This week’s worth of Los Angeles concert previews covers artists from multiple countries and continents, which is the norm in such a cosmopolitan city with such diverse music scenes. The shows below include performers from Japan, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Sweden, England and, of course, right here in the U.S.
Many touring artists visiting from overseas only have time and budget to take in a few major U.S. cities, with LA invariably being on their short itineraries. So, if a favorite of yours isn’t coming to a venue near you, that’s all the reason you need to book a few days off and head out west for a concert-cum-vacation in the sun.
Jessia - The Moroccan Lounge (Oct. 22)
While she cut her teeth guesting on EDM material, Canadian singer-songwriter Jessia’s own material is guitar-driven confessional fare with lyrics laser guided for her peers. Her big breakthrough was “I’m Not Pretty,” a self-released TikTok creation with producer Elijah Woods that became an enduring, multi-million-stream Gen Z body positivity mantra. She swiftly signed to Republic Records, and by the following year had scooped a Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. True to her Zoomer sensibilities, this year’s sophomore EP Okay with Every Part fights the unhealthy desire to keep tabs on an ex (“Different People”); offers a clever, playful take on “He’s a 10, but …” memes (“He’s a 10”); and on standout single “Care About Me” wrestles with putting herself first or remaining in a numb relationship. Jessia has already been an early-adulthood audio buddy to millions, and it’ll be fascinating to watch her grow with her audience. Tickets at Ticketmaster.
Imagine Dragons - Hollywood Bowl (Oct. 22-23 & 26-27)
Seamlessly fusing EDM to arena rock has made Imagine Dragons one of the planet’s best-selling artists - their 75-million album sales are a lucrative middle finger to consistently mixed reviews. Built upon the core trio of Dan Reynolds, Wayne Sermon and Ben McKee, Imagine Dragons helped make Las Vegas, long a chronic original music underachiever, a serious hotbed for bands in the late aughts and early 2010s alongside The Killers and Panic! At the Disco. Like Vegas itself, Imagine Dragons shamelessly create something that entertains the broadest possible demographic, succeeding out of the gate with their 2012 debut album Night Visions, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and earned 7x Platinum certification stateside. The band has only continued to gather steam as a commercial colossus. This year’s sixth album, Loom, delivers yet more empowerment anthems that masterfully aggregate multiple contemporary styles into an instant-gratification epic. Tickets at Ticketmaster.
Suki Waterhouse - The Greek Theatre (Oct. 23)
The titles of two Suki Waterhouse singles could almost double as her micro bio: “Good Looking” and “Model, Actress, Whatever.” An English model turned actress turned singer-songwriter, Waterhouse does all three exceptionally well, her lived-in and life-weary retro-pop always sufficiently melodic to withstand a love affair with reverb. It was the 2022 Sub Pop re-release of “Good Looking,” which she’d originally self-released five years earlier, that marked Waterhouse’s serious arrival as a musical force when it became a Platinum-certified viral hit. Her debut full-length I Can’t Let Go that same year was a largely autobiographical rush of intense yet fragile emotions that acknowledges Lana Del Rey, Mazzy Star and Fiona Apple while being resolutely Suki. Facing down elevated expectations, Waterhouse returned this year with the boldly dramatic Memoir of a Sparklemuffin double album, beloved for its self-aware intimacy, breadth of styles – from ballads to grunge-pop –, and her distinctively mesmerized, 3am-came-home-alone timbre. Tickets at AXS.
One Ok Rock - Kia Forum (Oct. 23)
Formed while still in high school, One Ok Rock were successful in their native Japan almost from the get-go, with 2007 debut album Zeitakubyo hitting number 15 on the country’s Oricon chart. But it was the aptly named 2012 single “The Beginning” which took their alt rock/post-hardcore/emo stylings well beyond Asia. The foursome has released each of their subsequent albums in both Japanese-English and English versions, with two or three different tracks in each. This approach has paid dividends, with OOR becoming a Top 5 fixture in Japan while breaking into the lower reaches of charts elsewhere in Asia and in the U.S., Europe and Australia, particularly with the international version of 2017’s Ambitions album. Now in their mid-thirties, One Ok Rock is for fans of Foo Fighters, Linkin Park and Good Charlotte - new single “Delusion:All” dropped in June, suggesting a harder rock sound on their imminent eleventh full-length. Tickets at Ticketmaster.
Nilüfer Yanya - The Fonda Theatre (Oct. 24)
Mercurial British singer-songwriter Nilüfer Yanya walked away from an offer to join a girl band assembled by One Direction’s Svengali in favor of a much, much more authentic and original solo career. Her self-belief has proven more than merited, with the Londoner’s 2019 debut album, Miss Universe, being fawned over by prominent critics, including Q Magazine dubbing it, “startlingly intimate, full of soulful, jazzy echoes of a lonely city.” Released three years later, follow-up Painless built on this recognition, making multiple year-end lists and charting on both sides of the Atlantic. Earning comparisons to the diverse likes of Parquet Courts, King Krule, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, Yanya opened both Adele’s massive London comeback concert in 2022 and, that same year, Roxy Music’s 50th anniversary tour. Released in September, her third album, My Method Actor, finds the already adventurous Yanya more experimental than ever, its lush arrangements cradling intricate and thoughtful place-in-the-world narratives. Tickets at AXS.
