The 19 albums, shows and music books we're most excited about this fall

By Mikael WoodPop Music Critic

Sept. 4, 2024 3 AM PT

Even after a very busy summer, fall promises plenty for music fans to get excited about. Here are 19 albums, shows and books to look forward to over the next three months.

Sept. 18-19 & Sept. 21
Pulp, Hollywood Palladium (Sept. 18-19) and Hollywood Forever Cemetery (Sept. 21)
The OG Britpop act hasn’t played in the U.S. since performing at Coachella in 2012 — itself a reunion gig that brought the band back here after more than a decade away. Pulp says its latest outing is dedicated to the memory of bassist Steve Mackey, who died last year.

Sept. 20
Bob Dylan & the Band, “The 1974 Live Recordings”
Dylan’s tour half a century ago with the Band marked his return to the road following the eight-year break he took after a mysterious motorcycle accident in 1966. This 27-disc box set documents every professionally recorded show on the tour, including the closing doubleheader he played that Valentine’s Day at the Forum in Inglewood.

Sept. 27
Sophie, “Sophie”
A pioneering figure in the world of hyperpop, Sophie was almost finished with her second solo LP when she died in a fall in 2021. “Lovingly finalized by those who held her closest,” according to a statement, the album contains collaborations with Kim Petras and Evita Manji, among others.

Alan Sparhawk, “White Roses, My God”
Mimi Parker, Sparhawk’s wife and bandmate in the influential indie-rock trio Low, died in 2022; this is his debut solo album — a startling collection of synth-based tunes he says “must have been what needed to come out of me.”

Sept. 27-29
Ohana Festival, Doheny State Beach
Pearl Jam will headline the opening and closing nights of the annual Dana Point music fest founded in 2016 by the band’s surfer of a frontman, Eddie Vedder. Also on the bill: Sting, Devo, Alanis Morissette, Jenny Lewis, Maren Morris, the Breeders and Cat Power, the last of whom is set to re-create Dylan’s famous “Judas” concert from 1966.

Sept. 29 & 30
Air, Orpheum Theatre
Fresh from their appearance in the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel of the French duo Air will perform their 1998 album “Moon Safari,” a low-key landmark of downtempo electronic music that still exudes a certain je ne sais quoi.

Oct. 1
Tems, Greek Theatre
This Nigerian singer’s “Born in the Wild” might be the most alluring album of the year.

Oct. 3 & 4
Kacey Musgraves, Kia Forum
The pop-leaning country star comes to town behind this year’s beguiling “Deeper Well.” Show up early for smartly arranged opening sets by Father John Misty and Nickel Creek.

Jazmine Sullivan presents Maxwell with the Living Legend Award at the Soul Train Music Awards

Oct. 4
Leon Bridges, “Leon”
Bridges made his new self-titled album with Musgraves’ trusty producers, Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian; the result shares some of “Deeper Well’s” ecstatic calm.

Coldplay, “Moon Music”
Nearly 30 years into a career that began with the deeply mushy “Yellow,” Coldplay has somehow gotten only touchy-feely-er with time: The band’s 10th studio LP contains one track whose title — oh, yes — is the rainbow emoji.

Finneas, “For Cryin’ Out Loud!”
He’s already scored a monster album this year in “Hit Me Hard and Soft” by his sister and musical partner Billie Eilish. (In March the siblings also won an Oscar for their “Barbie” ballad “What Was I Made For?”) “For Cryin’ Out Loud” is Finneas’ second record under his own name after 2021’s “Optimist.”

Oct. 5
Omar Apollo, Hollywood Bowl
Yearning breakup songs mingle with glistening club jams on Apollo’s recent “God Said No,” which he’ll bring to life at his biggest L.A. headlining gig to date. With Kevin Abstract, now concentrating on a solo career after nearly a decade with the hip-hop boy band Brockhampton.

Oct. 15 & 16
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan, Kia Forum
The two pop singers were veteran cult faves when they announced this joint arena tour back in April. Just five months later, Charli is (finally) a genuine star thanks to the so-called Brat Summer spawned by her latest LP.

Joni Mitchell, left, accepts the award for best folk album during the 66th annual Grammy Awards

Oct. 17
Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson, Kia Forum
The former Band member, who died in August 2023, will be feted by pals and inheritors including Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Bob Weir, Noah Kahan, Elvis Costello, Eric Church, Taj Mahal, Margo Price, Lucinda Williams, Jamey Johnson and Trey Anastasio.

Oct. 18
American Football, “American Football (Covers)”
To mark the 25th anniversary of its self-titled debut, this Midwestern emo band recruited nine acts — including Iron & Wine, Blondshell, Ethel Cain and Tortoise’s John McEntire — to record new interpretations of the album’s nine tracks.

Oct. 19 & 20
Joni Mitchell and the Joni Jam, Hollywood Bowl
Following earlier gigs at the Newport Folk Festival and Washington state’s Gorge Amphitheatre, Mitchell’s comeback as a live performer (after she suffered a debilitating brain aneurysm in 2015) reaches her adopted hometown with two shows for which she’ll be joined by any number of famous local admirers.

Oct. 22
Robert Hilburn, “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman”
The Times’ former pop music critic follows up his 2018 book on Paul Simon with a passionate and richly reported biography of another great American songwriter.

Oct. 27
Maxwell and Jazmine Sullivan, Kia Forum
A pair of skilled R&B singers join forces for a night of songs about the grown-up pleasures — and the occasional indignities — of love.

Nov. 15 & Nov. 17-18
Sabrina Carpenter, Crypto.com Arena (Nov. 15) and Kia Forum (Nov. 17-18)
She had two of the summer’s biggest pop hits in “Espresso” and “Please Please Please.” Now Carpenter is spending the fall on her first arena tour behind the just-released “Short n’ Sweet.”

The 19 albums, shows and music books we’re most excited about this fall

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