The Hollywood Bowl is the place to be for LA concerts this week. Hayley Williams kicks things off with two nights of “The Hayley Williams Show” (Oct. 5–6), followed by Empire of the Sun with Polo & Pan and Midnight Generation on Oct. 8, Mac DeMarco’s laid-back charm on Oct. 9, and Jack Johnson‘s SURFILMUSIC Tour closing out the week Oct. 10–11. Over at Crypto.com Arena, JUNGLE bring their dance-floor soul on Oct. 10. Here are the best concerts in Los Angeles this week, handpicked by Grimy Goods, from arena headliners to indie shows at the city’s best small venues. Want the whole month? See our best concerts in LA this October.
Oct. 5 — Bella Kay at El Rey Theatre
Rising indie pop singer-songwriter Bella Kay plays El Rey Theatre on Oct. 5. She broke through with the confessional bedroom-pop of her debut EP Sick to My Stomach, and singles like “Iloveitiloveitiloveit” have since carried her onto the Billboard Hot 100. Snag those tickets before they’re gone.
Oct. 5 — Rum Jungle at Echoplex
Rum Jungle brings its jangly, sun-bleached indie pop to Echoplex on Oct. 5. We named the group an Artist You Should Know last year, and their breezy, hook-driven songwriting has only gotten more assured since. Get your tickets!
Oct. 5-6 — “The Hayley Williams Show” at Hollywood Bowl
Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams takes over the Hollywood Bowl for two nights, Oct. 5-6, under “The Hayley Williams Show” banner. It’s the same run we broke down the verified presale details for earlier this year — expect a set that draws from her solo work and maybe even a Paramore treat or two + surprises. Williams is always full of side quests and pleasant surprises. Grab your tickets now.
Oct. 6 — Father John Misty (solo) at Fonda Theatre
Fonda Theatre marks its 100th anniversary with a solo set from Father John Misty on Oct. 6, with Omar Velasco opening. Josh Tillman wowed us when he charmed the Greek Theatre last summer, and this stripped-down, solo format promises an even more intimate look at his wry, orchestral songwriting. Get those tickets.
Oct. 6-7 — Mumford & Sons: Prizefighter Tour at Kia Forum
Folk-rockers Mumford & Sons bring their Prizefighter Tour to Kia Forum for two nights, Oct. 6-7. It’s a long way from the band we first caught aboard the Railroad Revival Tour back in 2011, and Marcus Mumford and co. have long since traded vintage train cars for arena stages.
Oct. 7 — EsDeeKid at Hollywood Palladium
Liverpool rapper EsDeeKid, known for keeping his face covered and his identity private, headlines Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 7. This stop is part of the US tour run we flagged presale details for this summer, riding the momentum of his breakout debut mixtape Rebel.
Oct. 7 — Nick Hakim at Lodge Room
Lodge Room hosts Nick Hakim on Oct. 7, with Arima Ederra opening. His hazy, psych-soul songwriting blurs the lines between R&B, jazz, and lo-fi indie rock, pairing a breathy falsetto with woozy, tape-warped production.
Oct. 7 — Handsome Dick Manitoba at Gold-Diggers
Punk institution Handsome Dick Manitoba takes over Gold-Diggers on Oct. 7. The longtime Dictators frontman and WFMU radio host has been a fixture of New York’s punk scene since the genre’s earliest days, and he brings that same loudmouthed, barroom energy to the stage.
Oct. 8 — Cavetown at The Wiltern
Singer-songwriter Cavetown brings his Running With Scissors Tour to The Wiltern on Oct. 8. Robin Skinner’s bedroom-pop project has grown from YouTube uploads into a full-band indie folk sound, and this latest album finds him pushing into more collaborative, expansive territory.
Oct. 8 — Empire of the Sun at Hollywood Bowl
Australian synth-pop duo Empire of the Sun bring their mesmerizing stage show to the Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 8, with Polo & Pan and Midnight Generation opening. Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore have been a Grimy Goods favorite since 2011, with the duo’s elaborate costumes and dreamy electro-pop earning them a spot in our coverage time and again over the years.
Oct. 8 — Vagabon at Brain Dead Studios
Vagabon plays Brain Dead Studios on Oct. 8. Laetitia Tamko’s songwriting has steadily expanded from DIY indie rock into a more expansive, synth-laced pop sound, and the venue’s cinema-turned-performance-space setting suits her increasingly cinematic production.
Oct. 8 — Son Lux at Pacific Electric
Experimental trio Son Lux plays Pacific Electric on Oct. 8. Founder Ryan Lott’s genre-splicing approach — part classical composition, part hip-hop production — first caught our attention back on We Are Rising, and the project’s sound has only grown more ambitious since, including Oscar-nominated film score work.
