Let the Music Play — Santa Barbara Bowl Season 2024

Our Favorite Outdoor Amphitheater Is Moving and Grooving with the New Season Already in Swing

Few things are more pleasurable than an evening of music under the stars, and the charms of the Santa Barbara Bowl continue to enchant us, no matter how many times we get to experience them. The music has begun to play, even as pieces of the programming puzzle — with 36 shows between the months of April and October — are still being unveiled.

Recent announcements include Sofi Tukker, who is bringing the BREAD Tour to town on November 7 (tickets go on sale May 10; see sbbowl.com for details). The Florida-based EDM duo of Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern brings Brazilian funk sounds and elements to the stage in support of their new album, BREAD (an acronym for “Be Really Energetic and Dance”), which comes out on August 23. See the video for the album’s single “Throw Some Ass” here.

Stephen Sanchez, who comes to the Bowl September 14 with special guest The Brook & The Bluff, was also just announced. His breezy baritone stylings and warm guitar phrasing evoke a simpler, more romantic era that belies this young artist in his twenties. See his video for “Until I Found You” here.

A strong season kicked off with in April with two evenings that highlight the exceptional variety of music we get to enjoy at the Bowl: a double bill of Social Distortion and Bad Religion (read Zak Klobucher’s review at bit.ly/3Uync9R), followed by Willie Nelson & Family on the eve of the country music legend’s 91st birthday (read my review at bit.ly/4bwgnN8).

There’s more country music up next, with Cody Jinks and special guest The Steel Woods coming on May 18. The Texas-based Jinks has released 10 studio albums, sold more than two million equivalent units and garnered more than 3.5 billion streams across platforms with more than one billion streams on Spotify and 1.7 billion streams on Pandora, earning him a Pandora Radio Billions Award. Known for his electric live performances, Jinks’s 2024 schedule includes stops at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater and Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre, along with the Bowl. See his latest video for “Outlaws and Mustangs” at bit.ly/3yd3N73.

Natalie Merchant, who first came to our attention as the frontwoman for 10,000 Maniacs, is at the Bowl on May 23. She left that group in 1994 and has subsequently released nine albums as a solo artist with combined sales of seven million copies: Tigerlily (1995), Ophelia (1998), Live in Concert (1999), Motherland (2001), The House Carpenter’s Daughter (2003), Leave Your Sleep (2010), Natalie Merchant (2014), Paradise Is There (2015), and Butterfly (2017). See the video for her 2023 song “Sister Tilly” at bit.ly/4duRHpY.

Queens of the Stone Age | Photo: Andrea Neumann

The following night, May 24, 1990s–current day favorites Queens of the Stone Age hit the stage. Check out some of their greatest hits — from “Go with the Flow” to “Little Sister,” “No One Knows,” and oh-so-many more — at bit.ly/44BdDvr.

Rounding up the May lineup on May 31 is Brothers Osborne, followed by Tedeschi Trucks Band on June 5, Pentatonix on June 6, and one of my personal favorite artists, Elvis Costello, who plays the Bowl on June 14 co-headlining with Daryl Hall (no Oates — long story; see to.pbs.org/3ybLxuD for the PBS report), as well as The Imposters with guest Charlie Sexton.

Whiskey Myers takes the stage on June 18, and then it’s the Totally Tubular Festival on June 28, with an impressive lineup of ’80s favorites including Thomas Dolby, Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, Modern English, Men Without Hats, The Romantics, Bow Wow Wow, Tommy Tutone, and The Plimsouls. (I’m pretty sure that almost everyone I went to college with will be there, but whether they do lines in the bathroom remains to be seen.) Cage the Elephant is up next on July 3, with special guests Young the Giant and Bakar. Then comedian Bert Kreischer comes on July 20, followed by the reggae stylings of Ziggy Marley on July 21, and two nights of Rebelution on August 14 and 15.

Comedian Chelsea Handler brings back the funny on August 17, followed by Gary Clark Jr. on August 22, Kings of Leon on August 26, and Lauren Daigle on August 28.

September begins with John Fogerty on September 1, with special guests George Thorogood and The Destroyers, along with Hearty Har, and then it’s time for the almost-annual show from Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, with Big Boi this time on September 5. Iration & Pepper stop by the Bowl September 8, and then it’s Wallows on September 9, Stephen Sanchez (as mentioned above) on September 14, and the Indigo Girls and Amos Lee on September 21.

The October shows haven’t been announced yet, and the only November show so far is Sofi Tukker on November 7 (as mentioned above), so as fun as this all sounds, we’ve still got a few more surprises to come.

Visit sbbowl.com for a complete list of shows and more information about the 2024 Santa Barbara Bowl season.