We love our outdoor concerts here in the metro area.

Trooping out to any of the seasonal amphitheaters — the Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, the Meadow Brook Amphitheatre in Rochester Hills, the Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre in Sterling Heights and the Aretha in Detroit — is an annual rite of shaking off the long months of cold and soaking up sun, stars and sounds over the course of five or so months. And we don’t care if some of those nights are a bit chilly or wet; being in the open air compensates for that.

It will be no different for the outdoor season of 2025, which gets underway when Sturgill Simpson plays Saturday, May 10, at Meadow Brook.

While the indoor venues won’t shut down — and Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena has a particularly robust summer schedule with the likes of Shakira, Nine Inch Nails, Wu-Tang Clan, Katy Perry, Linkin Park and more — the outside “sheds” each have full schedules of acts, more than any music fan can hope to attend.

With that in mind, we’ve picked this year’s list of outdoor shows to be particularly excited about — 25 for ‘25.

This excludes stadium shows and festivals, which are in their own categories, but offers a more than representative selection to help make sure this year’s season is musically memorable …• Peach Pit and Briston Maroney, May 25 at Meadow Brook Amphitheatre on the campus of Oakland University, Rochester Hills. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com:">313Presents.com: A double shot of now with a Vancouver indie rock quartet and a Tennessee rock troubadour whose steady ascents have made them must-sees — especially as a double bill like this.

• Samara Joy, June 4 at The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, 2600 Atwater St. at Chene, Detroit. 313-393-7128 or TheAretha.com: The Grammy Award-winning jazz singer’s previous performances have always been, well, a joy, and there’s no reason to expect otherwise for what will be her biggest hard-ticket date in the metro area.

• Simple Minds at Pine Knob Music Theatre, 33 Bob Seger Drive, Independence Township. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com, and A Flock of Seagulls at The Aretha, both June 21: ‘80s pop fans will melt with either of these two bills — and maybe melt down because they’re the same night. Simple Minds, joined by Soft Cell and Modern English, will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of its “Once Upon a Time” album and “Alive & Kicking” single, while A Flock of Seagulls teams up with MTV mates Bow Wow Wow and Animotion.

• Weird Al Yankovic, July 2 at Pine Knob: It’s been six years since the polka parodist played outdoors here, and 38 since he did it at Pine Knob. It’ll be a little weird, yes, but in the best possible way.

• Detroit Symphony Orchestra, July 6 at Meadow Brook: The DSO used to spend its summers at Meadow Brook; now we get it for one night — but with a program of John Williams’ great soundtrack work, which is certainly music for the masses.

• Summer of Loud, July 16 at Pine Knob: The Oakland County-based I Prevail has made Pine Knob its local performing home for the past three summers, and this time it’s bringing a high-octane lineup of friends — Beartooth, Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive and more — for a day-long festival that will surely live up to its title.

• Pantera, July 17 at Pine Knob: It’ll stay loud at Pine Knob when the current edition of Pantera — which demonstrated its pulverizing potency supporting Metallica in November 2023 at Ford Field — returns, with the Viking rock of Amon Amarth and Snafu as value-added.

• Cyndi Lauper, Aug. 1 at Pine Knob: If you didn’t see the girl just having fun last October at the Fox Theatre, here’s another chance to catch Lauper on what she says is her farewell tour — which should be further fueled by her upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

• Barenaked Ladies, Aug. 2 at Pine Knob: BNL’s mostly annual Last Summer on Earth Tour is a dependable good time, and the trek’s closing night will no doubt feature some hijinks with tourmates Sugar Ray and Fastball.

• The Doobie Brothers and the Coral Reefer Band, Aug. 4 at Pine Knob: This will be the opening night for this tour, which will see the Doobies debut songs from its new album “Walk This Road” (out June 6) and the late Jimmy Buffett’s group play a Margaritaville memorial.

• Rufus Du Sol, Aug. 5 at Pine Knob: Make sure to wear comfy dancing shoes if you check out this Australian EDM trio, whose “Inside/Outside” was one of 2024’s best albums.

• Lord Huron, Aug. 9 at Meadow Brook: The troupe frontman Ben Schneider, who started in Okemos before moving to Los Angeles, has made a steady climb up the indie rock ranks, putting it in a headlining strata even if it’s been four years since the group’s last album.

• Toto, Men At Work and Christopher Cross, Aug. 11 at Pine Knob: Yacht Rock is all the rage, and while Men At Work is a bit of an outlier between the other two, the bill will certainly make for a night of smooth, as Cross would sing, “Sailing.”

• Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, Aug. 13 at Pine Knob: Last time Young was in town, in 2023 with Crazy Horse, everybody got sick and subsequent tour plans were scuttled. That’s not keeping Young away, however, as he introduces his latest band, which includes longtime cohort Spooner Oldham and Willie Nelson’s son, Micah.

• Little Big Town, Aug. 15 at Pine Knob: We’ll hold this up as one of the best country bills of the summer, heavy with Girl Power thanks to tour mates Wynonna Judd and Shelby Lynne.

• The Black Keys, Aug. 21 at Pine Knob: The Nashville by way of Ohio duo’s canceled Little Caesars Arena date last year was a disappointment, especially with its hot “Ohio Players” album. They’ll make good this summer, with opener Gary Clark Jr. adding his headline-caliber chops to the bill.

• Leon Bridges and Charley Crockett, Aug. 27 at Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre, 14900 Metro Parkway, Sterling Heights. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com:">313Presents.com: They are “The Crooner and the Cowboy” — artists of different but complementary stripes, which should make this one of the summer’s most enjoyably diverse evenings.

• Billy Idol and Joan Jett, Aug. 28 at Pine Knob: Idol’s first show back in the area since 2019 comes with new music — “Dream Into It,” his first full album in 11 years, which happens to feature tour mate Jett on one of its tracks.

• Alabama Shakes, Sept. 5 at Meadow Brook: It’s been a minute — seven years and two Brittany Howard solo albums, actually — since the group, now a trio, has shaken it up together. And it’s promising new music that may well be previewed during the tour.

• Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Sept. 6 at Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre: After a decade-plus hiatus, Krauss and company have returned with a new album (“Arcadia”) and tour, introducing singer-guitarist Russell Moore in place of Dan Tyminski.

• Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gov’t Mule, Sept. 10 at Pine Knob: Guitar heaven and jam band nirvana await for this one, and you can certainly expect former Allman Brothers Band mates Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes to chop it up together during the night.

• $uicideboy$, Sept. 16 at Pine Knob: This New Orleans rap duo is not for the faint of heart, and it will certainly be a night of trap-styled slamming with a bill that also features aggressive kindred spirits Bones, Night Lovell, Germ and Chetta.

• Lainey Wilson, Sept. 25 at Pine Knob: The award-winning country singer’s first show at Pine Knob will be a homecoming for the two members of Michigan’s Accidentals (Sav Madigan and Katelynn Corll) who are in her band.

• Alice Cooper and Judas Priest, Oct. 2 at Pine Knob: We might need heavier jackets by then, but this reprise of the 1991 Operation Rock and Roll pairing will close the outdoor season on a hard-rocking note (with Corrosion of Conformity opening). Plus, a Cooper homecoming is always something special in these parts, especially when he has a brand new show for us.