Asking someone who has been going to concerts in Toronto since the age of 16 and now a professional music journalist to assemble a year-end “best” list is like asking Drake to pick his faves from his collection of Kobe Bryant signature sneakers. It’s frickin’ hard.
To state the obvious, each artist and experience is different, then factor in personal taste. Because the ask is Toronto’s best, Paul McCartney at Hamilton’s TD Coliseum and Tom Jones at Niagara’s OLG Stage are not on the list, but neither are shows I missed because I broke my ankle in late spring and navigating shows at large venues with a cast — and pain — was a scary thought, so I sat out Teddy Swims, Three Days Grace, Broken Social Scene, City and Colour, and, alas, Wu Tang Clan’s farewell. And small club shows were out of the question. Sometimes, it was just too much to attend more than one concert in a week or it was raining or I just wasn’t in the right headspace. If it was top 20, Coldplay, Inhaler, Jack White, Jelly Roll/Josh Ross, the Waterboys, Damiano David and Lauryn Hill would have made my cut but, for various reasons, here are my 10 best Toronto concerts of 2025. Not ranked; that would be even tougher.
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Keith Urban
Horseshoe Tavern
At the start of 2025, the country-rock superstar played a tiny gig at the legendary venue, telling stories between songs, killing it on guitar, and giving 400 people a rare up-close-and-personal experience before returning in the summer for a sold-out date at Budweiser Stage for 40 times the number of people.
Sum 41
Scotiabank Arena
The Canadian rock band, which formed in Ajax, Ontario when they were teenagers, wrapped up their year-long farewell tour with two sold-out “hometown” shows. As someone who saw the band in the 90s before they were signed and beamed with pride as they became an international arena act, I went to the final show, which was polished, with pyro, filled with hits, a celebration with 19,800 partygoers, sending off the lifelong friends as they move on to different musical chapters.
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Oasis
Rogers Stadium
Was it worth the 16-year wait? Did it live up to the hype? Bloody right, it did. Famously feuding Manchester brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher kicked off the North American leg of their fingers-crossed-it-doesn’t-end-with-a-tantrum-and-swinging-guitars hell-froze-over reunion tour in Toronto with two sold-out shows. I took in the first one, for which there was a periodic downpour. But rain did not dampen the evening. There was dancing and pogoing, hugging and singing. “It must be a f**king nightmare to support and followin’ that,” Liam said of the fans’ patience, waiting for them to bury the hatchet. “Nice one for making this happen and allowing us to put the band back on the map again. Respect. We’ll see you in a bit.”
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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Meridian Hall
Anyone who has seen Nick Cave live will go see Nick Cave live again — and again and again. He’s not a “saw him before” artist, as if once was enough. It’s not an exaggeration that the 68-year-old is one of the best performers out there. We won’t get hokey and call it a religious experience, but there is a communal energy that just permeates the air when he’s onstage — and off (he often comes into the audience), a gothic man of the people whose musical poetry connects us. OK, that sounds hokey but it’s true.
The Who
Budweiser Stage
As someone who hasn’t missed any of their farewell shows (insert chuckle here), this really is their final go round. Roger Daltry is 81 now and Pete Townshend is 80. So, not the 30-something microphone twirling, windmill guitaring rock stars they were for their first farewell. You always have to lower your expectations when a person is still rockin’ and rollin’ onstage in their 70s and 80s. Cut them some slack. But, the first of two final shows this summer, Daltry did hit some impressive notes and the set was a reminder of their rock legacy.
The Beaches
Scotiabank Arena
Can you be proud of people you don’t know? Local band The Beaches formed in their teens in 2010 and through sheer hard work, loyalty and, maybe, because music is all they ever wanted to do, have risen to major headline status in Canada, playing an effin’ arena. It should be noted that only a few short years ago the band was dropped by their label. But that didn’t discourage them. Their anthemic pop-rock songs have made them a rising force. One of the best things about the show was looking around and seeing young girls, who will hopefully be inspired to pick up instruments…or at the very least dump shitty boyfriends.
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David Byrne
Massey Hall
The second of a three-night sold-out run was a spot of joy in this crazy news cycle. The 73-year-old art-rock innovator and former Talking Heads frontman carried us away with a live show that was kinetic and joyous. As I wrote in my Now Toronto review, “his entire hour-and-forty-five minute show was fun, fun, fun, the fitness class for people who can’t keep up, with choreographed dance moves you might have tried with your friends in public school, and a characteristically inventive backing group of musicians, dancers and singers whose colourful instruments (from keyboards to hand drums) were affixed around their necks so they could move and groove constantly, along with the boss.”
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Beck
Roy Thomson Hall
When a pop artist, for lack of a better word, teams with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, it’s always a rare and exceptional evening. Beck is far more than a “pop” artist. He always pushes boundaries, creating music outside trends, blending genres from electronic to funk, folk and hip-hop so reimaging his songs with a full orchestra was not left field, but it gave us a chance to sit in a beautiful venue and listen to his songs reimagined with our very own TSO. Made us feel a bit sophisticated, actually.
Yungblud
Danforth Music Hall
Despite what the Darkness thinks of Yungblud — “another nail in the coffin of rock ‘n’ roll” — there is no stopping this 28-year-old Yorkshire rocker, who has built his fanbase by writing songs about not fitting in, low self-esteem, and anxiety. His popularity is spreading well beyond his fanbase of fellow misfits. Sold out in minutes, tickets for the 1400-capacity Danforth show were going for as much as $700 (cost $50). So how was it? Galvanizing: full of jumps, overhead arm waves, choruses of “hey heys,” prances, struts and sweat. He then stuck around in the rain to say hi to people.
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The Weeknd
Rogers Centre
The city’s biggest venue has become The Weeknd’s regular playground and the Toronto-born Abel Tesfaye doesn’t just play one night; he fills and sells out multiple nights. This year, that meant four shows at the 55,000-capacity stadium he still calls by its original name, SkyDome. His show featured a dystopian cityscape and a production that was theatrical, futuristic and ritualistic. The general concept leaned towards unmasking — a loose narrative on his career arc which has seen the now 35-year-old go from mystery man to infinitely more comfortable in public. The concert was both a spectacle and spectacular.
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