Arroyo Seco Weekend
Photograph: Rozette Rago
Photograph: Rozette Rago

Summer concerts in L.A., including free shows

Scope out the best summer concerts of 2025, plus the best free summer music series across Los Angeles

Michael Juliano
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Get out your calendars: Your guide to the best summer concerts of 2025 has arrived. Here, our picks for the best warm-weather gigs, including summer concert series, free showssummer music festivals and more. Make sure to check out our monthly concert calendars, too, for shows in outdoor venues, clubs and theaters.

RECOMMENDED: Full guide to things to do in the summer in Los Angeles

Free summer concerts in L.A.

  • Music
  • Westside
  • Recommended

Hilltop sunset views and rising bands combine to make this Getty tradition a worthy destination for Angelenos on both sides of the 405. This year’s lineup of free Saturday-night shows includes SML (May 31), Madi Diaz (July 12), Empress Of (July 26) and Emile Mosseri (Aug 23). Tip: Avoid the traffic and the crowds and arrive early, preferably after 3pm when the parking price drops to $15 (though it’s actually free if you wait until the show starts, after 6pm). You’ll get to visit the exhibits, which stay open until 8pm on Saturdays, and beat the dinner rush.

  • Music
  • Chinatown
  • Recommended

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 StationCAAMDescanso 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. 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.

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  • Music
  • Westside
  • Recommended

The Skirball puts on its annual series of free summer concerts, highlighting indie, folk and world music from L.A. and beyond. Guests can arrive early and visit the museum’s galleries for free, dine under the stars and grab a seat for the show in the beautiful central courtyard. The concert is free (and reservations are recommended), but parking is $20.

This summer’s lineup includes Helado Negro and Rodrigo Amarante (July 17), Meridian Brothers and La Perla (July 24), Frente Cumbiero and MULA (July 31) and Say She She and JOJO ABOT (Aug 7).

  • Music
  • Downtown
  • Recommended

This epic (and free) outdoor concert series features live performances by artists from around the world at the totally overhauled California Plaza stage in DTLA, where the shallow water separating the stage from the audience has been replaced by a proper event lawn. Don’t miss a diverse and highly intriguing mix of bands, DJ sets and dance parties.

Summer concert calendars by month

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Summer music festivals

  • Music
  • Music venues
  • Hollywood
  • Recommended

EDM juggernaut HARD Summer hopped around Southern California for a while, but now it’s settled back in town—and for 2025 again heads to the grounds of Hollywood Park, next to SoFi Stadium. No matter the location, its dedication to bringing the biggest names in the hip-hop and electronic scene has stayed the course. This year’s lineup includes Dom Dolla, Feid, Gesaffelstein, Kaytranada, Sean Paul, Juvenile & the 400 Degreez Band, Four Tet, Floating Points, Sara Landry and Nico Moreno.

  • Clubs
  • Recommended

Say goodbye to dusty thoroughfares and violent porta-potties: Splash House takes the music festival concept off of sweltering desert land and places it poolside. Movers and shakers at this multi-location getdown are shuttled between the Saguaro, the Margaritaville and the Renaissance (with after-hours programming at the Palm Springs Air Museum) to lap up big-name dance acts and DJ sets. With the added comforts of AC rooms and critically acclaimed restaurant fare just steps away from the party scenes, the experience will make you question whether to bother with more punishing locales come next year’s festival season.

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  • Music
  • Music festivals
  • Orange County

Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Festival once again lands at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point—and though there’s no lineup yet, you can bet that the Pearl Jam frontman will probably be on it. This year’s edition runs from September 26 to 28.

The fest’s name comes from the Hawaiian concept of family, and as such the beachfront festival will give back to its own community by donating a portion of proceeds to the San Onofre Parks Foundation and the Doheny State Beach Foundation, among others.

  • Music
  • Punk and metal
  • Recommended

Panic! at the Disco and Blink-182 top the now-annual Las Vegas festival that features just about every emo-pop act from the early 2000s. Seriously, we’re not kidding: Weezer, Avril Lavigne, the Offspring, All Time Low, the Used, Knocked Loose, the Gaslight Anthem, Bad Religion, Yellowcard and more are all set to take over the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on October 18 and 19, 2025, with a special focus on each band’s most beloved album.

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