Be sure to check out our constantly updated concert calendar!

Monday, August 11

Bettye LaVette
VIPER ROOM
Bettye LaVette has been singing up a storm for most of her life, but she’s only gained overdue critical and popular attention during the past decade. The Detroit native started young, releasing her first record at the age of 16 and touring with Otis Redding and James Brown in the 1960s. But, apart from a few scattered singles and albums in the ’70s and ’80s, she was largely overlooked by the music industry until the turn of this century. Since then, LaVette has reclaimed her place as one of the most stirring soul singers alive, especially in the wake of her landmark 2005 album, I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise. She’s in town this week as part of the James Brown tribute at the Hollywood Bowl, but tonight she takes centerstage and raises the roof at this relatively intimate nightclub. ?—Falling James

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Tuesday, August 12

Justin Timberlake
STAPLES CENTER
There are musicians who love Los Angeles, and then there’s Justin Timberlake. With his upcoming appearance at Staples Center, the pop star will be playing his fifth show (including co-headling the Rose Bowl with Jay Z last summer) since 2013. At this point in his exhaustive 20/20 tour, fans should know what to expect. The set list hasn’t changed over this time and it’s likely the theatrics haven’t either. Although the tour has been going for nearly 18 months, Timberlake remains one of the most dynamic performers of his time, and as Los Angeles should know by now, there are only a handful of people who put on a better show than the former teen heartthrob. —Daniel Kohn

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Wednesday, August 13

Get On Up: A James Brown Celebration
HOLLYWOOD BOWL
The late Godfather of Soul’s legacy looms large, and it’s payback time. J.B. would have approved of music director Christian McBride’s vision of things when he selected singers Aloe Blacc, D’Angelo, Bettye LaVette and Angelique Kidjo to strut their stuff in tribute to the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. And –– uhhh! –– laying down the funk is the James Brown Alumni Band, featuring original JB Horns men Pee Wee Ellis and Fred Wesley, and massively influential (and massively sampled) drummer Clyde Stubblefield, whose ultra-ultra-funky beats you’ve shaken a tailfeather to on classic JB tracks including “Cold Sweat,” “I Got the Feelin’?” and “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud.” Valuable JB’s players Jab’o Starks, Danny Ray, Mousey Thompson and others also join the reunion. Sweaty stuff! Bring a hanky. —John Payne

Thursday, August 14

Foxygen, Gary Wilson
FONDA THEATRE
Foxygen make magic as much as they make music, a phenomenon captured on their ferociously charismatic (and aptly titled) 2013 album We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic. Somehow, they’d come up with their own take on the Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request, but via Os Mutantes and Nikki Sudden and Jacobites’ take on Satanic Majesties. We Are… is one of those records that will weather as much examination as you wanna give it — sounds sweet on first listen, reveals ever more sophisticated iterations of quantum sweetness as you keep listening. And now Foxygen are teasing a positively acrobatic new double LP called …And Star Power, which promises Bowie-ian (or Eno-esque) levels of conceptual mind-warping. With real-deal visionary Gary Wilson opening. Get up front for that one, because Gary works best when you’re close. ?—Chris Ziegler

Flaco Jiménez
SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER
Anytime San Antonio accordion boss Flaco Jiménez hits the stage, it’s a live-wire cultural and artistic event. His vibrant musicality and dynamism are exhilarating, and his musical head is as formidable as his fabled family’s legacy. Both his grandfather and father were critical trailblazers in introducing and perfecting the rollicking Norteño style, but Flaco also came up idolizing the likes of Clifton Chenier, Hank Williams and Elvis Presley. A past master of the traditional border conjunto, when fellow San Antonio musician Doug Sahm hired him in 1973 as a studio sideman and encouraged him to expand his range, Jiménez’s always unstoppable creativity redoubled. His accordion is as luminous, evocative and irresistible as ever, and whether he’s going the strictly old-school route or mixing it up with the still-active Texas Tornados, his shows are always a thrill. —Jonny Whiteside

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