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 three-decade 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.

Everyone’s favorite NPR member station has a hand in a slew of summer concert slates at public plazas and beloved museums, and this summer’s schedule is reliably packed. Familiar KCRW DJs and local buzz bands will be providing free, open-air tunes on select nights from June through September at Union Station, CAAM, Descanso Gardens, Bowers Museum, Wende Museum, the Autry, Benny Boy Brewing, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, California Plaza and—our favorite—the party-till-midnight bashes at Chinatown Central Plaza. The details slightly differ at each spot, but you can typically expect a bunch of food trucks, beer gardens and after-hours museum admission. This year, there’s even a kid-oriented installment at the Kidspace Children’s Museum, where DJ Lance Rock of Yo Gabba Gabba is the special guest. Regardless of the location, you really can’t go wrong with any evening spent at Summer Nights. (Note: The kickoff June 7 event at Benny Boy Brewing and Aug. 29’s Descanso Gardens event are only for KCRW members).

See a free salsa concert every second Friday of the summer—plus a rescheduled show on July 25—during this series at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. This year’s lineup includes Gabrielito y La Verdad, the Echo Park Project, Arsenio Rodriguez Project and Conjunto Oye!—all featuring Super DJ Robby. Each night kicks off with a free salsa dance class at 6pm, courtesy of Dancing 101 with Roberto. 

Treat your ears to a vibrant concert on a spring or summer night this year by attending MUSE/IQUE’s annual program. This monthly series of performances, held at cultural venues across L.A., features a mix of performances inspired by music movements and public figures, including tributes to Ray Charles, immigrant film composers, the Memphis sound, Etta James and more. The best way to attend is to become a MUSE/IQUE member; you could make a $75 donation to the performing arts nonprofit for a single event (with the exception of September’s free open house), but if you’re interested in more than just one, it’s cheaper per event to become a full-fledged member.

Listen to classical and jazz in a dome more than a mile above L.A. during this mountaintop concert series. The Mount Wilson Observatory is 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 $60 (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. You’ll need to be able to climb 53 steps to reach the dome, and children under 12 aren’t permitted. 

Kaskade sends his beachfront festival back to SoCal with sets from Meduza, SKILAH, Sidepiece, Malaa, Anabel Englund, Walker & Royce and MPH at Huntington State Beach.

Nope, you haven’t traveled back in time: Nick, Joe and Kevin are back for a massive, 20th-anniversary show at Dodger Stadium in September, where they’ll be joined by Marshmello and Boys Like Girls. The L.A. show is also one of 10 stops on the “Jonas20: Living the Dream” tour that will open with a “Jonascon”—a pre-show pop-up experience offering Jo Bros karaoke, art installations, trivia challenges and city-specific merch.  There are a couple of presales taking place this week, but tickets officially go on sale Friday, March 28, at 10am.

Don’t look back in anger—at least not today—because you missed out on their U.K. reunion gigs: Brit-pop legends Oasis are performing a select number of stateside shows, including at the Rose Bowl, with special guests Cage the Elephant opening.

A veteran of Sheila E.’s backing band (which he joined as a teenager) and a part of beloved early-‘90s neosoul trio Tony! Toni! Toné!, Raphael Saadiq is practically R&B royalty. Over the past few decades he’s become an in-demand producer, working with artists like Mary J. Blige and Miguel and helping to shape the musical direction of Solange’s breakout album, A Seat at the Table (plus he cowrote the standout “I Lied To You” from Ryan Coodler’s Sinners). Catch him this summer at the Ford.

Chicago, heroes of the ’70s, hits town: Expect plenty of key changes and golden oldies from its horn-heavy, soul pop-gone-soft rock back catalog, including “If You Leave Me Now” and “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.” Oh, and expect fireworks: They're headlining the Hollywood Bowl’s fireworks finale (though LA Phil–produced concerts will continue throughout the month). Five-time Grammy winner Christopher Cross will kick things off.