WETA Rocks Summer Concert Series 2024

WETA presents a summer concert series — WETA Rocks — that features entertaining rock and pop music concerts each Saturday night on WETA PBS (and some Thursday nights on WETA Metro) throughout June, July and August. If you miss the live broadcast, most of these specials (and others too!) are available to stream with WETA Passport.

The concert presentations are hosted by Jack Diamond, a longtime local radio announcer in Greater Washington, and WETA Classical’s Linda Carducci, a former classic rock radio announcer. The two will share information about the artists as well as entertaining stories from the world of popular music. Below are the concert offerings for June and July, with August listings coming soon. Rock on!

Keep WETA Rockin'

Support WETA this summer and enjoy amazing concerts from the best seat in the house!

Donate now

June 1 at 9 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating June 2 at 4:30 p.m.

Elton John performs in a 2012 concert at The Colosseum at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. On a specially built Yamaha piano which has 68 LED video screens, he plays a selection of his classic songs including “Rocket Man,” “Tiny Dancer,” “I'm Still Standing,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” and “Your Song.”

June 1 at 10:30pm on WETA PBS

Join the Piano Man for his legendary 1990 concert recorded live at the historic stadium in the Bronx. Shot in 16 mm color film, and meticulously remixed and re-edited, the program includes interviews with Joel and behind-the-scenes footage from that iconic night. The set list includes “Piano Man,” “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “New York State of Mind” and more.

Simon & Garfunkel: The Concert in Central Park

June 8 at 9 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating June 9 at 4:30 p.m.

See the iconic duo performing before more than 500,000 fans at a 1981 benefit concert for the world’s most famous urban park.

June 15 at 9 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating June 16 at 4 p.m.

Enjoy the band’s 50th anniversary with Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, John Mayer, Mick Taylor, the Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr. and others in a 2012 concert at Newark’s Prudential Center.

June 22 at 9 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating June 23 at 3 p.m.

Rock out with the iconic multi-platinum-selling 80s pop legends in a reunion concert before a sold-out hometown London crowd in 2016, after a hugely successful 60-city world tour. All four original band members — Boy George, Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss — performed at this once-in-a-lifetime concert of hits like “Karma Chameleon,” “Black Money,” “It’s a Miracle,” “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” and more.

June 22 at 10:30 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating June 23 at 4:30 p.m.

Celebrate the band’s 40th anniversary in 2024 with a concert filmed at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen in July 2023. In this lavish stage show with a full backup band and mesmerizing visual backdrops, the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe perform their greatest hits including “West End Girls” and “It’s A Sin.”

June 29 at 9 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating June 30 at 3 p.m.

Experience the sensory explosion of eye-popping theatrics and infectious pop tracks from one of today’s most captivating performers, filmed during 2014-2015. Directed for the stage in thematic acts, this not-to-be-missed spectacle features hit after hit and delivers the excitement of the live Katy Perry experience. Includes “Roar,” “I Kissed A Girl,” “Hot N Cold,” “Teenage Dream,” and “Firework.”

June 29 at 10:30 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating June 30 at 4:30 p.m.

Grab a front-row seat at a concert packed with the Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter’s greatest hits. Performances include “Get The Party Started,” “Who Knew,” “Don’t Let Me Get Me,” and “Nobody Knows.” Captured in a sizzling 15-camera high-definition shoot at her final sold-out London I’m Not Dead tour date in 2006, the show features acrobatics, elaborate stage sets and sizzling costumes.

July 6 at 9 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating July 7 at 3 p.m.

Join Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson — “the Mt. Rushmore of country music” — for this live concert recorded in 1990. The Highwaymen perform classics like “Big River,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” and “Always On My Mind.” Recorded at the famous arena in Hempstead, Long Island.

July 6 at 10:30 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating July 7 at 4:30 p.m.

Grab a front-row seat as the three-time Grammy Award winner performs songs from his latest album, Carolyn’s Boys, along with Hootie & the Blowfish classics and his solo country hits, including a special performance of Diamond-certified “Wagon Wheel” with Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor.

July 13 at 9 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating July 14 at 4 p.m.

Celebrate the legendary rock band’s 50th anniversary in a 2015 concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where they tear through their greatest hits including “My Generation,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Baba O’Riley,” “You Better You Bet” and “Who Are You,” as well as sections from groundbreaking albums Tommy and Quadrophenia.

July 20 at 9 p.m. on WETA PBS, repeating July 21 at 4 p.m.

Thrill to the electrifying experience of an important moment in music history when Santana took the stage at the US Festival in San Bernardino, California, on Labor Day Weekend in 1982. It was a transformative event in a long and illustrious career that featured the hits “Black Magic Woman,” “Gypsy Queen,” and “Oye Como Va,” and many more.

The Doobie Brothers: 50th Anniversary at Radio City Music Hall

July 27 at 9 p.m. on WETA PBS

Celebrate 50 years with the GRAMMY-winning band, who have sold more than 48 million albums worldwide featuring their mind-blowing, roots based, harmony-laden, guitar-driven rock and roll. The 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees are known for their hits “What a Fool Believes,” “Listen to the Music,” “Jesus Is Just All Right,” “China Grove,” “Takin’ It to the Streets,” “Black Water” and more.

WETA Rocks Summer Concert Series 2024

Keep WETA Rockin'

WETA Rocks Programs On Demand

More Concerts to Stream