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.

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Free summer concerts in L.A.

  • Music
  • La Cañada
  • 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.

Summer concert calendars by month

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Summer music festivals

  • 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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