The best Halloween concerts in NYC

The legendary shock-rock outfit returns for its annual Halloween throwdown. With a quarter-century and fourteen studio albums under its belt, the grotesquely costumed band and its giddy Grand Guignol theatrics remain one of the most hilariously over-the-top rock experiences on the planet. Bring a raincoat.

The local dance-music label throws this rager with a lineup sweeter than a bag full of candy: Bop to post-punk outfit Guerilla Toss, synthy enigma George Clanton, outré street-band What Cheer? Brigade and skilled DJs Juan MacLean and stud1nt.

Mr. Jonathan Toubin celebrates thirteen lucky years of the annual haunted hop edition of his rock & roll party machine, New York Night Train. Here Toubin is fittingly joined by 13th Floor Elevators frontman Roky Erickson alongside the typical circus of live music, horror cinema, art, food and drinks.

The Grateful Dead bassist hits the Capitol Theatre for a "Phil-O-Ween" run. Over the course of three nights, Lesh takes the stage for sets with Vermont jam band Twiddle and the Terrapin Family Band. GEM (Grahame Lesh, Elliott Peck and Mihali Savoulidis) and Widespread Panic guitarist Jimmy Herring round out the evenings' lineups.

B-Real & Co. might be over the hill at this point, but they still know how to get a crowd going live. In honor of Halloween, the crew brings its annual "Haunted Hill" concert to Gramercy Theatre (followed by a gig in Brooklyn two nights later). Insane in the membrane indeed.

San Francisco's Deafheaven dips into black metal’s battle-tested playbook—rage-against-the-void screams and vein-popping blast beats—while boasting a distinctly blissed-out, dream-pop guitar palette. They stop off in Jersey City on Halloween as part of their co-headlining tour with fellow shoegaze dabblers DIIV.

Witness the genesis of zombie cinema at this Brooklyn Bowl screening featuring music by live-scoring vets Morricone Youth. George A. Romero's little indie horror flick that could is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year—and it remains as chilling as ever.

Ugh, spooky Halloween events are so predictable. Switch it up with this co-headling show at Elsewhere featuring blissed-out indie faves Beach Fossils and Los Angeles surf-punk trio Wavves. Expect both bands to trot out tunes from their latest albums (Somersault and You're Welcome, respectively) and create a thoroughly jovial vibe in celebration of the venue's first birthday.

At this show, ten bucks gets you four straight hours of jamming to local indie-rock crews impersonating their fave vintage acts. Don a costume and go party to ersatz versions of the Cramps, No Doubt, Nirvana, Deftones and a mystery band.

The World/Inferno Friendship Society deals in theatrical party rock, sort of like AM Gold as interpreted by a drunken klezmer band: both charmingly glitzy and powerfully surreal. The band takes the stage here for its 21st annual "Hallowmas" show.