The best music festivals and tours of summer 2023

Yeah Yeah Yeahs returned last year with Cool It Down, their first new album in nearly a decade. And, after a handful of U.S. shows last year, they’re embarking on a full tour in support of the LP that’ll take Karen O & Co. all over the country.

Longtime Blink-182 co-leader and founding member Tom DeLonge has finally returned to the fold, and the beloved pop-punk band’s classic lineup of DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker have embarked on a huge global tour stretching into 2024. Following their first-ever Latin American tour in March and April, the North America leg of the reunion tour—with Turnstile opening—is commencing in May.

After several years of radio silence, Death Grips are staying noided and hitting the road. In addition to sets at upcoming festivals including Sick New World, Primavera Sound, and Outbreak, Death Grips will head out on a full North American tour with one leg in May and another in September. The group hasn’t released an album since 2018’s Year Of The Snitch; could there be something new (besides a Praying For Death Grips merch collection) on the horizon?

During last year’s Songs Of A Lost World tour in Europe, The Cure debuted a bunch of new material from their long-awaited new album. Now, they’re taking that same tour to North America, with the Twilight Sad opening all of the dates. It will be The Cure’s first North American shows since 2019 and first official tour of the continent since 2016. (And after some shenanigans with the tickets, to fans to counteract “unduly high” fees.)

Just Like Heaven, a music festival trading on 2000s blog-rock nostalgia from Coachella promoter Goldenvoice, is coming to Pasadena’s Brookside At The Rose Bowl on Saturday, May 13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs are headlining, and MGMT will perform their 2007 debut album Oracular Spectacular in full. Future Islands, M83, the reunited Walkmen, Empire Of The Sun, Hot Chip, Caribou, The Bravery, Fever Ray, Peaches, Azealia Banks, Ladytron, STRFKR, Metronomy, and Cults, among others, are also on the bill.

The National just released their new album, First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, which features big-name guests like Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, and Sufjan Stevens. And later this month, following an intimate warm-up show in Woodstock, New York, in March, they’re going on tour in support of the album. The tour runs through June before starting up again in August and heading to Europe in September and October.

Dead & Co. is ending. The Grateful Dead offshoot, which features founding Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bob Weir, plus John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti, have announced a farewell tour spanning from May to July. Although it seems likely that some permutation of the Dead will continue playing shows, this might really be your last chance to see this lineup of ace performers playing together.

Love ’em or hate ’em, the Dave Matthews Band is still out there doing their thing. The ’90s hitmakers are putting out their new album, Walk Around The Moon, on May 19th, and that same day, following a few shows in Mexico, they’re kicking off a tour that’ll run all the way to the beginning of September.

Exactly one week after the Just Like Heaven festival happens at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, Goldenvoice will another niche music festival to the same site. The goth- and new wave-heavy Cruel World festival will be headlined by Iggy Pop and Siouxsie And The Banshees leader Siouxsie Sioux, giving her first North American performance in 15 years. Billy Idol, a reunited Love And Rockets, Echo And The Bunnymen, Adam Ant, The Human League, Gary Numan, Boy Harsher, Modern English, Gang Of Four, Ela Minus, The Soft Moon, and more will be there too.

After performing together for the first time in over a decade at last year’s This Ain’t No Picnic festival in Los Angeles, Le Tigre are reuniting again for their first full tour in 18 years. Who wouldn’t want the chance to see Kathleen Hanna, JD Samson, and Johanna Fateman perform the iconic “Deceptacon” live?

The Roots’ annual Roots Picnic festival in Philadelphia will be headlined by Ms. Lauryn Hill (celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill), Diddy backed by the Roots, and Lil Uzi Vert. The lineup also includes Ari Lennox, City Girls, Syd, GloRilla, DJ Drama, Little Brother, a Soulquarians Icons Set featuring the Isley Brothers and Roy Ayers, a “live mixtape” from Black Thought featuring Busta Rhymes and Eve, and a State Property reunion featuring Freeway, Beanie Siegel, Young Gunz, Peedi Crakk, and Oschino & Sparks. (For better or for worse, Dave Chappelle will also be there.)

boygenius, the supergroup comprised of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus, already debuted most of the songs from their album the record during a warm-up show in Pomona ahead of their Coachella appearance last month. The trio’s full tour kicks off in June, with openers including Bartees Strange, Illuminati Hotties, Claud, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Broken Social Scene.