Girl Ultra - Echoplex (Oct. 24)
Possessed of a wonderfully controlled, lithe and tremulous voice that can transport the listener within seconds, Mexico City’s Mariana Miguel, aka Girl Ultra, was a new face to many when she graced Coachella’s Main Stage in April. But Girl Ultra has been making waves with her sensual, lush R&B rubbed with soul, funk, and pop sensibilities since signing to Finesse Records in 2016. Four EPs and an album, 2019’s Nuevos Aires, have followed, taking her from a rising name in CDMX’s Boiler Room scene to international cover stories and eight-figure video views. Released in July, her latest EP, Blush, is a deliberately Pavlovian, self-produced seven tracks of early 2000s EDM/pop/garage homage complete with staccato vocal looping and short-attention-span structures. Almost a companion to 2022’s El Sur, it’s once again Girl Ultra navigating the chaos and cacophony of growing up in vast Mexico City with her captivating, silky tones and sometimes sassy narrator. Tickets at Live Nation.
Yngwie Malmsteen - Saban Theatre (Oct. 24)
Swedish six-string mega-shredder Yngwie Malmsteen’s persistent portrayal as an egotistical rock star caricature has too often overshadowed the otherworldly fluidity and enormous influence of his baroque brilliance. Combining his love of Ritchie Blackmore and Jimi Hendrix with an equal fondness for composers like Paganini and Bach, plus untold hours of obsessive practice, Malmsteen’s neo-classical compositions and blur-fingered soloing redefined heavy metal guitar with his contributions to Steeler and Alcatrazz albums in 1983 and his ’84 solo debut, Rising Force, which charted in the U.S., Sweden, and Japan. Today Malmsteen is a Ferrari-driving Floridian who, while distant from his turn-of-the-‘90s commercial heyday, is embarking on a 40th Anniversary Tour that includes stops at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills on Thursday, October 24 and the original Canyon Club in Agoura Hills on October 26. Tickets at AXS.
G-Eazy - Shrine Expo Hall (Oct. 25)
Oakland’s G-Eazy has an atypical rapper background as the offspring of college professors and himself a Bachelor of Arts. With slicked-back hair and leather jacket, this “James Dean of rap,” enhanced that throwback aura with a 2011 viral hit version of early ‘60s Dion hit “Runaround Sue.” But it was his major-label debut three years later, These Things Happen, that introduced Eazy’s hedonistic but conflicted bars and bad boy image to a wider audience, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200. Years of often collaborative success followed, including featuring on Britney Spears’ 2016 “Make Me” comeback single; the multi-platinum “No Limit” featuring Cardi B and A$AP Rocky the following year; and the similarly successful “Him & I” with then-beau Halsey in 2017. Released in June, G-Eazy’s latest effort, Freak Show, impressed few critics, but this hip-hop outlier is a canny industry insider who’s likely here to stay. Tickets at AXS.
Jeff Lynne's ELO - Kia Forum (Oct. 25-26)
The tail end of the 1960s produced a bumper crop of rock in the English city of Birmingham, with Black Sabbath forming there in 1968, Judas Priest the following year, and the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) in 1970. ELO was an entirely different animal from the ominous heft of Sabbath/Priest, instead crafting ultra-ambitious, super-melodic and atmospheric prog-pop indebted to both The Beatles and the latest studio technology, including early synths. During their original run through 1986, ELO released an astounding string of earworm international hits like “Don’t Bring Me Down,” “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” and “Mr. Blue Sky,” their complex yet singable musicality matched only by peers 10cc. By the late ‘70s, platinum albums were the norm for ELO, but when they returned in 2014 only vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jeff Lynne remained from that era. Similarly, openers Rooney are not the charming, ELO-influenced garage combo of early aughts LA, but rather just frontman Robert Schwartzman and supporting players. Tickets at Ticketmaster.
Ravyn Lenae - The Fonda Theatre (Oct. 25)
A Chicago prodigy who started songwriting in her teens and signed a major record deal at age 17, Ravyn Lenae’s song-based alt R&B incorporates nu soul, electro-jazz, ambient hip-hop, and chamber pop. With a vocal delivery that somehow manages to be gentle and assertive simultaneously, it was quirky, slightly psychedelic 2018 single “Sticky” that put her on the global map, its playful, restless arrangement and acrobatic vocals coming on like a dance club Kate Bush. Released in August, Lenae’s sophomore album, Bird’s Eye pushes the boundaries of poppy R&B alongside new executive producer DJ Dahi (Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Travis Scott). Together, they’ve crafted a fluttering, almost furtive tapestry around Lenae’s gossamer voice which, perhaps counterintuitively, collectively creates an oddly addictive presence. While widely regarded as underrated, continuing as a cult artist while peers like SZA and H.E.R. took flight, Bird’s Eye suggests that Ravyn Lenae won’t remain R&B’s best-kept secret for long. Tickets at AXS.
Belles - Hotel Café (Oct. 26)
An Omaha girl who honed her country chops in Nashville, Kelli Rachel Belles grew up on The Judds, Brooks & Dunn, and Shania Twain. All these influences are evident in her tuneful pop-country songwriting, tremulous yet crystalline croon, and empowered lyrics. Until recently accompanied by her mom and brother, Belles has transitioned from family band to solo artist, the latter better suited to lyrically mischievous material like “I Hate Trucks,” “All Hat, No Cowboy,” and “Break Up With Your Ex.” Speaking loudest to her female peers, Belles personifies post-Shania country: unabashedly poppy and with mainstream ambitions (even touring and sometimes performing with controversial former Nickelodeon star JoJo Siwa) and forever finding fresh, sometimes feisty angles on time-honored, hugely relatable tales of heartache and hardship. Having just inked new publishing and recording deals, the Hotel Café’s Second Stage will be one of 14 stops on her second headlining club tour.