The best upcoming concerts in L.A.

Treat your ears to a vibrant concert on a spring or summer night by attending MUSE/IQUE’s annual program. This concert series, held at cultural venues across L.A., features a mix of performances inspired by music movements and public figures, including tributes to Quincy Jones, Joni Mitchell, the world of Oz, the Harlem Renaissance, the American Sound and more. You can make a $75 donation to the performing arts nonprofit for a single event, or become a MUSE/IQUE member if you’re interested in multiple programs. Up next is a look at the music of the American West at the Huntington and Skirball.

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.

Listen to classical and jazz in a dome more than a mile above L.A. during this mountaintop concert series curated by artistic director Cécilia Tsan. The Mount Wilson Observatory is once again hosting monthly concerts this summer inside the dome of its 100-inch Hooker telescope—which was the largest telescope in the world for much of the first half of the 20th century. Tickets cost $65 (that also includes access to the exhibit at the observatory), and it’s highly recommended that you buy them in advance since seating is limited. Note: You’ll need to be able to climb 53 steps to reach the dome, and children under 12 aren’t permitted. 

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.

It’s been almost a decade since 24K Magic, but its foot-tapping facsimile of ’70s funk, ’80s disco-pop and ’90s R&B still hasn’t lost its sheen, and we’re betting that Mars’s party tunes will still have enough funk to get you uptown—or to SoFi Stadium, where Mars is stopping for four nights in October on his Romantic Tour. The outing marks the singer’s first global headline tour since his 24K Magic World Tour (though L.A. was treated to a couple of shows in summer 2024 when he christened Intuit Dome as its first performer). Opening the shows will be Raye and Mars’s Silk Sonic collaborator, Anderson .Paak, who’ll perform as DJ Pee .Wee. 

She & Him’s Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward offer their perfectly breezy pop confections, setting exactly the right tone for a lazy, hazy evening. The duo hasn’t toured for four years but will be performing material from their three original albums—including the resurgent hit “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today”—on the Pump Up the Volumes Tour, which stops for two nights at the Orpheum.

After a hiatus and a roster change, SoCal’s beloved Growlers are back, led by frontman Brooks Nielsen. The band’s live shows are chock-full of its signature summery, psychedelic ’60s garage rock. This year, instead of a Halloween show at the Palladium, Nielsen is leading a show at the Greek in early October.

Coachella organizer Goldenvoice has made a couple of autumn returns to the Empire Polo Club for nostalgic, genre-focused fests—first with classic rock and more recently ’80s metal. Now it’s time for some dance greats to gather in the desert, though this two-day, single-stage event balances some fresh talent with its EDM vets. Saturday’s lineup includes Calvin Harris, Under Construction (the live collab between Fisher and Chris Lake), Peggy Gou back-to-back with Four Tet, and Seth Troxler back-to-back with Ben Sterling; Sunday features Swedish House Mafia, Skrillex, Dom Dolla back-to-back with Kettama, the Blessed Madonna and DJ Harvey; and Floating Points will host a special sound installation all weekend long.

Pitched as a a small-scale experience with global-scale performers, this festival series sets up at a handful of waterfront locations, including Lake Tahoe, Napa and—closest to L.A.—Montecito (at least that’s how it’s billed, though it’s actually in Carpinteria), where you’ll find the Chainsmokers, Kygo, T-Pain, Zedd, the All-American Rejects and Loud Luxury at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club.

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 two nights at Hollywood Forever Cemetery—one of the very best places in the city to see live music.