Among summer’s pleasures is the opportunity to attend concerts one might miss in the hectic school year, and even discover new musicians.

Smaller, do-it-yourself bands are more likely to take work off during summer to arrange tours, while more popular acts arrive in diverse genre combinations. Last week alone, Tampa venues hosted Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr, lyrically despairing rapper Cage and Jacksonville indie-dance outfit Black Kids.

Unfortunately, a veritable concert drought seems to have developed in the city as summer edges closer toward its end.

The Oracle suggests four noteworthy shows in punk, indie, folk and hardcore left to tide concertgoers over through late July and early August.

The Smashing Pumpkins
When: July 21, 8 p.m.

Where: The Ritz Ybor

The Smashing Pumpkins embodied noisy guitar ’90s alternative with radio singles like “1979” and “Today” – even being parodied in “The Simpsons” – and today, the band continues after 22 years and multiple lineup changes.

The concert will give audiences a chance to hear these hits and other songs from the band’s seven previous albums.

Yet, the concert also promises to feature tracks from their newest release “Teargarden by Kaleidyscope,” which hearkens back to the psychedelic sounds of their earliest recordings and is free for download on the band’s site.

The only drawback for students here is a steep $42 ticket price – which comes close to expensive Ruth Eckerd Hall concert costs and may ask too much of college students without summer job money.

Vans Warped Tour and Anti-Warpt Fest
When: July 23, 11:30 a.m. (WT) and 4:30 p.m. (AWF)
Where: Vinoy Park (WT) and various venues (AWF)

The Vans Warped Tour is an annual fixture for St. Petersburg’s Vinoy Park, and those excited to see marquee-name, poppier groups like Reel Big Fish or Sum 41 most likely purchased their tickets already.

The lineup does offer a few unexpected surprises – including Naples’ rockers Fake Problems, party-rock motivator Andrew W.K., and “mathcore” band The Dillinger Escape Plan. Yet other concertgoers might not find enough worthwhile to warrant the show’s $35 cost and crowded surroundings.

Anyone looking for an alternative to Warped Tour might want to try Anti-Warpt Fest, a daylong festival being held by Daddy Kool Records on St. Petersburg’s Central Avenue.

The concert hosts more than 20 local bands and a sidewalk sale, spans four different venues and costs $10.

Deer Tick
When: July 29, 9 p.m.

Where: The Crowbar

Rhode Island quartet Deer Tick offers an earnest folk-tinged sound similar to Lucero and the Avett Brothers, and the group is stopping in Tampa to support their new album “The Black Dirt Sessions.”

In between crowd chatter and instrument feedback, audiences should listen close to catch frontman John McCauley’s lyrics of love and rejection.

Despite their increasing profile – performing on “Late Night with David Letterman” and news anchor Brian Williams’ online music series “BriTunes” – Deer Tick should keep their show grounded by the Crowbar’s small Ybor City bar setting.

Opening acts will include Georgia band Dead Confederate’s echoing garage-rock melodies and Tampa throwback rockers the Beauvilles. The show costs $10 and is for those 18 and up.

Ceremony
When: Aug. 3, 7 p.m.
Where: Transitions Art Gallery

For listeners looking for something louder and heavier, hardcore act Ceremony’s show at Skatepark of Tampa’s music venue might fit the bill.

On their newest record “Rohnert Park,” the band matches slow, intense guitar build-ups with occasional loud and cathartic releases in a way that recalls late-era Black Flag and other ’80s punk in songs like “Sick” and “Moving Principle.”

Watching frontman Ross Farrar flail, howl and attack the microphone amidst a crowd cramped inside the small Transitions Art Gallery might not appeal to every concertgoer – but to others, it could prove to be an impassioned spectacle.

Ceremony also plays with female-fronted San Francisco thrashers Punch and two local punk bands – Lights Out! and Devout.

Check sstatetheatreconcerts.com and transitionsartgallery.com for more show dates.