Cardi B is headlining New York radio station Hot 97’s annual Summer Jam in June. The lineup, which boasts a strong female presence, will be rounded out by Ice Spice, Coi Leray, GloRilla Lola Brooke, French Montana, Fivio Foreign, Lil Tjay, and the Lox.

In 2022, Weezer went on tour with Green Day and Fall Out Boy. This time, they’re heading out on the Indie Rock Roadtrip featuring a rotating support lineup that includes Modest Mouse and Momma, Future Islands and Joyce Manor, and Spoon and White Reaper. The tour will run from June to September, after which Weezer will go on to play at the Cave Mountain Catskills Music Festival, Sea.Hear.Now., Louder Than Life, and Oceans Calling.

The New York City music festival The Governors Ball is heading to Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens this summer. Lizzo, Odesza, and Kendrick Lamar are headlining, and other big names on the bill include Lil Uzi Vert, Haim, Diplo, Lil Baby, Rina Sawayama, Lil Nas X, Kim Petras, Finneas, Pusha T, Joey Bada$$, 070 Shake, Snail Mail, Amber Mark, Syd, PinkPantheress, Black Midi, Saba, Lauv, Kenny Beats, Girl In Red, and Phony Ppl.

Indie rock institution Yo La Tengo’s latest release, February’s This Stupid World, was easily their best album in years. They’re touring in support of the disc this summer, starting off in their home state of New Jersey in June and wrapping things up at the end of the month in Atlanta.

“I’m delighted to announce ‘The Music Legacy Tour’ 2023: a celebration of my greatest #1 hits!” Diana Ross wrote on social media in March. “I’m coming home to the U.S. to sing hit after hit from my solo career & my time with The Supremes. It’s going to be a love fest.” Honestly, what more could one ask for from a concert than a parade of Diana Ross hits?

Kendrick Lamar, Odesza, and Foo Fighters are headlining Bonnaroo on the Farm in Manchester, Tennessee, from June 15–18. Zeds Dead and Liquid Stranger are topping Thursday’s bill. The lineup also includes Paramore, Lil Nas X, Pixies, My Morning Jacket, Baby Keem, Korn, Marcus Mumford, Girl In Red, Three 6 Mafia, Fleet Foxes, Sylvan Esso, Rina Sawayama, J.I.D, Sheryl Crow, Alex G, Muna, Jenny Lewis, Franz Ferdinand, Men I Trust, Amber Mark, Black Midi, The Neths, Makaya McCraven, 070 Shake, Big Freedia, Dehd, Paris Jackson, a reunited Diarrhea Planet, and more.

The Smile, the Radiohead-adjacent trio of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Tom Skinner, are touring North America from June to late July. They’re in the middle of recording their next album, so these shows could be an opportunity for them to try out some new material live.

Beyoncé hasn’t toured at all since her co-headlining tour with Jay-Z in 2018, and she hasn’t gone on a solo tour since the Formation World Tour in 2016. That’ll change this summer, when she heads out on a world stadium tour in support of last year’s incredible Renaissance. It’s sure to be a spectacle.

Madonna’s new material may be hit or miss, but she still has hits for days. And this summer, she’s celebrating that fact with the Celebration Tour, a greatest-hits tour devoted to “her unmatched catalog of music from the past 40 plus years.” Bob The Drag Queen will be joining Queen of Pop on tour.

The Pitchfork Music Festival is returning to Chicago the weekend of July 21. The Smile, Big Thief, and Bon Iver are headlining. Alvvays, Perfume Genius, Weyes Blood, King Krule, Kelela, and Koffee are among the other big-font performers. Other acts on the bill include Snail Mail, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom, Killer Mike, JPEGMAFIA, MJ Lenderman, Julia Jacklin, Leikeli47, Roc Marciano and The Alchemist, Youth Lagoon, Vagabon, Jockstrap, Illuminati Hotties, and Soul Glo.

