The best concerts to see before summer ends

Between the tragic Manchester Arena bombing, the death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller and the very public end of her brief engagement to SNL star Pete Davidson, the past year has been a rough one for Ariana Grande. But amid the turmoil, the singer released Sweetener, her most impressive collection of songs to date, filled with empowering anthems and soaring R&B ballads (not to mention the inescapable single “God is a Woman”). The former Nickelodeon star will take her latest album on the road this spring, including a stop at the United Center, where Grande can fill the cavernous venue with her expansive vocal range. No word yet on whether or not her pet pig, Piggy Smalls, will make an appearance, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Key exponents of the earnest, easy-listening school of indie rock that flourished in the early aughts, Death Cab for Cutie are still going strong. Here, Ben Gibbard and his Washington State crew gig behind their ninth LP, Thank You for Today. In keeping with the bands M.O., fans shouldn't expect too radical a shift; the new material just sounds like good, old Death Cab to us. Here at this stadium gig, frontwoman of revelatory ‘90s indie band Rilo Kiley, Lewis, sets the stage.

One of music's most celebrated studio drummers, Gadd has left his unmistakeable touch on everything from pop mega-hits like Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" to landmark fusion releases like Chick Corea's The Leprechaun (along with a variety of other works by Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin, Al DiMeola, Stanley Clarke, Frank Sinatra…). Here the living legend turns up with his own dynamic, grooving live combo.

Two up-and-coming MCs—Chicago's Mick Jenkins and Brooklyn-raised Leikeli47—touch down for a free Prospect Park gig with a cache of worthy releases under their belt. Anyone on the fence should give a few spins to the two's new release Pieces of a Man and Acrylic (respectively).

This artist first wormed her way into both indie and poptimist ears alike back in 2012 with her undeniably infectious breakout single, "Call Me Maybe." But with her glitzy sophomore effort E-MO-TION—which hit its titular peaks of heartbreak and adoration with soaring majesty—she graduated from one-hit wonder to a versatile and inventive star with staying power. Here she plays from a new release, Dedicated—a collection of tightly written pop songs that shimmers with fevered beauty (though perhaps not quite as respendently as its predecessor).

In any discussion of rock acts that have improved with age, English heavy-metal institution Iron Maiden has to come in somewhere near the top: Even if Bruce Dickinson can't hit every screeching high note of his prime (cut him some slack, the guy just overcame tongue cancer), he deploys his resources for maximum impact, something that could be said equally for his restless bandmates.

More than fifty years after forming the Grateful Dead, longtime members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir are still out there truckin'. As Dead & Company, the crew teams up with Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge and ax slinger John Mayer to bring its exploratory jams and time-tested Americana to the masses. Expect a tie-dyed parking-lot scene and a party atmosphere at these outdoor shows.

It's 2019 and the reigning hooligan jester of indie pop is up to all his same antics—this time, announcing a new album titled Here Comes the Cowboy alongside a new single "Nobody," both of which he claims bear no relationship to Mitski's acclaimed 2018 release, Be the Cowboy, nor its main single, also titled "Nobody." The video for (Mac's) "Nobody" features the singer in a hauntingly elaborate lizard-man (or, lizard-cowboy) costume, which is none too out of place in an oeuvre of music vids that includes the artist surrounded by VR humanoid dog creatures or drowning in a bathtub of cabbage heads. Catch all the madness at this outdoor Celebrate Brooklyn! gig.

What better way to endure the dog days of summer than with a good dose of ’90s angst? The alt-rockers hit town behind a newie, Shiny and Oh So Bright Vol. 1/LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun (a title that ostensibly indicates a continuing album series on the horizon), with an almost-complete original lineup. (Alas, bassist D’Arcy Wretzky will be absent because of a feud with Billy Corgan.)

To the chagrin of some and celebration of others, the last two albums from these Cali emocore types skew toward the former half of their "pop-punk" moniker—consider such divisive lines as "[she was] singing 'What do you think about Kanye West? I think that he’s great / I think he’s the best.' Unexpected namedrops aside, the band's newest developments continue to mature the same brand of jaded irony that makes frontman Barry Johnson's writing so effective. Don't miss them as they pop up with genre vets Saves the Day.

Too old to rock & roll, too young to die? Hardly! Original band leader and celebrated flautist Ian Anderson brings the modern lineup of his prog-folk institution Jethro Tull to town for its 50th anniversary tour. It may have been nearly half a century since the band's golden days, but few since have so elegantly melded the worlds of woodwind instruments and arena rock showmanship.