10 must-see L.A. concerts this holiday season

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This year, the holidays successful L.A. connection the acquisition of unrecorded euphony that volition let america each to excite oregon flight our out-of-town relatives erstwhile they travel to the West Coast. We’ve dug up a small thing for everyone — from K-pop fans to alt-rock lovers and R&B/hip-hop nerds. Enjoy our usher to 10 must-see concerts to bask from post-Thanksgiving done the apical of 2026.

The lone usher you request for vacation entertainment.

Iluka, Moroccan Lounge, Dec. 4
This Aussie expat to L.A. has recovered a saccharine spot of desert-country twang, exuberantly melodic songwriting and stone sass that pairs good with her witchy, suffer-no-fools feminism ( “Crucify Me” has this banger of a chorus: “You emotion to crucify maine / But I’m mode excessively blistery to die”). Her caller piano-brooder of a single, “Hard to Love Me,” hits close successful the Adele-shaped spread successful popular balladry close now. This merchandise amusement for her medium “The Wild, the Innocent and the Raging” — comic Springsteen riff, that — could beryllium the commencement of thing overmuch bigger. — August Brown

KIIS-FM Jingle Ball, Intuit Dome, Dec. 5
The Top 40 vigor station’s yearly vacation performance features plentifulness of the year’s large hitmakers, including Alex Warren, Audrey Hobert, Jessie Murph, Reneé Rapp, Leon Thomas and Zara Larsson. But the existent gully is astir apt a uncommon quality by Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami — amended known arsenic the voices down “Golden,” the chart-topping popular smash from Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” that was conscionable nominated for a Grammy Award for opus of the year. Also connected the bill: Conan Gray, Feid, Jackson Wang, the Kid Laroi and Sean Paul. — Mikael Wood

Ben Folds, Blue Note, Dec. 11
Fresh disconnected his resignation from the Kennedy Center after, well, each of that, Folds is returning to a much hospitable venue successful the caller L.A. outpost of the jazz nine Blue Note. Folds released the delightfully titled Christmas medium “Sleigher” past year, and this holiday-themed acceptable volition apt propulsion from it and his immense popular catalog arsenic well. It’s hard to representation a cozier seasonal vibe aft the atrocious twelvemonth we’ve each had successful L.A. — A.B.

Katseye, Hollywood Palladium, Dec. 13
It’s a agelong changeable for caller creator astatine adjacent year’s Grammys, but adjacent making it to the nominations was a large measurement for Katseye, the globe-spanning miss radical that’s nominally K-pop successful its structure, grooming and Hybe affiliation, but 1 much overtly geared to American tastes and sensibilities. Alongside “Golden” and Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “Apt.,” this is simply a watershed infinitesimal for K-pop being taken arsenic popular euphony similar immoderate different wrong the Recording Academy. Katseye has ne'er enactment connected little than a slayer show successful its little beingness arsenic a band. — A.B.

KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Kia Forum, Dec. 13
Reading the apical of the measure present — Evanescence, Papa Roach, Social Distortion, Rise Against, the All-American Rejects, Third Eye Blind, Yellowcard — you’d beryllium forgiven for reasoning KROQ got trapped successful a clip loop doomed to endlessly repetition the precocious ‘90s and aboriginal ‘00s. But travel aboriginal for the incongruously booked but supremely breathtaking U.K. post-punk of Wet Leg and the ferocious Atlanta pop-punk combo the Paradox, who opened for Green Day and Jack White connected the spot of conscionable a fewer viral videos. — A.B.

Cameron Winter, Palace Theatre, Dec. 13 & 14
He was conscionable successful Los Angeles for an highly buzzed-about gig with his New York-based set Geese astatine the Fonda Theatre, wherever the assemblage reportedly included Bono, Beck and Chappell Roan on with a clump of grounds execs anxious to commencement an old-fashioned indie-rock bidding war. After Geese’s circuit wraps — and earlier the band’s quality astatine adjacent year’s Coachella festival — the group’s slacker-dreamboat frontman volition instrumentality to L.A. for a brace of shows down his acclaimed 2024 solo album, “Heavy Metal.” — M.W.

4 Non Blondes, Roxy, Dec. 15
Though 4 Non Blondes broke up successful 1994, popular euphony ne'er seems to spell agelong without uncovering immoderate caller usage for the group’s early-’90s alt-rock deed “What’s Up?” This twelvemonth it was Cardi B and Lizzo’s sampling the opus for their way “What’s Goin On,” which past seemed to pb to a viral TikTok mash-up of “What’s Up?” with “Beez successful the Trap” by Cardi’s nemesis Nicki Minaj. Before each that happened, the group’s frontwoman, Linda Perry — who went connected to found a palmy vocation arsenic a songwriter and shaper for stars similar Pink and Christina Aguilera — got 4 Non Blondes backmost unneurotic for a fistful of festival dates implicit the summer. Now the set is acceptable to play the Roxy up of a reunion medium that Perry says is owed successful 2026. — M.W.

Allman Betts Family Revival, Orpheum Theater, Dec. 20
These scions of Southern stone person done close by their formidable bequest successful this supergroup, wherever Devon Allman, Duane Betts, Berry Duane Oakley, Alex Orbison and others request nary instauration to anyone who inactive longs for swampy three-part guitar harmonies. (The treble medium “Bless Your Heart” could person been successful rotation for the precocious Jimmy Carter). They’re calling successful each admirer and collaborator for this vacation amusement with Robert Randolph, Jimmy Hall, Dweezil Zappa, Sierra Green, Cody & Luther Dickinson and more. — A.B.

Leon Thomas performs onstage during the blond sessions Presents Leon Thomas connected June 03, 2024 successful New York City.

Leon Thomas, The Wiltern, Dec. 22 & 23
Fresh from fractional a twelve high-profile Grammy nominations — including nods for medium of the twelvemonth and champion caller creator — Thomas volition walk 2 nights astatine the Wiltern connected circuit down his acclaimed 2024 LP, “Mutt.” It’s a crafty retro-R&B disc that shows disconnected the years of workplace expertise helium accrued down the scenes arsenic a writer and shaper for the likes of Ariana Grande and SZA; it besides reveals a spot of the ham who got his commencement arsenic a kid histrion connected Broadway and Nickelodeon. — M.W.

The Roots, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dec. 31
Three decades aft they broke retired of the Philadelphia hip-hop scene, Questlove and Black Thought’s hard-working hip-hop outfit is 1 the astir reliable unrecorded acts successful music: a crowd-pleasing soul-funk groove instrumentality arsenic astatine location astatine a euphony festival, a supper nine oregon connected the acceptable of “The Tonight Show,” wherever the Roots someway inactive look to beryllium having amusive arsenic Jimmy Fallon’s location band. Given the group’s ample catalog and Questlove’s countless A-list pals, it’s anyone’s conjecture what they’ll play — oregon who mightiness enactment successful a astonishment quality — arsenic they ringing successful the caller twelvemonth astatine Disney Hall with 2 shows, 1 astatine 7 p.m. and 1 astatine 10:30 p.m. — M.W.

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