Top 10 Seattle music events for fall 2019, from Lana Del Rey to The Who

The sun is setting on Seattle-area outdoor concerts this year — at least without the reassurance of a retractable roof. But local venues will hardly be quiet this fall. With a number of highly anticipated tours, club fests and limited-run collaborations gracing the Emerald City in the coming months, here are 10 of this season’s biggest gigs.

Vampire Weekend

The arty indie-rock band made its ballyhooed return this spring with “Father of the Bride,” its first album in six years and first since founding member and the band’s in-house producer Rostam Batmanglij split. Rising indie rock singer-songwriter Soccer Mommy opens. 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27; WaMu Theater, 800 Occidental Ave. S., Seattle; sold out

Lana Del Rey

It’s hard to say which has generated more conversation thus far: Lana Del Rey’s new “Norman [Expletive] Rockwell!” album or her reaction to the reaction. Specifically, Del Ray’s not-exactly-thrilled response to esteemed NPR critic Ann Powers’ meticulously nuanced and in-depth review. All told, it was a pretty boring distraction from what some are hailing as her finest record to date. Del Rey applies her refined cinematic touch to a more singer-songwriter-oriented body of work that’s lush, hazy and soft as the sandy beach from which Del Rey seems to be contemplating life and love. 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2; WaMu Theater, 800 Occidental Ave. S., Seattle; sold out

Kate Wallich + the YC x Perfume Genius

After molding hauntingly orchestral arrangements and delicate vocals into beautiful, porcelainlike songs on 2017’s “No Shape,” Seattle chamber-pop architect Perfume Genius (aka Mike Hadreas) is back with a collaborative new music-and-dance piece. Hadreas — who has a few moves of his own — has partnered with local choreographer Kate Wallich and her YC company for their talent-combining The Sun Still Burns Here, commissioned by Seattle Theatre Group and MASS MoCA, and making its world premiere at the Moore Theatre before runs in New York, Minneapolis and Boston. 8 p.m. Oct. 4-5; Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle; tickets from $32.50; stgpresents.org

Earshot Jazz Festival

The roughly monthlong jazz fest stacks the calendar once again with a kaleidoscopic sampling of contemporary jazz (and jazz adjacent) luminaries. A few of the many highlights include revered vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, Chick Corea doing Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Seattle Symphony, adventurous drummer Tyshawn Sorey and Blue Note’s breakout vibraphonist Joel Ross. This year’s slate also features a number of all-star pairings, from Seattle-reared drummer/rapper/producer Kassa Overall and New Orleans pianist Sullivan Fortner to Jamaaladeen Tacuma Trio with sax great Gary Bartz. Oct. 4-Nov. 6; locations and prices vary; earshot.org

Four Tet

The imaginative U.K. house hero, who recently dropped a three-track EP of songs written for a collaborative show with painter Anna Liber Lewis, makes a welcome Northwest cameo before heading south for L.A. underground dance fest Secret Project. 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10;  Showbox SoDo, 1700 First Ave. S., Seattle; tickets from $23; showboxpresents.com

The Who

Sparked by last year’s Roger Daltrey solo run performing “Tommy” in its entirety with orchestral backing, The Who embarked on its Moving On! tour this spring, joined at each stop by a local symphony. While the British Invasion greats aren’t playing their entire rock opera, reports indicate a decent slice of the set has been carved from Daltrey and Pete Townshend’s magnum opus. Despite the name, the band isn’t billing this as a farewell voyage, although earlier this year, the 75-year-old Daltrey told Rolling Stone it very well could be his last. Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher opens. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19;  T-Mobile Park, 1250 First Ave. S., Seattle; tickets from $60; ticketmaster.com

Thom Yorke

Two years after Radiohead gave an expansive KeyArena performance, frontman Thom Yorke returns to Seattle with his Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes troupe — named for his 2014 solo album — with Radiohead’s longtime producer Nigel Godrich and audiovisual artist Tarik Barri. This summer the indie-rock titan/electronic maestro unleashed his new “Anima” LP, which plays like a disoriented tube ride into the darkest yet most enlightened corners of your mind. An appropriately trippy short film, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, designed as a companion to the album, is streaming on Netflix. 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20;  Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., Seattle; sold out

Young Thug and Machine Gun Kelly

A number of Southern rap greats make their way to the Northwest this fall, from certified trunk-knockers Kevin Gates (Nov. 30, WaMu) and Big K.R.I.T. (Oct. 12, Neptune) to Outkast’s Big Boi (Oct. 19, Neptune). But hip-hop adventurer Young Thug, one of the decade’s most influential rap artists who toyed with country-trap when Lil Nas X was barely old enough to drive a tractor, is worth circling on the calendar. Spitfire emcee Machine Gun Kelly, who plays Tommy Lee in Netflix’s Mötley Crüe biopic “The Dirt,” co-headlines. 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10; WaMu Theater, 800 Occidental Ave. S., Seattle; tickets from $32; centurylinkfield.com

The Black Keys

After a few years of dabbling in separate projects and producer gigs, the glammed-up blues-rock duo unveiled their first album in five years, “Let’s Rock,” billed as somewhat of a return to the Ohio rockers’ scruffier roots. For support along its comeback run, the Keys tapped Northwest indie-rock champs Modest Mouse and doo-woppy garage-pop stalwarts Shannon & the Clams. 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23;  Tacoma Dome, 2727 E. D St., Tacoma; tickets from $39.50; tacomadome.org

Sleater-Kinney

The departure of longtime drummer Janet Weiss (who cited the band’s “new direction” as the reason) weeks before the Northwest punk greats unleashed their anticipated new album shocked the music world. But the seminal Olympia-formed band is powering on with new kitminder Angie Boylan, veteran of several NYC punk bands including Aye Nako, and a tour that starts (Oct. 9, Spokane) and ends in Washington state, with a two-night Seattle stand capping this North American leg. Night one is sold out, but tickets to the Nov. 24 show were available as of this writing. 8 p.m. Nov. 23-24; Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., Seattle; tickets from $33.50; stgpresents.org