Events

List & playlist: 31 great concerts at Eastern Mass. suburban venues in summer 2025

You don't have to head to Boston for great rock, country, soul, jazz and more at clubs and theaters outside the city.

Rosanne Cash, Grace Kelly, Peabo Bryson, Darlene Love, and Ben Folds will all be on suburban stages this summer. Jason Kempin/Getty Images; Tsao Papdakis Photography; Courtesy Photo; Erin Clark/Globe Staff; Jay Connor for the Boston Globe

By Peter Chianca

4 minutes to read

Let’s face it: We all love Boston, but there are times those of us living outside city limits don’t necessarily want — to paraphrase Tina Fey — to go to there.

But on those occasions when we don’t feel like braving traffic, parking, and other big-city concert-going challenges, we don’t necessarily have to be curled up on our couches either. There are plenty of suburban music venues attracting top-tier talent, among them:

From that list alone we were able to come up with the following list of 31 shows worth your while this summer, and there are plenty more where those came from on the venues’ full calendars.

Meanwhile, if you’re not familiar with some of the artists we’re touting, no worries; a Spotify playlist appears below.

31 worthy shows outside of Boston for summer 2025:

Suzanne Vega (“Luka”) brings her trademark neo-folk to The Cabot on Thursday, June 5.
Legendary Mass. party rockers The Fools (“It’s a Night for Beautiful Girls”) are at Bull Run on Saturday, June 7.
Joan Osborne (and friends!) do Dylan when their Dylanology Live tour comes to The Cabot on Saturday, June 7.
Alt country pioneer Steve Earle (“Copperhead Road”) visits The Spire on Thursday, June 12.
Talented Americana singer-songwriter — and onetime Boston resident by way of Idaho — Eilen Jewell (“Witness”) is at The Spire on Friday, June 13.
Epic rock-reggae-ska combo Entrain (“Anyway”), based out of Martha’s Vineyard, comes to The Cut Friday, June 20.
Guitar goddess Samantha Fish (“Bulletproof”) and her axe will be at Narrows Center for the Arts on Saturday, June 21.
Rock wunderkind turned musical polyglot Todd Rundgren (“I Saw the Light”) comes to Cary Hall on Sunday, June 22.
Baila “La Bamba” when the legendary Los Lobos (“La Pistola y El Corazon”) come to the Lowell Summer Music Series on Sunday, June 22.
Carbon Leaf (“Life Less Ordinary”) and their Celtic-slash-indie rock bonafides come to TCAN on Sunday, June 22.
Come on, get happy when the “Happy Together” tour — featuring The Turtles (“Happy Together”), Jay and the Americans (“Come a Little Bit Closer”), Little Anthony (“Tears on My Pillow”), Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (“Young Girl”), and more — comes to Lynn Memorial Auditorium on Sunday, June 22.
1960s icon Darlene Love (“He’s a Rebel”) brings her wall of sound to the Lowell Summer Music Series on Saturday, June 28.
“Texican Rock n’ Roll” inventors Los Lonely Boys (“Heaven”) come to the Narrows Center for the Arts on Sunday, June 29.
Get romantic with soul balladeer Peabo Bryson (“If Ever You’re in My Arms Again”) at Groton Hill Music Center on Sunday, July 20.

Who needs Crosby and Stills when you’ve got Graham Nash (“Better Days”) at Groton Hill Music Center on Thursday, July 24?
Classic pop-folk will be on the menu when Steve Forbert (“Romeo’s Tune”) hits Narrows Center for the Arts on Friday, July 25.
Rosanne Cash (“Seven Year Ache”) will bring her stunning song stylings to Groton Hill Music Center on Friday, July 25.
Enjoy the piano-and-quirky-lyrics brilliance of Ben Folds (“The Luckiest”) at Shalin Liu Performance Center on Wednesday, July 23 and Groton Hill Music Center on Saturday, July 26.
Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, an uber-talented “musical collective” known for their covers of modern songs in vintage styles — like their torch-song version of Radiohead’s “Creep” — is at Cary Hall in Lexington on Friday, Aug. 1.
Marc Cohn (“Walking in Memphis”) will be walking, or at least performing, in Natick when he comes to TCAN on Friday, Aug. 1.
Coolest jazz saxophonist ever Grace Kelly (“Ballad for MC”) will bring her stunning sax and smoky vocal charms to The Spire on Friday, Aug. 1 and Shalin Liu Performance Center on Saturday, Aug. 2.
If you want to know what love is, check out Foreigner at the South Shore Music Circus on Tuesday, Aug. 5.
A little bit of music and a lot of laughs are in store when Jane Lynch (“Glee”) and Kate Flannery (“The Office”) come to Cary Hall on Saturday, Aug. 9.
Expect sultry-smooth jazz vocals from esperanza spaulding (“I Know You Know”) when she hits Shalin Liu Performance Center on Sunday, Aug. 10.
Singer/songwriter/producer extraordinaire Nick Lowe (“Cruel to be Kind”) and his most excellent backup band, Los Straightjackets, come to TCAN on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
The great Jake Shimabukuro (“A Place in the Sun”) will be picking and strumming — his ukelele, that is — at Cary Hall on Wednesday, Aug. 20.
Gary Hoey (“Hocus Pocus”) will be setting his guitar on fire (figuratively, we mean) during a special birthday show at Bull Run on Friday, Aug. 22.
Folk-rock dynamo Josh Ritter (“Getting Ready to Get Down”) will have his Royal City Band in tow when he plays the Lowell Summer Music Series on Sunday, Aug. 24.
Eternally optimistic pop superstar Andy Grammer (“Honey, I’m Good”) bounces into South Shore Music Circus on Sunday, Aug. 24.
Bluesman (and founding member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds) Jimmie Vaughan (“Dengue Woman Blues”) and The Tilt-A-Whirl Band come to Narrows Center for the Arts on Friday, Aug. 29.
Brett Eldredge (“Drunk on Your Love”) will presumably not be singing the Christmas music he’s famous for but rather his many other gold and platinum singles when he hits South Shore Music Circus on Friday, Aug. 29 .

Note: Some shows may only have tickets available on secondary markets. Also check out our summer concert listings for Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, other top Boston venues, and small venues in and around Boston.