Oct. 8 — Body/Head at Zebulon
Kim Gordon and Bill Nace bring their improvisational noise-rock duo Body/Head to Zebulon on Oct. 8. The pair have spent well over a decade stretching guitar feedback and abstraction into something closer to live sound sculpture, a far cry from Gordon’s Sonic Youth days but no less confrontational.
Oct. 9 — Death Valley Girls at Scribble
Fuzzed-out garage rockers Death Valley Girls celebrate the release of their new album Welcome to Earth with a record release show at Scribble on Oct. 9. Bonnie Bloomgarden and company have spent over a decade building a cult following in LA’s DIY scene, the same one that saw them rattle the Lodge Room with pure rock ‘n’ roll fervor alongside Kate Clover and The Crocodiles back in 2019 — and we recently featured lead single “Message From the Venus Flower” in our weekly 3 new songs column.
Oct. 9 — Deer Tick at Teragram Ballroom
Roots-rock outfit Deer Tick play Teragram Ballroom on Oct. 9. John McCauley’s band has been mixing alt-country, punk, and classic rock since the mid-2000s, the same raw mix that had them tearing through the Echoplex over a decade ago.
Oct. 9 — Mac DeMarco at Hollywood Bowl
Slacker-pop icon Mac DeMarco headlines Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 9. His woozy, lo-fi guitar sound has carried him from DIY house shows to amphitheater stages since the early 2010s. If you missed DeMarco at the Greek last year, don’t miss this next amphitheater gig at the Bowl.
Oct. 9 — Blonde Redhead at The Bellwether
Art-rock trio Blonde Redhead play The Bellwether on Oct. 9. Kazu Makino and twin brothers Amedeo and Simone Pace have spent three decades layering shoegaze textures with noise-rock edges, the same dreamy intensity that saw them deliver a sweet and sublime performance at the Fonda Theatre back in 2014.
Oct. 9 — RaiNao at Pacific Electric
Pacific Electric on Oct. 9 welcomes RaiNao, the Puerto Rican singer known for blending reggaeton, R&B, and alt-pop into something distinctly her own. We first spotlighted her as an Artists You Should Know pick back in 2024, and she’s continued building a devoted following since.
Oct. 9 — SCHOOLBOY Q at Hollywood Palladium
ScHoolboy Q celebrates a decade of his breakout album Blank Face LP with a full-album set at Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 9. The TDE veteran has spent over a decade carving out a darker, more menacing corner of West Coast hip-hop. It’s been almost a decade since we caught Schoolboy Q live!
Oct. 9 — Shabaka at Blue Note Los Angeles
Saxophonist and composer Shabaka Hutchings brings his meditative, spiritually-minded experimental jazz to Blue Note Los Angeles on Oct. 9. The former Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors bandleader has increasingly centered the flute in his solo work, trading saxophone’s bite for something more contemplative.
Oct. 9 — Pegzilla at Non Plus Ultra
Pegzilla bring their doom-laced riffstorm to Non Plus Ultra on Oct. 9, sharing the bill with Skanks With Knives and MoonFuzz. We premiered the band’s scalding single “Eyes of Phthonos” back in 2023, and their crushing, stoner-leaning heaviness has only gotten more lived-in since.
Oct. 9 — Damien Jurado at Sid The Cat Auditorium
Damien Jurado plays Sid The Cat Auditorium on Oct. 9, with St. Yuma opening. The Seattle songwriter has spent three decades quietly building one of indie folk’s most prolific and emotionally direct catalogs, trading his earlier lo-fi fuzz for a more spacious, hymn-like sound in recent years.
Oct. 10 — Mastodon at Hollywood Palladium
Metal titans Mastodon return to Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 10. It’s the same stage where the band dropped a thunderous performance alongside Eagles of Death Metal and Russian Circles back in 2017; Brann Dailor, Troy Sanders, and Bill Kelliher have spent a quarter-century fusing sludge, prog, and classic metal into some of the genre’s most ambitious records. RIP, Brett Hinds.
Oct. 10 — TLC & Salt-N-Pepa w/ En Vogue at Intuit Dome
’90s R&B and hip-hop royalty collide at Intuit Dome on Oct. 10, as TLC and Salt-N-Pepa co-headline with En Vogue rounding out the bill. Between them, the three groups helped define a golden era of girl-group R&B and hip-hop with generation-spanning hits like “Waterfalls,” “Push It,” and “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It).”
