Upcoming iOS 26 feature Apple Music Concerts solves one of music lovers’ biggest heartbreaks — finding out too late that your favorite artist already passed through your neighborhood on tour, unbeknownst to you.
The feature lets you see shows coming soon to your city, with convenient details on venues, ticketing, set lists and more. You can also look up an artist’s tour and see all their upcoming shows.
Supposedly, Apple Music Concerts will even notify you when a tour is coming nearby. The feature, available now in iOS 26.4 beta 2, hasn’t been out long enough for me to test. But if it works like the Apple Music notifications that alert you about new tracks, it could be a lifesaver.
Unfortunately, though, there’s one serious drawback. Here’s an overview of Apple Music Concerts.
How to use Apple Music Concerts
You can listen to all the music in the world with Apple Music, but you can only truly experience a live performance once. That’s what makes it so heartbreaking to discover a favorite band played in your town (or nearby), and you didn’t know about it.
What are you supposed to do, check the websites of all your favorite bands every month? No, there’s an easier way. Install iOS 26.4 (when Apple releases it to the public this spring). It will provide a single destination to see artists performing in your neck of the woods. And, supposedly, it will notify you if a favorite artist is touring nearby.
Table of contents: How to use Apple Music Concerts
- Update to iOS 26.4
- See nearby concerts in the Apple Music app
- Get details on a particular concert (venue, tickets, set list)
- Browse concerts in other places
- See upcoming performances for a particular artist
- More Apple Music features
Update to iOS 26.4
Concerts in Apple Music are only available in iOS 26.4, which is currently in beta testing. Apple likely will release the update sometime in March or April, but you can get it now by installing the iOS 26 public (or developer) beta, which you can read about in this how-to article.
See nearby concerts in the Apple Music app
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
The first time you launch Apple Music after updating, you’ll see a pop-up screen introducing the new Concerts feature. When it asks for permission to use your location, tap Allow While Using App.
To find Apple Music Concerts any time later, tap the Search tab, then tap Concerts.
In the Popular section at the top, you’ll see the big-name acts coming to your area. Scroll through the list to see events further ahead. This Week, Next Week and More Upcoming options show all the artists performing in the next few weeks.
You can also tap Date to specify a custom timeframe. Tap the filters at the top, or tap on the calendar to set a specific start and end time. Tap Genre at the top to filter results. Tap all the types of music you like, then tap Show Concerts.
Get details on a particular concert (venue, tickets, set list)
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Tap on a concert to see additional details about it. Buttons right at the top let you browse/buy tickets and play some of the act’s music. Two other buttons let you quickly add the event to your calendar and see the venue on a map.
You may also see the Concert Set List as a playlist, so you’ll know what songs are likely coming up.
If you can’t make that particular date, you can check More Upcoming Concerts to see other stops on the artist’s tour.
Browse concerts in other places
Tap on the red location tag in the upper right to search for a different area — maybe you’d be willing to travel, or maybe you’d like to see a show while you’re on vacation. Tap Search Cities to look up what’s going on in a different town.
See upcoming performances for a particular artist
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
On an artist’s page in the Apple Music app, you’ll see a little “Upcoming Concerts” tag over their name if they’re on tour (and Apple knows about it). Scroll way down on the page, and toward the bottom (between Radio Shows and More To Hear), you’ll see an All Upcoming Concerts section.
Apple appears to use Bandsintown (and possibly data from other services) to power the new concerts lookup feature. Presumably, this means bands of all sizes — not just those with record deals — can add their shows and set lists to the service.
Apple Music Concerts: A good start to a great feature
Supposedly, Apple Music Concerts will notify you when one of your favorite artists is touring in your area. Kind of like the notifications the app sends you when a fave artist releases new music. The feature hasn’t been out long enough to test yet.
The biggest drawback is that there’s no way to tell exactly how far Apple Music Concerts reaches. In my testing, it seems to show places within an hour’s drive, but not much further.
In Ohio, a midsize state with five major cities, it’s very common to travel an hour or more to see a particular act. Bands often make a single stop in the capital city, Columbus. I’d love it if Apple Music Concerts let me set a custom range or tell it which places I’m willing to travel to. Lots of people are willing to travel far and wide to see their favorite artists.
More Apple Music features
- Apple Music Replay shows you the top songs, artists, albums and more detailed stats for a whole year, and makes an annual playlist of your top tunes.
- Apple Music Classical is a bespoke app and interface (free with an Apple Music subscription) for playing classical music.
- Queue songs to automatically build a playlist. You can set a song, album or playlist to play next, or add it to the end of the queue, with simple gestures and controls.
- Karaoke Mode turns down the vocals so you can sing along at a party or in the car.
- Music Haptics let you feel the beat of the music right in your hand.
D. Griffin Jones is a writer, podcaster and video producer for Cult of Mac. Griffin has been a passionate computer enthusiast since 2002, when he got his first PC — but since getting a Mac in 2008, he hasn’t turned back. His skills in graphic and web design, along with video and podcast editing, are self-taught over 20+ years. Griffin has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and has written several (unpublished) apps for Mac and iOS. His collection of old computers is made up of 40+ desktops, laptops, PDAs and devices, dating back to the early ’80s. He brings all of these creative and technical skills, along with a deep knowledge of Apple history, into his work for Cult of Mac.
