Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift tours have quickly become the Marvel blockbusters of the live circuit, stuffed with famous cameos, era-specific multiverses and very online intertextual readings. At the heart of the maelstrom, however, is modern pop’s biggest megastar, deftly flitting between delicate folk balladry, heavyweight pop and empowered country, all tied up with a lyrical precision that can make a stadium feel like a theatre. Catch her – if you can – in the UK next year. Michael Cragg
Beyoncé
When Beyoncé proclaimed herself “the bar” on Alien Superstar from 2022’s Renaissance album, the pop icon was not exaggerating. From show-stopping production and multiple glittering costume changes to breath-snatching choreography executed with laser precision – and, of course, that peerless vocal talent – there is simply no other artist who matches her calibre of stadium-filling performance. See it to believe it. Grace Medford
Turnstile
Hardcore punk meets hard cardio: there can’t be many bands who burn more calories per gig than these boisterous Baltimorians, constantly bobbing, weaving and roundhouse-kicking away. But that’s not the limit of Turnstile’s talents: they’ve also got one of the best shoutalong songbooks in the business, full of exuberant call-and-response choruses. You’re guaranteed to leave the pit with grin on your face. Gwilym Mumford
Kendrick Lamar
Even as his music has become more strange, obtuse and ornery, Kendrick Lamar has become a better and better performer. His latest tour was a sleekly designed melodrama, complete with Kendrick puppets and winky set-pieces; his festival headline sets are crowd-pleasing affairs, opportunities for Lamar to flex his deep catalogue of hits. No matter where you see him, one thing is guaranteed: a surgically precise showcase of some of the greatest rap music of all time. Shaad D’Souza
Joanna Newsom
There aren’t many singer-songwriters who could silence a room of discerning indie types with just harp and vocal, but then Joanna Newsom isn’t just any performer. With the intricate, fantastical lyricism of a children’s story-book writer, audiences are invited to listen closely, creating a concert environment of rarely experienced attentiveness. She doesn’t tour often, but with rumours of a new album afoot, it’s worth putting aside some pennies now. Jenessa Williams
Thundercat
Watching Thundercat is much like seeing the most progressive funk-rock act you’ve ever heard if they were playing on the set of Wacky Races. The California bass player takes a nod from his stage name and injects the cartoonish – cat ears, sparkly clothing, and equally jocular attitude – into the live setup for his feelgood tracks: stunning blends of R&B, funk, rock and exceptional falsetto vocals. Expect cracking jokes, gags, and meandering instrumental solos that show off incredible talent. Christine Ochefu
Bruce Springsteen
Springsteen is as much illusionist as rock’n’roll performer: he can make a vast stadium feel like a front room; three hours feel like 30 minutes. He can make you feel as if you are hearing even the most well-worn radio hits for the very first time. I can think of no other artist who can conjure such intimacy, joy, devotion. Laura Barton
Self Esteem
With playful costume, dry banter and emotive lyricism, Self Esteem (and her exuberant live band) are the art-pop equivalent of a pep talk in the smoking area, belting and double-drumming through stories of comparison culture, unkind exes and learning to love yourself in spite of patriarchal pressure. Her show offers cathartic fun, but also a healthy dose of provocation, daring every man in the audience to learn from her potent message. JW
Fever Ray
Where once there were hooded figures, thick fog and strobes, now the Fever Ray live experience is a riot of bald-caps, muscle costumes, rocking keytars and girls, girls, girls. Committed to a radical, kinky, queer and celebratory take on feminist pop, Karin Dreijer’s post-Plunge roadshow – with its all-female band and crew – is a sublime example of politics turned into praxis. Chal Ravens
J Hus
An MC and DJ can be an appealingly lean setup, but rap also pairs so well with live instrumentation – and an artist as sensually in-the-moment as J Hus can honour both forms. Pacing and skipping, albatross wingspan reaching to the crowd, he is so clearly electrified by his own artistry – one of the great sensations of live music. With a third album this year following up two British classics, the stage is set again. Ben Beaumont-Thomas