Rolling Loud has expanded to California, New York, and even other countries, but the annual Rolling Loud Miami festival is still the hip-hop festival’s flagship. Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, and A$AP Rocky are headlining the 2023 edition with special guests 21 Savage, Lil Uzi Vert, and Kodak Black. Also on the lineup are Lil Durk, Lil Yacty, Ski Mask The Slump God, Ice Spice, PinkPantheress, Rae Sremmurd, Trippie Redd, City Girls, Nav, GloRilla, Sheck Wes, Chief Keef, Don Toliver, Bryston Tiller, Offset, Polo G, and … Turnstile? We’ll take it!

The North American leg of the Smashing Pumpkins’ The World Is A Vampire Tour is kicking off in Las Vegas in July. “I grew up in a world where I needed to know bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure existed, it meant there was a place for people like me to hang out and belong,” frontman Billy Corgan says. “That’s what The World Is A Vampire is about. Bringing back that sense of community. If you don’t fit in, you belong here. It’s about having a shared experience and respecting others, but ultimately having fun. A true alternative festival, where all the self-proclaimed weirdos and outsiders of the world can get together and have a party.”

Beck and Phoenix are embarking on a co-headlining Summer Odyssey Tour in August and September. And if those artists by themselves aren’t enough for you, they’ll also have extremely talented artists like Jenny Lewis, Japanese Breakfast, Weyes Blood, and Sir Chloe opening for them.

Lollapalooza is returning to Chicago’s Grant Park from August 3–6. Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Odesza, Lana Del Rey, Karol G, the 1975, and Tomorrow x Together are headlining. Fred Again…, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Maggie Rogers, Carly Rae Jepsen, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Diplo, J.I.D, Pusha T, Rina Sawayama, Lil Yachty, Portugal. The Man, Beaabadoobee, Joey Bada$$, Sylvan Esso, Men I Trust, Alex G, Foals, Magdalena Bay, Sudan Archives, and around a million other acts will also be making appearances.

Kendrick Lamar, Foo Fighters, Odesza, Lana Del Rey, The 1975, Megan Thee Stallion, Zedd, Janelle Monae, Maggie Rogers, and Fisher are heading to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for Outside Lands from August 11–13. Joining them will be Lil Yachty, Cigarettes After Sex, J.I.D, Interpol, Willow, Father John Misty, Orville Peck, Beabadoobee, Alvvays, Alex G, Soccer Mommy, Trixie Mattel, Ethel Cain, Samia, Tops, Nation of Language, Grace Ives, Wednesday, and more.

After playing through the Middle East and Europe in June and July, Guns N’ Roses are touring North America starting in August. The U.S. dates will run through the fall, kicking off at Pennsylvania’s Hersheypark Stadium on August 11 and concluding in Phoenix exactly two months later.

Sigur Rós have a new album, their first in 10 years, coming out in June. Immediately afterwards, they’re going on tour with a 41-piece orchestra to play the new songs live. The tour hits North America, where the Icelandic post-rock band will be backed by the Wordless Music Orchestra, in August.

Here’s another big co-headlining indie rock tour. Modest Mouse and Pixies are touring, with Cat Power—who really also deserves to be a co-headiner—opening for them as a “special guest.” The tour will run from mid-August to mid-September.

Alex G and Alvvays released two of the best albums of last year, and this year, they’re going on tour together. It’s a brief week-long tour that’ll see the two acts performing in Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo.

Shock-rock legends Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper are teaming up for the Freaks On Parade Tour this summer. The month-long tour, which features Ministry and Filter opening, begins August 24 in Dallas and ends September 24 in Phoenix.

Arctic Monkeys will tour North America in support of last year’s album The Car. Fontaines D.C., the ascendant Irish rock band who released their own very good album Skinty Fia last year, are opening. The tour will go from the end of August to the beginning of October, culminating with two shows at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.