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: The Mega-Monsters Tour at MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Way back in 2014, Gojira and Mastodon teamed up with Kvelertak (!!!) to take on North America, rolling loud across the country with a decibel-driven stop at The Palladium in Worcester. Nearly a decade later, the two heavy titans once again hit the road together, this time on a co-headlining tour appropriately dubbed The Mega-Monsters Tour. It crashes Boston this Sunday (August 20), as the bands play MGM Music Hall at Fenway with New Jersey deathcore band Lorna Shore opening up the pit. Slinging the heavy with ease, Mastodon are on the road showing off the ambitious Hushed And Grim, which the Atlanta hard rock band unleashed as an 86-minute double album in October 2021 through Reprise. Gojira, meanwhile, bring stateside the French metal band’s April 2021 album Fortitude, released by Roadrunner.
GOJIRA + MASTODON + LORNA SHORE :: Sunday, August 20 at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, 2 Lansdowne St. in Boston, MA :: 6 p.m., all ages, $26.95 to 72.00 :: Event page :: Advance tickets
Comedy: Punkie Johnson at Laugh Boston
With some metal up top in this weekend’s V3, here’s some punk in the middle; but we’re not hanging at some basement show. Instead we’re out at the Seaport to catch New York City comedian, actor, and writer Punkie Johnson hold court at Laugh Boston for two nights, tonight and tomorrow (August 18 and 19). Here’s the pitch from this week’s Mic’d Up: “Live from the Seaport, it’s Friday and Saturday night with one of SNL’s most powerful players. No topic is off-limits as Punkie Johnson brings you a different kind of comedy than what you’re used to seeing her unleash on TV, while delivering her art in just as a unique of a way as the style and attitude that has brought her into the spotlight.”
PUNKIE JOHNSON :: Friday, August 18 and Saturday, August 19 at Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St. in Boston, MA :: 6 and 9 p.m. both nights, $33 :: Advance Tickets
Film/TV: ‘The Mummy’ at Cinema Salem
Somewhere out there across America, someone is driving with a bumper sticker that reads: “I’d Rather Be Watching The 1999 Cinematic Masterpiece The Mummy Starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz“. We can only hope they steer into Cinema Salem this weekend, as The Mummy hits the big screen for a pair of showings via a Saturday matinée and a Sunday dinner slot (August 19 and 20). Stephen Sommers’ action-adventure archaeological dig flick has held up in the 24 years since its release, and has found a new lane of exploration as a bisexual awakening film, pretty much because everyone in the movie is eminently fuckable. Feel the freedom of not choosing a side and dig within as deep as you need to. It’ll be hotter than an Egyptian summer.
‘THE MUMMY’ :: Saturday (August 19) and Sunday (August 20) at Cinema Salem, One East India Square in Salem, MA :: Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 6:30 p.m., $9 to $11 :: Info and tickets