Image via Complex Original
The summer is upon us, bringing with it the most saturated season of concerts. And while it’s a blessing to have so many options during your most free months of the year, it also provides a challenge. All of the different shows are jockeying for your wallet’s attention, and some, inevitably, will get the ax.
Instead of choosing all of the blockbuster concerts, you should consider going with some of the less obvious options. Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and Drake will surely put on great performances, but arena shows are rarely the most satisfying unless you can throw major guap at close seats. Your best bet is checking out the under-the-radar tours at smaller venues. You’ll get a more intimate experience with artists who could very well end up playing arenas in a matter of years. We went and found some of the best such tours to help you optimize your summer.
Joey Bada$$
Start Date: June 2
Location:Mesa, Ariz.
Malia Obama’s favorite rapper has his sights set on world domination this summer. The 20-year-old rapper bested the first-week debuts of Wale, Chief Keef, Earl Sweatshirt, and more with B4.DA.$$ to start out the year, and the two phases of his World Domination Tour will bring him across the Western United States, Europe, and Asia, with Mick Jenkins and Denzel Curry in tow. Joey’s yet to make good on his promise for additional tour dates, but as of now his August is wide open. We can’t imagine him not showing love to the East Beast Coast.
Ryn Weaver
Start Date: July 11
Location: Costa Mesa, Calif.
The 22-year-old pop singer-songwriter has enough hype going into her debut album, The Fool, so it’s easy to forget that only a year has passed since Ryn Weaver popped onto our radar suddenly with the release of “OctaHate.” Her ascension hasn’t exactly been random, though, with super-producer Benny Blanco, Charli XCX, and Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos on her team. There are few sure things in music (or life, really), but we feel safe assuming that The Fool and its ensuing summer tour will be a hit. Both just need to happen already, as Weaver’s been largely and frustratingly silent since dropping the Promises EP.
A-Trak
Start Date: June 5
Location: Boston
A-Trak handpicked his six favorite clubs across America for his Gold Gone Wild tour, which will free up the DJ who seamlessly mixes hip-hop and electro house to play whatever he wants for however long he wants. When announcing the tour he said: “To me, these are like incubators where I can try out new routines that later make their way into my festival sets. I can’t wait to push my limits every night.” No one’s ever complained about his festival sets being tethered, so the prospect of shows with even more freedom is too enticing to resist.
OG Maco
Start Date: June 18
Location: Salt Lake City
OG Maco seems unlikely to support Migos on their Young Rich Nation tour, given Offset’s continued incarceration. Luckily, the “U Guessed It” star has a brief, six-date run in the West with shows in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Utah. And he has an abundance of material to perform, with four EPs and a mixtape already under his belt this year. If Maco can’t escape his screeching, calculated, Vine-assisted hit, it’s not for a lack of effort.
Father
Start Date: July 5
Location: Miami
The Awful Records pseudo patriarch is hitting the road this summer for the month-long CRY$$$ tour with KeithCharles Spacebar, PlayboiCarti, and Slug Christ. Father has described his own music as dumbed down, but really he’s just smart enough to know which rules he can break as he goes off rhythm and slows his flow down to a crawl. Many of the tour dates are at smaller venues, making for the perfect settings to get ratchet with Father and an abbreviated version of his crew.
Kehlani
Start Date: July 7
Location: Chicago
No one can deny their infatuation with Kehlani, the 19-year-old Bay Area singer who quickly followed up her masterfully vulnerable mixtape, You Should Be Here, by signing with Atlantic Records. Her plans to build an empire will leave her little time to breathe, with 20 dates planned in July and August for the tour, her first as a headliner. It’ll mark yet another experience for an emotionally raw singer who’s already been homeless and performed a stint on America’s Got Talent.
St. Vincent
Start Date: June 2
Location: Charlotte, N.C.
St. Vincent won’t stop extending her Digital Witness tour, which is why she had to issue a statement about her eponymous album’s Grammy win for Best Alternative Album from the road in Australia. No complaints, though, because the indie rock queen puts on one of the best shows in music. Annie Clark endured two months of 12-hour, five-days-a-week rehearsals before first setting out to support her 2014 album. “People have spent money on a ticket, and maybe that money is the equivalent of them spending a day of their life at their job or half a day,” she told Village Voice. “I feel, now, that it would be disrespectful to work out the kinks on the people who spent a day of their life making the money to buy the ticket to come and have an experience.”
Leon Bridges
Start Date: June 18
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
The budding young singer painstakingly devoted to recreating the earnestness of ’60s soul has a handful of shows and festival appearances in the U.S. and abroad to fill up his summer schedule. It’s worth emphasizing that legends like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding haven’t influenced his voice and aesthetic so much as they’ve enveloped it. “I became so fascinated with that sound I wanted to recreate it exactly,” he said in an interview. He’s been successful in the endeavor so far, and we expect it to continue when his debut album, Coming Home, drops June 23. You’re best off picking up tickets ASAP because he’s already sold out shows on the strength of his limited catalog.
Mac DeMarco
Start Date:Aug. 11
Location: Boston
After a couple of festival appearances, the goofy, hard-partying face of indie rock will close out the summer with a quick string of dates in the U.S. and in Canada. Whether you find his behavior off-putting or mesmerizing, his bizarre performances are can’t-miss events. And he’s spent so much of 2015 touring off of Salad Days to become a well-oiled machine. Somehow he’s had enough time to prepare the Another One LP for a scheduled Aug. 7 release.
RL Grime
Start Date: June 6
Location: Houston
In May, the trap producer known for his massive hip-hop remixes followed up his debut album, Void, with the necessary version of remixes. And while the accompanying tour is officially over, RL Grime is going in heavy on the festival circuit and closing out the season at Colorado’s famed Red Rocks Amphitheater. If anything, the blockbuster festivals are a better setting for his booming sound than his solo dates.
