the hip-hop superstars their own paths to roam (“Squabble Up” and “Humble” for him, “Scorsese Baby Daddy” and “F2F” for her). Lamar already made history in February by performing the most watched Super Bowl halftime performance in NFL history. But his real mic drop was demonstrating through 39 stadium shows in North America and Europe why he’s not like anybody else.

Read the full Kendrick Lamar and SZA review.

5. Oasis

Liam (left) and Noel Gallagher of Oasis take the stage in Toronto on Aug. 24, 2025. The show marked the start of the North American leg of the band's reunion tour.

It’s an observance worth repeating: You never thought it would happen. But Noel and Liam Gallagher defied oddsmakers and rounded the U.K. and Ireland for six weeks before landing in Toronto in August for a four-city, multi-date North American run. There was Liam, hands clasped behind his back, chin tilted upward as he stretched his nasal tone over “D’You Know What I Mean?” and “Morning Glory.” There was Noel, head down, studiously playing guitar on “Live Forever” as a cold downpour augmented by swirling wind whipped through Rogers Stadium. It was a night of boisterous Britpop and joyful bonding. And yes, it really did happen.

Read the full Oasis review.

4. Benson Boone

Benson Boone shared many heartfelt moments at his Aug. 22, 2025 tour opener in St. Paul, Minnesota.

A combination of charm, swagger and gas-attendant-chic attire thrust Benson Boone into sold-out, all-arena-tour territory. Well, that plus a swelling hits list that already includes glistening pop singalongs “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” and “Mystical Magical” from his second studio album, "American Heart." That Boone takes some vocal and performance cues from Freddie Mercury, one of the most magnetic forces in music history, doesn't hurt either. Let's also not forget the element of Boone’s live shows that initially attracted attention: his high-flying flips that likely cause his insurance company sleepless nights but inject impressive razzle-dazzle, as they did at his August tour opener in St. Paul, Minnesota. Boone is a natural showman with an abundance of long-haul potential.

Read the full Benson Boone review.

3. Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney played a surprise show Feb. 11 for just a few hundred fans at New York's Bowery Ballroom.

How lucky are we to live in a world where Paul McCartney, 83, is not only still filling arenas and stadiums, but also affirms his love of music by playing a handful of club shows just because he relishes being onstage? Months before his Get Back tour commenced in the California desert, McCartney traipsed through snowy New York in February for a trio of hastily announced, $50-ticket concerts at the Bowery Ballroom. Night one, on a grungy club stage in front of about 500 fans, McCartney and his airtight band rolled through a glorious 100-minute set that started with “A Hard Day’s Night,” closed with the famed “Abbey Road” medley of “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End” and in between touched on Wings (“Mrs. Vandebilt”), solo work (“Maybe I’m Amazed”) and a Beatles rarity (the 2023-released “Now and Then”). “Some little gigs. Why not?,” McCartney asked the crowd rhetorically. Whatever his reason, all we can say is, thanks, Paul.

Read the full Paul McCartney review.

2. Beyoncé

Beyoncé was joined by a small city's worth of dancers on her Cowboy Carter tour, which opened April 28, 2025 at SoFi Stadium in California.

Of course Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour was going to be about the message as much as the music. Her excellent – albeit polarizing – album that gave the 32-show stadium tour its name remained front and center, drawing 19 of the 36 songs played on opening night at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium from the record. “They don't know how hard I had to fight for this when I sing my song,” she told the crowd during the opening “Ameriican Requiem.” But along with her potent new work, Beyoncé stomped through “Crazy in Love,” “Formation” and other resonating hits from her ample oeuvre to keep fans at the maximum level of frenzy. When not in lockstep with her precise dance crew, she was swapping costumes, flying over the rapt crowd on a neon horseshoe, riding a gilded bull or, in the sweetest moments, watching with a smile when daughters Blue Ivy and Rumi appeared for adorable cameos. Not that Beyoncé has anything to prove, but she conquered yet another challenge with her usual unrelenting determination and grace.

Read the full Beyoncé review.

1. Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga gave a Prince-ly purple hue to "Killah," one of more than two dozen songs she performed at the opening of The Mayhem Ball July 16, 2025 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Simply put, Lady Gaga is the ultimate performer. Her Mayhem Ball evoked the performance art of Ziggy Stardust and the influence of Alice in Wonderland corralled inside a gothic opera house. Electrifying? Check. Vocally remarkable? Yes. Wonderfully weird? You know it. Whether conducting “Abracadabra” from atop a billowing throne of blood red and black, reverting to her past with the disco-fied “LoveGame” or turning “Shallow” into a soothing prayer, Gaga’s unflagging intensity reigned during this enchanting production that debuted in July at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. She’ll return to the U.S. starting in February for another round of dates that delve into her dualities of chaos and wonder. She will not disappoint.

Read the full Lady Gaga review.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Best concerts of 2025 ranked: Oasis, Lady Gaga, McCartney

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