Iron Maiden
Forty-three years after the release of their debut album, Iron Maiden are still one of the hottest tickets around. With a giant catalogue of anthems and, in Bruce Dickinson, a frontman with seemingly endless energy, their gigs are always celebratory affairs, but it’s the band’s eye-melting stage sets, pyro and assorted visuals that seal the deal. If you want to see a Big Metal Show, Maiden are the undisputed kings. Dom Lawson
Stevie Wonder
Backed by a band of at least 10 impeccably drilled musicians, toting a six-decade-long songbook and a set of pipes that can still replicate his tween years as Little Stevie, Stevie Wonder live is a masterclass in slick showmanship. Come for the singalong sections to Sir Duke or Superstition but stay for the moments when Stevie cuts loose, such as when his harmonica improvises over Miles Davis’s All Blues. Ammar Kalia
DJ Koze
Electronic music’s Willy Wonka, German DJ and producer Stefan Kozalla can make a drab, humdrum world seem like a psychedelic wonderland; his canny fusion of deep house, 90s hip-hop and minimal techno is always a welcome anomaly among electronic lineups. While his sound is always gorgeously expansive live, seeing him outdoors, in the daytime, during the height of summer is nothing short of magic. SDS
The Bronx
Whether they’re playing a straight punk show or masquerading as their alter egos, Mariachi El Bronx (complete with full costume and castanets), this LA rock group deliver each song with total sincerity, respecting the cultural cues and energy of their respective genre traditions. Whether you know their material or not, the mix between moshing and waltzing makes for a pretty unforgettable, feelgood night out. JW
Janelle Monáe
Monáe is a Prince-like proposition: she can sing, rap, dance and act with dazzling precision. That undeniable talent once seemed a little too tightly wound but retiring her cyborg alter ego, Cindi Mayweather, has loosened the joints and let the light in. Her costumes have become more eye-popping, her activism more pronounced and her stage presence warmer, making her 21st-century soul revue a fireworks display of creativity and joy. Dorian Lynskey
Mdou Moctar
Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar has been given the title “Jimi Hendrix of the desert” for good reason. Channelling a ground-shaking distortion while finger-picking his way through intricate melodies on his electric guitar, Moctar’s live shows are that ineffable combination of searing noise and embodied groove. With his latest album, 2021’s Afrique Victime, earning accolades for its explosive energy, Moctar and his band have become a unique presence to behold. Earplugs recommended. AK
Kelis
Kelis’s career spans more than two decades and multiple genres, which can make for an eclectic setlist at her shows. More casual fans would do well to put one of her festival appearances on their bucket list. Kelis sets a relentless pace during these crowd-pleasing performances, rolling her distinctive, husky tone over the hits. It’s impossible to leave disappointed. Grace Medford
Rosalía
U2 had their giant lemon, Pink does acrobatics and Beyoncé’s got a flying disco horse. What’s a superstar gotta do to stand out these days? The answer, as Rosalía proved on her momentous Motomami tour, is to ditch the outfit changes and get intimate with the fans, filling the stage with selfie-style cameras for TikTok realness. Shifting from viral reggaeton to windswept ballads, the flamenco disruptor can make arenas feel cosy – all the better to spotlight her avant-pop songwriting, extraordinary voice and poreless skin. CR
SZA
Like her albums, SZA’s live shows are immersive trips that add cinematic textures to emotional catharsis. Or, as the Missouri-born singer, songwriter and habitual collaborator would have it, the aim of her current, nautical-themed SOS tour – which sees her emoting on the end of a diving board, dancing on a boat and being tracked by a lighthouse – is to “pop ass and cry and give theatre”. Sometimes that’s all you need. MC
Lonnie Holley
For Lonnie Holley, every performance is a spontaneous creation. Arriving late to fame, the Alabama-born artist has an almost childlike ability to make a song out of anything he imagines, like a freestyling MC crossed with a jazz improviser. Fusing on-the-spot poetry and cascading piano, he plunges us into deep pools of memory – his own and that of his ancestors in the American south – in order to emerge spiritually recharged. CR
