"Go See A Show!" This Week In L.A. Live Music: The Weeknd, Cage The Elephant, Curren$y & More

::Saturday, May 5::

KROQ Weenie Roast at Verizon Ampitheatre

Granted, none of the bands headlining KROQ's annual all-day concert are probably still in your regular rotation. Coldplay? Incubus? The Offspring? Pennywise? But put them all together (plus Silversun Pickups, Garbage, etc) and you have a lineup that 15-year old me would have probably cried for hours over. I wasn't very popular. Anyway, despite a serious lack of indie/current cred (which is perhaps why a few of the smaller acts are legit newer acts like fresh-from-Coachella Grouplove), you'd have to be quite the elitist rock n' roll Grinch to not be at least kind of interested in checking this one out. I dare you not to have fun during an Offspring set. [Details] [via]

The Weeknd at Hollywood Forever Cemetary

Anyone who's heard a Drake song knows that Toronto is producing some very distinct, trip-hoppy R&B these days, with futuristic down-tempo grooves that hide a sinister undercurrent beneath their pristine smoothness. But nobody, even Drizzy himself (who often has trouble reconciling his charismatic rapper side with his confessional singer side) has made this kind of music sound so seamless, at once haunting and sexy, as Toronto native Abel Tesfaye, who only recently blew up by posting his first batch of songs as The Weeknd anonymously on Youtube less than two full years ago. While his sets at Coachella received mixed praise, with all due respect, it's not the ideal venue for this kind of music. The lawn of a creepy, historic cemetery full of dead movie stars, on the other hand? Now we're talking. [Details] [via]