Year-end columns are a pain.

Without fail later today, tomorrow or sometime after this column is published, I’ll go, “Arrgggh! How could I have forgotten …”

It happens every year, and 2019 brought more to remember than most.

The Mahoning Valley gained two first-rate performance venues in 2019.

The Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre made a splashy debut, hosting such acts as Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire in its inaugural year.

It also endured the pains that come with being an outdoor venue. Its first major concert, Michael Stanley & the Resonators and Donnie Iris & the Cruisers, was postponed for a month due to heavy rains, and JAC Management pulled off an impressive transformation in August by tearing down Steely Dan’s stage at the amp and moving the show several hundred yards to the Covelli Centre on another rainy day.

It will be fun to see what happens at the amp in 2020, both as a concert venue and as a gathering place in downtown Youngstown.

The Robins Theatre in downtown Warren doesn’t open officially until Jan. 9, 2020, but it’s been in the news all year. And folks got a sneak peak earlier this month with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tribute First Snow.

It’s a majestic performance space that not only will increase the entertainment options in the Valley but has the potential to be a major economic driver in downtown Warren and beyond.

The year started with a clash between the Butler Institute of American Art and Foundation Medici, the organization that donated the land and provided the bulk of the funding for its Trumbull branch in Howland. The dispute over the Butler’s decision to table a plan to take custodianship of an art collection belonging to the Boys Scouts of America led the foundation to terminate its agreement with the Butler.

The announcement last week that the BSA collection, including 65 original works by Norman Rockwell, is coming to Howland museum should make it one of the biggest arts stories in 2020.

Another big story in 2019 was two venerable arts organizations coming together with Easy Street Productions and the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra collaborating on productions of “Guys & Dolls” in February and “South Pacific” in November.

They were billed as “concert” versions, but ESP never does anything halfway, and the performances were as satisfying as any staged version.

To quote the final line of “Casablanca,” “This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” and I can’t wait to see what the partnership produces next, especially after Easy Street co-founder Todd Hancock recovers from the heart issues that limited his involvement last weekend in the holiday perennial “Miracle on Easy Street.”

There was no shortage of great theater in the Mahoning Valley this year.

It was a good year for big musicals. Millennial Theatre Company delivered the razzle dazzle with “Chicago” in May, Youngstown Playhouse got its 2019-20 season off to an impressive start with a talent-filled production of “Dreamgirls,” and Youngstown State University’s “Cabaret” hit audiences with a gut-punch of a final image.

Some of my personal favorites were more offbeat shows, like Kent State University at Trumbull’s “Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play,” which imagines a post-apocalyptic world in which old episodes of “The Simpsons” become the basis for the folk tales of the new world.

A reader’s theater production of the Tony Award-winning play “Red” that was directed by Matthew Mazuroski and featured James McClellan and Paul Dahman at the Butler in Youngstown also was a highlight. And it was a personal treat to see Warren native Austin Pendleton on stage in the Beck Center’s production of “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

Musically, there was no shortage of great concerts. I’ve seen John Mellencamp more than half-dozen times over the years, but his February show at Stambaugh Auditorium may have been the best of the bunch. Tony Bennett proved at age 92 that he could command an audience’s complete attention with the grace of his voice during a Mother’s Day concert at Packard Music Hall.

JAC Live had another successful Y Live concert, drawing a huge crowd to see Blake Shelton at Stambaugh Auditorium. The Covelli Centre gave me a chance to see a couple veteran acts I’d never seen before — Lionel Richie in June and Hall & Oates in August — and both were consummate pros.

Some of the best shows I saw were local acts — J.D. Eicher’s EP release show at Stambaugh, Radio Lark’s raucous set at Rhine Haus as part of Federal Frenzy, the pairing of Red Wanting Blue and The Vindys at Boardman’s Rock-n-Ribs Festival, The Super Babes EP release show at a roller rink and The Building’s national tour kick off at Westside Bowl.

I also loved Strand of Oaks at the Beachland Tavern, Frank Turner at the Agora Theatre, Bob Mould at the Music Box Supper Club, The Who at PPG Paints Arena, Jeff Tweedy solo in a 500-seat room in Pittsburgh in April and Wilco in Pittsburgh in November.

As great as all of those things were, the event that stands out personally was curating my first art show at Trumbull Art Gallery in Warren. With the concert photography show “First Three Songs, No Flash: From Hometown Heroes to Hall of Famers,” I developed a new appreciation for the work that goes into making an art exhibition happen.

It wouldn’t have been possible without the help and hard work of TAG gallery director Bill Mullane, TAG director Pat Galgozy and its many volunteers; the generosity of underwriter Covelli Enterprises; and the work of some very talented friends — Bob Jadloski, R. Michael Semple, William D. Lewis, Daniel Montecalvo, Chara Politte, Geneva Anderson, John Patrick Gatta, Eric Broz and Erika Rock.

2020 will have to be pretty special to surpass this year.

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@ tribtoday.com.