What concerts are you planning to witness in August?
Don’t hold back! August does have a few good concerts, but nothing compared to September. As you mentally and physically prepare for the scrum of good music coming your way in September, give a few of these artists/bands a try as a warm-up.
Question: Do you like live music? If yes, get your ass over to the small venues in DC. The ones that focus on local and up-and-coming artists. They need your patronage! Small venues like Pie Shop, Songbyrd, DC9, Black Cat, The Pocket, The Runaway, Slash Run, Comet Ping Pong, etc. rely on you! YOU. Shows are often only $12-15. So easy. Something is happening almost every night. No excuses.
Note: As a general rule, we won’t post the first 44 concerts (or the new ones before October) coming to the new The Atlantis on this list because the tickets have all been distributed. Even though they deserve to be on the list, it’s too late.
Note: If you want some local DC-based bands/artists, we’ve highlighted local artists in yellow.
Top 20 Concerts for August
The Chicks w/ Wild Rivers @ Merriweather Post Pavilion (8/2/23) (Hanging with The Chicks is good way to start the month of August. But the bonus is Wild Rivers is really good as well. (POSTPONED to September 20th!)
Super City w/ Flowerbomb + Massie @ Union Stage (8/2/23) (Also ICYMI, DC rock band, Grady, changed their name to Massie!)
A Shrewdness of Apes w/ Right Chipper + Suspect Down @ Songbyrd Music House (8/3/23) (DC’s shrewdest progressive rock band!)
Regina Spektor w/ Aimee Mann @ Wolf Trap (8/3/23)
Karen Jonas @ Jammin Java (8/3/23) (Country artist Karen Jonas often performs at breweries and wineries of late, but its good to catch her live at a place like Jammin Java or Pearl Street as well. Here’s a review of a previous show.)
Gogol Bordello @ Rams Head Live (8/4/23) (They are fantastic live! Even worth the trip to Baltimore fantastic! Also, MARC now does evening trains back to DC. Just saying…)
Joan Osborne @ The Hamilton Live (8/6/23)
Queens of the Stone Age @ The Anthem (8/9 & 8/14/23) 1st Night Sold Out (QOTSA is touring for the first time in almost six years on the strength of their eighth album, In Times New Roman… (via Matador Records). You do not want to miss both of these epic shows!)
Keep Your Secrets w/ Arms Like Roses + Hungry Bug @ The Pocket (8/10/23) (It’s no secret, go to witness a local power punk band.)
KINDA EVIL w/ Mystery Friends + Sarah Brooke Trouble @ Comet Ping Pong (8/11/23)
The Clientele @ Songbyrd Music House (8/12/23) (The Clientele’s highly anticipated new album, I Am Not There Anymore (via Merge), releases on July 28th! This indie pop band from London melds in classical, jazz, and electronic influences to bring an album that is inspired by the lead singer’s memories of his mother passing. And it is more, as Alistair MacLean describes, the album is about “the memory of childhood but at the same time the impossibility of truly remembering childhood… or even knowing who or what you are.”
Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová of The Swell Season @ The Anthem (8/15/23)
Noah Pierre Band w/ Austin Loman + Attic Sessions @ The Pocket (8/17/23) (Local jazz artists all, including Noah Pierre Band who will be making their DC live debut for this show.)
Cat Janice w/ DiToro, Massie @ Songbyrd Music House (8/18/23) (Indie rock artist/songwriter Cat Janice is bringing her talents to Songbyrd for her debut EP release. But she’s not new to the DC scene, she also won a WAMMY in 2020 for Best Rock Artist.)
Thievery Corporation @ 9:30 Club (8/18/23)
Molly Parden w/ Deni @ Songbryd Music House (8/23/23)
Mary Chapin Carpenter w/ Dawes @ Wolf Trap (8/26/23) (Bring that 90’s old school country and the more contemporary folk rock of Dawes to the beautiful outdoors of Wolf Trap, please! Check out a previous review of Mary Chapin Carpenter.)
Black Masala @ Pearl Street Warehouse (8/26/23) (Funk and fun, part and parcel with Black Masala. Check out a previous review.)
Ammonite + GXB + Quiet Hollers + Lacey Guthrie @ Pie Shop (8/27/23) (Pie Shop sits in the heart of the H Street NE scene, with all the recent closures on H Street, time to give them and other local businesses some love.)
The Smashing Pumpkins @ Jiffy Lube Live (8/31/23) (I hate recommending concerts at Jiffy Lube, but it’s the Pumpkins. So…go?)
Bonus
(When 20 just doesn’t hit right.)
Bush @ 9:30 Club (8/5/23) Sold Out
5th of Four w/ Shallow Planet + Breezy Supreme @ DC9 (8/5/23)
Margo Price @ Millennium Stage (Kennedy Center) (8/11/23) (Free show!)
Nora Kelly Band @ Pie Shop (8/14/23) (The Nora Kelly Band, based in Montreal, is releasing their first album on August 25th called Rodeo Clown (via Mint Records). The band is a queer, alt-country quintet, but Nora Kelly began writing and performing country music only a few years ago after her stint with a grunge band, DISHPIT, ended. Catch their DC live debut with a few other country bands/artists at Pie Shop!)
Weathers w/ almost monday @ Union Stage (8/18/23)
Gov’t Mule @ Wolf Trap (8/20/23) (Gov’t Mule just released their 12th album, Peace…Like A River (via Fantasy Records), in June. Their latest tour, Dark Side of the Mule Tour, features a regular set and then a tribute to Pink Floyd – the last time they will perform it.)
A DC Journey 