Of all the dozens of shows I've covered in this space in 2007, it could be more interesting to look back at all the bad performances, bad venues, and bad vibes I experienced rather than what actually went right. But that would also essentially be like running the same negative review twice, and some folks obviously took it personally the first time. So let's just focus on the good here with the Top 10 concerts I saw this year: 1) Kix and the Blues Vultures at Rams Head Live, Friday, Sept. 21 There are dozens of midtier glam-metal bands that never quite reached the commercial stratosphere of Mötley Crüe or Poison, but had a couple hits and can still hit the reunion circuit whenever they please. But there's something about Kix--and its fanatical local following dating back to the old Hammerjacks era--that makes its yearly victory laps through Baltimore and the surrounding area feel just a little more special than your average '80s nostalgia trip. A large part of that is that the sleazy, bluesy new-wave metal of the band's early albums has aged surprisingly well, and its members still have the chops to play the hell out of those tunes now. 2) Avec, Karmella's Game, Endless Mike and the Beagle Club, and Velociraptor at the Ottobar, Wednesday, May 2 Indie-rock bills with several bands tend to be a crapshoot, where at least one act is so lousy or unremarkable that it drags down the night's momentum. But this was one of those rare nights when all four bands on the bill, three local, were all worth seeing, and it included exciting previews of sophomore albums by both Avec (released in September) and Karmella's Game (still forthcoming). 3) Skarr Akbar, Bossman, Mullyman, Barnes, Huli Shallone, B.O.M.B., Comp, TestMe at 5 Seasons, Monday, April 9 I saw practically every artist on the B-More Fresh Fest's bill multiple times this year, and in some instances they performed better sets on one of those other occasions. But to whatever extent a scene as under the radar as Baltimore hip-hop can deliver spectacle and starpower, this show had it: half the city's biggest MCs on one stage, at one point nearly all at the same time during Skarr Akbar's set, performing for a packed house with no beef or bullshit. 4) Monarch, Thrushes, and Minmae at the Lo-Fi Social Club, Wednesday, March 28 The one memory that I'll always associate with Lo-Fi's short-lived original Brooklyn location is hearing Monarch's (now Wye Oak) gorgeous "Obituary" for the first time, rocking back and forth on my heels and closing my eyes and feeling completely caught up in the moment. It's a happy memory. 5) Rasputina and My Brightest Diamond at the Ottobar, Wednesday, Aug. 8 I didn't go out of my own aesthetic comfort zone too often this year when figuring out what shows to go to. But I'm glad that when a friend was in town I accepted his invitation to check out a bill of two eccentric chamber-pop acts I'd never heard before; they put on a more enjoyable show than many bands whose songs I already know by heart. 6) ShellBe R.A.W., Jade Fox, B-Fly, G.E.M. and Symantyx at 5 Seasons, Saturday, May 12 The documentary Even a Man Can Do This and this showcase concert affiliated with the movie attested to the fact that there's an uncommonly high percentage of talented female rappers in Baltimore, and that I wasn't merely grouping a disparate group of artists together on the basis of gender for the sake of a trend piece. It is a disparate group, though: from B-Fly's sensual live-band set to G.E.M.'s ferocious tag-team rhymes to Symantyx's hilarious freestyles, they cast a far wider net than comparable male-dominated bills like the B-More Fresh Fest. 7) Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at the 9:30 Club, Saturday, Dec. 8 Ted Leo is one of the few national acts whom I'll come out to see almost every time he rolls through the area, which included three times this year alone. And the best of those was the latter of his recent two-night stand in Washington, when Leo and his band capped off their Living With the Living tour with a road-tested run through a fast-paced, overstuffed set list, and a spontaneous rendition of the oft-neglected live favorite "Ballad of the Sin Eater." 8) The New Flesh vs. Everyone at the Sidebar, Monday, Aug. 9 A member of the New Flesh described its performance, which involved playing short sets between several other bands in the Sidebar's bizarro open-mic format, later that night as "like hitting a brick wall." But the abrupt start-stop momentum of the New Flesh alternating with like-minded bands such as the Flatliners, Animal, and Archaeopteryx, was a fun way to hear a whole load of nasty, loud music in quick succession, at least for an outside observer. 9) Private Eleanor at the Walters Art Gallery, Friday, April 20 This show, an intimate release party for the album Sweethearting in a swanky seated venue, was pretty much the ideal circumstance in which to see Private Eleanor, perhaps the quietest of the many bands making a very gentle noise in Baltimore these days. 10) Sloan at the Black Cat, Sunday, May 13 Sloan released my favorite album of 2007, which means that its D.C. show in support of Never Hear the End of It was one of those rare occasions when a band with a deep back catalog chose to focus heavily on the new record, and it wasn't a problem at all.