September 2025 Concert Guide: David Byrne, Twenty One Pilots, Eric Church, Conan Gray, Alabama Shakes, Vance Joy, and Jessica Simpson

The summer concert season may be waning, but great sounds still abound. Two big shows this month are rising pop star Conan Gray, who plays the Pete, while country music performer Eric Church will be at PPG Paints Arena. Columbus, Ohio’s Twenty One Pilots will play a very hot show at Star Lake. Creative musical genius David Byrne is sure to put on an interesting concert at the Benedum. Jessica Simpson headlines this year’s Women Who Rock event. Another woman who sure knows how to rock is Brittany Howard and she will be performing with Alabama Shakes. Australian pop rocker Vance Joy brings his tour to Stage AE. Garbage will be compacting some of their appealing music into an approximately 90 minute show.

The Pixies will be putting on a really big show at Stage AE. Two large festivals are also happening this month. The Four Chord Music Festival features Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World, and several more acts. Headlining the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival are the Branford Marsalis Quartet and vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers will be shaking up Indiana with a concert at the Indiana Theater.

The Concert Guide features (in chronological order) Spotlight Picks, Other Shows of Interest, and Big Shows on the Horizon. Get out and see what pleases you, whether it’s one of our concert picks or something entirely different. Mike Vargo (M.V.) also contributed to this guide.

Spotlight Picks

Friday, September 5

Maybe you don’t want to miss this year’s Women Who Rock mega-concert at Stage AE. The headliner is the legendary Jessica Simpson. The musician is on a comeback tour of sorts. After writing a best-selling memoir in 2020, she returned to music in February with the release of the single “Use My Heart Against Me.” Simpson’s debut EP, Nashville Canyon, Part 1 dropped in March. Also on the bill are DJ Ms.TIZA and local American group Buffalo Rose. Pittsburgh fashion designer Kiya Tomlin is set to receive Impact Award. The evening will be emceed by 100.7 FM’s Kelly Dzanaj. Better yet, this is a fundraiser, with the proceeds—as always—helping to address women’s health issues at Magee-Womens Research Institute & Foundation. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (R.H.)

Saturday, September 6

Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers are Pittsburgh rock royalty. They have risen through several incarnations—from the Brick Alley Band to Joe Grushecky and the Iron City Houserockers to the unit’s present day form—Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers—to become one of Pittsburgh’s top bands. Over the years Grushecky’s sound is one of both hard-driving rock and roll and insightful ballads. The lyrics and music seek higher ground, and find it. Top songs include “Pumping Iron,” “Have a Good Time (But Get Out Alive),” and “Rock and Real.” In 2024 Grushecky released Joe Grushecky Houserocker: A Joe Grushecky Anthology and followed that up by releasing a fantastic new album with The Houserockers, Can’t Outrun a Memory. (See our story and interview with Grushecky regarding the making of the album.) A track from the LP, “This is Who We Are” made Little Steven’s Underground Garage Coolest Songs in the World 2024. Grushecky has also released a CD version of his 1981 recording with the Iron City Houserockers, Blood on the Bricks. And most recently Grushecky dropped a hot new track, “Living in a Blues Song.” Special guests at this performance are Ned Rankin and Marc Reisman from the original Iron City Houserockers. 7 p.m. The Indiana Theater, 637 Philadelphia St., Indiana. (R.H.)

Tuesday, September 9

Alabama Shakes is not an earthquake headline; it’s a roots-rock band out of Athens, Alabama. Since forming in 2009 they’ve won four Grammy Awards and a heap of other awards. Better yet, it is once again possible to speak of the Shakes in the present tense, as they reunited late last year after a multi-year disbandment. Brittany Howard is again belting out songs as the frontwoman. Heath Fogg, transcending a name that sounds plucked from a Dickens novel, is back plucking the strings of his guitar and Zac Cockrell is back on bass. Might there be future Grammys in the offing? Pittsburgh-area fans can get an early read on the situation by catching Alabama Shakes at Stage AE. The guest artist is Sam Evian. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (M.V.) 

