The 8 Best Free Concerts in the Bay Area This Summer

This story is part of How We Get By, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the full series here.

We understand. Concert tickets are too expensive. Why not make a summertime project of seeing free concerts all around the Bay Area instead?

If, like many others these days, you find yourself logging onto Ticketmaster and cursing the gods, then see below for our select list of free live music this summer in the Bay Area.

George Cables, Billy Hart, Rufus Reid and others

June 13
Healdsburg Plaza, Healdsburg

One of our favorite annual traditions takes place during the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, when musical legends like Houston Person or Charles McPherson play casual afternoon sets in the town square, completely free. This year, the plaza hosts a tribute to the late bassist Ray Drummond, with a quintet of all-stars: Billy Hart (pictured above), George Cables, Rufus Reid, Bobby Watson and Craig Handy. Visiting the chi-chi wine country town has only gotten more expensive over the years, but for one day in June, at least, Healdsburg is home to the best deal in classic jazz.

The Top Chefs / Rebel Soul Festival

June 19 and 20
Golden Gate Park Bandshell, San Francisco

The historic Golden Gate Park bandshell hosts a who’s-who of local talent each summer. On Friday, June 19, it’s the Top Chefs, a tight-knit group of instrumentalists who sometimes play on San Francisco stoops; charismatic and thoughtful rapper Afterthought fronts the band. On Saturday, Rebel Soul Records presents soul singers Martin Luther McCoy and Otis McDonald; freestyle rap champ Frak; Oakland MC Ian Kelly and more. Soak in the sun on the concourse and enjoy the crisp acoustics of the bandshell, where free concerts run weekly all through the summer.

Henryk Górecki, Symphony No. 3

June 21
Herbst Theater, San Francisco

Even if you don’t think you’ve heard Górecki’s 1977 symphony, you probably have — possibly in the Netflix series The Crown, or in feature films like Basquiat and A Hidden Life. The languid, emotional work shares a mood with Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel and Nicholas Britell’s “Agape,” perfect for conveying a feeling of hopeful beauty. In a program that includes two piano pieces by Chopin, the free Sunday afternoon concert in the heart of San Francisco features Marnie Breckenridge in the soprano role.

Miko Marks

July 5
Town Park, Corte Madera

The singer Miko Marks, from Oakland, knows that all the best country music lives just a half-inch away from soul music. For two decades now, she’s been teaching that lesson to the rest of the country, from the restlessness of her 2005 debut Freeway Bound to the putin’-down-roots theme of her recent album Feel Like Goin’ Home. A stellar live performer, she’s a highlight of this year’s Corte Madera’s summertime free music series (which also boasts the sharply skilled blues guitarist Jackie Greene on Aug. 25).

Lady Wray

July 11
Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco

Born in Salinas and raised in the church, Nicole Wray first entered the music biz working in the sequined-wardrobe era of pop R&B. A couple decades later, she’s become one of the most emotional purveyors of acutely traditional soul; her recordings could easily be mistaken for a forgotten 45 rpm record from 1968. This year’s Yerba Buena Gardens Festival has no shortage of great free concerts, including Mission District faves La Gente SF (July 16) and the Ecuadorian American musician Helado Negro (Aug. 15), but for #saturdayvibes, Lady Wray’s our pick.

Pacific Mambo Orchestra

July 15
Los Gatos Town Plaza, Los Gatos

If you’ve ever watched supper-club scenes from movies made in the 1940s and thought, “I wish dance bands like that still existed,” well, look no further. The Pacific Mambo Orchestra is a tight-knit, swinging unit that modernizes the nightclub bands of yesteryear, adept in salsa, mambo and other Latin big-band styles. It’s no wonder they’ve played at jazz festivals all over the world and won a Grammy Award. This one’s free and worth the trip down to the furthest corner of the South Bay before you hit Hwy. 17’s long winding path down to Santa Cruz.

Al Green

Aug. 16
Stern Grove, San Francisco

There are so many shows to choose from at this year’s Stern Grove Festival — Japanese Breakfast, the Violent Femmes, Public Enemy — but c’mon now. Al Green. Al Green. The most famous human embodiment of the sacred meeting the sexual this side of Aretha Franklin. The Memphis reverend who hands out roses to all the ladies. If you’re going to brave the festival’s relatively recent ticket lottery system for just one show, make it the man behind “Tired of Being Alone,” “Love and Happiness” “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” and “Let’s Stay Together.”

Deke Dickerson

Aug. 20
KRSH Studios Backyard, Santa Rosa

For lovers of country pickin’, Telecaster twangin’ and B-string bendin’, there are few finer guitarists than Deke Dickerson. Raised on rockabilly and not immune to novelty (he performed in the Go-Nuts, a “snack rock” band that once showered the Bottom of the Hill in a hailstorm of donuts), Dickerson is serious about guitars, even once penning a biography of country guitar icon Merle Travis. In the humble backyard of Americana radio station KRSH — its studios are located inside a passenger train car — this should be an afternoon of free music to remember.