The best concerts in L.A. this September

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.

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. 

Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Festival once again lands at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point—and the Pearl Jam frontman leads a lineup that also includes Kings of Leon, Hozier, Leon Bridges, Green Day, Cage the Elephant and many more. 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.

Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel’s slick, spacey compositions are best appreciated with a pair of headphones (or during an… intimate evening), but that shouldn’t stop you from watching the French duo set the mood at the Hollywood Bowl. The pair prolongs its 25th anniversary celebration of its stellar debut, Moon Safari, by playing it in full.

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.

So far these dates at the Hollywood Bowl are the only double bill for LCD Soundsystem and Pulp, but even if they weren’t, we’d still consider this a must see. Catch James Murphy’s dance-punk outfit and Jarvis Cocker’s iconic, moody Britpop band on September 25 and 26 at the Bowl.

Everyone’s familiar with Leonard Bernstein’s star-crossed lovers musical, but did you know that the composer originally imagined it as an opera? LA Opera has taken his suggestion and ran with it with an elevated, maximalist and operatic take premiering at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion that incorporates the iconic original choreography and Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics. 

Intimate performances have a tendency to get lost in the open air, but Big Thief’s locked-in rhythm section and the powerfully quiet vocals of Adrianne Lenker—a songwriter in the vein of Joni Mitchell or Leonard Cohen—will keep you from focusing more on your picnic spread during this show at the Hollywood Bowl. Chicago rapper and poet Noname opens the night.

After making a surprise Hollywood Bowl performance with Cyndi Lauper over Labor Day weekend, John Legend is back at the Bowl for a show of his own at the end of September. The R&B crooner, pianist and EGOT winner is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his debut album, Get Lifted, which earned him his first three Grammys.

Groundbreaking L.A. art-pop outsiders Ron and Russell Mael steam back into town as Sparks. The brothers, who originally hail from Pacific Palisades, recently released their 26th studio album, Mad! Turn up at the Greek Theatre for oddball pop that’s as intelligent as it is absurd.