Wednesday, September 10

The first time Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy toured Pittsburgh, he played Heinz Field. Granted, he wasn’t headlining, but what a feat. Equally impressive was that he was opening for pop star Taylor Swift during her 1989 World Tour. And even more impressive? He got the invite after she covered his ukulele-rich single, “Riptide,” on a British radio program. “Riptide” has become a bona fide hit all its own. It has gone multiplatinum, both in the States and Down Under. In Australia, it holds the record for the most streamed Australian song on Spotify. You can find the song on Joy’s debut album, 2014’s Dream Your Life Away. That album was reissued in 2015 as a deluxe edition with a few additional tracks, including the single “Fire and the Flood,” another hit for the singer. Joy’s most recent album is 2022’s In Our Own Sweet Time. The album, his third, reached No. 3 on the Australian Albums Chart and No. 48 on the Billboard U.S. Top Rock Albums. Catch Vance Joy in concert at Stage AE. Also on the bill is Jonah Kagen, a Savannah, Georgia native, who’s had an Alternative radio hit with “God Needs The Devil” and has collaborated with Sam Barber on “Burn Me.” Kagen is working on a new LP, Sunflowers and Leather, which is scheduled for release in October. Other special guests are Evan Honer and Kyle Schuesler. Doors open 5:30 p.m. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (C.M., R.H.)

Friday, September 12

Country star Eric Church will headline PPG Paints Arena. He created an eye-opener with his Heart & Soul album, which he released as three records (Heart, &, and Soul) over three different days in April 2021. & was released exclusively to his fan club, the Church Choir, as a vinyl record. Church is from North Carolina, but like many country artists before him, he pursued his musical dream in Nashville. He released his debut album, Sinners Like Me, in 2006. His first song to enter Billboard’s Hot 100 Top 20 was “Springsteen.” You bet a song named after the Boss is going to have crossover potential. It helped that the tune told a vivid story over uplifting guitar chords, just as the Boss’s songs do. The video’s pretty good too. Church’s latest LP, Evangeline vs. the Machine, was released in May and reached No. 5 on the Billboard U.S. Top Country Albums. Special guest is Elle King. 7:30 p.m. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown. (C.M., R.H.)

Congratulations on your taste if you are a fan of the Pixies. The Boston-based alternative rockers have been praised as inspirations and influences by other artists and bands ranging from Bowie to Bono to PJ Harvey, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and more. Reportedly they call themselves Pixies because lead guitarist Joe Santiago found a dictionary entry that defined the term as “mischievous little elves.”  Although the band members aren’t little, the core guys—Santiago, Black Francis, and drummer David Lovering—have been around since the Pixies’ heyday in the 1980s to early ‘90s, reuniting after a breakup that left the world Pixie-less for several years. Currently the band includes its third in a series of female bassist-vocalists, Emma Richardson. She’s on their ninth studio album, last year’s The Night the Zombies Came. The Pixie sound is best described as one you shouldn’t try to describe, but rather just hear. And lo, an opportunity arises. The Pixies visit Pittsburgh for a concert at Stage AE. Guest mischief-makers are Spoon and Fazerdaze. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., so maybe plan an early supper. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (M.V.)

Saturday, September 13 and Sunday, September 14

This will be the 11th annual Four Chord Music Festival and the lineup is very good with Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World at the top of the bill. The pop-punk band Blink-182 formed in the early ’90s in Poway, California, emerging out of the state’s skate punk scene. They found success with songs like “All the Small Things” and “Dammit,” and several top albums including Enema of the State (which reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart). Blink-182 was on the Vans Warped Tour several times. Jimmy Eat World, an alt-rock band, formed in Mesa, Arizona, also in the early ’90s. The group had several Top 20 hit songs on the Alternative Songs chart including “In the Middle” and “Pain.” Both bands perform on the festival’s night one. Headliners for night two are AFI and Jawbreaker. Several other bands will be performing too. Doors open at noon both days. EQT Park, 1 Washington Federal Way, Washington. (R.H.)