Oct. 10 — JUNGLE at Crypto.com Arena
Groovy soul outfit JUNGLE headlines Crypto.com Arena on Oct. 10, with Rio Kosta opening, as part of the band’s 2026 return to Southern California. Their insatiable falsetto-driven funk has carried the group from choreographed music videos to full arena productions, the same buoyant energy that had them delivering one of Saturday’s best feel-good performances at Coachella back in 2015, followed by a Hollywood Bowl show opening for Underworld. But it was their 2024 performance at the Hollywood Bowl that made us absolutely fall in love with Jungle’s live show.
Oct. 10 — Y La Bamba: Ojos de Sol 10th Anniversary Tour at Lodge Room
Y La Bamba marks a decade of Ojos de Sol with an anniversary set at Lodge Room on Oct. 10, with Vanessa Zamora and Emma Platais opening. Luz Elena Mendoza’s project folds cumbia and folklórico traditions into dreamy, emotionally raw indie rock, the same subtle potency that moved with an insatiable rhythm at the El Rey back in 2019.
Oct. 10 — Remi Wolf at Fonda Theatre
Fonda Theatre’s 100th-anniversary concert series continues with Remi Wolf on Oct. 10, at the same venue we caught her live at in 2022. We’ve tracked her rise since we first hopped into her “Monte Carlo” in 2020, and her maximalist, funk-indebted pop has only gotten more unhinged and colorful in the years since. Always a good vibe.
Oct. 10 — Big Crown Records 10 Year Anniversary ft. El Michels Affair at The Bellwether
Big Crown Records celebrates a decade in business with a label showcase at The Bellwether on Oct. 10, headlined by El Michels Affair with Marco Benevento, Thee Marloes, and Thee Heart Tones also on the bill. Leon Michels’ crate-digging soul and funk revivalists have spent two decades defining the label’s cinematic, sample-ready sound, and this lineup doubles as a snapshot of the roster that’s grown up around them.
Oct. 10-11 — Jack Johnson: SURFILMUSIC Tour at Hollywood Bowl
Laid-back troubadour Jack Johnson brings his SURFILMUSIC Tour to Hollywood Bowl for two nights, Oct. 10-11, with Hermanos Gutiérrez opening both nights. He’s spent over two decades soundtracking beach bonfires with his easy-going folk-pop, and we covered the presale details when this tour was first announced. We hope you scored those early tickets!
Oct. 10-11 — Head Trip ft. Calvin Harris at Empire Polo Club
Technically out past LA proper in Indio, the dance festival Head Trip is worth the drive out to the desert: Calvin Harris headlines Empire Polo Club on Oct. 10, with Fisher, Chris Lake, Peggy Gou, Seth Troxler, and Ben Sterling also playing that day. Day two, Oct. 11, brings Swedish House Mafia and Skrillex to the top of the bill, joined by Dom Dolla, Kettama, The Blessed Madonna, and DJ Harvey, with Floating Points the lone act playing across both days. The inaugural lineup leans hard into house and techno heavyweights, turning the Coachella grounds into a dedicated dance-music gathering outside of festival season. Get your tickets!
Oct. 11 — DOMi & JD Beck: Who Asked? Tour at The Bellwether
Keyboard-and-drums virtuosos DOMi & JD Beck touch down at The Bellwether on Oct. 11 on their Who Asked? Tour. The duo has built a reputation on dizzying technical chops and genre-hopping arrangements, drawing praise from jazz and hip-hop circles alike since linking up with mentor Thundercat.
Oct. 11 — WILLOW at Pacific Electric
WILLOW plays Pacific Electric on Oct. 11. The singer-songwriter has spent the past few years restlessly moving between pop-punk, R&B, and jazz-inflected alt-rock, with each album finding her further from the bubblegum pop of her teenage debut.
Oct. 11 — Murder Ballads & Dark Songs ft. Alice Bag at Zebulon
The recurring Murder Ballads & Dark Songs showcase returns to Zebulon on Oct. 11, gathering a sprawling bill of murder-ballad devotees including Bloody Death Skull, Bruce Moreland, Emily Rose, Swimming Bell, Taleen Kali, and more. Punk pioneer Alice Bag tops the bill, the same East LA scene icon who ripped through a solo set at The Echo back in 2016; the night leans into gothic Americana and torch-song menace rather than any one genre.
If Tickets Are Sold Out …
Ugh. It always sucks when we have to resort to this, but… You can try StubHub or Vivid Seats. Both resale ticket platforms offer 100% buyer-back guarantees if they are not able to come through with the tickets you purchased.
BEST CONCERTS IN LOS ANGELES THIS MONTH
