“Easy come, easy go / Easy left me a long time ago,” Eddie Vedder sang, shrouded in shadows on a dark stage during Pearl Jam’s opening selection of “Pendulum.” The Dark Matter World Tour touched down in Sacramento on May 13 and Vedder and the band displayed the musical muscle that has kept them at or near the top of the rock world for more than 30 years.

Two years after its postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Roger Waters’ “This is Not a Drill” tour touched down in Sacramento, California, on September 20 for an epic, spectacular in-the-round performance. The lavish, multidimensional two-set show was all at once a rock show and a theatrical drama played out via bold visuals displayed in text, images, and video clips on massive LED screens, and also featured a couple of airborne components (pig and sheep dirigibles).

Phish on October 15 returned to Sacramento, California, opening the fall tour with two sets of skillfully innovative rock, jazz, and funky songs, instrumental textures, and artistic noodling. The three-plus-hour show found Phish firing on all cylinders, including guitarist Trey Anastasio’s ever-imaginative bag of guitar tricks, Page McConnell’s incredible array of organ and grand piano keyboard flourishes, Mike Gordon’s always-solid substructural bass, and Jon Fishman’s bright, rat-a-tat-tat drumming.

Equal parts romance lyricist and swashbuckling stage performer, Dave Matthews and his band ran through 21 songs at the Golden 1 Center arena in Sacramento on Sept. 7, and the enthusiastic crowd was with Dave every step of the way. The band delivered an almost three-hour grunge-free virtuosic fusion of rock, jazz, folk, and soul with plenty of jamming pizzazz.