Underground Resistance
To see Underground Resistance is to see legends in real time. Mainstay headliners on the electronic festival circuit, the mythic techno outfit is comprised of various performers who’ve helped make the city of Detroit synonymous with the genre, including Mad Mike Banks and the formidable Jeff Mills. Their approach to techno often involves combining performances and lectures, as well as a heady mix of new and legacy electronic tracks in mixes. An education in itself, exploring new, transformative frontiers of music. CO
Sudan Archives
Sudan Archives attends Glastonbury with her latest album, Natural Brown Prom Queen, the prize gem in a criminally underrated catalogue packed with far-reaching influences: sufi fiddle players and 90s R&B to 80s golden-age electro hip-hop. Her countercultural approach bleeds into her stage presence, which is deliciously wanton, often partially freestyled, and filled with spirit. Do not miss her otherworldly violin solo. CO
Brandy
Next year marks 30 years since R&B innovator Brandy released her debut album. In that time she’s toured a grand total of three times, hiding that peerless voice from the general public. With a bulging back catalogue – What About Us?, Afrodisiac, The Boy Is Mine – and the ability to properly sell the bangers as well as the ballads, run don’t walk to a venue near you should the fan-anointed Vocal Bible ever leave the US again. MC
Sunn O)))
With the obvious caveat that bowel-dislodging drone metal is not for everyone, Sunn O))) are the great showmen of experimental, heavy music. Seeing the duo in the flesh is an overwhelming physical experience. As extended notes hazily fragment into a hypnotic barrage of elegantly nuanced sound, it’s hard not to feel stoned, even when one is not. Complete surrender is recommended. Dom Lawson
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
How many live bands peak in late middle age? Fans may argue about the quintessential Bad Seeds lineup but the current incarnation has the greatest range, and such intensity that every night feels like a matter of life and death. Cave, who spends half the time eyeball to eyeball with the front rows, has never been more emotionally available. More than a spectacle, it’s akin to a communal exorcism. DL
Makaya McCraven
Few drummers hit harder or with more purpose than Chicago-based sticksman and producer McCraven. Known for his self-sampling technique – where he chops together onstage jams to form jazz-referencing records – his live sets are a whirlwind of improvised force. Frequently collaborating with jazz talents such as harpist Brandee Younger and vibraphonist Joel Ross, McCraven is a master of dynamic control, building from meditative quietude to bursts of hip-swaying groove and head-nodding freakouts. AK
Black Midi
Hardly shy and retiring on record, Black Midi are even more outre off it. In a live setting the virtuosic south London trio twist their avant-prog compositions into strange new shapes, throwing in extended sax solos, improvised interludes and bizarre cover versions (Kate Bush, Limp Bizkit, the Bugsy Malone theme). The whole circus seems to constantly be on the verge of collapsing, but that’s the fun of it. GM
Manara
A British-Pakistani DJ and true child of the anything-goes internet, Manara blends culture across continents with so much agility and wit. Built on garage and Desi pop but with an OHHHH!!-inducing juxtaposition roughly every 90 seconds – Leona Lewis over breakbeat house! – her sets involve the kind of methodical stimulation of pleasure neurohormones normally conducted in a medical research facility. BBT
John Grant
The boy from Michigan has many lanes – the grand sweep of an orchestra, the crunch and buzz of electropop, the soft-rock intimacy of a duo – which means he’s at home in both a club and a church. In every setting, though, Grant combines sonic luxury with an emotional rawness that sometimes takes him to the brink of tears, giving every show an unfakeable crackle of urgency and truth. His jokes are great, too. DL
Sleater-Kinney
There’s a power and an urgency to the way Sleater-Kinney play that makes you feel somehow invincible. Over the course of 10 albums, their sets have spooled out from taut punk rock to incorporate disco, pop and electronica, but the central pairing of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein has remained: guitar lines weaving, voices tangling across songs of anguish and defiance and desire. It’s as galvanising as it is mesmerising. LB
