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: Speedy Ortiz at The Center for Arts at The Armory
They may have relocated to Philadelphia a few years ago, but Speedy Ortiz will forever remain one of Massachusetts’ favorite bands. Tonight (September 8), the always remarkable Sadie Dupuis and Co. return to our corner of the world with a tour kickoff show at Somerville’s Center for Arts at The Armory. And they’re back in town showing off new album Rabbit Rabbit, named after an expression of luck and repetition, which first caught our ear in the spring through lead single “Scabs”. “I turned 33 while writing this album, a palindrome birthday and a lucky number associated with knowledge,” says Dupuis. “I wanted to mark how I was making better choices as I got older, letting go of heedless anger even when it’s warranted.” It should be a fun night, and we urge all to get there early for the homegrown indie magic of TIFFY.
SPEEDY ORTIZ + WASHER + TIFFY :: Friday, September 8 at The Center for Arts at The Armory, 191 Highland Ave. in Somerville, MA :: 7 p.m., all ages, $29.36 :: Event page and tickets
Comedy: Dave Attell at The Wilbur
Dave Attell is back in town tonight (September 8), playing two shows at The Wilbur, and it brought back an insane memory. Twenty years ago next month, October 16 to be precise, Attell teamed with Lewis Black to bring the Comedy Central Live tour to Boston’s Orpheum, and a then-upstart comic named Mitch Hedberg pretty much stole the show (at least for myself and my date, who got stoned on the Common right before heading in, sitting 5 rows from center stage). That alone is an evening for the books, but it was also the night of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series between the Red Sox and Yankees, the one that ended with Aaron Boone’s infamous series-ending HR off Tim Wakefield at Yankee Stadium. Score updates were announced throughout the night, piercing through a tense Boston audience, and the show happened mostly while the Red Sox were ahead (holding a 5-2 lead in the 8th inning). By the time we got back to our Allston apartment, the game was in extra innings, and soon enough, Boone was circling the bases. It was pandemonium — and not the good kind — on the streets of Boston after (another) paralyzing loss on the diamond. Luckily for Sox, and their fans, things turned out pretty good in the years after, though we tragically lost Hedberg roughly 17 months later. Mic’d Up has more on tonight’s gig — hey, you never know how history may unfold.
DAVE ATTELL :: Friday, September 8 at The Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St. in Boston, MA :: 6:30 and 9 p.m., $35 to $40 :: Advance Tickets
Film/TV: ‘The Nun II’
Here’s a Fun Fact we may not be aware of: 2018 horror film The Nun pulled in $366 million at the box office. So expectations may or may not be high for The Nun II, which hits theaters this weekend. Part of the extremely successful Conjuring franchise, which has pulled in around $2 billion worldwide since inception, The Nun II is already getting mixed reviews from critics. But who really gives a shit? All that matters now is that we’re in September, October is coming up fast, and spooky szn gets a jumpstart with some good old-fashioned cinema scares. We need more big-budget horror films in theaters in the early fall, even if they are nun-sensical. Here’s the film’s breakdown: “In 1956 France, a priest is violently murdered, and Sister Irene begins to investigate. She once again comes face-to-face with a powerful evil.” Sign us up.
‘THE NUN 2’ :: Now playing :: Check local listings