Tuesday, September 16

If you discover that David Byrne’s concert at Benedum Center is nearly sold out, it shouldn’t be surprising. Byrne is touring in conjunction with his first album in seven years: Who Is the Sky, recorded with Brooklyn’s Ghost Train Orchestra. And the show probably would’ve sold out regardless. He’s David Byrne. Has any musical artist of our times been so creative in so many ways? As frontman of the Talking Heads from 1975 to ‘91, Byrne combined a wow-factor singing voice with dramatic stage moves to bring a song home. He collaborated with Twyla Tharp, the groundbreaking modern-dance choreographer, to create the music for her feature-length dance The Catherine Wheel. Byrne was central to the making of two memorable movies—not only Stop Making Sense, the great Talking Heads concert film, but also the cult-favorite mockumentary True Stories, which he co-wrote, directed, and co-starred in. Then later, as an encore, he shared an Oscar for his part in composing the score of Bernardo Bertolucci’s epic The Last Emperor. We could go on and on if space permitted. These days, Byrne doesn’t leap about the stage like he used to. But his voice, if anything, seems to have acquired a richer timbre. And he still composes wonderfully and still engages in fascinating collaborations. So check the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust site and/or the resale market for tickets to his show here in Pittsburgh. 8 p.m. 237 7th St., Cultural District. (M.V.)

Conan Gray is continuing his meteoric rise with a concert this month at the Petersen Events Center. The singer/songwriter, who first appeared on people’s radars on YouTube, had his latest album, Wishbone, reach No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on its Top Album Chart. This is the third album of Gray’s to reach the top 10 and his highest ranking to date. Gray, who was raised in Georgetown, Texas, before moving to California to briefly attend UCLA, creates smart, hooky, pop songs laced with emotional lyrics. Join Conan Gray on his Wishbone Pajama Party Tour. Special guest is Hemlock Springs. 8 p.m. 3719 Terrace St., Oakland. (R.H.)

Thursday – Sunday, September 18 – 21

The time is at hand when you can hear more good jazz for less money. Most events at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival are free, and this year’s festival—the 15th—offers a wide variety of acts and styles. Along with big names like the Branford Marsalis Quartet and vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, the festival showcases a lineup of intriguing up-and-comers and lesser-known talents. Composer/vocalist Michael Mayo, who musically invites you to contemplate your mortality in the video above, is regarded as a phenom on the rise. Kandace Springs and her all-female ensemble have an international fan base, but have you heard them? Fiery drummer Obed Calvaire, a son of Haitian immigrants, brings his Haiti Project to town. And Tarbaby, the trio with an in-your-face name, just might play selections from their recent album You Think This America. Pittsburgh artists on the bill include Kenny Blake & The New Hip, James Scoglietti (the DJ known as Selecta), and the August Wilson All-Star Jazz Band led by Howie Alexander.  

The Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival is hosted by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center and co-presented by Highmark. Special ticketed events on Thursday and on Friday evening are sold out. But the big draws are the outdoor concerts on Liberty Avenue, outside the Center, and they’re all free of charge. On Saturday that includes a total of 12 acts performing at start times from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and 11 acts on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Check the festival website for schedules and artist bios, then arrive early for the artists you want to see. Folding chairs are welcome while pets, weapons, and drones are not. 980 Liberty Ave. and nearby, Cultural District. (M.V.) 

