The best upcoming concerts in L.A.

L.A.’s own Moses Sumney is a soul-folk songwriter, armed with a guitar and a loop pedal, who conjures intimate yet powerful vocals. Sumney is giving back a little to his local fans with a free residency at the Bootleg Theater into early March.

It’s been a mainstay of protest signs, songs and chants, but this spring the “power to the people” refrain will fill the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Gustavo Dudamel and Herbie Hancock are bringing together musicians, artists and activists for a series of shows between March 5 and April 11 that celebrate solidarity and humanitarian spirit. Programs include sets from Dudamel and the LA Phil, Hancock and Patti Smith, a talk from Dr. Angela Davis about social change, the movie music of Spike Lee and his go-to composer Terence Blanchard and more.

A veteran of Suicidal Tendencies and a protégé of Flying Lotus, electric-bassist (and L.A. native) Stephen Bruner now plies funky, jazzy grooves as Thundercat, in which guise his work can call to mind vintage Stanley Clarke and Bootsy Collins, as well as more recent low-end theorists Squarepusher and Victor Wooten.

Tame Impala’s celebrated debut LP, Innerspeaker, parlayed fuzz-soaked tidal waves of melodic psych-rock into massive anthems that, dare we say it, channeled John Lennon at times. Its Grammy-nominated successor, Lonerism, extended that winning formula into a sound that’s referential but never derivative: old-fashioned, newfangled and timeless all at once. See them in support of their latest, The Slow Rush, during this show at the Forum; Clairo opens.

Burger Records’ annual music fest, Burgerama, is back after a few year haitus. The noon-to-midnight at the Echo and the Echoplex includes sets from the Mummies, Flamin’ Groovies, Apache, Hollywood Stars, Tomorrows Tulips and more.

The Strokes may never have recaptured the garage rock glory of their debut Is This It, but that hasn't stopped the fervor over anything the on-again, off-again band puts out. See them play the forum with support from King Princess and Alvvays.

More than two decades in, Wilco sounds just as magnetic and Jeff Tweedy’s lyrics just as sweet and sharp as they’ve ever been. The Chicago group has shuffled its lineup and sound over the years, mostly ditching its alt country roots for detours into noise rock and jam band territory—or, on its latest record Ode to Joy, more quiet meditations. Live, you can expect to see the incredibly tight band alternate between krautrock grooves and Lynyrd Skynyrd-like guitar attacks.

The steadiest and sturdiest of the great Seattle grunge titans—the only one that hasn't lost a key member or taken an extended hiatus—rumbles into town for two stadium gigs. Expect to hear raucous newer tunes (the band is releasing a new album, Gigaton) as well as selections spanning a vast catalog that’s far more compelling than the band’s vocal haters would care to admit.

Montreal producer Kaytranada has risen to prominence over the past few years via an unrelenting series of slam-dunk remixes of tracks by everyone from Janet Jackson to Azealia Banks. His woozy, electronic take on R&B—spliced with samples, spacey electronica and chunky beats—is almost absurdly on-point, so this should be a fine show.

Cake on the eyeliner, cry it off and then dance away the tears at this inaugural 1980s goth and new wave fest feauting Morrissey, Bauhaus, Blondie and Devo. On May 2, the grounds around the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson will host the Cruel World Festival, a one-day-only music fest that features almost every ’80s alt obsession imaginable: the Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen, Violent Femmes, the Church, English Beat, Public Image Ltd, Gary Numan, Missing Persons (you know they’ll play “Walking in L.A.”) and more. Presale starts Thursday, February 13 at noon, with general sale on Friday, February 14 at noon. General admission tickets cost $135 to $165 depending on how early you buy them (if past genre/era-specific Goldenvoice fests are any indication, expect all tickets to be snatched up pretty much immediately), while VIP runs $225 to $250.