Editor’s Note: Welcome to V3 Weekend, Vanyaland‘s guide to help you sort out your weekend entertainment with curated selections and recommendations across our three pillars of Music, Comedy, and Film/TV. It’s what you should know about, where you need to be, and where you’ll be going, with us riding shotgun along the way.
Music: BBG Fest at City Hall Plaza
There is no shortage of notable weekend music festivals across Boston this summer, and this Saturday (July 8) we have a good one. The Boston Chapter of music and tech nonprofit Beats By Girlz presents BBG Fest at City Hall Plaza, and the lineup is awesome: Bad Snacks, Brandie Blaze, Mint Green, dolltr!ick, ximena, Naomi Westwater (pictured), 1-800-SHORT- KING, and host Kirbie Fully Loaded.
Here are the details: “BBG Fest is a celebration of women and gender-expansive musicians, artists, and makers in the Greater Boston area. BBG Fest is a one day event that is free and open to the public to celebrate local creators and empower women and gender-expansive people to take up space in the cultural sector. Notoriously, the music industry gate keeps opportunities for gender minorities, BBG Fest is a small step towards opening those gates and giving opportunities to our community. BBG Fest is made for women and gender-expansive people by women and gender-expansive people.”
BBG FEST :: Saturday, July 8 at City Hall Plaza, 1 City Hall Square in Boston, MA :: Noon to 8 p.m., all ages, free admission :: Event info
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Comedy: Laura Severse’s ‘Farewell Show’ at The Comedy Scene
We always like to joke that when Massholes move to New York, they’re back home within six months. But when our finest leave for Los Angeles, we pretty much never see them again. So it’s bittersweet that we raise a pint to Laura Severse, the Dorchester Debutante who heads out to Hollywood after a farewell show at The Comedy Scene.
Here’s Mic’d Up with more: “It’s less ‘we hardly knew ye,’ and more ‘don’t forget us when you make the big time’. Catch one of the commonwealth’s most potent comedic talents as she puts an exclamation point on her life on the East Coast before setting sail for bigger and brighter things. Only the best have thrown down in Foxborough, so it’s fitting that Laura Severse closes this chapter of her bustling stand-up career neighboring the house that Brady built.”
LAURA SEVERSE :: Saturday, July 8 at The Comedy Scene, 23 Patriot Place in Foxborough, MA :: 8 p.m., $22 :: Event info and tickets
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Film/TV: ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ at The Pru
Top Gun: Maverick first hit the big screen a little over a year ago, and it still takes our breath away. This Saturday (July 8), the Tom Cruise blockbuster kicks off The Prudential Center’s Summer Flicks series, a free, weekly, family-friendly showcase on the South Garden that runs through August. Future screenings include Matilda (July 15), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (August 5), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (August 19), but we’re most excited for this weekend’s action. On Rotten Tomatoes, Top Gun: Maverick currently boasts a 96 percent Tomatometer score and 99 percent audience review rating. Dang.
Here’s a snippet from Film Editor Nick Johnston’s review: “Maverick doesn’t try to rewrite the formula of the original, though it adds a heaping serving of pathos to the plate of fanciful imagery, white-knuckle thrills, and swell character work already present in the original film. Couple that with the impressive innovations in camera tech both as a result of the natural evolution of modes of film production and the few that were outright invented for this film, and you have something familiar, yet utterly fresh.”
‘TOP GUN: MAVERICK’ :: Saturday, July 8 at The Prudential Center’s South Garden, 800 Boylston St. in Boston, MA :: 6 p.m., all ages, free admission :: Event page