Tuesday, September 23

Garbage is a heck of a name for a band that just released an album with the uplifting title Let All That We Imagine Be the Light. It is their eighth, made amid the civic turmoil and the gruesome wars that have marked the past few years worldwide. Band members say they’ve dug deep to find inspiring messages for some songs on this release, which includes numbers like “The Day That I Met God.” Garbage formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1993. Despite a couple of hiatuses (hiati?) since then, the alt-rockers have maintained their original lineup. Dynamic lead singer Shirley Manson first made her mark with Angelfish, then was recruited to join Garbage’s formative trio of Butch Vig, Steve Marker, and Duke Erikson (who differs from Duke Ellington by more than just a couple of consonants). The group has a global following and is currently on tour. See Garbage in Pittsburgh at Stage AE, with guest artists Starcrawler. Doors open at 7 p.m. for this indoor show. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (M.V.)

Sunday, September 28

Can’t decide if you like rock or rap more? You won’t need to pick when you see Twenty One Pilots at The Pavilion at Star Lake. The Columbus natives work in an indie sub-genre commonly referred to as alternative hip-hop. A little funkier than Aerosmith’s mashup with Run-D.M.C. in “Walk This Way,” the duo combines various tempos and rhythms that will have you dancing and headbanging simultaneously. As demonstrated in “Holding on to You,” the verses are rap-based with a seamless flow into a chorus and raw beat reminiscent of early Linkin Park. The end result: rock and rap had a love child and named it Twenty One Pilots. The duo reached number one on the Billboard 200 with 2015’s Blurryface. Success continued with “Heathens,” which appeared on the Suicide Squad soundtrack in 2016. In 2018 they released their fifth studio album, Trench, followed by Scaled and Icy in 2021. Twenty One Pilots have been very busy the past two years, recording Clancy (2024) and Breach (to be released September 12), thus giving us The Clancy Tour: Breach 2025. Special guest is Dayglow. 8 p.m. 665 Rt. 18, Burgettstown (C.M., R.H.)

Other Shows of Interest

Thursday, September 4
Kenny G (Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall)

Friday, September 5
Hardy (The Pavilion at Star Lake)
Sun King Warriors (Moondogs Pub)

Saturday, September 6
Gabby Barrett (Timber Rock Amphitheater)

Sunday, September 7
Railroad Earth and Yonder Mountain String Band (Stage AE)

Tuesday, September 9
Scott Hanley with the Max Leake Trio (Greer Cabaret Theater Lounge)

Thursday, September 11
Rilo Kiley (Roxian Theatre)

Friday, September 12
Tower of Power (Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall)

Saturday, September 13
Molly Tuttle (Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall)
Billy Price (Twin Oaks Lounge)
The Little Wretches (Moondogs Pub)

Tuesday, September 16
Superchunk (Thunderbird Cafe)
The Wildwoods (Pittsburgh Winery)

Wednesday, September 17
Bill Deasy (Jergel’s Rhythm Grille)

Thursday, September 18
Falling in Reverse (The Pavilion at Star Lake)
Gwar (Roxian Theatre)

Saturday, September 20
Suicideboys (The Pavilion at Star Lake)
Marilyn Manson (Roxian Theatre)
Heartless Bastards (Pittsburgh Winery)

Wednesday, September 24
Lita Ford (Jergel’s Rhythm Grille)

Thursday, September 25
Morrissey (Benedum Center)
Chris Jamison (City Winery)

Friday, September 26
Gavin Adcock (Stage AE)
Billy the Kid & The Regulators (Moondogs Pub)
Brooke Annibale, Liz Berlin, & Morgan Erina (Pittsburgh Winery)

Saturday, September 27
Bill Toms and Hard Rain (Moondogs Pub)

Tuesday, September 30
Franz Ferdinand (Roxian Theatre)

Big Shows on the Horizon

October 1
Alice Cooper and Judas Priest (The Pavilion at Star Lake)
Toad the Wet Sprocket (Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall)

October 15
Violent Femmes (Stage AE)
Tate McRae (PPG Paints Arena)

October 18
Cody Johnson (PPG Paints Arena)

October 19
Mumford & Sons (PPG Paints Arena)

October 23 & October 24
Sabrina Carpenter (PPG Paints Arena)

October 28
Jon Batiste (Heinz Hall)

Rick Handler is the executive producer of Entertainment Central.

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