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: PVRIS at House of Blues
Last summer, PVRIS unleashed fourth studio album Evergreen, a lightning bolt of a record that featured an alt-pop powderkeg of a track called “GODDESS.” It boasted five singles in total, and now Lynn Gunn takes the Lowell-born project out on a 2024 world tour that experiences a homecoming tonight (June 21) at Citizens House of Blues in Boston. Joining PVRIS for this date is Pale Waves, making it one of the more anticipated shows of the spring and summer, and Vanyaland faves shallow pools have been recently added to the bill. “More than ever, PVRIS has, and always will be anti-formula, anti-virality, and anti-instant gratification,” says Gunn. “Evergreen is a reclamation of control in our post-pandemic culture, posing a complex discussion on fame, technology, spectacle, and female autonomy… It’s not my job as an artist to cater to certain trends or people’s nostalgia, I have to follow what I feel compelled to follow and do my best to uncover what truths and messages I can find within that.” All hail.
PVRIS, SIZZY ROCKET, PALE WAVES, SHALLOW POOLS :: Friday, June 21 at Citizens House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St. in Boston, MA :: 6 p.m., all ages, $33 to $55 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
Comedy: KC Shornima at Laugh Boston
Don’t tell Michael Che, but hey, what’s better than a Weekend Update writer coming to town to kickstart a weekend in Boston? Especially right after the Celtics parade around town as NBA champions? KC Shornima posts up tonight (June 21) at Laugh Boston, and the F-Boys don’t stand a chance. Here’s Mic’d Up with the good word: “There won’t be much of a chance to fully avoid the onslaught on celebrating Celtics fans on Friday during the parade, but making your way to the Seaport should help out a little, right? Either way, Shornima will be there for one night only, fully equipped with her no-holds-barred observational takes and the SNL-writers-room honed joke writing that absolutely kills on stages everywhere.”
KC SHORNIMA :: Friday, June 21 at Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St. in Boston, MA :: 7 p.m., $33 :: Advance tickets
Film/TV: ‘Love Lies Bleeding’
And whew! We thought we missed our chance to catch Love Lies Bleeding on the big screen, but The Brattle gives it the theater treatment this Saturday (June 22) on a heatwave-driven double feature with Drive-Away Dolls (we reviewed that, too). Vanyaland film editor Nick Johnston previewed it ahead of Sundance earlier this year, and then he reviewed it out in Utah, calling it “blood-soaked and brilliant”, marking the romantic thriller starring Kristen Stewart and the forever-underrated Jena Malone as a must-see. It’ll probably be on streaming soon, so get to Cambridge while you can. Here’s the word from our Sundance preview: “One of the movies most fucked-over by the pandemic was Rose Glass’s Saint Maud, which was the kind of horror-hit that A24 normally cashes in on in the summer months that was ultimately relegated to a streaming service that practically no one subscribes to. But Glass’s talent and skill was noticed by critics and festival attendees alike, and she’s used that momentum to make what sounds to be an insane motion picture. It’s a gay love story between two women (Stewart and Katy O’Brian) that is also a pic about female body builders that is also a Las Vegas crime movie.” We’re in.
‘LOVE LIES BLEEDING’ :: Saturday, June 22 at The Brattle, 40 Brattle St. in Cambridge, MA :: 3:30 and 7:45 p.m., $14.50 to $18 :: Event info and advance tickets