The best upcoming concerts in L.A.

One of L.A.’s best free live-music offerings, Jazz at LACMA has featured legit legends over its 35-year run at the museum. Seating for the program is available in the museum’s plaza on a first-come, first-served basis, though you’re welcome to picnic on the grass, too (you won’t really be able to see the show, but you’ll still hear it). You’ll find the series on Friday evenings in LACMA’s welcome plaza (just behind Urban Light) throughout the summer and into the fall. We’re betting it’ll be even more popular than usual this year, with the new David Geffen Galleries in the background.

It’s hard to imagine a lovelier setting than the Huntington’s rose garden in bloom. Add in live music provided by the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, and there’s no better place to spend a Monday afternoon. Wander among the blooms while solo and duo performers share their strings skills on violin, cello and guitar. Admission is included with your $29 Huntington ticket.

Whether they’re a psyop or not, Brooklyn rockers Geese—not to be confused with Connecticut rockers Goose—have never been hotter. Led by frontman Cameron Winter, the band has been around since 2016, but their most recent album, Getting Killed, was named the best album of 2025 by Stereogum and The New Yorker. Now they’re stopping in L.A. for three nights at Hollywood Forever Cemetery—one of the very best places in the city to see live music. 

Stones Throw Records turns 30 years young this year, and to celebrate the local label is hosting a three-day outdoor fest in Highland Park. Automatic, Los Retros, Mild High Club, DâM-FunK, Egyptian Lover, J Rocc, John Carroll Kirby and founder Peanut Butter Wolf top the lineup, with special guest appearances from Sudan Archives, Aloe Blacc, Eric Andre and Kyle Mooney.

See a simulcast of LA Opera’s brand-new production of one of the most iconic operas of all time, Carmen, on the Santa Monica Pier with the sound of breaking waves in the background. The production will also be shown across town at Opera in the Park—held at Steinmetz Park in Hacienda Heights. This yearly live broadcast extends the opera outside of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, making it free and accessible to all and pairing it with arts and crafts, performances by local musicians, free balloon art, and food from local vendors for the perfect combination of culture and community.

Charli XCX is the kind of artist that could only exist in today’s increasingly fragmented world of streaming platforms, fluid genre classifications and poptimism. Listen to the buoyant beats and catchy refrains of her records and it’s clear that Charli is a pop star. See her at the Forum in support of her new album, Music, Fashion, Film.

The releases have come fewer and farther between for the indie-rock stalwarts of Modest Mouse. But for a group that started out playing tiny clubs, bingo halls and dive bars, Modest Mouse still fills larger spaces remarkably well, offering up a slightly frenetic live show anchored by Isaac Brock’s distinctive singing, full of yelps and shouts. See them as they promote their first new album in five years, An Eraser and a Maze, at the Hollywood Palladium.

Filipino-British alt-pop singer beabadoobee’s star has been on a steady rise since 2020. Now, she’ll perform tracks from her fourth LP, Pylon, during this show at the Kia Forum—part of her first-ever arena tour.

  After performing over the summer at the inaugural Daisy Chain Fields fest, Chappell Roan returns to the stage at the Shrine Auditorium—once again for a good cause. At the two-night Super Graphic Spectacular, the singer and her Midwest Princess Project will present an extravaganza of live music, drag, comedy, special guests and hands-on volunteer opportunities—and, of couse, a special performance by Roan herself. Proceeds directly support LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations, including the Ali Forney Center, TransLatin@ Coalition and Backline. Tickets are sold out, but you can still join the waitlist.

I’m not OK: After a few increasingly large local shows, and a huge summer show at Dodger Stadium, aughts pop-punk fixture My Chemical Romance will return to L.A. next October for five shows at the Hollywood Bowl. The concerts are part of a newly announced tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band’s much-loved rock-opera album The Black Parade, which the band will play in full, including hits like “Welcome to the Black Parade,” “I Don’t Love You” and “Famous Last Words.”