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100 guitars and heavenly harmonies hit NYC this June. These are the concerts not to miss.
By
Hank Shteamer
Published May 31, 2026
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By
Hank Shteamer
Published May 31, 2026
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June always marks a significant page-turn for the New York concert calendar, as Central Park SummerStage, Celebrate Brooklyn! and countless smaller outdoor concert series get underway. You’ll find options from each of those local staples below, as well as shows commemorating Pride Month, Juneteenth and other upcoming milestones.
As usual, our concert picks range all over the genre map, so give a browse and seek out something you’ve never heard.
Lose yourself in a mind-expanding electronic-music spectacle
Los Thuthanaka
Elsewhere, June 4
One of the most widely acclaimed albums of last year, the self-titled debut by sibling duo Los Thuthanaka was a maximalist electronic-music marvel — a deliberately overstuffed collision of psychedelic beats, glitchy synth noise and Andean folk music informed by the duo’s Indigenous Aymara heritage. Expect the blissful disorientation of the record to be dialed way up at this rare local show. (As one of half of the duo, Joshua Chuquimia Crampton, put it in an interview earlier this year, “You’re supposed to feel the sound.”)
Ring in Pride Month with a celebratory bang
New York City Gay Men’s Chorus: Our Joy Is a Protest
Whitney Museum of American Art, June 5
Our Joy Is a Protest, a Pride Month celebration featuring the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, was conceived in 2024 as a surprise performance for Whitney Museum-goers. “We don’t want people to know that it’s coming,” NYCGMC artistic director John Atorino has said of the event. “We want them to just be confronted with our joy.” Even with advance warning, the 2026 edition should be a special and immersive happening, with the group joining gay men’s choruses from Philadelphia and New Jersey to take over various floors and spaces of the Whitney throughout the evening.
Expand your definition of folk music
Marisa Anderson
Union Pool, June 9 and 10
For the guitarist Marisa Anderson, the idea of folk music extends way beyond the term’s typical connotations. Her new album is “The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music” — inspired by a dive into the archives of the late Harry Smith, curator of the classic “Anthology of American Folk Music.” It tackles thorny themes of imperialism as she interprets music from countries the U.S. has been in conflict with across more than 50 years, including Afghanistan, Vietnam, Yemen and Cambodia. These renditions are soulful, atmospheric and a little otherworldly — perfect for these intimate Union Pool gigs.
Experience the loudest classical gig imaginable
Glenn Branca’s Symphony No. 13 (Hallucination City) for 100 Guitars
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, June 12
The work of Glenn Branca, the composer who united the power of avant-garde rock with the epic scale of classical music, culminated in his “13th Symphony,” scored for a massive ensemble featuring 100 electric guitars. First premiered at the foot of the Twin Towers in the summer of 2001, the marvelous and monolithic piece gets its first New York revival here, almost exactly 25 years later, with Branca’s widow, guitarist Reg Bloor, at the helm.
Embrace pure sonic fury with a message to match
Prostitute; DJ Haram
Night Club 101, June 13
Noise-rock has always reveled in darkness and depravity, but Prostitute — an Arab-American quintet from Dearborn, Michigan — add an urgent sociopolitical context that their predecessors often lacked. “Attempted Martyr,” their riveting 2025 debut, served up a grinding, howling, post-industrial racket in direct response to post-9/11 xenophobia. Their billmate DJ Haram expertly bridged the worlds of club music and heady experimentalism on “Beside Myself,” her 2025 album. And like the headliners, she’s also outspoken — a vocal advocate for Palestinian liberation and other causes.
Spend Juneteenth basking in heavenly harmony
Juneteenth: Infinity Song, Annie and the Caldwells, Victory Boyd and DJ Duane
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!, June 19
It’s been a decade since Jay Z signed Infinity Song to Roc Nation, and if the group — a four-sibling quartet originally from Detroit — hasn’t quite broken big yet, it may be because their appeal is just that subtle. Essentially a 21st-century soft-rock outfit (but with classic roots: they’ve covered Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” beautifully), they also draw on indie pop, R&B and the gospel and jazz they grew up on. It’s a sophisticated and lovely blend, and it ought to sound amazing in Prospect Park, where they headline a Juneteenth bill also featuring their sister Victory Boyd and Mississippi’s Annie and the Caldwells, another family band whose own appealing hybrid blends gospel with R&B and disco.
Explore improvisation at its most healing and ecstatic
Vision Festival
Abrons Art Center, June 23-28
The annual Vision Festival is inarguably the city’s premier showcase for free jazz and related styles. What’s most impressive about this 30th anniversary edition is the way it spans generations. On opening night, June 23, you can see avant-garde guitar veteran Joe Morris perform with peers such as Matthew Shipp and William Parker and rising stars like Lemuel Marc and Selendis S.A. Johnson, while the June 26 bill features both 102-year-old Sun Ra Arkestra leader Marshall Allen and contemporary trailblazers such as drummer Warren “Trae” Crudup and DoYeon Kim, who plays the gayageum, a Korean zither.
Recapture the cozy weirdness of classic indie
Black Country, New Road; Horsegirl; Sharp Pins
Central Park SummerStage, June 24
With an unusual sonic palette featuring strings and woodwinds and a quirky amalgam of art pop and chamber folk, English sextet Black Country, New Road is one of the more surprising breakout successes in the indie sphere in recent years. They share a well-matched SummerStage bill with Horsegirl, a Chicago trio that harks back to the quieter, more eccentric corners of the ’80s and ’90s indie underground, and Sharp Pins, another Chicago project, led by young power-pop auteur Kai Slater, who specializes in jangly lo-fi anthems.
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Hank Shteamer
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